How come when/if i smoke pot now i have panic attacks?

I've smoked alot of pot in my time and one of my childhood friends died in a car wreck march 13, 2005 which i'm sure that made me really depressed and for the last 3-6 months if i smoke pot i will have a panic attack it started one night i got back from panama city from my moms house i spent the night at a friends house and we smoked a blunt and i had this weird panic attack for the first time i was sitting down on the couch and i was feeling fine and i leaned forward and i don't know how to really explain it but it kinda felt like my body went into instant shock for a split second everything went white and then i had a panic attack and after that one i was having them throughout the whole night and now i can take a very small hit off of a joint or bowl or anything and i will have a panic attack and i hate them (>.<) i don't really care for pot anymore i've kinda grown out of it like you would cloths but i'm just really wondering whats the meaning of this

yeah it sux.. i smoked herb there for 3-4 years.. i started to experiance anxiety attacks when smokin.
it seems like it happend after my first relly bad depression period. i would only be able to take a couple hit then i would be holding my chest for the next 4 hours monitoring my heart rate. havent been able to smoke every sence...
no fun : /
`telb

google "panic attacks on pot"........

Another great resource that weeds out all the non-science stuff is www.scholar.google.com

Pot is known to cause/increase panic attacks.

Very punny..."weeds" out...

indeed!!! I love the cat with headphones...

Short-Term Effects

Using cannabis will probably make you feel more relaxed, free and open. Colours will seem brighter, sounds and smells more distinct. Some users feel happy and start talking a lot; others get quiet and withdrawn. Minutes can seem like hours, and ordinary objects seem to have special meaning.
If you smoke cannabis, you will probably feel the “high” quickly, and it will last two to four hours. If you eat it, the high happens later, and you feel it for a longer time.
Cannabis makes you clumsier and slow to react. Driving and operating machinery while stoned is not safe, especially if you combine cannabis with other drugs, including alcohol.
While high on cannabis, you lose some of your ability to learn. You can forget things, and have trouble concentrating—a serious problem for students.
Some users feel severe anxiety and high doses can cause panic attacks, fearful suspicious feelings (paranoia) and temporary psychosis. These effects usually disappear within hours.
After very high doses, you might hallucinate, but this is unusual.

Effects of Long-Term Use
Using cannabis heavily for a long time can have serious side effects:

Cannabis smoke contains cancer-producing chemicals. Smoking cannabis damages the lungs and can lead to chronic coughing and lung infections. People who smoke both marijuana and tobacco may develop lung, neck and head cancers at a younger age than those who smoke only tobacco.
Many people who use cannabis heavily for a long time have problems with short-term memory, concentration and abstract thinking. Most of these problems disappear after a few weeks without drugs, but some last for years.
Some heavy cannabis users appear less active and ambitious than other people. We cannot say that cannabis causes this. However, frequent use can make people even less motivated.

that's really weird. I have really bad panic attacks and smoking pot really calms me down. I am kind of worried about the effects of smoking it and taking klonopin though (which I take 3 times a day)

It can depend on the person. I have friends that cannot smoke because they get extremely paranoid, but I have others that use it as stress relief. I guess it would be like medication. Everyone is different.

Just keep in mind though that if you are on meds the pot can react with it and give you side effects, anxiety, more sleepy. Just be aware.

Take care,
Jessica

Since pot and meds both react to brain chemistry, it would make sense (from my non-scientific perspective) that each would have a different impact when consumed alone versus in conjunction with each other.

It was once and in some places still is considered medication, just like many other holistic methods. While I am a marijuana advocate, I am NOT a self-medication advocate. I would like to see the system re-evolve to the point where your doctor could include it in an overall treatment strategy, so that people didn't self-medicate with it in the absence of medical guidance.

OMG

ok

this SAME thing happens to me now

I smoked for 2-3 years without any problems, often smoking heavy doses

I was put on meds for Bipolar over a year ago (Seroquel 200mg, Lamictal 400mg, Xanax XR 0.5mg), and about 6 months ago I smoked one night while in a hot-tub. I think the hot temp lowered my blood pressure, along with the Seroquel I am taking, and the weed, and I had a HUGE panic attack where my heart was pounding so hard I seriously considered calling 911, my heart was POUNDING out of my chest and it hurt, it started to freeze up after about 15 min because it was working so hard. Anyways, I was tripping out all night and my heart felt absolutely awful, it hurt, it was so sore and I felt thoroughly exhausted.

Ever since, I've had about 4 small episodes when I smoke. I cant smoke anymore. Even if I only smoke a tiny bit my heard goes MAD.

Is it from my meds? or is it psychological?

well, i get something rather simalir. i take/snort caffeine pills, and about every other time i snort, i get a panic attack. my face gets all tingley, my heart goes crazy (which is probably just the caffeine lol), and i feel sorta depersonalized. not a good feeling. i feel like it might be psychological though, i find that if i take my mind off of it completely, and not worry that the caffeiene will hurt my body in anyway, the panic symtoms are reduced dramatically.

mel

Because pot causes panic attacks. This is science not anecdote.