DOSE:	150 mg	oral	Pharms - Venlafaxine	(daily)
	1 bowl	smoked	Cannabis - High THC

BODY WEIGHT:

185 lb

My experience with mixing cannabis and venlafaxine is as follows:

I have been taking venlafaxine on and off several times throughout my life in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy in order to reduce symptoms of my generalized anxiety disorder.

I first consumed cannabis in December of 2015, during a period where I was not taking venlafaxine. In the months after my first experiences with cannabis I had a relapse into my anxiety and panic attack symptoms of my disorder. I was in a demanding post secondary program at the time, so I attributed these to my stress. I began a prescription to venlafaxine after these appeared and I found myself relapsing into suicidal ideation.

I continued my cannabis use in conjunction with the venlaflaxine for several months, my initial dose of 75 mg of venlafaxine was increased to 150 mg as I reported little improvement after 1 month into my prescription. I began having adverse reactions when I would smoke with my friend at this time (after the increase). These presented as what I can only describe as minor amnesiac episodes where I would come in and out of connection with my surroundings, in periods of what seemed like only seconds. These would normally subside after several minutes after beginning the high from the cannabis, and I would then go into a state of anxious thought, but nothing close to a state of panic. My thinking was more along the lines of social paranoia one experiences in a bout of social anxiety, coupled with poor memory and inability to contribute much in the form of speech.

My worst episode however did not present in such a non-harmful way. One night while visiting friends, I consumed the most cannabis I had ever consumed in my life. Initially there was the simple amnesiac thought state, however this quickly changed into a visual distortion where my vision would switch in and out from a normal perspective to an elevated perspective, where it appeared I was looking down at objects from my upper eyelids with focal distortion similar to a fish eye lens. This was my first experience with a hallucinogenic type effect from a substance, and subsequently I felt myself slipping into a panic attack. I was conscious of what was happening and knew that it was a temporary state, however I found I could not control my heart rate as I normally would with breathing techniques and soon I was sweating profusely while my heart rate was erratic. I began to feel pain in my left arm and left side of my chest, which continued to worsen as my heart rate continued to elevate. I was in a full state of panic at this point and had limited control over my thoughts.

Things shifted after an unknown amount of time had elapsed, and suddenly I felt like I was ice cold. My entire left side of my torso stiffened and breathing became laborious. My thoughts at this point shifted completely from a state of panic to ones of impeding doom. It was unsettling; I felt as if in the next moments I might die, but I was completely ok with it and almost in a state of calmness and acceptance of it. My heart rate was the fastest at this point, but instead of a pounding in my chest it felt like a simple fluttering. It became burdensome to keep my eyes open and my thinking was slowed as if my thoughts were swimming in a tar. I wanted to sleep at this point but I decided that if I did I didn't want to wake up so I was going to hold out until I passed out.

After a while the constriction in my chest subsided and my heart rate, though still feeling slightly weak, returned to normal. Unfortunately my anxiety returned. That was the last time I smoked cannabis, mainly due to a pre employment drug test I was required to do a month later, but now a phobia has almost developed around me smoking. I enjoyed smoking, however I reside on the side of caution now as it seems that perhaps I went through an episode of serotonin toxicity/syndrome due to it. Just my hypothesis. Could have been just a panic attack.

I guess my main take away from this experience is that mixing an SSNRI and cannabis might have unintended effects, and also, to be cautious with substances if you suffer from a mental illness like I do.

[Reported Dose: "225 mg of Venlafaxine 1 Bowl of Cannabis 1/3 kief"]

Exp Year: 2016	ExpID: 108992
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 21
Published: Jan 14, 2021	Views: 848
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Pharms - Venlafaxine (191), Cannabis (1) : Difficult Experiences (5), Post Trip Problems (8), Combinations (3), Small Group (2-9) (17)