Being ANYWHERE near weed

[iHaveSeenEvil]

I've noticed that if I'm even in the same room as someone smoking weed my HPPD is so fucked up the next day, or five.

I've stayed hardcore away from weed the past week and I'm feeling better every day.

Also, not getting wasted or drinking caffeine has helped.

Cigarettes also, I've limited my smoking.

And I've been feeling ALMOST NORMAL.

But for real, if I get second hand marijuana smoke at all, it's like back to square one.

Even the SLIGHTEST amount of it.

Anyone else experience this?

Small amounts of booze seem to be okay, even therapeutic, but ANY amount of weed exposure will fuck me up so bad.

I got wasted like 7 days ago, and fell asleep in a room people were hot boxing and my HPPD was suicidal hell for a few days, and now much better.

Is weed a massive HPPD trigger for anyone else?

I'll gladly lay that, and anything else triggering to the grave for life.

[miketusa]

The whole weed thing is so weird. I can't decide if its some PTSD like reaction people are having, or a direct result of the cannabis. Personally this was my first symptom of hppd. I think it was a result of a JWH(spice) overdose that led to my inability to cope with marijuana smoking. Either way I did not have HPPD then, just that one symptom. I continued to smoke, even though Id often get panic attacks, or come close to them. Something just wasn't right. It was like I was smoking spice every time I smoked pot. It just kept putting me in bad place. After I got hppd from a panicky episode I quit for a while. My HPPD has remained relatively the same for almost two years now.That is, I have mostly visual symptoms. I have a little anxiety, and tinnitus in my right ear.

 

All that being said, I smoke weed every day. Every day. For about 6 months, now. No changes. Nothing. I don't feel any better or worse symptom wise. If anything,  weed helps with what little HPPD I have, ironically. If I get a little DP feeling, I smoke a bowl and it goes away.

 

This seems to be an extremely rare case, however. As most people are effected in the way you describe.

 

 

 

 

Sooo TL;DR - At first, yes! After about a year and a half I can smoke again. 

[LaizzesFaire]

MikeZero: Just out of curiosity, how is drinking for you now? I´ve seen some of your older posts mentioning that weed was somewhat fine, but drinking would usually lead to some DP/DR stuff for a couple of days afterwards.

[miketusa]

Drinking for whatever reason seems riskier. After the onset of my symptoms the thing that would make it 100 times worse was drinking. I would literally wake up the next day DP/DR'd as all hell. I mean as bad as it could probably be. My static would thicken, so much so that the walls seemed to move. Unfortunately I lived in a place where that was all that we did. And the lack of understanding of my condition led me to indulge despite my health issues. This initially led to a worsening of my condition. I developed new symptoms after a few nights of light binge drinking. Star-bursting, and tinnitus came as result.

 

After a year my HPPD mellowed out and settled.

 

 As a result, it seemed like I could have a few beers without too much risk. However, the only time I still feel the pinch of DP/DR is after a night of medium-heavy drinking.

I can usually have 2 to 4 and be fine. Sometimes a few more. I just never know, so I try not drink too often, if at all.

[disguyhere]

im with mike.. i dont know if its more a psychosomatic reaction or sensitivity to thc.. but I've done both smoking daily, and long periods of not at all... and it has 0 negative effect on my hppd whatsoever.. If anything it makes me a little more fluid mentally which for me helps me to cope with the hppd better, but that may be because of the efforts I put into my meditation.

[Lobotomizer]

Altering ones consciousness via strong psychoactives, be it pharmaceutical or recreational compounds seem to have the ability to cause long lasting neurological deviations/abnormalities. (obviously or we wouldn't have this forum) If memories are indeed the result of brain chemicals, then it shouldn't be much surprise at all that PTSD-like episodes may manifest. Now if hypnotherapy, positive reinforcement and meditation change brain chemistry and actually stimulate neuronal growth as studies suggest then there is hope to recover through these practices. I personally have recovered using these techniques and taking it one day at a time. Much in the same way as body building or psychoactive compounds, the aforementioned practices all work at different rates and to different degrees for different people so experiment just as you did with chemicals and be patient as theres no rush. I cannot use cannabis as it never quite felt right to me but I can enjoy recreational use of substances responsibly  , if I so choose to. However, I cannot recommend anyone else use any powerful drugs as it may retard or halt your recovery.

