Drugs And Trauma

[nyc]

Thanks everyone. I know it’s not the norm to smoke pot during a traumatic event. But, your responses have been so relevant. I understand that everyone is different, I’m just trying to find some general truths that haven’t been evident in my readings. What I’m trying to get to mainly is: Does being stoned during the trauma event make healing more difficult, or make the symptoms worse because of the distortion of reality.

Might survive: Thanks, I’ll be really interested to know of any character changes you have noticed in yourself. If you wouldn’t mind staying in touch through private messages, or via this thread.

I am also really interested to know how you’re managing your symptoms now that you’ve stopped smoking pot.

Rachel: I’d like to know more about the distorted realities. Would you mind expanding? Please message me if it’s too personal. I’d really appreciate that.

Anthony's quote: one which could actually show worse PTSD from the person who was stoned and endured trauma than the sober person who can then discuss out the facts of the event, not a mythical reality or interpretation of events the conscious brain perceived.... though the sub-conscious recorded the real trauma which it processes regardless at now a worse interpretation.

Thanks Anthony- your comments are always really useful and valid. Do you know if there is any research on this somewhere?

 

[anthony]

No doubt there is, you would have to do subscribe to some journals and do a search in their backlogs. I am sure there would be plenty of public one's though.

 

[linasmom]

That is ONE loaded question - not because I care about sharing my personal experiences, but because there are so many philosophical theories regarding “reality”, and I struggle with the term on a constant basis. Call me existential.

First, what is reality? Is it the objective truth regarding a specific situation, where all parties involved agree upon the reality? Or is it each individual’s subjective perception of the situation? Let’s say you and I observe a car accident – I say it’s one person’s fault and you say it’s the other’s. Does your perception of the situation, the one we both observed together, negate my reality of it? It’s still MY reality, I own it.

So I guess the question really comes down to “truth” as opposed to reality. Reality is way too abstract, at least for me. Then again, in order for us to discuss “truth” we would have to agree upon its definition in order to have the conversation. Though, truth can be boiled down the same exact way as reality, in my head.

Am I making this difficult?

I think when a person gets high, it is much easier to interpret a situation in a way that was not intended by the other parties involved. So many times I’ve imagined that people are talking about me when they weren’t.

I once had a party at my house, invited a bunch of girlfriends over. We smoked more pot than we could imagine. It was like an experiment to see how high we could actually get. Some other people came over – some left to go to the corner store, the fire alarm went off. Two other friends and I were so frightened that we hid under the covers in my room. Firetrucks came, they banged on the door, we hid. They had to call my father to leave work and open the door. They didn’t find us, but when they left, I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was set up by my friends. That they had pulled the fire alarm on purpose – that they hated me, that they were using me: I was hysterical. None of it was true because that was not what they did and that was not their intention but at the time, it was MY truth.

]A few years ago, I thought I’d try smoking again. I took a few hits and decided to watch the news (I’m a news junkie). It was a round table discussion- this was about 2 years after 9/11. I could hear accurately the discussion, their words and understand it, but 5 seconds after I understood what they had just said, the thoughts distorted into something more ominous, more tragic, more immediate. I thought they were speaking in code and that I was the only one who could “de-code” what they were "really" saying. To me, what they were "really" saying was that we were all going to die in a nuclear attack.

I had to call a friend to talk me down, I was hysterical and in tears and it took a good hour before I was partially rational.

Now you must think I’m totally off my rocker. Hope any of this helps.

-Rachel

 

[anthony]

That's all, nothing more. I sincerely apologize if I upset anyone. :doh:

I forgot to answer this.... my apologies upstream. I am certainly not upset by anything you have said here.... the more opinions the better if you ask me.

Am I making this difficult?

I don't believe so.... if anything you showing exactly what I know I certainly love to see people doing.... show all sides of the fence, not one, not the other, but all sides with no boundaries. This is exactly an individual aspect. This is what makes individuals, and I believe you just summate'd what makes an individual linasmom! Well said.

So many times I’ve imagined that people are talking about me when they weren’t.

This has a definitive answer though; paranoia. This is one issue which could magnify the use of drugs with trauma, being the trauma is made much larger than what it actually is. Obviously there is the vice versa of that statement... though often the "reality" of a situation eventually catches up with a person, consciously or sub-consciously.

Now you must think I’m totally off my rocker. Hope any of this helps.

Not even close... actually very good perspective and experience shared. Thank you for sharing.

 

[nyc]

Rachel, It helps a lot! I don't think you're off you're rocker at all!Thank you.

 

[mightsurvive]

I can only discuss my own experience of smoking pot and my own opinions here. We are all very different in how this affects us.

I started smoking pot when I was about 17, smoked it heavily every day from about 19 and finally stopped smoking the stuff when I was 32 so I have quite a history. I smoked before, during and after the trauma. I used to have one before work and then dozens when I got back from work. Maybe I just got used to it.

In my opinion drugs affect us all in very different ways. For me there was no paranoia - or very little. I may have ocasionally thought that people were talking about me but it was never an issue.

