Severe anxiety & general malaise - could be from PAWS?

**Posts:** 1 · by **Redbricks22** » Fri Dec 06, 2019 6:58 pm

I am 48 and male. I smoked marijuana heavily for the past 27 years. I quit 90+ days ago.

I have been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder.

I currently take Gabapentin and have just started taking Hydroxyzine, both for anxiety. They may help somewhat. I still have severe anxiety. It could be worse without these meds. I also take Risperidone because I have heard chattering voices. This has cleared up since i stopped smoking marijuana. I have tried a dozen anti-depressants and none have helped with depression or anxiety.

This past year, I have started to experience health symptoms. I was smoking marijuana when they started. I get a weird tickling sensation in my abdomen from time to time. It lasts for hours. I also experience abdominal pains and cramps. They were really bad in weeks 4-6 after quitting marijuana but are much better now. I also get a weird general kind of malaise feeling, a feeling of unwellness. Someimes i have a full body kind of nausea with no vomiting.

My primary care provider has pressed on my abdominal organs and there is no pain or enlargement. My stools are normal. My bloodwork in June was normal, suggesting that I don't have cancer. I have been tested for anemia, liver, thyroid, and pancreatitis, all negative. My PCP suggested my abdominal issues could be irritable bowel syndrome and that my nausea could be anxiety related. He said that the malaise feeling could be anxiety related too.

The malaise feeling used to come and go. Now I experience it for several hours a day.

I have major health anxiety issues. I am in therapy, making little to no progress.

My anxiety has gotten worse since I quit marijuana. I constantly pace. I am unemployed and live with family. I am very restless and fret constantly about my health. I wake up after sleeping 5-7 hours with a weird restless anxious feeling. If I try to go back to sleep, I toss and turn until I finally give up and get out of bed.

Could these physical symptoms be caused by anxiety? I'm having a hard time believing this. I always feel like I must have cancer or something terrible. I Google my symptoms several times a day. I know that this doesn't help.

Could it be because of PAWS that my anxiety has gotten worse? I had anxiety before I quit marijuana but not this bad.

Thank you for reading this. Any help or insight would be appreciated! Thank you!

**Posts:** 9885 · by **Candid** » Sat Dec 07, 2019 8:36 am

Redbricks22 wrote:I Google my symptoms several times a day. I know that this doesn't help.

No, it doesn't.

What difference would it make if you knew your symptoms were withdrawal-related? You have to deal with them regardless of cause.

I know from personal experience that anxiety turns us into hypochondriacs, and that anxiety thrives on unstructured time.

Middle-aged and unemployed is enough reason for anxiety. Finding work of any kind would make a big difference.

I had anxiety before I quit marijuana but not this bad.

Question is whether you had it before you started, which you probably can't remember. Marijuana soothes anxiety -- that would explain why you took to it.

I'm sorry the meds don't work for you, but that just means you need to fix it yourself. A lifestyle change such as getting a job -- any job -- is well worth considering.

**Posts:** 24 · by **RosaD** » Sat Dec 14, 2019 4:40 pm

Hello everyone

Still in disbelief that cannabis is causing so many problems for people. But, I think back to when I tried the plant for recreational use -- I bought it off the street. I hated the experience -- especially the dry mouth, the foul smell, and raiding the fridge. Now that I use the herb for pain relief, I have no issues -- especially the need to eat. I obtain my medicine from a grower that grows for his own pain. In other words, the only thing on my plant is the plant itself. Again, I have no issues.

But, I still have problems with anxiety. I have had all the issues you described. I am posting to share that my anxiety gets so bad that I feared a heart attack. Severe anxiety can be so bad that cancer can seem like the ONLY likely answer. Get yourself checked out, but the answer may be the anxiety may wish you had the "C" word.

by **olympus92** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 11:57 am

hey mate,

firstly relax bro, better said then done but ill tell ya a bit about my PAWS experience. but yeah 100% google is god awful

so i smoked for 4 years and quitting was hard because i used it because of stress and depression etc. well since then it was a massive rollercoaster of symptoms and mental illness symptoms of depersonalization/derealization, severe anxiety, and when i say severe i mean to the point where a doctor gave me a antipsychotic (not sure why tho) but i took it twice because i was in such a panic with thoughts of hurting people and losing my mind which made me suicidal even though i wouldnt hurt any of the people i thought about. the sickness omg, some days id just stay in bed i was that crook and dizzy i could barely work or move, i had my gf stay with me everynight for almost 3 months and breakdown when she left for the night.

its such a hard thing having paws, you never expect what comes and google doesnt give that info because there isnt any real studies done on paws so you question what is actually wrong with ya

read some of the stories in the addiction section of the forum and youll read so many stories about peoples experience with PAWS that is actually a good comfort

my ways to cope are:
yoga: mainly breating techniques like 4:2:4
working out: weights to push your limit
diet: brown rice, chicken breast, brocilli and beans (healthy foods are important in this stage)
and activities when you do have a panick attack: reading, studying (whatever you want tbh greek myth, science, rocks just something to keep your mind active) drawing is pretty calming too, games (not dark ones, i mainly play fortnite because of the bright colours and its pretty fun, whatever you need to man

just remember this will pass, its only temporary, your brain is trying to get back to normal so its going to take some time yes but youll get there man we all beleive you can do it