 

To answer OP, yes I had many triggers that indeed made me feel as if my HPPD worsened and I must definatly liken it to the fact that I was suffering from some sort of post psychedelic induced PTSD. I was borderline psychotic and believed my canned food  was possibly laced with LSD. I was afraid to eat out in restaurants. I was afraid to consume anything from a source I was unable to monitor with a watchful eye and even then I would invent delusions that somehow there was LSD in my food. This slowly decreased in intensity and frequency over many years but had I thought that there was any likelihood of my food being tainted I would begin "tripping" again. Now, psychosomatic or not it feels very real and the brain has a funny way of manifesting memories with some amazing precision, hence why I believe it is of utmost importance to heal oneself emotionally or spiritually as a priority. Hell it fucking worked for me. 

[Merkan]

I have this, i am fine with walking on the street and feeling it but in a club when people lit up, it gets to me. I am not sure what is what. I was going to buy some protein and was recommended the one from hemp. No matter how much the seller pushed me, i wouldnt buy it and got something else instead.

I am about to buy some incense and use in my room with cannabis in some kinda geting used to it therapy. Still scared that there might be some active compund (not thc) in the plant used to make the incense. But got to try.

[sob317]

For me weed is what started my HPPD symptoms. Took a few puffs off a joint and immediately felt weird, like I was an hour into an acid trip. Went away and I had a hit later that night of some different weed with the same immediate effect. Quit smoking that night after smoking pretty much daily for nearly 4 years. Quit for 6 weeks and tried again, MASSIVE visuals and hardcore anxiety but after about 2 hours that went away and in the days after felt that my overall anxiety had gotten slightly better.

Continued smoking very tiny bits to the same effect. Immediate visual and anxiety response for about half an hour but once that went away my daily anxiety levels seemed to drop.

 

So very similar response as mikezero: at first huge negative response and stayed away. After a while a small puff seemed to help and after a year or so when my HPPD had mostly cleared up I was back to smoking daily with no HPPD responses. I had quit nearly everything else at the time though with the exception of the occasional caffeine from a pop or having 2 or 3 shots of tequila which I found to help a bit.

[miketusa]

For me weed is what started my HPPD symptoms. Took a few puffs off a joint and immediately felt weird, like I was an hour into an acid trip. Went away and I had a hit later that night of some different weed with the same immediate effect. Quit smoking that night after smoking pretty much daily for nearly 4 years. Quit for 6 weeks and tried again, MASSIVE visuals and hardcore anxiety but after about 2 hours that went away and in the days after felt that my overall anxiety had gotten slightly better.

Continued smoking very tiny bits to the same effect. Immediate visual and anxiety response for about half an hour but once that went away my daily anxiety levels seemed to drop.

 

So very similar response as mikezero: at first huge negative response and stayed away. After a while a small puff seemed to help and after a year or so when my HPPD had mostly cleared up I was back to smoking daily with no HPPD responses. I had quit nearly everything else at the time though with the exception of the occasional caffeine from a pop or having 2 or 3 shots of tequila which I found to help a bit.

Basically this. Almost in its entirety. When I smoked I'd trip balls. Due to stubbornness or the desire to feel good I just kept smoking very small amounts with friends. Eventually I realized I was smoking the same amount as them, feeling great and living my life again. And it was almost that easy. Obviously I had bad days. But I'd smoke and the bad feeling I got was less and less. And soon when I smoked id feel better. It helped me relearn to quiet my mind. To process thoughts in a more "normal" manner. The head space of being high was so familiar, that when I smoke I would feel so normal! If I couldn't retreat into to pre HPPD perceptually, than for me, this was the next best thing.  So in many ways, marijuana has helped me enjoy my life again. It's almost hard to admit. Especially on this forum. Again, the last thing I want anyone to do is start taking bong rips in the hopes that it will cure you! But I also think the whole swear off every conceivable substance is going to do you more harm than good. You need to learn to at least be around these things, they occur frequently life, and to avoid them in their entirety is to concede to not live one!

