Hypothermia

[moeburn]

I'm beginning to get very bad trips on weed, it has gotten as frequent as a 50/50 chance that i will have a very bad trip. My bad trips start about 45 minutes to an hour after smoking, usually after the high.

The symptoms of the bad trip include, in chronological order:
-Sudden feeling of being very cold
-Uncontrollable shivering
-Impossible to warm up by any means
-I'll glance at my hands, they will be blue and shriveled (no pictures taken yet, pretty sure its not a hallucination)
-Looking in the mirror, my eyelids are very bright red and swollen, i have extremely thick eyelids (no redness in the whites of my eyes though)
-Very hot feeling on the top of my head, like someone is resting a hot plate on my skull.
-Very difficult to feel my own heart beat, regardless of the shaking, it is too faint to feel.
-(embarassing) My dick shrivels up and goes inside of itself.
-My body temperature drops to 95.5

It is always a terribly frightening experience, every time it happens i swear to myself "This is terrible and isn't worth it, i'm never doing this again".
I'm usually too afraid to fall asleep, so i stay awake shivering until i pass out. In the morning i always wake up feeling perfectly fine, as if nothing ever happened at all. I even check my temperature after a bad trip, its always 98.6 or around.

Whats going on?

[WakingDream]

How long have you been smoking?

Have you been smoking from the same stash? could it be tainted?

Allergic reaction?

[notrightquite]

Is it all from the same dealer? You might be getting a strain that's too strong for you ... too much can cause a really bad panic. The temp change is likely just psyhosomatic. Try getting some different weed, and try not to think about it while toking up. It's kind of like an erection issue ... thinking about it will cause it.

ps. I'm so incredibly stoned right now.

[moeburn]

I dont know if its the strain, because i smoked 4 times as much from the same baggy last night, and my body temp only dropped to 97, and i didnt have any negative side effects.

I did a few things different:
-smoked inside, its fucking cold out there
-ate lots of fruit, i hadnt eaten fruit or vegetables for days
-made my place a few degrees warmer

[burritoesspecial530]

Ya i'd say the weed you're smokeing might be too potent for you right now. But you don't really seem like you're new to smoking, maybe you should just try some different weed.

[jonny]

Do you get a weird , umm, how to describe it, tingly/prickly feeling in your head, and do you sweat a lot at any point of the feeling very cold? as it starts to subside slightly...?

If so I have your answer, Post here if thats the case

[moeburn]

Do you get a weird , umm, how to describe it, tingly/prickly feeling in your head, and do you sweat a lot at any point of the feeling very cold? as it starts to subside slightly...?

If so I have your answer, Post here if thats the case
yes i feel the feeling in my head, and i always wake up in a pool of sweat after falling asleep like this.

[exogen]

bump... so, did you ever figure it out?

i've been feeling very similar to that lately (also not cuz of strain, etc.) so i was wondering what jonny had in mind in the above post....

hm.

[Storm Crow]

It's not all in your head!

A Cooling Effect From Cannabis?
CCRMG (http://ccrmg.org/journal/05aut/coolcannabis.html)

Marijuana Might Really Make You Cool
Marijuana Might Really Make You Cool: The Hempire - [cannabis, britain] (http://www.thehempire.com/index.php/cannabis/news/marijuana_might_really_make_you_cool)


You might want to have a nice hot cup of tea with your next joint.



Granny :hippy:

[Coelho]

i've been feeling very similar to that lately (also not cuz of strain, etc.) so i was wondering what jonny had in mind in the above post....

I THINK he was going to say that the weed was causing a sharp decrease in bloods pressure and/or blood sugar levels, as this can cause some of the described effects.

[JD1stTimer]

Marijuana causes significant changes to the circulatory system. Great for reducing blood pressure. If you take any prescriptions you need to consult with a doctor. If you are on blood pressure drugs especially, you may need to reduce the dosage but then you will need to either smoke on a regular basis or have two dosages, a regular dose for days you don't smoke and a reduced dose for the days you do smoke. Unfortunately, if you live in a more repressive state you may not feel comfortable asking your doctor. Thanks govt for keeping us safe!!!! I will say that I doubt your doctor will share that information if you consult with him about it. They are usually pretty good at using discretion.

