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Comment by dmorgan81 | Hacker News Reader

Have you tried L-theanine? I also get panic attacks with weed, but L-theanine seems to help keep them at bay.

I have tried l-theanine, didn't do anything that I could tell.

But fortunately there's a much better solution for those of us who get anxiety from weed, it's called "don't smoke weed".

Abstaining is not a cure for rude smugness, apparently

Nominative determinism via HN username. Your name has smug in it, and you go around seeing smugness where there is none intended. Sounds like a struggle but who am I to judge.

I've tried everything and I still get panic attacks. I used to love smoking a small hitter about an hour before bed. I've always had insomnia and that was the one thing that actually helped me sleep. When it was illegal, I loved it. I would smoke 2 or 3 times a week just for sleep, and I was healthy and happy. . . Because sleep is important, and I never wanted to take sleeping pills because dependency.

Now that it's legal and everywhere, I just get super fun panic attacks. I'm worthless, I'm failing as a parent, everybody hates me, you know, the normal anxiety attacks. Even Charlotte's Web that's SUPER low THC gives me panic attacks.

It's like my body hates it when I'm happy? I would give anything to be able to fix this problem.

I also get what I would describe as "near" panic attacks when I smoke (about once every two weeks, with friends). I realised that after about 15 minutes or so it cools down and I feel, perhaps, more relaxed than before I started. Purely anecdotal but I feel you. Maybe a bit of cooldown and good company helps with the paranoia.

So, I sort of get these from time to time, but I notice that it hits the worst when :

1. I've eaten like crap. Things too heavy I'm grease, processed food, and red meats. When I'm rating cleaner, I don't feel as panicky

2. If I feel the panic coming on, I HAVE to do some sort of aerobic exercise in that first 15 minute "induction" phase of smoking. Otherwise I'll carry the panic along through the entire session.

FWIW, YMMV

Yeah my defact is to run 5k at my pace (mild jog is fine), and just not use my screens + do not disturb mode, until i have a series of thoughts that invokes me to use my phone as a "lifeline" to quickly look up what I need to get to my next thought.

5km goes by fast! And orange juice tastes great after.

Have you tried edibles or another method than smoking?

I have not done weed for ages, but while smoking would always give me anxiety, vaping much less so.

Yes and they cause panic attacks, but they last even longer. So that's cool.

Always thought that panic attacks were caused by too low CBD in regards to THC levels.

Saw someone literally suggesting keeping a CBD vape pen just in case of a panic attack. Or a friend using it for heart palpitations.

Wasn't the amount of THC concentration in resin seen as the indicator of potency? Then that amount was hacked through selective breeding, unbeknownst that not following with a complementary increase in amount of CBD will create an anxiety causing superdrug.

I experienced it once - on a party in a country where CBD strains are legal to buy by anyone, as long as they contain ~0%THC. And high quality high THC strains can be bought at a pharmacy with a prescription.

A friend rolled a 50%/50% joint, approx 0.5g total, and we proceeded to smoke it whole, just the two of us. I was surprised you could get that high without a shadow of a paranoia.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23042808/ + https://terpenebeltfarms.com/blogs/indica-vs-sativa-terpenes... gives a good picture, but yeah you're generally correct.

In legal states in the US it’s fairly easy to find commercial 1:1 THC:CBD products, among a litany of mega-potent THC-only options.

I never particularly cared for cannabis in general in the past–it didn’t give me panic attacks, but even a little bit made me feel kind of on edge. The 1:1 stuff is dramatically more pleasant.

So Charlotte's Web is super high CBD and extremely low THC. That's why I picked it. And it still makes me have anxiety attacks. It's very upsetting, as that was the one thing I could do to relax and sleep, and now even that is ruined.

Maybe it's just getting older? Who knows. I just wish I could get high a couple of times a week so that I sleep more than 2 or 3 hours.

Weed started doing the same thing to me in my mid to late 20s. What used to be relaxing suddenly turned into anxiety and negative thought spirals.

A couple years ago (around 40) I started taking a low dose antidepressant for unrelated reasons and noticed that the weed induced anxiety mostly disappeared. My guess is that for some people there’s a serotonin/anxiety component that THC can amplify, but that’s just speculation on my part.

Not suggesting antidepressants as a solution by themselves. They come with their own tradeoffs and I wouldn’t take them just for that. But it has been a pleasant side effect I didn’t expect.

Wow, Charlottes Web is such unique strain. I'm always on another planet no matter what the THC is advertised.

I feel like that strain is for EXPERTS. You can always mold it to the vibe you are aiming to reach in that present (ofc in the appropriate environments).

Do you feel like the anxiety just the cascaded result of ... "poor planning" over an extended, day-over-day staggering, sleep-deprived, period of time? I consider my self naturally the poorest of poor planners. My brain is just RAM with zero cache that i always imagine that I have. I've had weeks wiz by if I do not get on top of a fun, MJ propagandized base routine / schedule in place.

Apologies! Worse case, this could just be a swing and a miss. Empathies attempted.

Charlotte's Web is what I picked because it's so so so low THC content. I'm usually pretty on the ball, and the things I have panic attacks about aren't things that actually bother me when I'm sober. It's like I become hyper critical of myself and over analyze every decision and conversation I've ever had. It's not good.

How low was the % of THC in the Charlotte’s Web?

Full spectrum hemp (~0%) definitely feels like the answer, here!

It's like 0.3%. so pretty much as low as you can get while still having some THC.

Does hemp have the same relaxing qualities?

Good hemp does.

Terpenes are the secret to cannabis.

Most cannabis has terpenes as a consequence.

Some cannabis has terpenes as a priority. This is the best cannabis.

The “essential oil” of the cannabis plant.

Any suggestions on the hemp or strains of THC? Hemp products make me kind of uncomfortable just because of the lack of regulation. God only knows what's in some of those things. Anyway, any brand recommendations?

Checked the brand I used to use when I needed it - they’re no longer selling hemp flower - just THC A.

Look for brands with lab tests that include terpene levels, and mycotoxins/solvents, for best results!

>mycotoxins/solvents

Care to explain this? Or what I'm looking for with terpene levels?

My experience buying pot is two things

1. Before it was legal you got whatever bullshit they had.

2. Asking the worker at the dispensary for the lowest possible THC containing strain.

> Or what I'm looking for with terpene levels?

Simply them being on the lab test is a huge green flag for quality/safety.

Most fly-by-night ops and money-grubbers will perform and post the legal minimums (at best).

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