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Thread: Cannabis causes tachycardia

  1. #1

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    Default Cannabis causes tachycardia

    Hi there

    I'm new to the forum and joined to share my recent experience with you - see what you think:

    I have smoked a vast amount of weed for the last 20 years, I really love the stuff, seriously - I have probably consumed my own bodyweight in skunk since I started growing.

    However, recently i had a bad scare. After smoking just half a joint of average strength weed i had the most violent episode of tachycardia. For those of you who dont know what that is - it's super accelerated heart rate. My heart rate went up to what must have been 180 - 200 bpm. Let me tell you i was scared shitless. This heart rate while sitting down doing nothing can be dangerous. This went on for about 6 hours. I nearly passed out twice. Luckily I was with friends and they managed to keep me calm.

    It has since happened a few more times but not as violent. I find that if I can distract myself then it eases off slightly. Now every time I try to smoke a joint I get worried its gonna happen again.

    My enjoyment of weed has been ruined.

    What I'd like to know is; does anybody out there know of any similar accounts
    of this happening and will it pass? I cannot understand how I have suddenly developed an adverse reaction to cannabis after so many years smoking. Google confirms that cannabis causes tachycardia, but why to a seasoned smoker?

    Sorry for the long post but my head has been done in by this. I'm gutted at the prospect of giving it up.

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  3. #2

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    well ive not exactly had that, but ive had serious panic attacks where my heart was racing to fuck!

    that was a while back, after a sensible break things seem to be fine!

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  5. #3

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    i've also tripped out abit when i've been megga stoned , but i cant say i've ever had what your explaning... how about visiting your local gp and getting checked and, as bits has allready said... a nice 2-4 weeks break will do you a world of good. failing that... send me all your weed
    BEAT THE WHO GROW FOR GREED ...
    JUST SAY "NO" TO CONTAMINATED WEED ...

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  7. #4

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    Yeah that sounds like the sort of thing you want checked out.

    was it homegrown weed or commercial?

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  9. #5

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    Nasty mate! There are two main reasons why Cannabis can cause tachycardia - physiological and psychological. I don't know a lot about psychology, but it is well known that some can get anxious, which obviously can cause higher heart rate, but not really tachycardia unless you are totally petrified about something. Although you would probably know if you had 'issues'.

    As for the physiology, a lot of it is down to blood pressure. Cannabis relaxes all your blood vessels (vasodilator) and this causes a, sometimes, massive drop in blood pressure. (You know when you see people go all white - blood has pooled into the more vital areas from the skin as that is where it is needed the most.) The lower your blood pressure is, the more your heart has to pump to get blood to your vital organs.
    You need to help your heart cope with this - if you have been forcably lowering your blood pressure for 20 years by stoning, your heart has had to work pretty hard. I would suggest a bit of time off the bud (cut down to once a week for a while), get some light exercise, walking, runnning, swimming, the gym. This shouldl help your heart get stronger again, it is just a muscle like all the others and if not looked after, it will get tired and weak.
    And, as suggested in a post above, trip to the doctor might not be a bad idea mate.
    Good luck.

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  11. #6

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    This started happening to me when I was having panic attacks. My problem was psychological, so I dont know if you have any problems right now?

    Mine was due to me cheating on my girlfriend when I was very drunk, I couldn't really remember it but I told her because I didn't want to lie to her.

    I won't go into that too much but basically we broke up, I was both depressed and very angry at myself for doing something so out of character to me and hurting the woman I love. Obviously this had side effects, mainly in panic attacks.

    I did still however still enjoy weed. But it usually with me have a bong (don't smoke joints) and then feeling very strange and on edge for about an hour until I calmed myself down. I was often thinking I was about to have a heart attack and die, I just kept reminded myself that I'm not going to die and tried to ignore it. Often found that playing a game or doing something else that takes you're full attention helps.

    I did get panic attacks for a few months even without smoking, this was shit. I got them walking down the street, when I was out with friends.

    I got put on prozac, which if I'm honest was something I've always been against since my mam was on anti depressants.

    Whether it did anything or not I still don't know. I didn't get any panic attacks while on them... but I did not resolve the issue. I stopped taking them... had the biggest panic attack of my life, ended up in hosptial.

    Suddenly everything was better. I felt stronger now, I decided to get on with my life, and I remember saying to myself. This is the last day, even if my girl came to me the day after I wouldn't get back with her for my own sanity.

    But she came on that night and we've been together ever since... that was 2 or 3 years ago now.

    I kind of went out on a rant. But I was getting at that my problem was something was wrong with my life and pretty much stopped me in my tracks and until it was resolved.

    So mine passed, hopefully yours will too.

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    Thanks for the responses guys - some interesting posts

    Organix - the weed weas reasonable quality skunk, one of the widows I think. I trust the source, he's a friend (he's using one of my sodium lights!)

    Skunklover - The 'head' issue is definately a possibility however I have aways been proud of my head strength, never had any big issues, although at the time i wasn't working which was a downer. I am now as freelance web designer. The only 'issue' I have now is when i face smoking a spliff. My heart rate goes up at the thought. Weird eh?

