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Invisible manwith thesee-through mind


Registered: 05/31/06
Posts: 163
Loc: Ontario, Canada
Last seen: 14 years, 9 months
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Blacking out from marijuana
#5915162 - 07/30/06 02:40 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Okay, before i get into this, let me give you a bit of information about myself, that may be useful. I have been a regular marijuana smoker for about a year now, meaning daily. Up until yesterday i have not had any problems, other than mild dependence, either.
However, i recently took a 3 week break, cold turkey. Since then, (it has been about a week since the break)i have only smoked about 5 times, including yesterday, the time of the 'incident'. It should also be noted that the 4 or so times that i smoked in the past week, nothing out of the ordinary happened, other than the marijuana affecting me more, due to my tolerance being lower, for obvious reasons.
What happened yesterday: i was at a local music/crafts festival from about 1:00 in the afternoon. It was a very hot day, and i spent the majority of it standing up/in the sun. I did not drink too much either, less than half of a 500ml bottle of water, and about 20oz of lemonade, and a coffee early in the morning. Anyway, later that evening, myself and a few friends were near the stage for the last concert of the day. I was very hot. We decided to get high, so a friend pulled out a joint. Being passed around, i was able to get two long hits. My first clue something was wrong, was the weed hit me hard and fast. Even with a low tolerance, two drags from a joint hit me harder than a few bowls of hash plant smoked from a pipe did days before. It did not smell or taste like particularly good weed either, just mids, but i may be wrong.
Anyway, things were going fine, other than me being unusually high. I was enjoying the music, but i was feeling and acting very clumsy, stepping on toes and elbowing people. This made me anxy too, i started feeling bad and nervous, like everyone was thinking i was a freak or something, even though nobody was really watching me. Shortly after, things went bad. I became very tired, wanting nothing more than to sleep right there. I kept wanting to close my eyes. Looking up at the stage, my vision started to blur, then darken, then blur and darken. It went from being like i had just rubbed my eyes, to barely being able to make out shapes. Within about 10 seconds(just a guess) i had lost my vision completely. I could tell my eyes were still open, i just could not see. I then felt very confused. I did not know if i was on the ground or not. I could not see, but i felt everyone was in a circle around me. Someone kept asking me if i wanted them to get me out of there. I did not recognize the voice. I kept saying no. I saw the person asking me was wearing orange, i think. I realized i was standing. People went back to paying attention to the show. I did not know what direction i was facing, i realized it was not towards the stage. I eventually regained my vision completely.
At this point i realized i was sweating profusely. I felt cool, and good. I did not feel very high any more. I began enjoying the show again, still sweating though. I learned that i had fallen, but was caught, so as to not come close to reaching the ground. I could not explain what had happened. People were worried about me, but i felt alot better.
I though i was fine, when things went downhill again. Lots of the things i felt before i passed out the first time began happening again (feelings that is, i just felt like crud). My vision began leaving me again, when i told two friends, and asked if i could hold on to them, cause i knew i was going to pass out again. I lost vision, and awoke. I asked if i had passed out again, they said yes, but i knew, as they told me, it was for a much shorter time (all of what happened the first time happened again, but alot quicker, especially the recovery). After more sweating, i began to feel just burnt out and tired. I felt relatively sober at that point and the concert was ending.
I left, and made it home alright, and was completely sober by that time. I felt tired, somewhat confused, and really thirsty. I drank alot and ate some salty snacks(to help absorb it). I did not pass out again that night, and feel completely normal today, other than being a bit tired.
Thank you very much if you have read this far. Could i please get some input/ thoughts, or advice concerning this, such as what the causes may be. Thank you all very much.
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browndustin
dustybuddy

Registered: 10/03/03
Posts: 2,957
Last seen: 9 years, 8 months
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Re: Blacking out from marijuana [Re: Placeholder]
#5915182 - 07/30/06 02:48 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I never read your whole post but it sounds like it was heat exhaustion, dude. Don't take bong rips in the sun.
I've felt like shit from smoking in the sun. I'll only smoke a relaxing doob if there's shade, plenty of water (preferrably close to home, a river or lake) and a good atmosphere. It's easy to get dehydrated when you're smoking in the sun.
-------------------- When the stress burns my brain it's like acid raindrops maryjane is the only thing that makes the pain stop
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Invisible manwith thesee-through mind


Registered: 05/31/06
Posts: 163
Loc: Ontario, Canada
Last seen: 14 years, 9 months
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Re: Blacking out from marijuana [Re: browndustin]
#5915190 - 07/30/06 02:51 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Thanks for the reply...i smoked in the evening, and the sun was not strong at all at the time, although i was still tired and down from spending the day in the sun
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tomk
King of OTD

