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Comment by everdrive | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a doctor, so please note that this is a genuine question, and not a rhetorical speculation: That said, smoking has always made my heart race. I'd be curious to know if this is common for people, and if it is common, then whether or not this could be a contributing factor.

>edit, sorry, that should have said "I'm not a doctor."

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THC is a vasodilator (it makes your blood vessels relax and become larger) which is thought to cause reflex tachycardia which means your heart has to beat faster in order to keep blood circulating because the "pipes" (blood vessels) have suddenly become larger. The vasodilation is also the cause of bloodshot eyes.

There is also something to said for the anxiety which high THC cannabis can cause, as well as a sort of circular anxiety due to the fast heart rate (my heart is beating fast due to reflex tachycardia, which makes me anxious and worried, which makes my heart beat even faster, etc.).

Sounds like why my heart beats faster when I drink

I think that is thinning the blood but a similar result

I know Ive consumed too much when my heart races. At one point in my life I had enough of a tolerance that I could smoke all day every day and had no heart racing. I don't use cannabis anymore since I dont know anyone who can provide it and I live where the legal status is that its treated like a parking ticket for personal use. Ive visited Colorado and California and tried the legal options. Its generally way to strong for me. A half of a hit of current weed in the average potency available is enough to get me where I want to be- which is to reduce stress and have a slight head change.

It can lead to anxiety and panic attacks due to the high levels of THC relative to the past.

Agreed. I'm always on the lookout for what are now low percentage strains. Perhaps I'm an odd ball lightweight but the current trend of ingesting as much THC as an possible in as little smoke as possible is not something I look forward to.

20+% come the fuck on...I'm not trying to make hash out of it.

It's the same with Wine, once upon a time a bottle was only 9-10% in alcohol volume and now an average bottle in the super market is up in the 13-14% range.

I've been complaining about this for years. Instead of optimizing for a pleasant sensation, growers have been trying to push THC as high as possible (while also pushing CBD to near non-existent levels). This 20%+ THC .5% CBD stuff tends to make me anxious and unhappy to the point that I've almost completely quit smoking.

Not that that's necessarily a bad thing overall. But still, I'd love to see some more moderate options take root in the marketplace. If my state ever legalizes, I think it might be fun to try my hand at breeding a personal strain with better ratios!

My heart has never raced when smoking, but 2 other people in my family have never liked it because it always made their hearts race.

Anecdotally, such conditions have been common in strains that have high amounts of THC, and not much CBD. Haze was a big thing in the UK for a long while, as was Skunk. Both strains have high THC and little to-no CBD and these strains would cause me to flip badly. My friend who swears to never touch it again after he tried once and had bad-trip. When compared to other strains with more CBD, I would obtain more of the beneficial effects.

And that it could also be linked to if the strain is Indica (in-da-couch) or Sativa with the same % of THC. Cannabis science an interesting field.

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