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Weed and Medication

It's a no-no!

By Jescina MillerPublished 6 years ago 7 min read
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When You Have Mental Health Problems...

Let me tell you my back story with prescription pills and marijuana. I'll back up and tell you that I have depression, anxiety (BAD), PTSD, and bipolar disorder. That is just the set up to my experience with mixing my actual medication and marijuana. All of my disorders combined makes me paranoid.

So, here is the story. My uncle had passed away about a week, maybe two weeks beforehand. We were really close and I was messed up. I was upset and angry. I wasn't eating. He had a friend who smoked weed. That friend had came over one day because we were giving him one of the puppies that had been born like a month before my uncle passed away.

Well, we asked if he had anything on hand that we could smoke. Mind you that I was on my prescription pills that my psychiatrist prescribed to me. I had been on them for over four months, maybe at the least.

The friend said yes, he had some on him and we could all pass it around and puff on it. He lit it up and that is what we did. It was him, me, and someone else I am close to. That someone else was on medication like I was but they only took maybe three hits off the joint. I had about six hits off it. (It was a big joint.)

I was standing up and all of a sudden, I started getting dizzy and light headed. There was a fuzziness I had never experienced before. So, I sat down on the couch. It happened so fast and so slow all at the same time.

I started laughing and I could feel my eyes crossing. I thought I was going to pass out. (And yes, it was real weed. I know fake weed can make you do this too.) The weed I smoked was just VERY STRONG. And it was a different strand of weed.That is besides the point.

Anyways, I felt all this going on and I guess the passing out is what made me panic. Man, did I PANIC! I sat up and put my arms around myself as tight as I could. I was rocking back and forth and counting. My vision went to tunnel vision.

I was aware of everything going on around me. I was aware of the sounds, smells, how cold it was, where everyone was at, and I told my mom to call the EMTs. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to slow down my heart rate.

The EMTs came and they checked my vitals. Blood pressure was fine along with everything else. It was just my heart rate. As fast as my heart was beating, I could have had a heart attack. My heart beating as fast as it was and the fact that I could have had a heart attack, that is what scared the living shit out of me. I was terrified! Especially since that is what my dad had passed away from earlier that year and my uncle had just passed away from.

Needless to say, my advice to anyone who is on medication that is given to them by a doctor, don't smoke weed with it. Especially if it is pills that you take for mental disorders. If you already know this, then great! I am proud of you that you do know this and hope you aren't doing what I did. If you didn't know this, well, now you do. I hope you never do what I did.

I felt lousy for at least a week. I thought I was out of it for only about 20 or maybe 30 minutes. But my mom said I was out of it for a little over an hour. Which made it even scarier.

After all that went down. I promised myself and being a person who believes in GOD, that I would not ever smoke weed again. And I haven't. I am honestly too scared to smoke it again. Which is something coming from someone who loved it at one point. But when I was doing it before, I wasn't taking medication that my psychiatrist was giving me.

I had to get reassurance from my psychiatrist, therapist, my mom, and case manager that the only reason I had a panic attack that big was because I mixed it with my medication. At that point, I was only taking 0.5mg of anxiety medication twice a day if needed. Since then, I am on 1mg of anxiety medication twice a day.

I don't take depression or bipolar medication because I exercise every day. Even when it's raining. If it is raining, I do in home exercising. When there is sunshine and warmth, I am out walking for 40 minutes and then I come home eat and do more exercises. That helps with my depression and bipolar disorder. That is for a different post though.

Back to promising GOD and myself that I would never smoke weed again. I did make that promise. I even promised my mom and everyone around me that I loved. Not just because it scared me but because I don't want a panic attack to get so bad that I do send myself into a heart attack. I'm not breaking this promise. It's too close to my mind and heart for me to break. I haven't ever really broke a promise I don't think of. But I'm not breaking this one.

If you aren't religious, that's okay. This is just my experience. This is what I wanted to do. I had to.

I guess what I want you to take from this story is that, your medication and weed, they don't mix. Especially when it is medication for mental health disorders. They didn't set right with one another and I could have been sent to the hospital or worse. But after the nice EMTs came to my rescue. Which I thanked them afterwards. They helped me a lot. The female EMT let me hold her hand while my mom rubbed my back to sooth me. The male EMT, I feel so sorry for him. I flirted with the guy. Not meaning to but I did because I was high. Because if I was sober, there would be no way I would flirt with anyone since I am so introverted.

I guess that is the funny part about it. The flirting with the EMT and that I wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which my brother kindly fixed for me. I even tried to hook the female and male EMT up. But they said no.

I am not against weed or anyone who does it. Some of my friends are pot heads. I just wanted to share my experience how it affected me when I was on my medication. So others wouldn't or won't do the same thing that I did and go through what I had to go through. It messed me up, I do believe. Like with my vision. I have had problems with that since it happened and just my head all together. I get sick when I smell it too.

So be safe!

What not to do when taking medication of any kind especially for mental disorders:

  1. Don't smoke weed on medication. Always ask your doctor.
  2. Make sure you have water around. To stay hydrated, it helps!
  3. If you are having a panic attack, make sure there is someone you know who will hug you and rub your back to help calm you down.
  4. Even if it is a mild panic attack, call the EMT. They were a lot of help when I did. I don't think I would have been able to slow my heart rate down without them.
  5. Always have food on stand by. You'll be hungry afterwards and sick. But you'll still want food.
  6. Get plenty of rest after it happens. I had to rest for at least a week because it wore my heart out.
  7. Ask your psychiatrist, therapist, doctor, and case manager questions like I did. Because they will tell you that was the reason you had the panic attack. They will tell you not to do it again too.
  8. If you get paranoid like I do, go get a EKG done. I was so paranoid for a month, I didn't eat or really sleep. I finally decided to call and make an appointment to see my PCP and they ran an EKG. Thankfully, my heart is all good. Thank you, GOD!
  9. THIS IS IMPORTANT! Make sure you take DEEP breaths. I was trying to do that and count at the same time along with naming off everything I saw around me and colors. I knew what to do when I had a panic attack, but it didn't work. That's why I want to refer you back to number three.
  10. Again DEEP BREATHS!
  11. Sleep.
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About the Creator

Jescina Miller

I am twenty-four years old and live in Tennessee. I love writing. I am an author. I enjoy word search. I long for people to be kinder to each other. Intimacy is more than just sex.

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