    Pleasethinkbackwards - great reply, cheers fella. Nasty that you ended up in hospital. Was this because of the tachycardia, did you pass out? I do indeed have a 'panic' attack when the feeling comes on. Something I didn't recognise because it had never happened before (old ladies have this and its called palpitations) I have a surge of adrenalin and start freaking out - you hit the nail on the head when you said that you have to concentrate on something else, distraction is the only way I can control it. Good to know it passed for you. Fingers crossed....

    Ok gang, I reckon I'm gonna knock it on the head for a bit see if that works. Will keep you posted. I will be cropping in about 5 weeks so i'll leave it till then.

    Thanks again for the responses, this is what I wanted...

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    The exercise advice is spot on.

    But go slowly starting, especially if you're tall and thin. After smoking and not exercising, your lungs probably got a few non-pathological bullae and too much vigorous exercise could collapse a lung...
    "Certain
    Kinds of people that we like to know, yeah
    And others gotta go
    If you wait 'till you're ready, then you'll never make an amends"

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    Default good info

    Great info here, I feel compelled to add my story as I too never would have expected to suffer from tachycardia from smoking weed.

    Been smoking many times a day for more than 8 years now and had always considered weed to be a fantastic drug; therapeutic and great for creativity. Last month I ran out and because I had many family members in town I spent most of my time with them and I never got around to buying more weed. At the same time I had been eating considerably less (maybe 1 meal a day) over the last year. Long story short, I don't eat because I hate junk/fast food and real food can be quite expensive and inconvenient to prepare. Well, when my family left and I finally did get to weed my tolerance was so low that I ended up binge eating on some fantastic grub. I think I ate about 3/4 lb of Italian Sausage and probably half a loaf of french bread with olive oil over the course of a few hours. Passed out, then woke on the floor around 1 AM with severe indigestion. The pain in my stomach got worse and eventually I could barely breath. I felt like my stomach was was crushing my heart and cutting off my circulation. It felt like I was having a heart attack and I was probably about to die and then something let up and the pressure was released.

    I felt extraordinarily weak for the next 3 days, as if I suffered from hypoglycemia and malnutrition but I had no appetite as my stomach lining had been badly damaged. Nonetheless I forced myself to eat slowly and more regularly and started to feel normal again by day 4. During this process of recovery I was smoking one or two bong rips a day, and around day 3 I realized the correlation between me feeling horrible and the smoking. Then I checked my heart rate after smoking one day, and realized it was over 120 bpm. When I got to the doctor 2 weeks after the indigestion episode she checked out my heart and reassured me that I didn't have a heart attack (which made me feel A LOT better), but that indigestion can certainly make one feel like they are having a heart attack in severe cases. I certainly damaged my stomach and probably my heart and liver as well. It took 3 weeks to feel almost completely normal again, but psychologically I will never be the same. I'm always checking my heart rate (which seems to fluctuate wildly from 60 bpm after laying down for 20 minutes to nearly 90 bpm just from sitting at a computer desk) and noticing every little strange palpitation that might occur. I find this rapid heart rate unnerving, especially as I consider myself to be a fairly active individual and have exercised regularly for years. I suppose it doesn't help that I'm just under 130 lbs and 6'2", but the main thing that kids should learn here is don't be like me and go binge eating after months of barely eating at all.

    Since then I have smoked tiny weed hits once or twice to test my reaction and see if I can get back on the train, but what ever happened last month seems to have changed my reaction to weed, either psychologically or physiologically. Even a tiny hit still makes my heart race to over 120 bpm and my brain goes off thinking nonstop about everything at 1000 mph almost causing a panic attack. I'm sure that having no tolerance to weed anymore is part of the problem, as I had had panic attack like experiences from quitting and starting up again when I went on vacations in years past. Still, I don't think I will ever be able to get back up to that smoking 8 times a day routine, and given the danger of tachycardia, I'm not sure I want to.

    I've known a few other people over the years who reported similar problems with weed that forced them to quit, and one of my friends who still smokes suggested that I try valerian (an herb that is supposed to help you relax) with weed sometime and also that tachycardia reactions may be temporary, maybe not. I intend to sample a tiny hit a few more times in the coming years to see what happens, but my days of being a stoner are mostly over. I still have nothing against weed and have known it to be a fantastic drug, but users be warned.

    During my 8 years smoking almost every day I never seemed to have strong dreams, or I didn't seem to remember my dreams. In the weeks since I quit I have had incredibly intense dreams, some good, some uncomfortable but not necessarily bad. The uncomfortable ones often end in my waking up in a cold sweat and upon retrospect they have powerful symbolic meanings, which I take some satisfaction from. As I have moved away from this episode and the stress that it induced, the dreams are getting less uncomfortable, but are still often very intense. Additionally, I was lucky enough to pick up one of the best novels of my life in the weeks after this episode: Slaughterhouse Five, or The Children's Crusade. This book blew my mind like a mushroom cap, and it made me realize that I could never hope to expand my mind through any drug as much as that book has done. I strongly recommend anyone thinking about eating a mushroom or dropping acid pick up this book and read it.

    PS. Sorry about being long-winded, didn't mean to write a novel but had a lot to say about this...
    Last edited by do_japan; 03-08-11 at 08:00 AM.

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  19. #10

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    i'd stop smoking and change my avatar pic if i was you mate, doesn't sound good.
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