Registered: 09/22/04
Posts: 1,559
Loc: PNW
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Re: Blacking out from marijuana [Re: Placeholder]
#5915205 - 07/30/06 02:56 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I can answer your questions.
What you are describing is low blood pressure.
Marijuana affects your blood pressure and your blood sugar (marijuana's effect on blood sugar is partially responsible for munchies). Being in the sun all day affects your blood pressure a lot. Being dehydrated during a heat wave at an outdoor concert affects your blood pressure by reducing the volume of blood in your system. Caffiene leaving your system from earlier affects your blood pressure.
Here is what happened. You were standing around with your friends and you smoke a joint. Because you are already dehydrated and in the hot sun, the THC hits you hard, and your blood pressure drops. A few minutes later, the marijuana affects your blood sugar. The effect of your low blood pressure amplifies the drop in blood sugar caused by the pot. The more you move, the lower your blood pressure goes, and, because of the low blood sugar, this causes your body to just run out of energy, so you pass out. While you are passed out, you conserve energy. Then you get up, feeling better, and start to move around, dehydrated, in the hot sun. So, your blood pressure starts to drop again, amplifying the low blood sugar caused by the weed, and you pass out again. This time, you recover faster, because the marijuana and it's effect on your blood sugar is leaving your system.
Next time, do these things. First, skip the coffee, especially if you're going to be in the hot sun all day long. Second, drink a lot more water. You should be drinking 8-16 oz of water per hour while partying in the hot sun. Third, eat some fruits and carbohydrates before the show, and throughout the event. Cliff bars are good, bananas, apples, shit like that. Fourth, have some sugary snacks on hand in case you start to get this again. Finally, as soon as you start to feel this way, sit down in the shade, and force yourself to drink an entire bottle of water. This will increase the volume of blood in your system and raise your blood pressure back up. Then, wait so long it feels like you've waited too long. Then, wait some more. Then slowly roll to your side and stand up over a period of a couple minutes.
If you do pass out again, do not stand back up, stay laying down, stay cool, drink water, eat some sugary snacks, and wait wait wait wait wait.
-------------------- "I am eternally free"
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tomk
King of OTD

Registered: 09/22/04
Posts: 1,559
Loc: PNW
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Re: Blacking out from marijuana [Re: tomk]
#5915227 - 07/30/06 03:01 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Also, don't take a bunch of rips off a joint of unknown potency after a long hiatus. Take a small puff first time around and wait to see how potent it is before you go nuts.
Also, for clarification, the clumsiness, loss of balance, etc, are symptoms of low blood pressure. The feeling bad malaise is a blood sugar thing, and the anxiety is a combination of the novelty of your situation, combined with the weed and malaise from the blood sugar.
-------------------- "I am eternally free"
Edited by tomk (07/30/06 03:05 PM)
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Placeholder
Invisible manwith thesee-through mind


Registered: 05/31/06
Posts: 163
Loc: Ontario, Canada
Last seen: 14 years, 9 months
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Re: Blacking out from marijuana [Re: tomk]
#5915308 - 07/30/06 03:28 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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Thank you very much Tomk, that explains everything and puts my mind at ease. I will take your advice next time...i knew i should have been drinking more, but shit was expensive, i am broke, and being an outdoor event the only water was from portable hand washing stations clearly marked unsafe for drinking...but you're absolutely right, thanks
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browndustin
dustybuddy

Registered: 10/03/03
Posts: 2,957
Last seen: 9 years, 8 months
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Re: Blacking out from marijuana [Re: Placeholder]
#5915845 - 07/30/06 06:07 PM (17 years, 6 months ago) |
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I live on the west coast of canada and even though it's mild weather, I've gotten heat exhaustion far too many times. When your blood pressure drops and sugar levels drop, you get really etchy. I hate that familiar feeling. I actually had that exact problem last week and had to come home early from a camping trip.
I always walk around with a liter of water or keep a milk jug full of water and BCAAs lol You never know when you might start feeling like shit. Water cures just about everything (except hyponatremia lol).
-------------------- When the stress burns my brain it's like acid raindrops maryjane is the only thing that makes the pain stop
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ZippoZ
Knomadic


Registered: 06/17/03
Posts: 13,227
Loc: Pongyang, North Korea
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Re: Blacking out from marijuana [Re: browndustin]
#5918144 - 07/31/06 10:23 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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the disasociation sounds like dehydration to me, and with you only drinking aobut a quarter liter of water the whole time, being in the sun, especially with the recent heat waves.
now combine that with the blood pressure lowering of some cannabis and you have a pretty good chance of a physically adverse reaction.
if it happens again, let us know 
-------------------- PEACE
zippoz "in times of widespread chaos and confusion, it has been the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns, and philosophers - to create order. In such times as ours however, when there is too much order, too much m management, too much programming and control, it becomes the duty of superior men and women and women to fling their favorite monkey wrenches into the machinery. To relieve the repression of the human spirit, they must sow doubt and disruption" "People do it every day, they talk to themselves ... they see themselves as they'd like to be, they don't have the courage you have, to just run with it."
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Zen Peddler


Registered: 06/18/01
Posts: 6,379
Loc: orbit
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Re: Blacking out from marijuana [Re: ZippoZ]
#5936276 - 08/06/06 06:19 AM (17 years, 5 months ago) |
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Cannibis is a potent cause of postural hypotension - feeling out of it, dizzy, cant think straight, spaced out (more than normal )
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