19 months into PAWS update (feeling great!)

[AnnaK]

Six months clean and I’m feeling better. I still have anxiety and depression. Life is really boring without being high. I thought I would take a half of a puff and I got hot all over and uncomfortably anxious and head tingles. I can’t smoke at all and that’s what caused me to quit. I didn’t even get high because I didn’t even take a full hit. I think they call that greening out. Maybe it’s a good thing because I won’t be a pothead. Withdrawal was really miserable for four months. I’m still not 100%.

[imondayXX]

Hey Bullfrog, do you mind sharing your history on how long you smoked for and approx frequency before you quit? Thank you!

[BullFrog]

Hey Bullfrog, do you mind sharing your history on how long you smoked for and approx frequency before you quit? Thank you!

Hey Monday,

My story is extremely rare and doesn't apply to 99% of people here. I will give you a brief summary: I made cannabis oil and took a drop every night for 3 weeks in October of 2017 and decided to triple the dosage at the end of those three weeks and completely overdosed. I paced my apartment nonstop for 5 hours, unable to form sentences, crazy anxiety and massive adrenaline, then finally passed out and I had 11 days of slight dizziness in my head. I tried to be smart the next time and waited 3 months, took a drop 4 times in one week but it gave me anxiety. Then, two days after my last ingestion of that week, I started feeling symptoms of anxiety and adrenaline rush to my face. Then over the course of 3 weeks I had severe anxiety, memory loss, insomnia, stuck in my head, head ache, loss of appetite, head pressure, buzzy/dizziness, absolutely terrible! Over the course of a few weeks the anxiety got less, insomnia got better in stages, but pressure and the buzzy haze remained and has for most of the 19 months. I have had waves where anxiety would sometime rise again or even memory loss mid-way through my thought process.

I spoke this over with Ash and we believe my head had not recovered from my overdose in October of 2017. So when I started taking cannabis again 3 months later, it only opened the floodgates so to speak.

Doing a lot better now. There have been some days recently where the buzzy haze has hit me a bit, but then I have also had days where it went away again so I believe I really am on the mend.

[AnnaK]

That’s scary. I do believe you can overdose on not just the oil you were taking but also dabs/wax and even smoking cannabis. They don’t warn people enough about the dangers. Maybe once it’s legalized they will study it more. I hope everyone gets better soon.

[imondayXX]

Thank you for the explanation. Before your overdose were you a smoker? And when the floodgates opened how long did you smoke for or vape for and frequency. Thank you for the context

[BullFrog]

Thank you for the explanation. Before your overdose were you a smoker? And when the floodgates opened how long did you smoke for or vape for and frequency. Thank you for the context

Well that's just it, I wasn't a smoker. At all. Ever. I started for 3 weeks. In fact, I was mainly interested because of the numerous claimed health benefits of cannabis. And, being health conscience, I didn't want to smoke, I decided to use homemade cannabis oil (I used coconut oil) and a handful of time I vaped (I wanted to avoid actual smoke).

And what I meant by "the floodgates were opened", I mean to say that something in my brain got drastically screwed up. My brain was clearly still healing from my overdose in October. So once I tried again for 4 times in 1 week (I took a drop of oil one day, vaped two days later, one drop of oil the next day, then vaped two days later), after two days later of not using, I suddenly got "hit" by an adrenaline rush to my face. This rush was similar, but much more mild, then what I experienced initially when I overdosed in October. This was how I knew what I was beginning to feel was related to cannabis. I didn't vape or ingest cannabis anymore after that. Not once. PAWS began to creep in and now I am where I am 19 months later. I am A LOT better than 19 months ago, but that is what I meant by "the floodgates were opened". That reintroduction of cannabis did something terrible to my healing brain. It's almost as if my overdose made me severely allergic to THC, so when I tried it again, BAM I was hit with PAWS symptoms. NOw my brain has been working on rewiring every since.

Had I never overdosed, I am convinced I wouldn't have ever experienced PAWS (assuming I didn't gradually get addicted and be forced to quit and naturally experience PAWS as a result). But it hurt me and I should never have reintroduced it into my system.

[JimBob8873]

Bullfrog,

I have had a very similar experience to an overdose when I was 19, about 7 years ago... Same exact thing, I was full blow hallucinating and my mind was going insane. I thought I was going to have to be driven to the hospital! I took a dab that a seasoned dabber would have probably cut in half, I was really into weed at the time and thought I was invincible. I was high for 24 hours after that hit and it was horrible, pretty much the same thing you felt.

I quit for a while after that, not wanting to smoke or "dab" again... After a while of course I got back into it due to my addictive personality

[AnnaK]

Your posts help so much. I think this is the same reason why I can’t smoke again. I was fine until one day I wasn’t. I was smoking and dabbing but not for many years just for one year then clean and then I started again and now I can’t use the stuff at all. I do miss it at times but it may never be the same for us. Our brains may have been changed or become more sensitive to the stuff. It’s crazy how you try to do something healthy to deal with pain and end up sick. No one believes it either except people
on this forum that’s why I keep coming back here. I hope for your brain to heal

[SparkleFly12]

Glad to hear you are all doing better Bullfrog Anna and Jimbon.

I didnt have any "overdoses" or panic attacks, but I do know for a fact that concentrates made things a LOT worse.

A few yrs ago I smoked a lot of weed, and when I quit I got moderate paws; trouble sleeping and anxiety and mild depression. Didnt recognize it as weed withdrawal/paws because I thought weed was an innocent herb. It lasted at least a couple months.

Then I started using oils. When I quit, acute withdrawal was awful, and Paws is 6mo and still going, but mild now and I have some good days. I dont feel repulsed by weed now; probably because I didn't have a full blown panic attack or anything. Used it once in the 6 months and enjoyed it. But staying away for some more time till I'm fully healed.

[AnnaK]

Nice to see you’re doing okay Sparkle. There were a few bad months of suffering and the worst has passed. It takes time to heal. Concentrates are not a good thing. I regretted doing that.