My issue was that I didnt have the motivation to get up and do the things I knew I should be. It was a relaxant and I liked that. But again if I wanted to do something then I would. I personally dont think that pot had that much of an effect on me. I certainly dont think that it damaged me. But I could be wrong there. I guess I would need a neuroscientist to tell me that. Maybe it did effect me but I have nothing to compare what I would have been like if I hadnt smoked it.

As for the effects of smoking pot during the trauma...no it did not distort the facts. What happened happened and there is no getting away from that. But it is possible that it may have distorted my reaction to what happened. I will admit to that. I'm not saying that it has but it is something that I think may be a possibility.

I had the opportunity to escape from my trauma but didnt because I was scared that I would be hurt more - maybe it was the pot that made me so scared and maybe if I hadnt have smoked at the time then I would be ok now. Who knows? I certainly wont ever have the answer to that.

To be honest, I think that it is more likely that the other drugs he made me take at the time are more likely to have effected me than the pot and that these other drugs are what stopped me from taking my escape. They certainly have had a much worse effect on my than the pot actually.

Thank you nyc for starting this thread. Untill now I never even considered that pot could have such a role to play in what happened. Never considered that without the pot I could have been ok. I doubt it but it is a possibility.

As I say we each have our own unique experiences and our own unique reaction to pot. This is just mine. No ones reaction is wrong - just different.

Take care all

 

[nyc]

Thank you so much. You take care too.
nyc

 

[Lisa]

I actually think that drug use during trauma could be more harmful.... this is not hard to find in children who are drugged during abuse.

I would think it simply makes memory more difficult to recall... but the mind doesn't forget still. Flashbacks still occur with those drugged during abuse. PTSD still occurs with those drugged during trauma.

And, someone can still be anxious on pot... in fact, likely more so as research suggests whatever the mood, it is enhanced by pot usage (though I have never personally found this, but this is the research nonetheless!).

I would say, drugs DURING trauma, could be dangerous... lets not forget (despite my own little habit of using pot) that researchers still don't know what cannabis does to the mind and brain....

Just my 2 scents!

 

[linasmom]

This conversation has been really interesting.

NYC,

Just a question for you, one though that you don't necessarily have to answer if you feel uncomfortable doing so. The original questions you posed, while not using the first person pronoun, lead me to believe that you are inquiring because you used pot during a trauma. If I'm wrong, please tell me.

Therefore, have YOU experienced any negative effects from smoking pot while enduring a traumatic event? Have you come to realize any different realities from the original reality now that you are sober?

I really believe that all of this is extremely subjective. Just like prescription drugs, what works for some, will not work for others.

I'm not under the impression that "researchers still don't know what cannabis does to the mind and brain" as Lisa stated. Eastern cultures have been smoking cannabis far longer than Europeans. We are talking hundreds of years - well beyond any prescription drugs that more than half of us on this board are currently putting into our bodies on a daily basis. The list of side effects regarding those prescription drugs are much more extensive than the list of side effects for Cannabis (sativa). Also, I just want to be clear - when I speak of Cannabis, I'm speaking of a plant that is grown naturally, not pot that is grown using any sort of additives or chemicals to create "chronic".

Best,
Rachel

 

[morgan]

Yeah, I really don't like chronic too much. I miss the good old fashioned sensamilla (Can't spell it but it never stopped me from smokin' it)!:rofl:

 

[linasmom]

Ha! Morgan, I agree about sinsemilla. It's hard to find because a lot people don't have the time or ability or knowledge, for that matter, to separate the male plants from the female.

Naturally grown cannabis has numerous medicinal advantages, and while it happens not to have a positive effect on me, I support its use in many ways.

 

[Lisa]

This conversation has been really interesting.
I'm not under the impression that "researchers still don't know what cannabis does to the mind and brain" as Lisa stated. Eastern cultures have been smoking cannabis far longer than Europeans. We are talking hundreds of years - well beyond any prescription drugs that more than half of us on this board are currently putting into our bodies on a daily basis. The list of side effects regarding those prescription drugs are much more extensive than the list of side effects for Cannabis (sativa). Also, I just want to be clear - when I speak of Cannabis, I'm speaking of a plant that is grown naturally, not pot that is grown using any sort of additives or chemicals to create "chronic".

Uh, huh, that may mean we are both talking about two different things as I am talking about skunk (street name for several types of chemically engineered cannabis). Researchers don't know exactly how this affects the brain.

I also beg to differ on the comment disagreeing that sativa is a substance that is not fully understood in the effects it may have on the brain. I am no expert, but have completed a psychopharmacology module at uni. on drugs such as this so know something of something on the topic. Though I can say that, yes, it has been used for many, many years long before prescription drugs (certainly, researchers do not fully know what prescription drugs do to the mind and brain). However, just because it's been in use and existance for a long time, does not mean that it is understood chemically, structurally, neurologically in it's interaction with the brain, and also the circumstances that it is taken in (drugs interact with the brain, and also the context of situation). If researchers knew about cannabis' effects on the brain, there would be no funding for the research.

However... I'm personally not against the use of it whereas my feelings about prescription drugs are not quite the same. I just acknowledge, that like anything and everything else, I don't know fully what 'skunk' (or sativa though this I don't use) may be doing to my mind and body.