 

Of course the irony of all this is that I live in a place where everyone would much rather I drank. If I get caught I go to jail, and that is anxiety enough to keep me from feeling good most days. In many ways my life has become bound to the plant. And it sucks to have a crutch. But it keeps the blues at bay, and keeps me in a good place. I'd also rather be dependent on marijuana than benzos and painkillers like I was. Ive also dropped smoking cigarettes in favor of vaping nicotine juices. To anyone who smokes, this, I highly recommend! So long as you don't mind looking like a weird guy in public.

 

Of course everyone has their opinions, and I would ask that anyone that reads this to understand that this disorder is multifaceted! What works for me, may not work for you!

[sob317]

It helped me relearn to quiet my mind. To process thoughts in a more "normal" manner. The head space of being high was so familiar, that when I smoke I would feel so normal!

 

^^This. 100%.

 

And no, as I mentioned in my post in another thread I wouldn't recommend this as a remedy and can definitely see how pot use could make things worse for some.

I was a pothead for years already and for me it was familiar. If I couldn't live in my home country for now at least I could live in a country were I sort of understood the language and could survive there until I could get back home. The HPPD was like being dropped off in the middle of deep dark Africa where the HPPD with the weed was like living in a border town one country over.

[hppd24years]

Wow!! The roar of a lion.. That's amazing that u guys can tolerate t.h.c. without feeling u are on ur bad trip again.. In all honesty I wish I could smoke marijuana again and feel that level of pure relaxation with no paranoia or panicky type feeling. To all the peeps that don't get paranoid from smoking weed did u have a bad trip at all?? Then received hppd?? Or did u just get it gradually from doing psychedelic drugs?? Hppd24years

[miketusa]

Wow!! The roar of a lion.. That's amazing that u guys can tolerate t.h.c. without feeling u are on ur bad trip again.. In all honesty I wish I could smoke marijuana again and feel that level of pure relaxation with no paranoia or panicky type feeling. To all the peeps that don't get paranoid from smoking weed did u have a bad trip at all?? Then received hppd?? Or did u just get it gradually from doing psychedelic drugs?? Hppd24years

My psychedelic use was infrequent. I tripped on, basically, heroic doses of LSD and DXM around three times each. Did shrooms once. I tend to think of myself as a casualty of  synthetic cannabis/RC's. I can't say LSD ever put me in an uncomfortable place. No, it was a mix of smoking spice and psychedelics that led to my inability to smoke marijuana. Or as you put it"trip" when i smoked. It was cannabis, I believe, that initiated my full blown HPPD. Though, I highly suspect that something else lay within the bowl on that fateful afternoon, and yes I had a terrible "trip" that day. Extreme paranoia. I thought my friend was going to kick my ass for some reason. It went away within hours. But for the next few weeks the DP/DR started kicking in.  So this, coupled with a lot of drinking. Pills, coke. And kind of all in the same time frame seemed to lead to my inevitable mental breakdown. Cant say I was surprised. 

 

Like Jerry said "Maybe you had too much too fast?"

[hppd24years]

So then it was a gradual thing more so from what I gather in ur experiences u wrote..

Dam with me it was a one shot show..

I told u my trip with the shroom shronks laced with lsd.. Remember the fuckin T-Rex chasing me down where I could feel its THRAWTH at the back of my neck? I woke up in the hospital almost died.. It was my first dam trip ever that incantation has had a psychological affect on me now for 24 years and now into 25. I'm doomed.. Lol..

I indulged into half gram of bud with rich trichomes smothered in res oils it was delicious and I never felt paranoid just a nice relaxing feeling with slight reduced large and small motor skill shut downs.. I can't believe it?? I consumed it at 7:30pm today and it lasted til 9:22pm. I couldn't understand it my wife is a nurse she said I was crazy so I ate another one, haha, I felt amazing no shit I did a ton of work around the house.. I don't know really what the hell is going on?? I know I can't smoke it, if I did it would put me back into my T-Rex trip again.. (Fuck that)

One thing I noticed after about 30mins from eating it the left and right side of my brain or head went tingly with a weird sensational succumb of solidarity*_*

This was a fresh bud I grew in D.W.C. Technology. I also have EBB flood and drain going on with some superior Cannabis Cup winning Indica dominate hybrid strains.

