Can A Bad Marijuana Trip Trigger Ptsd?

[jquinlan]

Sickboy,

Its been awhile since this post was up but I had to comment cause its exactly what happened to me and its nothing that cant be treated. I was diagnosed with PTSD from a panic attack while high, not making this up, and developed major depression after, terrible flashbacks, random fears. I went to a therapist and she prescribed me 25mg antidepressants Zoloft and within a few weeks I felt unbelievably better. For two months I lived in terrible fear and anxiety, I would try to relax and suddenly have rushes of crazy fear. I finally have started to feel like myself again after three weeks on Zoloft and I'm coming off it next week. Now my therapist said that the attack wasnt the traumatic event but definetly intensified it. I would just recommend really seeing a therapist, cause it will get better and you'll feel better. Your not going insane, your just going through a phase of life and think of it as the cross you have to bear. This only makes people stronger and puts everything in perspective, take happiness in that, people really dont know what its like, they think theyve been through depression and anxiety, but they havent.

 

[ButterflyPEI]

Hi Sickboy,

I think I get it...You don't think you developed PTSD from the marijuana, but rather you feel you may have developed it from the panic attack you had while you were high? While having the panic attack, your perception was that you may be dying or you could die and you feel that THAT feeling may have triggered your PTSD? I think I get it.

I also appreciate your view of the brain and how it decides what is traumatic and what isn't. I hope you have found help for yourself!

 

[anthony]

If any qualified physician diagnosed this as PTSD then they should have their license revoked for fraudulent misuse and abuse of diagnostic medicine.

Just my opinion. Whilst the trip may feel bad, it doesn't qualify criterion A, nor comes close as a qualifier.

 

[sessigurl]

Hi! I know it has been a long time since this was posted but... I am going thru some similar issues & came across this googling.
I just wanted to let you know u are def not the only one that had this experience. I am so glad to hear that u were diagnosed & got help! I have been struggling now for 6years after a traumatic experience I had when a panic/anxiety attack hit me when I was high. As you described "still feel like somehow my perception about life has changed & that something was off .. depersonalisation/derealisation" that feeling is what I have been fighting for years now... and no medication or therapy has helped. I feel that it has left a mental scar perminently and It is terrifying. I have yet to give up hope & still am working on therapy, coping methods, and medicines...

 

[redfox]

Well I just want to say while I don't feel that a panic attack while high can cause PTSD I do think these kind of things can help trigger PTSD that is already there or bring up problems from a previous trauma. My recent problems all began after first of all, my girlfriend of 3 years broke up with me, and second, I had a really terrible experience on mushrooms. It all kind of went downhill from there. Now, I recognize I have always had these problems in one way or another, but the bad trip really brought them back to the forefront from me and that effect did not go away after the trip. The cause of the PTSD is an accident witnessed when I was a child, it's not the mushrooms that caused it of course. It just threw me into some different state of mind. Maybe in the end it was a good thing because now I am in therapy and trying to deal with it. I have taken hallucinogens many times before (shrooms, acid, salvia, DMT) and never had this happen, I don't know why it happened that time other than I guess I was in a bad state of mind. But it did change things for me, that's for sure.

 

[scott_1971_h]

hello,
I nearly always react to grass in exactly the way you describe. Not as bad as me and LSD (flashback mania) but OMG I have whole-body panic attacks.
You are not alone.

Scott

 

[Felix420]

Ive had a similar experience its been bothering me for the last year or so.Ive been smoking weed for 6 years.I had a couple panic attacks but that was simply me being stoned out of my mind lol.Last summer i was getting baked and all of a sudden i felt as if my heart was going to explode i went to my room and same thing it got so bad i was shaking.I didn't think much of it thought i was just really baked.But then the next day the same thing happened.I asked a few of my friends about it and they had similar experiences.Anyways i had to stop smoking for a few weeks.I get them now with out even smoking weed and im always worried about getting them.But i have found that its actually the fear of getting it that causes it.EVERYTIME i start thinking about it i get it.On the other hand im not so sure its psychological its so intense.I don't know if that helped at all it was just nice to know someone else had or has the same problem

 

[Kintsugi]

Dear sickboy,

This was not a traumatic event. And marijuana does not make you "trip." But even if you had been dosed with acid and had a bad trip, it probably would not be enough to get PTSD. There is no such thing as a marijuana hangover or flashback. Acid can give you residual trips/flashbacks but not other drugs, and it is still not known why or how this happens, and it is VERY rare, even if you have done a lot of it in the past.

