Is there any way I can control my high?

[toogoodforyou]

PsycheSmirk maybe its paranoid personality disorder which gets intensified after you smoke up?? or maybe your tolerance is pretty low.... you don't usually smoke as much others or as often as others?? Having a low tolerance is a good thing actually. I like to keep mine low by taking breaks in between.

Stop smoking for a weak or two and practice some breathing technique suitable to you as somebody said. I'm sure that will get your anxiety down.

 

[MelT]

cannabis doesnt lower blood sugar. its a myth

the literature is out there if you are interested>>

Hi Mr Smith. TBH, the literature isn't out there. And despite evidence that it helps control diabetes in some people, there is not one single study currently available concerning the use of marijuana and diabetes. The effects of it on the endo-cannabinoidal system are only just beginning to be understood, and no research has ever been carried out in that respect, because it really isnt as simple as just giving a group of people cannabis and testing their BSL.

There is masses of anecdotal evidence from diabetics (my sister included) who have shown over long periods of time - through self-testing - that cannabis helps them control BSL and I'm happy to provide links from these people. As I say above it, certainly isn't everyone and not all diabetics, the right circumstances have to be in place for this to happen. But happen it does, and very regularly in my experience of being around users for the last 30 years.

If it really isn't BSL, then why has a slice of bread or a few dates turned some particularly nasty highs around in less than ten minutes? Are all the diabetics it does help, wrong?

>>
obtain a blood sugar test kit and do the tests yourself.>>

Obviously, that was my first step, and the many diabetics above too. And yes, it does lower my BSL, particularly if I'm cold or already hungry. It also seems to sometimes prevent restoration to normal BG levels too. It doesn't affect me in the same way every day, because so many factors are involved, but it's certainly a real, provable effect.

>>there is no way to control a high but there are many ways to control yourself. anxiety and paranoia can be controlled through daily meditation, or through cognitive techniques. if you are prone to anxiety and/or paranoia i suggest learning a meditative technique, or at least a breathing technique, and taking control of your own body

>>

When I first started to get this I had been a meditator for about 15 years, meditating in daily sessions covering about 6 hours of each day. I'm now a 'full time' Buddhist (Nyingma Dzogchen), and I teach and write about meditation. Meditation can help existing problems of (straight) anxiety and help you cut it back a notch or two so that it's easier to cope with when high. It can also be used very effectively to explore the high and deepen it - or deaden it. Unfortunately, there is nothing in meditation that will help overcome the effects of a sudden dip in BSL, that is beyond all forms of mental control. I could certainly retain dispassion from the general feelings of it, but the effects on mind and body become so deep that it quickly becomes impossible to think straight, let alone meditate effectively.

Again, I can only say that the above is a possible, something that people should look at next time they get a bad high. If it doesn't affect you and eating doesn't help, at least you've tried it.


MelT

 

[Mr.Smith]

.

 

[????????]

3-4 days without food is not starvation

yes. i tested that myself. i've felt differently about my stomach since then. nowadays i eat 2 times a day and if and when i partake in eating plenty, the next day i only feel like eating once.

 

[MelT]

MelT - have you tried Taoist meditative techniques? as an ex Buddhist and practicing Taoist ive realised Taoist techniques to be most usefull in relation to body awareness.

it is possible, with some discomfort, to condition yourself to become less sensitive to low blood sugar (unless you are diabetic) by "running on empty" for extended periods of time. we are spoiled in the west. 3-4 days without food is not starvation

Nice to hear someone doing an interesting style. I've only recently begun to explore Taoism over the last few weeks and have read a number of texts, but not actually practiced anything I've read. It's good stuff, and I've been struck by the similarity of it to some aspects of Dzogchen and other higher Buddhist teachings, including some parts of Vajrayana (the Tantric branch of Tibetan Buddhism). If you get a chance, you might want to check out some of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachings here: www.keithdowman.com

They tend to be far more direct than what people usually imagine Buddhist texts to be, and are particularly clear in the works of a very early writer 'Longchen Rabjam', well worth taking a look at if you get the chance. Any decent Taoist texts you can point me towards?

You can certainly condition yourself to run on lower and lower BSL, I did a few daft months of ascetism (I know, it seemed a good idea at the time with deep fasting and dark retreats and all the rest of it. It had some bonuses, but it was easy to let myself get to a quite dangerous point if I didn't attend to low BSL. I got a couple of bouts of hyperthermia as a result, and a couple of occassions where I passed out - but really it was the impact it had on my cognitive ability that was the worst. It will always get to a state when there's just nothng you can do that's worthwhile because your brain runs out of stores and starts to shut down.

For me, having the right BSL as I meditate means that it's easier to relax and stay mindful, and easier to maintain metta too. I'm sure that others will be able to cope with it far better than I did, but I don't think there's any point once it does get around dangerously low levels.

Just for my records, do you have any data from your tests still at hand? Particularly the second test after the high and its timing if that's possible? Even a rough idea will help, thanks.

