Question. Does marijuana affect the heart in adverse ways? Something that scared me quite a bit once, just happened again. I smoke. Not too much. (Only two hits this last time, out of a pipe...granted, I just started smoking again, but still...)
What happens is that my heart begins to race. Not like it normally does when high, but a throbbing that I can hear like drum beats in my head. And it hurts. I become extremely paranoid and I can hear the beating of my own heart (which isn't pleasant) and I become pale and I start getting chills, and I think my heart will explode....


Why does this happen?

The first time I thought it was because I had taken ritalin right before smoking, and both up your heart rate, but this time nothing of the sort...and the first time I had smoked White Widow, which is quite potent as I'm sure you all know. But this last time, it was decent stuff (no name) but...no White Widow.
I want to continue smoking marijuana but when this happens I think I'm going to die. I'm always paranoid abouy my heart when I smoke, but sometimes it is unbearable. Now, my psychologist said that I may be a hypochondriac. Could it just be that marijuana exacerbates the symptoms? Am I just paranoid? Or has anyone else had this problem...
(Only other person I know of is my sister. Smoked out of a gravity bong, become white as a ghost, unresponsive. 911 was called. Her heart rate was pre-heart attack.)

i cant say i know it affects the heart. i know its not a stimulant, but one day i nearly had a heart attack.

I took a great amount of caffine that morning(obviously the main cause) then i smoked sometime in the afternoon because i felt like shit. After smoking, my heart began to race and i was afraid i might die or something. I spent the next half hour focusing on breathing smoothly and slowly so i didnt pass out.

maybe its usual for your heart to freak out because of genetics, seeing how your sister has the same issue. and im not sure, but from my experiences marijuana can screw it around a bit

That's what I was thinking....

But my mother and grandfather also smoke. No adverse effects. On my dads side, his brothers smoke. No adverse effects.

???

When you smoke bud your heart rate can increase by something like 40BPM and it lowers your blood pressure which might explain why you felt like that.

Is it something I should seriously worry about, or when it happens, should I not freak out?
I'm sure you've all read that no one has ever died directly due to marijuana, and so have I...but sometimes I feel I'm going to...

Is it something I should seriously worry about, or when it happens, should I not freak out?
I'm sure you've all read that no one has ever died directly due to marijuana, and so have I...but sometimes I feel I'm going to...


Smoking a couple of bowls will certaintly not kill you, why not get your heart checked out if your that concerned.
Personally if something i smoked made me feel as if im going to die i just wouldn't bother.

Smoking a couple of bowls will certaintly not kill you, why not get your heart checked out if your that concerned.
Personally if something i smoked made me feel as if im going to die i just wouldn't bother.

I did. They said if it wasn't beating like that for more than a few hours that it shouldn't matter...
But of course, I'm poor and it's an American doctor. :(

I still get worried as shit though...


And again, it doesn't do this all the time. Only twice did it become unbearable.

That's what I was thinking....

But my mother and grandfather also smoke. No adverse effects. On my dads side, his brothers smoke. No adverse effects.

???

well obviously you dont know/remember much about genetics

this heartbeat issue can be a recessive trait, which means a parent can pass it on without having the effects themselves. with two parents having this recessive trait but no effects (meaning they are hybrid in this characteristic), you and your sister may have both gotten just the recessive trait. so since you dont have the dominant "normal heart" trait, you hearts are messed.

i cant say it's what is happening, but is a good possibility

well obviously you dont know/remember much about genetics

this heartbeat issue can be a recessive trait, which means a parent can pass it on without having the effects themselves. with two parents having this recessive trait but no effects (meaning they are hybrid in this characteristic), you and your sister may have both gotten just the recessive trait. so since you dont have the dominant "normal heart" trait, you hearts are messed.

i cant say it's what is happening, but is a good possibility

Both...

What you said makes sense...
It only happened to my sister that once and I think it was because of the gravity bong and that she smoked a lot...
She smokes way more than I do. And it hasn't happened to her again.


I don't know. I just want to be able to smoke once in a while and not have to worry about this.

