DOSE:

repeated

oral

Cannabidiol

(extract)

BODY WEIGHT:

170 lb

I have suffered from severe/chronic anxiety and depression for the past 15 years. While cognitive therapy and other methods have helped me to function with it, I haven't necessarily had relief (also my experience with psychiatrics has never been sustainable), so when I read about CBD I decided to try some.

I acquired a dropper of oil. I found myself with a CBD CO2-extracted from hemp, which may imply considerably lower potency and higher toxicity (personally, I have no experience with marijuana-derived CBD and thus no context).

Anyway, I took a dose of about 3mg with my coffee early in the day. It kicked in about a half hour later and seemed to last approx. two hours. The experience was of a gentle but genuine shift towards confidence; I felt room to observe/attend to the source of various inner tensions and was able to hold pleasant conversations without much reference to my normal almost crippling anxiety (except to observe its curious absence); I have a theory that anxiety causes a decrease in IQ and I did notice a lack of a need to pause and recall requisite 'ten dollar words' or their definitions mid-conversation. Also I felt free to enjoy the apparent assets of my person and character which are usually distorted under waves of self-criticism and doubt; when I looked in the mirror, I saw someone who was attractive and clever.

And then I took too much...
So, everything I've read about CBD says that there is no effective overdose, which I interpret now as meaning it won't kill you. But, being me I found a dosage that was at least uncomfortable.

Backtracking a bit, after the first pleasant couple of hours (half of which involved an in-depth conversation and the other half of which involved running errands around a major city), it started to wear off. It didn't feel abrupt or disconcerting, and I didn't feel the physical desire to have more that comes with even something like coffee. But I did enjoy the awareness I'd had and so when I got home (hour 4), I took another 5 or 6 mg dose in water.

I had some work assignments to tackle on my computer, and I just kind of half-consciously kept taking more as I thought I felt it wearing off. I didn't register a huge change, I think mostly because I was trying to focus outside of myself. But after 3 or 4 hours I was aware of a difficulty in directing my attention any specific way, like my thought-pattern is normally angular or grid-like and this was more spherical (thus trying to complete an assignment was difficult because A to B just didn't seem to be on the menu in the same way).

And when I disconnected from the computer and decided it was time to go to sleep, I had a bit of that top-of-the-rollercoaster 'oh crap' sensation, followed by nausea and what I can only describe as the physical symptoms of anxiety without much of the accompanying thought sequence. I felt tingling and cold in my extremities, was aware of a rapid heart rate, and took a seat on the toilet 2 or 3 times before I felt some relief in my stomach. My guess is the higher toxicity associated with the hemp-derived product is what was disturbing my stomach (also that was probably just a lot of oil), and the rest seemed to follow the general physical reactions of a THC edible overdose (mostly minus the paranoia - although I did have a brief wandering concern that I was about to lose my mind or die and had to reel it in a couple times - which is to say the thoughts weren't completely unmanageable but the physical discomfort seemed to be).

After the bathroom, I put on some music I felt I could focus feelings of trust on, got in bed and just prepared to ride it out. 20 minutes or so of that and I discovered the feeling in my body was actually quite pleasurable, and I fell asleep. I woke up five hours later and still felt some lingering effects, went back to bed, and now about ten hours later, I feel a bit fuzzy, with somewhat of a light headache, but generally fine.

So, the lesson here as far as I can see: even if things are listed as forever safe, if you take them, check in with your body, be respectful of yourself and the chemical, and sometimes, just let one be enough.

[Reported Dose: '30mg over 10 hours']

Exp Year: 2017	ExpID: 110064
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 30
Published: Apr 20, 2017	Views: 19,612
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Cannabidiol (596) : Difficult Experiences (5), Overdose (29), Hangover / Days After (46), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), First Times (2), Alone (16)