MelT

 

[Mr.Smith]

.

 

[MelT]

Tao Te Ching, naturaly
Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zi) if you can find a translation
Daozang (Treasury of Dao). the first part of the Daozang is concerned with meditation and has been described as "highest level of initiation for a Daoist master"
relating to Taoist meditative techniques it is worth finding a good teacher at first. there are subtleties that can not be learned from any book. your local Tai chi (taiji) instructor will teach you, or recommend somebody who can

Even the finest teaching is not the Tao itself.
Even the finest name is insufficient to define it.
Without words, the Tao can be experienced,
and without a name, it can be known.

Thanks for the above, I've read a couple, I'll find the others, thanks. The quote above is very Dzogchen. I must dig you out a couple of things you might like

I already practice Tai Chi, but it's just something I was taught by my Aikido teacher about 25 years ago, some of it's correct, some not so much I tdo it every day and try to hold the right aspects in place, but I'm mainly doing it to help relax and bring me closer towards a nice relaxed 'immediate awareness' (a kind of 'rigpa' if you're familiar with the term from Buddhism?) and presence - so I'm not doing it strictly correctly.

MelT

 

[tryptonaut]

Lately I've been getting pretty disturbing and unpleasant highs... or at least, they're unpleasant when I'm with people and smoke, which is usually how I smoke. If I'm by myself I don't have a problem with it because I have no one to be embarrassed in front of. :?

Okay, so basically, the first effects that tend to come on is the usual (well, at least for most people I know) hazy vision, the beginning feeling of transition of normal thinking to a head-change, and a warm tingly feeling throughout my body.
A couple minutes later, things are starting to get pretty different. My surroundings seem to melt away and it feels like I'm somewhere else. I kind of just look around at things and stare at them as if I have no clue what it is. People's voices distort and sound like something else. I hallucinate that I'm walking backward or forward, and that people are saying something completely different than what they're actually saying. This is when the people I'm with usually look at me oddly, because while they're still passing around the second joint just finishing off their like, 8th hit, I'm pretty much tripping on just one big hit of the stuff.
Minutes after that, physical effects come on, and come on hard. My whole body shakes, and my muscles and nerves start twitching like CRAZY and I can't stop it. Along with this, my whole body sort of pushes itself outward. For instance... I push out my stomach, and I exhale really hard (this is probably just because I'm short of breath...). And all those things I do, I am not aware of doing unless I actually stop and think about what I'm doing.
Then my mind starts messing with me and my high/"trip" gets to the disturbing part. I feel like everybody that I walk by is talking about me and knows that I am high. I feel like the people I smoked with are thinking badly of me and they're planning to ditch me somewhere and/or get someone to like... beat me up or something like that. It's weird. And when this starts happening my whole high gets just about ruined.


So... while all of this is unpleasant when I'm with people, it's very cool when I'm alone and just laying down, because I can think my weird thoughts and not have to care about communicating with people.
But since half the time I smoke I'm with people, I need to know if there are techniques or something to control yourself.
Thanks.

That sounds exactly like what I was getting... I had always been getting that feeling a little until I smoked more. When I was used to smoking a lot, this all disappeared - and then it suddenly returned and became stronger.
I actually quit smoking weed because of that feeling around people.

Today I'm smoking a little sometimes when I'm around people, but just a little. When I'm alone I can smoke more, but I have to say weed is tripping me out a lot. It always feels like I'm totally losing control of my brain. It is much more psychedelic on me than it used to be in the past.

The only advice I can give you is trying to reduce the amount of weed you smoke when you're around people. Not smoking any at all is the best solution. Sorry to say that, but for me it's true. I tried and tried again a thousand times - I just can't get really high around people anymore.

 

[st.bot.32]

I totally understand--weed trips me out. I get visionary and synesthesic experiences really easily on it.. it makes me ridiculously creative but at the same time I can't do any small talk. Hence I often prefer to toke alone. But sometime last year I started to occasionally do it socially to switch up my setting-I feel I can sometimes get more out of my experience by putting myself around people as long as they're cool. I also discovered that when I'm around people the key is to stop thinking about myself and start focusing on others and be empathetic, a good lesson in any case..

Since then I've found there are certain people I can get ridiculously high around and it doesn't bother me at all. Generally these are people I don't feel that I have to maintain an illusion of normality around. We often end up sharing/listening to music, maybe playing a game, doing something creative, making use of the altered state we are in.

 

[LsDxMdma]

the reasons you(PsycheSmirk) described are the reasons why i dont smoke anymore :!:

 

[tryptonaut]

Since then I've found there are certain people I can get ridiculously high around and it doesn't bother me at all. Generally these are people I don't feel that I have to maintain an illusion of normality around. We often end up sharing/listening to music, maybe playing a game, doing something creative, making use of the altered state we are in.