This last time it was two hits, as I said. And I HAD smoked it before and it had no adverse affects...again. I don't know. Thanks for all your help so far.

well.. if you have an atypical heart condition or any major organ (i.e. kidney) you really need to be careful what u put in your body (although its generaly long term effects you need to be weary of).

alot of drugs can have this effect, and i have found its generally just the intoxication exaggerating things.

Well all i can suggest is take it easy when you smoke,
instead of ripping two fully packed bowls have 4 - 5 smaller ones.

I think that it is possible that I do.
Sometimes I can just be sitting around, completely sober, and if you think of your heart as walking...or running...sometimes it feels like mine trips and falls and I suddenly have to inhale very deeply because I lose all my breath at once. And no, I'm not over-weight. I'm 5'9" and weigh about 125 lbs.


Does eating marijuana (not eating a nug, I know. I mean properly prepared) cause the same affects?

Since I started smoking again I haven't taken more than four hits in a single smoking session...
what I find interesting though, is that the more I smoke throughout the day, the less paranoid I become about my heart until eventually I really don't even think about it. But when I smoke again the next time, days later, it's like I have to start all over again.

Smoke hash, it's a more chilled out high.

Good weed makes my heart like you describe, good hash never does and I think the high from hash is better anyway. Not to mention it's cheap as chips compared to bud ;)

Always wanted to try hash....never been able to find it though.
I hear it's fairly easy to extract?


Yes? No?

well obviously you dont know/remember much about genetics

this heartbeat issue can be a recessive trait, which means a parent can pass it on without having the effects themselves. With two parents having this recessive trait but no effects (meaning they are hybrid in this characteristic), you and your sister may have both gotten just the recessive trait. So since you dont have the dominant "normal heart" trait, you hearts are messed.

I cant say it's what is happening, but is a good possibility

thank you for the biology lesson.

I think some of it has to do with you expecting to get these negative effects, try to ease up...take it slow, relax. Like when I think about something stressful alot before doing it (Talking to chicks, etc), it becomes 100x harder to do and I most likely fuck up somehow. But when its in the back of my mind, its no big deal at all, in fact it makes a huge difference how I approach situations, so just watch out for that.
Probably will help a bit.

i say troll!
But marijuana isn't going to give you a heart attack.

i say troll!

I say shut up.

Never experienced anything like that before. Maybe it's anxiousness if you just started smoking again? Does it happen every single time? If you do other things and put it to the back of your mind does it go away?

i say troll!But marijuana isn't going to give you a heart attack.

Actually, no.

I say shut up.

Never experienced anything like that before. Maybe it's anxiousness if you just started smoking again? Does it happen every single time? If you do other things and put it to the back of your mind does it go away?

Everytime I smoke, yes I worry about my heart, but not everytime do I smoke does my heart actually do what I said that it did.


I try. But then of course I get the stoned thinking.

"I'm having a heart attack...no you're not you just think you are...but what if I really am? Shit, I'm gonna die. No you're not, you're just being a dumbass. Calm down...but I can't...my heart is about to pop! No it isn't...yes it is!...damn I'm hungry...I think I'd throw up. Mmmm. Food. Death. Food. This bathroom is nice and cold...SHIT, I'M GONNA DIE TO THIS SHITTY VILLAGE INN MUSIC!!!"


This last time it happened, it was right before I sat down at Village Inn. I wasn't paranoid about getting caught or anything, and those things can be dealt with. But when your paranoia centers around your heart exploding, it's difficult to escape. Impossible, almost. I just said to my girlfriend and my friend "I gotta go to the bathroom" and I went in there for like twenty minutes sittin' on the pot freaking the fuck out when out of nowhere, a feeling of complete calm came over me and I was fine.

Maybe you just need to keep doing it until it becomes second nature. Once you get used to it again it probably won't happen. Did you get it before you quit smoking the first time?

It's basically why I quit smoking the first time.


I don't want to do it that often though....

before I did it much too often for my liking.


Being high is pleasant, but I enjoy being sober too.

Always wanted to try hash....never been able to find it though.
I hear it's fairly easy to extract?


Yes? No?

It's easy to find if you live in a decent continent, ie not North America.

