Freakout on JWH-018

[EyeSpot]

Ok so I quit smoking weed this last weekend for a few months because I want to go back to school in spring and I'll need to find a less demanding job than mine and I want to be able to pass a drug test.

Last night I was at a bbq with some friends at a buddy of mine's house who is also trying to get a job and has subsequently started smoking this spice stuff (chemically JWH-018) that he buys from a head shop which gives you a weed like high. I have smoked it with him a few times before and managed to get pretty high off of it after smoking enough most of the time.

Well there was real weed and "diet", as we call it, weed being passed around last night and I decided to partake. The spice was a different brand then normal but I figured it was the same and shared a bowl with 4 people and then shared a large bowl with my buddy (this is the only indication of how much was smoked since it wasn't measured and I was only planning on having a pleasantly high experience.) Anyway, after finishing the second bowl and standing still for a second I noticed the backyard we were standing in switch from 3D to 2D and I realized I was a lot higher than I expected to be.

Most of the trip is very fuzzy now but I remember approaching my friends who werent experiencing what I was and trying to talk to them but not being able to follow what they were saying at all so I asked if we could go inside and sit down. They said yeah we should and we went in. I sat on the couch and felt my legs go numb and a very intense pulsating feeling coming from my crotch. It felt like I had to take a piss or I was going to piss or I just couldn't tell if I had to piss or not but it was a very overwhelming sensation and I had to keep reaching my hand down to see if I had pissed myself. And after a while I started to believe my hand was wet and had to keep looking at it to make sure I was just imagining the liquid feeling. After this persisted for a while I decided to go try and piss. So I went to the bathroom and tried to pee but couldn't and I decided I was safe and didn't have to pee. I went back to the couch but was certain I was gonna piss on it so I decided to lay on the hard wood floor so that if I did piss myself I wouldn't piss anyone off as badly as if I pissed on the couch. (I was seriously this fucked up from fake weed!!)

During this period on the ground I would try and sleep but couldn't and every time I closed my eyes I would begin to worry about dying from smoking this stupid synthetic shit that was natural like real marijuana. So to stop the dying I decided to get up and there were periods of walking around in circles and I remember people asking if I was alright but I was way past communicating. I also remember trying to play a game of chess with a friend but I don't know when this was because everything blurred a lot. There was one other guy there that was just sitting alone giggling and I remember I walked by him at one point and he told me he was freaking out the same as me but couldn't move. I told him I couldn't help him at the moment and kept walking around. I also distinctly remember seeing rainbow auras around my friends at different points in the night.

The thing is the entire time I knew I was just really high and I kept trying to let go and accept it and have fun with it but I couldn't. I think freaking out about having to pee was really fucking up the relaxation part. The good thing about the fake weed is it usually only last about an hour and last night it lasted exceptionally long but I still felt a dramatic comedown at about the 3 hour mark even though it felt like much longer.

This morning I decided to do some research on this chemical and I looked up JWH-018 on wiki and found out some interesting things. JWH-018 acts as a full agonist on your CB-1 and CB-2 cannabanoid receptors whereas THC is only a partial agaonist. THC has been shown to inhibit GABA neurotransmission in the brain via several pathways while JWH-018 is much more efficient in inhibiting these receptors which can lead to anxiety, agitation, seizures, and convulsions. So I guess this is serious shit that I took way too lightly!

I just thought I would share this and ask if anyone else has any experience with "spice" and/or freaking out on it. Also, the psychonaut in me is curious as to whether if I tried a large dose again being more mentally prepared if I could enjoy the large high or if I should just stay away from it. Either way it was an interesting learning experience.

 

[IJesusChrist]

60% of the time - ruff estimate - you're going to encounter anxiety again from this stuff. Maybe even from regular weed now.

You had an anxiety attack, but under the influence of a cannabanoid, which (even weed!) can be very intense and extreme.