I'm doing another take down tomorrow with Dead-Head O.G. a Cali-Connection revolutionary centric make over of the legendary ORIGINAL GANGSTA. I don't know what to say to this but WOW WORKS!!

USUALLY WHEN IM ON MY PHONE IN THE DARK AT NIGHT I SEE TRAILS AND STREAMERS FROM IT, ITS NOT SO INTENSE NOW, WTF IS GOING ON?? HPPD24YEARSMAYHAVEFOUNDSOMERELIEFINTHEUNTHINKABLE??

[sob317]

 For me it was probably a culmination of drug usage that led me to the HPPD rather than one single incident although I don't really have any idea at all. I hadn't tripped for at least a couple of months so it wasn't a "day after" type scenario. I had been off the harder drugs (LSD, mushrooms, cocaine) for a few months when my HPPD kicked in after smoking some weed. I had what was for me a "bad trip" on my last LSD adventure. Wasn't as bad as some I've read/heard about but was the worst trip I'd had by far. Like mikezero it was probably my stubborness that kept me trying to get back on the weed even though it made my symptoms ramp up in the short term. Eventually I felt the few hours of "normality" I got after an hour or so of visuals/anxiety was a fair trade.

 

 I had given up everything else, was never really a drinker, didn't smoke cigarettes, etc. I had my one vice and godammit I wanted to be able to smoke some pot once in a while. I know it's unpopular opinion but I reallly feel like the weed helped my anxiety which in turn caused my visual symptoms to decrease. i was also having a couple of shots of tequila every day at first with no weed. I knew daily drinking was playing with fire, especially with my family's history but it really helped settle my nerves. I never seemed to get drunk or even buzzed much but it would take my HPPD symptoms down a notch to where I felt I could go out and deal with everyday life. I found this out by accident when we were painting at a guy's house and he brought out some beers which I declined. He then offered a shot of tequila from a bottle he had brought back from Mexico. I had 2 shots, didn't feel much but noticed an hour later that I felt a little less HPPD-ish. Any other booze would make me feel drunk and/or sick but drinking a few shots of tequila seemed to be fine. (I drank a single shot of brandy while camping with friends a few weeks later that brought on a horrible HPPD episode. The shadows from the flames of the fire bouncing on the cabin walls were the stuff of nightmares.) Only after that did I start smoking weed again. The amount I was using at first was truly tiny. What would have been 1 bowl out of 20 I'd smoke in a day before was now enough for 6 or 8 little puffs and would last me 3 or 4 days.I'd see my friends smoking finger sized joints to themselves and be thinking "That's like a years worth of weed you just smoked in 10 minutes".

 

Again, I don't recommend any of this to anyone. This was 1989. No internet, no message boards. No idea what was going on with me. I was try to self medicate not really knowing any idea of what I had or how best to fix it. I just felt like I was crazy and that a small amount of pot or tequila made me a little less crazy for a couple of hours. This was all about 3 months after the HPPD kicked in. The first couple of months I avoided absolutely everything (with the exception of smoking some hash once, 6 weeks after the HPPD started) and that's what I would recommend to most people.

[hppd24years]

What are some of ur hppd symptoms?? How old were you when u received hppd??

[SlavicPsychonaut]

I smoke inconceivable amounts of cannabis approximating to easily almost a pound a month, and I haven't noticed the slightest amplification of HPPD visual distortions, (in fact, I can empirically and anecdotally attest to THC dramatically reducing visuals and negating my dissociative feelings). I can completely emphasize with Mike, as the psychedelic component of THC induces a psychological tolerance for the DP/DR correlated with HPPD onset that makes it more than tolerable for myself. On good ethos, I could never recommend cannabis to anybody wishing to holistically recover from HPPD, as the psychedelic component aggravates visual distortions in the majority of people who've indulged post-HPPD.