Marijuana Poll

Hi,

I have been a pot smoker for about half my life and I'm bipolar. What is your opinion on pot causing psychosis? I have read differing information, but feel it's probably best if I quit the mary jane

Thanks for reading.

Peace & Hugs,

TnT

I don't know that it causes psychosis, but there is certainly enough information out there to suggest that it will hamper any positive effects of medication that you might be taking to manage your bipolar disorder. This is a fairly recent link from Webmd that you might have already read: http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/n...hotic-symptoms

I used to work in a psychiatric hospital; there, I saw a lot of people who had many mental health problems that were significantly complicated by their used of marijuana. Contrary to what the apologists say about this drug, it is not a harmless recreational drug.

How often you were smoking it? once a week? maybe daily?

If you have psych problems you should definitely not be smoking pot. Yes it can induce psychosis and paranoia. I've met people in rehab who had that happen to them. Don't believe people when they tell you it's harmless because it's natural. I've been in rehab, with people who are trying to quit pot, and it's a hard drug to quit. The THC is stored in your fat cells for ages, making the withdrawal period for it quite long. I knew one woman in rehab, who was still testing positive for it 6 weeks after she stopped smoking. She finally had a clean urine result around week 8.

splitimage

Cannabis can contribute to psychosis in some people, but for others it can calm them. Its interesting cannabis has not made me psychotic but I did experience that effect from Prozac.

But yeah I don't really know how it effects you individually but if you feel it's doing more harm than good quitting may be a good idea. I personally feel like I'd be worse off without it, but different things work for different people I suppose. I am not an expert though that's just my opinion based on information I've looked into and experienced.

Thank you all for the feedback!! I have an appt with my pdoc today & I'm going to discuss it with her. But I'm already pretty sure what her reaction will be lol. I was out of the country & when I returned smoking pot after a period of abstinence made me feel anxious & unsomfortable. I'm afraid it is interacting with my meds.

Peace & Hugs,

TnT

Good luck with your doc...the anxiety probably results from the tachycardia that occurs with cannabis use...heart rate goes up, brain interprets that as anxiety...that coupled with meds is the likely culprit.

Great Question - Um daily when I have it in the house. I'm not very good with moderation. I think it would not be a problem to do on occasion - if only I had the willpower to be a "social" user instead of abuser

What happened to all the early reports that it can cause DNA alteration in some individuals? I'd be too afraid of that for my children's sake--if I were considering pregnancy.

I hope you're successful in removing it. You'll probably feel much better.

I often wonder how the push to legalize marijuana is going to result in the U.S.

Hospitals here ask now if you're a "recreational drug user" when you are admitted.

Genetic

Well I don't have any kids, but that is a good concern. I think it should have been legalized years a go for adult use. It's not like we couldn't use the $$. I never fill out any med paperwork that yes I do ____ drug. WHat really makes me mad is the stupid dentist office asks about my psychiatric & drug abuse history for a freaking teeth cleaning. Sorry, but I think none of your business.

My pdoc said in her opinion pot doesn't cause mania, but increases anxiety. It also can cause psychosis ie. hallucinations, but it doesn't in my case. She said her main concern is that a I would turn into a couch potato

Thanks for your reply,

TnT

I've read Melanie dreher's study on cannabis and pregnancy. Her studies followed a few control parents whose mothers didn't smoke it during pregnancy and some that did. It was done in Jamaica and followed the children's lives until the age of 4 or 5. The children of the mothers that did smoke weed during their pregnancy resulted in children that were more sociable and intelligent than those who hadn't. I believe that also hit there milestones quicker. I found this study quite interesting and good advice. I can't remember if the children were breastfed while their mothers smoked it, too, but I would assume so.

I just figured I'd put that in with this discussion after I read genetic's post.

"Natural" ingredients means nothing in regards to whether it's safe or not. Cocaine and Heroin are both made from plant matter, maybe even more natural than Alcohol. Doesn't mean they aren't drugs. A line of cocaine is 100 times more natural than Pepsi but that doesn't mean that cocaine is safer than Pepsi!
Whether its pot or alcohol, they are both addictive, why take the chance?

I smoke everyday for depression anxiety and BPD, it helps mostly...
It's never caused me to have psychosis, but it has sometimes triggered anxiety, but that goes when I stop smoking for a little bit.
It's hard to stop smoking because it really works short term... I'm also in two minds about it.

There has been no studies that have been done that have shown that marijuana has an effect on psychosis that have been done properly.

The reason why the use of marijuana can be considered dangerous is for two reasons. The first is that marijuana users generally use other drugs along with marijuana. The second being that street marijuana has been found to include other drugs such as Ketamine and PCP, both of which are dissociatives (a category of hallucinogen that have effects that are similar to psychotic effects).