I had the same experience multiple times on weed, except my sensation was blood - I thought I had broken my spine or tore a muscle in my back so bad that I was bleeding profusely through my shirt. I kept imagineing (AND FEELING) blood fill my body cavities - I was convinced I had about 30 mintes to live before I died from internal bleeding.

I collapsed on the floor once. I realized I should say something, but couldn't. I sat for a few minutes (this was at a party and nobody said a word to me) and I thought I was tripping myself up, so I got up again and tried to cool off. Instantly I "realized" no - I am dieing... I am bleeding! And fell to the floor again.

This time I watched my vision fade, and I felt as if I was going to fall asleep... and die.

I got up, curled into the fetal position for a while, and after about 45 minutes and after coming down I called my mommy hahaha and told her I wasn't coming home tonight - I'm too drunk.

Oh god, funny shit now that I look back on it.

It's cannabis psychosis, if it perpetually happens you're going to have an increasingly hard time hitting baseline... But if you obstain for a while (took me about 2 years before I could get high again and not freak the fuck out) you'll be fine.

Focus your attention on school and other stuff for now - no mind alterations.

 

[Teonanacapilli]

Yo IJC, just because you had an experience, doesn't make it a universal truth for similar experiences!

EyeSpot, thanks for the report man. Sounds like the stuff hit you hard in that environment, maybe it is worth investigating somewhere/someway else. In the woods or laying down in the dark, meditating...

 

[EyeSpot]

IJC it does sound like we went through a similar ordeal. I saw in another place on the forum that you were excited about being high again without freaking out which is awesome (and I was also wondering what happened, which has been explained now). Furtunately I only thought I was going to piss myself and then OD, not that I had broken my spine and was bleeding into my body. That sounds way more intense! Reguardless, you know as well as I do that I can't just take your advice and walk away . I'm much more inclined to take Nana's advice and see what happens next time I peek my head into the rabbit hole, probably in a more comfortable less crowded environment.

Thank you guys for your input and advice. The one good thing about bad experiences are that there are always others who have been there and who can show that it's still alright in the end.

 

[IJesusChrist]

As far as I'm concerned, you're all exactly like me!

But psychologically, no; what happened in my trip and other's is not identicle... to say the least.

Neurologically, however, the roots to the problem can be very similar, if not identicle. Such is the study of neurology...

So in the end, the results - neurologically will be the same. I can't say psychologically anything with any certainty.

 

[EyeSpot]

So I have to ask, IJC, after years of not smoking, how does it feel to get high again without freaking out?

Also, after your episode with marijuana how did you react to other psychedelics? Were you taking any or did you give up on all of them until you felt you were mentally ready to be high again?

 

[EyeSpot]

Also, meditation was a little different tonight (I was not able to meditate after the experience, I came home and went straight to sleep.) I do feel that I am in a little bit of a negative place. I don't know if this is because of the anxiety I experienced last night or if this caused said anxiety. It may take a little bit of time to realign myself with myself. :?:

Like I said I don't know how these things relate to eachother but I can now see the anxiety, now it's just a matter of recognizing it as an emotion and letting it pass.

 

[SlightlyAcidic]

Hey, first post here.

I've definitely had similar experiences with J-Dub. I smoked it everyday for about 3 months, and felt the same way a number of times. I now stay away from it altogether. I don't like the 2 dimensional world or the feeling that I might die, which I have gotten on a number of occasions.

 

[IJesusChrist]

The first time I smoked without the entire world seperating itself from me was great...

It's like getting on a roller coaster, going up to the top and screaming on the way down - with a smile on your face.

Rather than going to the top, trying desperately to get out of your seat, wondering if the screws are all tight and thinking this is the last time I'll see the sun.

I think that basically sums it up.

Of course not every time I smoked was that bad, I would usually just get a "Ahhh fuck... this again. Gotta stand 8 hours of panicing about nothing... occupy occupy."

Shrooms was a bad idea... well. At the time. The bad trip on shrooms I had after my anxiety on weed really changed who I am. I took 3 shrooms trips that held complete anxiety - I was just searching too hard to find an answer to my panic. Not a good route...