Whenever I get high I know I'm good and stoned when my hands get cold. I mean the kind where you grab someones neck to give them the prickles. Blue fingertips cold. I have learned to just enjoy it, think of it as free air conditioning. Saves a fortune in the summer LOL.

But no one has ever died from weed. Accupril OTOH is another story.

[MelT]

This was something I suffered from for quite a time, and it's relatively common. It is very, very easy to stop in about five minutes, and doesn't require a tolerance break. Sorry yet again about the length of my posts, I though I might as well post the whole article, as it concerns 'dope-anxiety' too, as well as the effects the OP is asking about. If you're a regular smoker who has suddenly started getting effects similar to the OP's problems - as mine were - it could simply be caused by you changing the time you get high at. Read on:)


Overcoming Weed Anxiety
The causes of cannabis anxiety and paranoia are both mental and chemical. Although some episodes of anxiety can be created by your expectations and fears about having a bad high, or just simply taking cannabis, it's more likely that much of your discomfort is being created by the things I talk about below.

Changes in blood sugar levels can be responsible for pretty extreme effects (both good and bad) when you're high, so you have to pay real attention to it if you want to get, and keep, a good high. Too much blood sugar, from eating a lot of candy for example, and you get a rush as the cannabis high and the sugar high combine â?? but the sugar high is short-lived, and will make you want to fall asleep as soon as your system burns off the excess insulin that all the sugar has forced the release of. Too little blood sugar, and things go from uncomfortable to extremely unpleasant very quickly.

As you first start to get high, your metabolism may hike up a notch and cause a sudden dip in blood sugar. That's no problem if you've just eaten, but if you're already on the edge of being hungry without realising it, that first toke can make you feel pretty nasty in less than ten minutes. Never take the chance of getting high when you're somewhere without access to the right kinds of food and drink, just in case. If you have the added 'pleasure' of being a borderline diabetic and you don't know it, you could get into quite a state from just that one first high, if you're not careful.

In terms of the things that make you feel mentally and physically good or bad, blood sugar is way up there with the best of them. As the effects of even slightly low blood sugar can be so extreme as to literally stop us thinking clearly and sanely, it has to be something to consider all the time you're high.

4.20, And Why It May Be Bad For Us
There are good reasons why the traditional idea of starting toking at 4.20pm may not be the good idea we all tend to think it is. Many regular cannabis users begin their day's session in the late afternoon as work is winding down, and maybe an hour or two before their evening meal â?? just at the very time when their blood sugar is already on the wane. If this is you, you'll more than likely feel a lot of the symptoms below within ten minutes or so of getting high. Eat! Better still, make sure that you've eaten well in advance of getting high.

For any cannabis user, even without food binges, the increase in metabolism that cannabis may create burns off blood sugar very quickly, so you're much more likely to have the symptoms listed below. Look out for any of the following as indicators of low blood sugar:

Sweating, shaking, anxiety, hunger, dizziness, faintness, pounding heart, personality changes, confused thinking, impatience, numbness of lips and tongue, headache, nausea, blurred vision, slurred or slow speech, convulsions, coldness, white hands and face. Eventually, if it is not attended to, it can lead to unconsciousness.

Adrenaline & Cannabis
A second cause of dope-anxiety is something I term here the 'Adrenaline Cascade'; really a mild form of 'shock'. After any event that has made you anxious, the anxiety causes your system to dump adrenaline (also called epinephrine) into your blood-stream, creating a rapid heart-beat, a growing demand on your BSL, and thus deeper and deeper feelings of anxiety as your BSL levels drop. Of course, you'll usually find these effects uncomfortable or worrying, thus causing the release of even more adrenaline and a worsening of symptoms. This vicious circle of adrenaline release will be increasingly hard to overcome, and the deeper it gets the more likely it is to lead to a 'white-out' due to its depressive effects on your blood sugar.

