How Cannabis Is Making Your Anxiety Worse

How Cannabis Is Making Your Anxiety Worse

[MontySingh]

So the key is to keep taking cannabis indefinitely! 👍

[naominekomimi]

To be fair, this is true of anything that helps anxiety. If you stop taking an SSRI for anxiety or a benzo for anxiety you'll see exactly the same effect. This is literally just pointing out that if you medicate with something and then stop medicating with that thing, you'll have rebound effects if you go cold turkey. Not sure why you'd act like this is specific to one thing.

[distortedreality]

This is the effects for most drugs used for depression/anxiety however it was easier to quit cannabis than it was to quit effexor.

[wannabetrucker]

I would think the answer is to deal with the source of anxiety, but I'd rather be around a doper than a drunk, if i had to pick...(Which i dont anymore 😊)

[Ang-np]

I’ve experienced this. My anxiety is much better now; granted, I’ve improved many other things at the same time, such as diet and exercise. Quitting weed helped me improve those things, and made my brain yo-yo around a lot less, chemically.

[CrashHeadroom]

Can't say it made my anxiety worse. Ya know what does though? The state of the world, the fact most people will spread crap behind your back because they are cowards and many more such things :) Weird how there is alot of anti weed stuff on youtube lately yet the harder stuff is still percisting everywhere on the streets and even defended by those in power. Weird that huh?

[Alexander-iqyq]

I never understood people who say it helps their anxiety. I always feel like someones about to knock on my door with an emergency the whole time.

[PureWhiteBlue]

I had to quit ten years ago for my job, and I was smoking 2 and half ounces month so I did enjoy it... however my mum said that will stuff will make you anxious and paranoid. My response was always to bladdy right it's illegal here!!!! 😂 On a serious note if you're having trouble speak to someone.

[tamelatoggle]

fingers on your hand represent
people, no two are alike .
this Dr will write prescription
for medication that have consequences
far bigger than anxiety .
and that's the truth .
cannabis is a medicine that helps
millions .

[abilm]

Unfortunately doctors are very reluctant to do anything useful about anxiety so I understand why people will self-medicate. I personally ended up having a panic attack so bad that I ended up in A&E convinced I was about to die so I won't touch the stuff anymore, but I get it.

[technician]

Well that’s BS. I smoke heavily and have for YEARS, and i don’t find there’s any difference when i take breaks for a bit. What suppose Xanax are better hey? 😂😂 Like it’s a plant that’s been consumed by humanity since we started cultivating plants… so much so that we have a two part nervous system that’s directly linked to it. So idk, maybe just leave stoners alone…. we know what’s best for us. It’s highly dependent on the individual themself, while some people just shouldn’t smoke it at all… other people are just better off smoking it. 🤷‍♂️

[joshibrahim]

I agree, generally that’s true. If you’re medicating with weed for anxiety probably not the best. Keep it for Friday nights with boys playing Mario party instead.

[Menno_]

Cannabis actually makes me have a panick attack

[phaedk.]

That is interesting and makes a lot pf sense! However isn't that roughly the same case as the prescribed medicine for anxiety?

[theendofmyropemydude]

Most psychiatric medications work this way, yes.

You treat symptoms and if you stop they return along with medication withdrawal

[CricketFrog]

This definitely can be the case, especially in countries like the UK where effective, medical grade cannabis is highly inaccessible. As such, your research is substantially behind that coming out of the US, where marijuana has been cultivated for easing specific symptoms, and has been shown to be much more effective at it than UK street weed. Treating cannabis as if it is this One Thing that does One Thing is reductive. The cannabinoid system in the human body is vast and has a wide variety of effects that research is continually showing has therapeutic value for physical pain, cancer patients quality of life and nausea, and mental illness.
Yes, there are effects of coming off of it. But nothing nearly as severe or physically harmful as quitting psychiatric medications cold turkey.
I absolutely respect your medical degree and expertise Dr Gill, but our understanding of the human body changes all the time, and it might be worth looking deeper into this research and learning more from places where cannabis is better regulated and cultivated for specific outcomes than the effects of UK street weed.

[CatastrophicalPencil]

@drjamesgill, does cannabis have the potential to become addictive in the same way that caffeine and tobacco does? Or is an "addiction" more of a psychological dependence in this case? Is there a difference between the two?

[aintnobodygottimedat]

Maybe for short term absolute rubbish regarding anyone using it for 3 months+

[cleocatra]

I’ve never used weed because I always felt it would just make things worse.
Currently giving up drinking way too much

[isakrynell]

Yes but this is true of all anxiety medicine and benzodiazepines are in fact way more addictive and have way worse withdrawal symptoms.