Everytime I smoke, yes I worry about my heart, but not everytime do I smoke does my heart actually do what I said that it did.


I try. But then of course I get the stoned thinking.

"I'm having a heart attack...no you're not you just think you are...but what if I really am? Shit, I'm gonna die. No you're not, you're just being a dumbass. Calm down...but I can't...my heart is about to pop! No it isn't...yes it is!...damn I'm hungry...I think I'd throw up. Mmmm. Food. Death. Food. This bathroom is nice and cold...SHIT, I'M GONNA DIE TO THIS SHITTY VILLAGE INN MUSIC!!!"


This last time it happened, it was right before I sat down at Village Inn. I wasn't paranoid about getting caught or anything, and those things can be dealt with. But when your paranoia centers around your heart exploding, it's difficult to escape. Impossible, almost. I just said to my girlfriend and my friend "I gotta go to the bathroom" and I went in there for like twenty minutes sittin' on the pot freaking the fuck out when out of nowhere, a feeling of complete calm came over me and I was fine.

Hahaha, wow. That like, completely describes how I feel when I smoke weed.

The fourth time I ever got high I had a terrible panic attack. Using stupid stoner logic, it started when I could "feel" my heartbeat and I got kind of nervous, then one thing led to another and I had convinced myself that weed could have somehow triggered SVT (supraventricular tachycardia), I know I'm a hypochondriac and I was convinced I was going to have a heart attack if I didn't get an IV of adenosine; a drug administered to counter-act SVT. Luckily my friend told me to chill the fuck out, which I did and the single worst experience of my life came to a stop about 15 minutes later.

Ever since then, every single time I smoke my heart goes fucking bonkers and it takes me a good 5 minutes to tell myself it's all in my head. Then usually the feeling of my heart pounding goes away and I can enjoy my high. It's a fucking nuisance that I can't seem to get rid of, you just gotta get use to it.

This has happened to me twice before. Once when I smoked a lot then did some uppers and once when I ate a little to many brownies. Uppers increase your bpm so that isn't a suprise. I think it mostly has to do with you just smoking to much weed in one session. If I were you I'd avoid hash and brownies

if your worried about your heart go to a doctor and see if you have any abnormalities...

if not just take it slow until you build up a bit of a tolerance, my first few times smoking my heart raced like a motherfucker.... but eventually the high mellowed out until i was just chilled out when i smoked...

I've had this happen to me before too, it is intensified if I lay down on my stomach. I'm the opposite though, I got it a few times when I was smoking frequently but I don't smoke as often and can't remember the last time it happened.

I've had my heart beating like mad before because I decided to combat cottonmouth with a Monster energy drink. But it actually made the high more enjoyable. The first time it happened was bad though, I drank 2 monsters and a Tilt that day, and decided to smoke with a big group in an obvious space, and one of the people watching us called the police. So we spent the next half hour hyped out and anxious walking up and down the block.

I know it was one of the first things I noticed my very first time... just sitting down on a couch my heart was going crazy. I was slightly worried, but ignored it and enjoyed that incredible first time. Ever since then I haven't had any noticeable effects on my heart.

This thread needs more new arrivals and acolytes.

If you're worried about your heart, see a doctor. Weed should not be destroying you're heart though and I remember experiencing similar feelings when I first started smoking...what I would do to get that again...

Quite often I get sharp stabbing pains in my heart, but it's nowt that I worry about.

I'm pretty sure you just having a panic attack which is characterized by chest pains and an imminent feeling that you're going to have a heart attack or die. It used to happen to me before but If i find that happening I just go grab a glass of water or something to take my mind off and relax me.

We won't even mention the (some say it increases...not decreases BP) the research that shows middle aged folks suffering cardiac incidents within 1 hour of smoking. As it stops all conversation & I don't want to kill your thread. :)

Not using tobacco (hah! doesn't "affect" them... :) ) can be a help. Taking an aspirin for it's blood thinning effect a few times a week or the "small dose ASA" daily dose for hearts.

Not being overweight & eating properly as much as you can. Eg: do you know what stuff is recommended to get in your food intake?