Many things trigger the release of adrenaline:


Apprehension about potentially bad highs
Stress
Anxiety
Fatigue
Stimulants, such as alcohol, caffeine, cocaine, and heroin.
Bright lights
Loud noises
Exercise
Sugar sensitivity
Abnormal glucose metabolism


Again, do not underestimate the mental effects that adrenaline can cause by itself - irregular heart-beat, palpitations, abnormal behaviour, anxiety and headaches - even before it starts reducing our BSL to a point where it can no longer support full brain function (about 60% of our blood sugar is used by our brains).

Unfortunately, there's very little you can do to remove excess adrenaline from your system once it's in there, and it can only really be counteracted by 'nor-adrenaline', something that usually only our bodies can provide. It can be burned off by exercise, but if adrenaline has caused a very deep dip in your BSL then that may not be a viable option. The only things you can truly do are: eat to get rid of some of the more unpleasant symptoms; or, simply wait it out, knowing that it is a brief physiological effect.

I've seen a number of people offering advice to 'just suck it up and it'll go away' on this particular kind of anxiety and, to some extent that is helpful, as relaxing and trying to be calm will help break the cycle of adrenaline release. On the other hand, if someone is having an intense version of this then relaxing is far easier said than done and, if you should experience the above yourself, then you need to treat yourself as you would for low BSL and the effects of a grade 4 high (see later), removing yourself from any strong stimuli - lights, noises, etc. - that might help promote the effects of the high and further adrenaline release.

If we look at the actions of adrenaline in this respect then the mechanism that prevents this rise becomes obvious (remember that this same effect will be present in anyone who has a burst of adrenaline in their systems, not just diabetics): adrenaline prepares the body for 'fight or flight' in an emergency by increasing the supply of glucose and oxygen to the brain and muscles, whilst at the same time suppressing other less-important processes, digestion in particular. This means that the initial elevation in blood-sugar (through increased catabolism) may be short-lived, and whether it then leads to a later dip and anxiety is dependent on the amount of adrenaline present in the blood at the time. Not only does it reduce the bodies ability to take in new blood sugar to redress the balance, but it increases speedier depletion of stored blood sugar, preventing restoration.

Some people, particularly those with bad diets or who are subjected regularly to stress, may have semi-permanent hypoglycemia (a deficiency of glucose in the blood), resulting in adverse reactions to cannabis through their bodies inability to control adrenaline and/or cortisol through 'adrenal fatigue'.

Testing for Hypoglycemia
'Many more people believe they have hypoglycemia than actually test positive when given blood-sugar tests...
Dr. Callaway suspects that people can experience pharmacological effects from sugar, even if blood-sugar levels remain within the normal range. People's responses to fluctuating blood-sugar levels vary greatly. Some people experience symptoms when blood-sugar levels are well within the normal range, while others report no symptoms even when blood-sugar levels have dropped substantially. It is likely that each person has a unique blood-sugar range, with fatigue or mood changes occurring when levels fluctuate above or below these levels. (Pages 109, 112)' From: 'Food & Mood' Somer, Elizabeth, M.A., R.D. (Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 1999.)

The Answer:
Eat the right foods that will sustain your BSL through the high. Never get high when you're hungry or in the hour before you're expecting a regular mealtime, your BSL will be at its lowest then.

Article excerpted from 'Cannabis & Meditation â?? An Explorer's Guide'

[alexandra92]

i have exactly the same thing exactly the same. its unbearable. its almost a psychotic trance like state, and looking in the mirror at myself when its happening, is a really unpleasant experience. it happens even when ive had a small amount and ive been questioning why it happens for months..

[bubadutep75]

If you have never had this problem until you started smoking this bag then either it is too potent, tainted with pestisides or something or laced with angel dust or some medication to try and make it stronger try a new bag and see if that helps.

[Pounds]

Damn This weed sounds like some Bomb Shit for real Hypathemachron =]