I have these people, too. But somehow I always feel like I am taken over by some outside force, and at the same time focussing on myself only. So, even when I feel good around people smoking weed, in the end I feel very disconnected from them, just like I had been taking a dissociative drug like dxm.
I don't know, even small amounts of mediocre hash tend to push me far away from myself, kind of. I feel like I'm really out of it and though I might be talking small-talk stuff, my feeling is like I'm far out on some weird drug and nobody's gonna listen to me anyways. Something like that...

 

[Nina_is_alive]

Lately I've been getting pretty disturbing and unpleasant highs... or at least, they're unpleasant when I'm with people and smoke, which is usually how I smoke. If I'm by myself I don't have a problem with it because I have no one to be embarrassed in front of. :

.... I feel like everybody that I walk by is talking about me and knows that I am high. I feel like the people I smoked with are thinking badly of me and they're planning to ditch me somewhere and/or get someone to like... beat me up or something like that. It's weird. And when this starts happening my whole high gets just about ruined.


So... while all of this is unpleasant when I'm with people, it's very cool when I'm alone and just laying down, because I can think my weird thoughts and not have to care about communicating with people.
But since half the time I smoke I'm with people, I need to know if there are techniques or something to control yourself.
Thanks.

That sounds exactly like what I was getting... I had always been getting that feeling a little until I smoked more. When I was used to smoking a lot, this all disappeared - and then it suddenly returned and became stronger.
I actually quit smoking weed because of that feeling around people.

Today I'm smoking a little sometimes when I'm around people, but just a little. When I'm alone I can smoke more, but I have to say weed is tripping me out a lot. It always feels like I'm totally losing control of my brain. It is much more psychedelic on me than it used to be in the past.

The only advice I can give you is trying to reduce the amount of weed you smoke when you're around people. Not smoking any at all is the best solution. Sorry to say that, but for me it's true. I tried and tried again a thousand times - I just can't get really high around people anymore.

I agree. Most people can just smoke alot and hangout together like it's nothing..but It isnt fun for me.
I can hardly form words to talk when I'm high, because its like my mouth sticks together and my thoughts slur...and socially it makes people just look at me like "what is wrong with her?" and it just makes me unfcomfortable or anxious. I also have this really weird fear latley....and it's been bothering me alot... It seems the past two times I have smoked with friends of mine who are guys [not one of my BEST friends either time, just decent friends] I get scared as hell that they are going to expect sex, or something dumb like that.
And I get paranoid and its just awful. I really am looking foward to smoking alone though, when I can actually find the time. because I think THAT is what I want, and that would be amazing, because every time I get high socially I feel best when I am coming down and I am home alone, comfortable and happy and safe, where I can be creative and think and listen to the music I want and surrpound myself with my own kind of energy

are my fears ridiculous too>? Idk if I should really ever smoke socially again, except for with a few SELECT friends maybe occasionally,
because people treat mj like it's nothing...and it really can be a psychedelic or a dissosiative or anything.
I find myself more social and happy and receptive when I am coming down,
I tend to coast for about 5 hours or so after the high at least...
I can feel a high that happened at noon until I fall asleep, even if just barely.

That happened today, I smoked the most I ever have and it was just half pleasant half unpleasant in the situation I was in...

. I think you should just be careful and smoke only where you are truely comfortable doing so.
we have to respect mj, more than we probably do, it isn't soo casual for alot of us.

 

[Crimzen]

if you dont enjoy smoking socially then i suggest to do it at home alone or with your best friends if they smoke
then after you're more used to the effects etc. you could try doing it socially again if you wanted to

 

[st.bot.32]

What worked for me in the end (and this is just me of course), since weed is pretty much a psychedelic in my books, was to spend time thinking about my social fears and hangups and where they were coming from. In the end I got quite a few surprisingly accurate insights out of this process, and like I said generally being around people who are cool doesn't bother me anymore. Actually, now I don't like to toke alone all the time--I find I actually need to do it with other people on occasion or it will become far too introverted/alienating a presence in my life.

 

[Illegalsmile]

i have a question about something i did when i first started smoking
it could have been mind over matter but it worked for me at the time
when i was too high and going places in public before talking to people i would take a slow deep breath and hold it for a little
it felt like my high went down for a little bit but
letting my breath out made it all come back
i havent done this lately because now its harder to get too high but i would appreciate any 2nd opinions

 

[Nina_is_alive]

I am happy to say

that today was my first night smoking mj alone
and I just had one tinyyyyy hit off a joint
and I dont mean to be overdramatic

but I don't remember the last time I felt this amazing!!!
Like really: every cell in me just feels like this calm floating euphoria

this is not at all like smoking as I have before
I love how I feel
haha

I know, I sound like a n00b, but I just hadd to report this

 

[st.bot.32]

happy toking

 

[????????]

ah now you see what it is to have the brain free of the load of social expectations, machinations and general calculations that are underway when we are in the company of others

to me toking with and withouth people are different activities; i even do more of the latter.

 

[bebbolo]

Valerian, little break. All ok