-olympus92

by **olympus92** » Wed Jan 29, 2020 1:57 pm

Hey redbricks how are you feeling man

**Posts:** 21 · by **Rockszee** » Sat Jan 09, 2021 3:57 pm

Paws is real!! I quit thc edibles on November 11th after a year in a half. By the next day my heart started pounding and my head pulsating to the beat of my pounding heart and hasn’t stopped since. I was diagnosed with Cannabis Induced Anxiety Disorder and I have to take medicine to even function right now. I used it for sleep and a bulging disc and I didn’t even use it to get high. I actually hate the “high” feeling. These past 2 months have been the worst physically of my entire life and I wish I had never, ever, heard the words “recreational marijuana is now legal” I’m am just praying this isn’t my life for the next year or more, like I have seen a lot of other people have to go through.

**Posts:** 39 · by **FAITH** » Sun Jan 10, 2021 2:11 am

ROCHSZEE.... My main issues through all this is my heart. I’ve had 3 ekgs, a stress test, and wore a heart monitor for 12 days. The only thing that the cardiologist said was I have an irregular heart beat at times. I’m at 6 months and 10 days off weed. The heart palpitations were by far the most scary part of all this. I can say, now after 6 months, the heart does seem to be calming down somewhat. Still wake up with a racing heart but its starting to calm down quicker now. I’m new here and will post more later. My biggest issue now is sleep. I only can sleep on and off. Just maybe an hour or two, then wake up. When I do sleep pretty good which is rare, the next day my heart seems to do better. I hope I’m not stuck with the palpitations and pounding heart for ever. Like I said, it seems to be doing better. Have faith man and we’ll get through this.

**Posts:** 21 · by **Rockszee** » Sun Jan 10, 2021 3:07 am

Hi Faith. I was hospitalized for 3 days and they ran every test on my heart known to man the palpitations were so bad. They found 3 minor things that had already been there since before all of this from my high cholesterol. So, that is why it finally came down to the thc induced anxiety. Which the anxiety meds help so I can sleep. Before the meds I was not sleeping either. My heart would just pound all night and wake me back up as soon as I fell asleep. I will be 2 months on the 12th and I am praying I am not like this for many months like a lot of other stories I have read. I have a really helpful psychiatrist from UCLA so I am thankful for that if this does have to go on for extended amounts of time. I am sorry for what your going through. I will be praying for you to feel better.

**Posts:** 39 · by **FAITH** » Sun Jan 10, 2021 12:38 pm

Rockszee, hello, it’s me again. 6:37 a.m. here on the east coast, Sunday morning. Last night was another difficult night. Woke up several times during the night heart racing all over the place. Thought it might be sleep apnea, but the oxygen level in my blood is good every time I check it when I wake up. I have one of those things that clip on the end of your finger that tells your blood oxygen level and heart rate. Very inexpensive at most drug stores. My heart rate is usually around mid 50’s at rest sitting and reading. In bed it drops down in the mid 40’s. (Beats per minute). Right now it’s about 52 bpm lying here in bed. Thought I might give you and anyone else who’s interested a little info on my “thc quit” experience. I’m nearing 60 years old. I smoked in high school and some in college. I basically quit when I got a job after college. Went 34 years with out smoking...just rarely. Well after I retired, I decided to start smoking again. Big mistake. For the next 10 or 11 months I smoked and kept a buzz going all day long, 7 days after a week month after month for 10 or so months. I was turning in to a person I didn’t like. The main reason I quit was because of my faith and belief in God Almighty through Jesus Christ. I’m tired of typing now. I want to go walk on my treadmill (to cold to walk outside). It seems to help with my heart and my mental aspect dealing with this PAWS. AND I DEFINITELY APPRECIATE YOUR PRAYERS AND DON’T WANT YOU TO THINK FOR A MOMENT THAT I WON’T ALSO PRAY FOR YOU AND YOUR HEALTH. I will continue this and include my 6 months quit symptoms if you or some one else is interested.

**Posts:** 39 · by **FAITH** » Sun Jan 10, 2021 5:09 pm

I just read the forum rules and it said we weren’t supposed to discuss religion. Hope my previous post didn’t/doesn’t offend anyone. Sorry about that everyone and sorry to the moderators. I’m new here, just learning.

**Posts:** 21 · by **Rockszee** » Sun Jan 10, 2021 9:46 pm

Hi Faith, sorry you had a bad night. I totally have been there. The THC of today is not the THC of our youth, so it’s causing a ton of issues for people when they quit, like anxiety and the palpitations. Also it is causing these issues while people are actively using the THC. Maybe you could talk to your doctor or something and get some kind of medicine for the anxiety you are having at night so you can get some sleep, that’s what i had to do.

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