Marijuana is not relatively addictive in my opinion. Relatively addictive in this context means compared to any drug that might possibly be considered addictive. Some studies have tried to insist on marijuana addiction and physical and mental dependency occurring although these were in patients who had usually been smoking at least once a day for on average 14 years and usually involved about half saying they had withdrawal symptoms, which the majority were "insomnia". Caffeine is far more addictive than marijuana to put this in perspective. Marijuana can be considered as addictive as a kid could be considered addicted to video games, if you take away a video games from a kid who enjoys video games and plays them for about an hour a day the kid is going to be disappointed and want to play again... This is not addiction, I especially want to stress that I disapprove calling marijuana addictive because then it seems like to the majority of people addictive like heroin, meth, cocaine etc...

Street marijuana that has not been laced by anything cannot cause schizophrenia or psychotic effects that last any longer than 3 hours. The chances of it causing psychosis short term psychosis are unbelievably low and the amount needed to be consumed to trigger a short-term psychotic "episode" would be so unbelievably high you would most likely need to be smoking for a full 24 hours and even then it is extremely unlikely.

Should you stop smoking marijuana? Yes I think that you should, even though what I have said prior may influence you otherwise. I think that you should because of your situation. Marijuana can have considerable complications with the medications that you are already on. Marijuana also causes a high feeling, where you feel slightly happier, more calm etc... although this high feeling is almost always followed by a low feeling where you will dip below how you feel on average, usually not by much albeit still lower than average. In most people this slight drop isn't really enough for them to even notice, although in someone with Bi-Polar 1 or 2, major depressive disorder, severe depression etc... this drop has a very good chance of becoming a larger drop because of the psychological factors of the slightly better feeling felt prior. This larger drop can result in things like increased want to die (suicide), increased want to self-harm etc... . These are major things that have to be accounted for when you have a mental illness like the ones just listed above. The last reason I strongly do think you should stop is that if you get marijuana that is laced with something like a hallucinogen or something worse then it will almost definitely effect your other medications and has a very good chance of what would be considered a "bad trip" or a "sketchy trip" to a person without Bi-Polar it almost definitely will result in very serious negative consequences that can result in death.

In-short - Smoking marijuana isn't necessarily bad, nor is it "relatively addictive", it does not cause long-term psychosis, the chance of it causing psychosis by itself are astronomically low. I still think that it is an awful idea to smoke it in your situation because it most likely will cause your mood to go down below average after the "high" effect wears off, it can effect other medications you are on, if it is laced with something it can result in death very easily. The risks far outweigh the rewards, the only logical answer is for you to stop and it shouldn't be very hard because marijuana isn't "relatively addictive".

[quote=FuelTheJet;2474517]

Should you stop smoking marijuana? Yes I think that you should, even though what I have said prior may influence you otherwise. I think that you should because of your situation. Marijuana can have considerable complications with the medications that you are already on. Marijuana also causes a high feeling, where you feel slightly happier, more calm etc... although this high feeling is almost always followed by a low feeling where you will dip below how you feel on average, usually not by much albeit still lower than average. In most people this slight drop isn't really enough for them to even notice, although in someone with Bi-Polar 1 or 2, major depressive disorder, severe depression etc... this drop has a very good chance of becoming a larger drop because of the psychological factors of the slightly better feeling felt prior. This larger drop can result in things like increased want to die (suicide), increased want to self-harm etc... . These are major things that have to be accounted for when you have a mental illness like the ones just listed above. The last reason I strongly do think you should stop is that if you get marijuana that is laced with something like a hallucinogen or something worse then it will almost definitely effect your other medications and has a very good chance of what would be considered a "bad trip" or a "sketchy trip" to a person without Bi-Polar it almost definitely will result in very serious negative consequences that can result in death.

In-short - Smoking marijuana isn't necessarily bad, nor is it "relatively addictive", it does not cause long-term psychosis, the chance of it causing psychosis by itself are astronomically low. I still think that it is an awful idea to smoke it in your situation because it most likely will cause your mood to go down below average after the "high" effect wears off, it can effect other medications you are on, if it is laced with something it can result in death very easily. The risks far outweigh the rewards, the only logical answer is for you to stop and it shouldn't be very hard because marijuana isn't "relatively addictive".[/q reply, quote]

Thank you for the informative reply, FTJ. I expend way too much energy worrying about pot to smoke it casually. I hate casual users who find moderation such a walk in the park! I agree with your point, and I can totally relate to coming down off of coke in the 90's and wanting to die from the withdrawl. And tody when I am out of pot I get almost as antsy. I just am sick of the albatross around my neck ad nausemn.

Thanks again for taking the time to add your 2 cents!

Peace & Hugs,

TnT

I have psychosis and I smoke pot and it doesn't really seem to affect to terribly much. I started smoking a couple years back because of my depression and anxiety and it has helped me LOADS. And I also know for a fact it did NOT cause my psychosis because I was having those symptoms before I started smoking. It may make a few of those symptoms a bit worse, but only right after smoking and it always goes away(well, goes back to normal ) after a couple hours. All in all, I'd say smoking pot is in my benefit. But it does affect everyone differently because we don't all have the same body chemistry and it's ultimately up to you to decide whether it's doing more good than bad. But yeah, FuelTheJet pretty much covered everything I would have said so I shant say anymore