Ask HN: THC, CBD and a Request for Comments | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: THC, CBD and a Request for Comments

1 pointsupermatou8 comments

I had never touched THC/CBD until a month ago. Then, I bought (legally! from a licensed pharmacy) some THC capsules and some CBD capsules. I took a THC capsule around 4pm and waited to feel its effects ("around two hours after ingestion"). Sure enough, 1h50min after I started to feel different - but it wasn't AT ALL what I was expecting: the sensations were 100% physical and extremely unpleasant. I had very specific paresthesias, that I could only describe as icy-cold(!) electric discharges through my arms, forearms and ring fingers, behind my knees and, the strangest of them all, inside my stomach. There was nothing even resembling euphoria (or anxiety), just physical sensations. At one point I got up (I was lying on the couch, watching something on TV) and went to the bathroom, because I was feeling nauseous and I was afraid I was going to throw up. I felt dizzy and I had trouble with my equilibrium. I didn't throw up and I returned on the couch and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. It didn't happen and I had to soldier on through three more hours of very unpleasant, exclusively physical sensations. Honestly, it felt like I was terminally ill and I was about to expire (again: I knew it was not going to happen, I wasn't anxious or anything, just enduring a maximal physical discomfort).

The next day I tried to find similar experience on the web. I wasn't able to. Hence, my puzzlement: what DID happen to me? was it me? was it the substance I put into my organism (contaminated?).

Anyone have a similar experience?

PS CBD was an ever bigger letdown: I'm a lifelong migraine sufferer and I was hoping I could use CBD instead of medication (multiple studies confirmed its usefulness). To my dismay, CBD induced migraines in yours truly! (took it three times, three migraines ensued like clockwork, 12 hours after ingestion).

Your comments are much appreciated!

There are many different strains, with different potency, which have differing terpenes, which may or may not change how it affects your body.

Your absolute best bet is to talk to a doctor experienced in prescribing medical marijuana - and work with them. When using medicinally, marijuana is similar to other prescriptions in the sense that you need to find the "correct" dosage and mixture that works for your body and your issues. This also includes experimenting with different forms of delivery (vape, food, oils, sprays, capsules, etc.) My dear mother spent close to a year visiting with her doctor to narrow down a strain, dosage, and delivery method to help cope with her RLS.

Anecdotally speaking, I have not had the experiences you described. In my non-medical opinion, it sounds like you may have taking too strong of a dosage, and may have had a predominately body-high focused strain. In general, Sativa's are more head-focused while Indica's are more body-focused. This is not set in stone, however; there are Indica's with a strong head-high and Sativa's with a strong body-buzz. And with cross-breeding and all of the resulting strains, it's not nearly as useful to think in purely Sativa vs. Indica anymore. But, the general rule may help you narrow down to a more palatable strain if you choose to keep experimenting.

Combining your two experiences (weird high, and CBD induced migraines), it may be that you, unfortunately, do not react well to marijuana.

> Combining your two experiences (weird high, and CBD > induced migraines), it may be that you, > unfortunately, do not react well to marijuana.

That's what I thought. Oh, well. I really wanted to be able to use CBD (especially in the future, for future ailments that afflict us all as we get older - arthritis, muscle strain, etc. Plus migraine, of course (I have excellent control over it with Ibuprofen, but I was quite excited at the possibility of using a natural product).

I would sincerely urge you to continue to experiment, as much as you are willing to, with at least few different combinations before completely writing off marijuana as a potential medical aid.

Specifically, I would try a different method of delivery and different potencies. If you aren't inclined to smoking or vaping, perhaps an under-the-tongue spray.

Depending on the concentration you have tried, I would try lowering the concentration of CBD and perhaps choosing something with a very small (1 - 5%) concentration of THC.

Obviously if you are not comfortable with experimenting for fear of another episode like you described, then don't experiment. A very large part of any drug is being in a mental state where you are comfortable using it. I don't have concrete numbers, but I would posit that the majority of bad trips are due to mental state of the user (comfort level, environment, preconceptions, etc.), not the drugs themselves.

> I would sincerely urge you to continue to experiment

I am willing to continue to experiment, and I will. It took me two weeks to try half a THC capsule again: I wanted to (from a purely scientific approach, I was looking for reproducibility), but the physical memory of that horrible episode made me delay it until I amassed the necessary courage. The second try was slightly better: the paresthesias were identical, but the scary, painful, my-body-is-shutting-down sensation was no longer there. Neither was anything pleasant, unfortunately. I also felt unwell (but nothing more) for 4-6 hours after the paresthesias disappeared. Please understand: I was VERY comfortable experimenting with it and very excited - from a scientific point of view, as I was documenting each and every little symptom that I was exhibiting. I also am one of those fortunate individuals who have zero psychiatric afflictions - I don't suffer from depression, anxiety, mood swings, nothing - so there was nothing to decompensate, to be exacerbated by THC.

I probably need to experiment with a different strain. Unfortunately, this means switching pharmacies, as my current one has a very limited offer.

^ this is good advice. I've introduced a few friends to marijuana for their first time, once of my friends had a very similar experience to the OP on a deep indica.

Interesting. Maybe I should experiment again with Sativa. Thank you for the info.

It is notorious that first time pot users often don't get high.

Oral THC takes a long time to hit which makes controlling the dose a lot harder. People get more reliable results using pot the old fashioned way, e.g. Smoking it or gaping it.

I was aware of the impossibility to control the dose when you ingest a capsule so I wouldn't have been surprised to experiences some side-effect, a hangover, just like when you drink too much and the euphoria is replaced by unpleasant physical symptoms. What puzzled me was the fact that I went straight into unpleasant physical symptoms, with zero euphoria (or anxiety, or any other mental alteration).

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