What happened to my body when I partied that night?

Hard to tell, but your reaction suggests that the pot may have been laced with PCP or something else. Alternatively, you may have experienced a sympathetic nervous system reaction mediated by epinephrine.

Pot is never a good idea when you are drunk. It gives you the spins and makes you paranoid, especially if you don’t smoke often. You got anxious, your heart rate accelerated and you began to panic. Classic teenager move. You live you learn.

@shilolo that is not the effect of PCP my friend. The bad trip on PCP is more like a feeling of annihilation. Also the loss of control is more externalized. Panic is an epinephrine-mediated sympathetic reaction, among other things.

@EGGIE This is a normal, yet really uncomfortable, reaction to marijuana. this paranoia/death anxiety is something a lot of people describe. The fast heart rate was due to your anxiety. The throwing up was due to drinking the alcohol. You should probably avoid this mix in the future. Take things in moderation.

Might have been some pretty powerful weed. Labanese fingers (at least back in the 80’s) were often laced with opium and you get a very powerful buzz as @tinyfaery said

@Flavio Not to argue with you, but I’ve seen several cases of this, and indeed “thought I was dying” sounds a lot like severe anxiety/paranoia, which certainly can be seen with marijuana alone but also PCP. Moreover, tachycardia and hypertension are common with PCP as well. A small amount of PCP, such as would be ingested by one “hit” of laced marijuana could lead to anxiety, tachycardia, and hypertension.

@Flavio Actually @shilolo is quite correct. Undoubtedly @EGGIE ‘s joint was laced with PCP…Angel Dust…Quite common in the late 70’s and early 80’s. I didn’t even know anyone used that sh** anymore.
But Eggie’s description of what he remembers jibes perfectly with taking Angel Dust unwittingly. The ”bad trip” effect is not so pronounced when you know beforehand that you’re ingesting this poison (elephant tranquilizer) ... but when ingested unwittingly, the effects can be simply devastating.

I am quite certain that the weed was not laced with PCP. The guys I know that smoke it do not mix it…they are very strict about that.

@Flavio if this is so normal why do people smoke it?

@EGGIE everyone has a different reaction. some people feel like they’re dying and others feel on top of the world.

@shilolo and @Ben_Dover From the folks I’ve seen on PCP, the “thought I was dying” is too cognitively organized. PCP is getting more and more common in SF, but I haven’t seen more than a dozen or so folks (of course, we never have hard objective evidence because it’s so hard to get a urine test until after the test is no longer adequately sensitive and specific – and I’m told the test is really expensive) so I am not all that familiar, but the more common characterization would be more akin to “thought I was dead” but not in so many words. It is possible thoght that I am only seeing a certain type of user so my experience may be skewed. There is also this strange staring off into the distance effect that I don’t really understand and I havent’ seen in any other toxidromes. Thoughts on this? my guess is that it is dopaminergic, but this is only a pretty random guess.

@EGGIE hard question on why it’s so popular. Clearly MJ makes many people feel good. Question is why some people who only have bad, paranoid trips keep using it. I think this is a pretty clear argument that despite popular myth, pot is an addictive substance.

You may have a very low tolerance, or it was good stuff. Was it your first time? Also, drinking and smoking is usually a bad combination. Most likely everything that you were feeling was in your head. You start getting anxiety so bad that it makes you want to throw up or ‘green out’. It happens to everyone every once in a while

@isuppose It was my first time

@EGGIE it makes perfect sense that this happened. Classic first time freak out. Smoke less next time, or don’t do it at all and you won’t have to be worried about anything

could that cause brain damage?

@EGGIE doubtful, it happens every once in a while to everyone, but I’m not a doctor so

So you guys are saying I was in no danger what so ever?

@EGGIE no I am not saying you were in no danger. You drank too much and took a substance that gave you bad paranoia. I would probably avoid repeating this. If you decide to try again, i would do it in a very controlled environment with only close friends you trust and designated sober people who know you had a psychotic episode once. It is not known the degree to which these substances cause “permanent” damage, but I would suspect most people have sufficient resiliency to bounce back from the “hit” you took with no plastic alteration to your neurocircuitry or neurochemistry. This is hard to study so there is no definitive answer to your brain damage question. From my clinical experience, if I were your doctor, my degree of worry for you would be minimal if you change your future behavior. If you are worried though…go see a psychiatrist for a consultation. You would get a more thorough assessment and probably a lot more definitive an answer.