Panic Attacks Causes and Marijuana

Many people who use marijuana have a variety of reasons why. They range from "It mellows me out", "It helps me think better", Rastafarians use it for "religious reasons", and for the purpose of this article many say they use it to relieve anxiety. As a matter of fact, some claim that marijuana helps where their prescription anti-depressant medications have failed. While I know through my research for this article, that marijuana has helped some with anxiety and panic attacks, but the fact remains there is no way to predict how it would effect you and if it would actually induce a panic attack.

So, the question remains does marijuana cause panic attacks? Is self-medicating with marijuana a good alternative to prescription medication and what exactly are the side effects? Logically any type of medication, natural or not, we put into our bodies have some type of side effects. What about marijuana's side effects? This list includes "trouble remembering things, sleepiness, anxiety, paranoia, altered time perception." In addition, "dry mouth, nausea, headache, decreased coordination, increased heart rate, altered pulmonary status, altered body temperature, reduced muscle strength, decreased cerebral blood flow, increased food consumption, confusion, aggressiveness, hallucinations, altered libido, possible suicidal ideation, depersonalization, derealization, poor sense of time, worsened short-term memory, addictive behaviors, amotivational syndrome." These are just about every possible side effect and not every one would be experienced. But, what I can say, many moons ago as a teenager I did use marijuana and did experience many of these side effects.

Now, what about prescription anti-anxiety medication. Let's take Diazepem(Valium) as an example. "Insight Journal" lists its most common side effects as "drowsiness, impaired motor functions, impaired coordination, impaired balance, dizziness, fatigue, depression, anterograde amnesia and reflex tachycardia." These symptoms are common with most benzodiazepines. Its more rare side effects are "nervousness, confusion, constipation, diplopia, dysarthria, headache, hypotension, incontinence, jaundice, changes in sex drive, nausea, changes in salivation, rash, slurring of speech, tremor, urinary retention, vertigo, irritability, insomnia, muscle cramps, and in severe cases, rage and/or violence." Not very soothing if you are someone looking for relief. Again this is a list of almost every possible symptom and you most likely would not experience all of them, but nevertheless even experiencing one or two is enough.

So what actually am I advocating? Am I saying that I am against medication or marijuana? Not exactly. But what I am saying is that no one path of treatment is right for everyone. Our bodies react to medications differently and while smoking pot may work for one with panic attacks, it may not work for another. Diazepem may work for one person, but not another. In addition, they both have the ability to become addictive to the user. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I have seen the negative consequences of prescription medications in my family members throughout my life and I have personally experienced the negative consequences of marijuana usage during my teen years.

Since I have presented the negative side of both prescription meds and marijuana, I have an alternative method for dealing with panic and anxiety attacks. Without trying to sound too much like a salesman, I have found a program that is a completely natural approach to eliminating 100% of general anxiety and panic attacks. This program will not only help you eliminate panic attacks but also get your general anxiety level right back down to zero without the use of any medication or alternative therapies. If you would like to find out more about this program or just read more articles that I have written about anxiety and panic attacks, please visit my website.