I would see a psychiatrist but this event in and of itself is not trauma and will not qualify for PTSD.

 

[anthony]

Such things come under Substance-Induced Anxiety Disorders and such headings, not PTSD.

 

[Gamereign555]

Its a long shot but smoking weed could result in paranoia then anxiety, then panic then acute HVS and then PTSD. You would probably have to be already prone to PTSD from past traumas however. I believe this is partly how I had my main onset of PTSD, minus the whole pot thing. It was due to workplace stress and just being sick that day, the rest followed.

I guess my point is in a lot of cases PTSD is caused from a multitude of things.
Still I dont quite see full blown ptsd from smoking pot. Maybe somebody smoked pot before something terrible happened, does that mean that it was the fault of the pot? Even if it was due in part, it was a little part at best.

 

[anthony]

Trauma compounds, yes... and it usually is one event or simply life being stressful that suddenly snaps you, it doesn't have to literally be a traumatic event at that given time, or near it. Most aren't actually, and delayed onset is the more common occurrence.

 

[yellowfields22]

I get things like that a lot, it started to happen more and more as I got older. I'm very prone to anxiety and paranoia, but I also know "normal" people who have had things like this happen from smoking weed as they got older. I think your body just might change over time, to handle it differently, or maybe it's just that the more responsibilities a person has when they get older keep them from relaxing-- they are more prone to panic when high. Just because weed is "marketed" as being such an awesome and relaxing drug doesn't mean that it really is. I think it's just as common for people to not be able to handle it due to the odd feelings it gives you that are sometimes horribly terrifying.

I do have PTSD and no longer smoke or even drink because I don't need the added anxiety. The older I got the more extreme my panic attacks would become, until finally one day I took one hit from a joint and I had something that seemed almost like a seizure. My heart started pounding irregularly, my eyes dilated huge, all of my muscles started twitching and got really tense, and I couldn't even walk, yet could barely sit still. My lips were twitching all weirdly, and my eyes were vibrating back and forth and I kept almost blacking out over and over. I felt like I was losing my mind and my vision got all weird. This lasted for about an hour and it was horribly terrifying, especially because it happened in public and I had to try to keep it under control so that no one would think I was crazy. Now like you, I'm constantly afraid that this will happen again and I have even more panic attacks because of it. It seems like flashing lights strongly effect me now, but that may just be my stupid paranoia. For a while after that happened, I felt very "fragile" but I was under massive stress in my life, and now that I've forced myself to take it a LOT slower and be very easy on myself, I have started to feel better. The moment something very stressful happens again though, I start to panic again and feel like you described.

I'm working on getting medical insurance again so that I can get checked out and finally calm my fears. You really should do the same. It sounds like an anxiety problem to me, but obviously I can't be sure of that. One thing that may calm you for now until you get to a doctor is to know that panic attacks often mimic really severe maladies. You shouldn't be reading lots of stuff on the internet, because you'll just start obsessing over what it could be. Look up panic attack symptoms and see how closely they can mimic a heart attack or even a seizure. A common fear during panic attacks is that you are losing your mind. Whenever I start having what feels like chest pain or some weird thing, and I start worrying that I'm losing my mind, I can pretty much guarantee that I'm just having a panic attack, especially since counting and breathing ALWAYS makes it go away, even if it takes a while.

The body is very resilient, and the mind is very powerful. Keep these two things in mind and work on stress reduction, and positive reinforcement until you can get checked out by a doctor.