Recently someone I know has been trough a very intense schizophrenic episode; and I want to share a bit of light over this subject, and maybe prevent someone from getting hurt.

I am very passionate about cannabis, I know it is medicinal and can do much good; but there is something else that it can trigger if certain requirements are met.

My personal notes on the subject:

- females between ages 40-45
- cannabis strains with high levels of Sativa C. ( e.g. Cheese ) - one of 60+ chemical compounds that reside in the plant; most of them yet unknown
- background of child abuse, or disposition to mental diseases ( genetic or epigenetic )
- smoking the same strain listed above for long periods of time without alternating.

My personal knowledge on Sativa C.

Sativa C. is one compound found in some cannabis strains, that as far as I know, reacts to the right hemisphere of the brain that is responsible for intuition, creativity, etc. and it over-stimulates it.

Why are women predisposed to suffering from this?

Also based on my personal knowledge - females naturally have a higher activity on the right hemisphere of the brain; being more creative and intuitive thus being easier to being over-stimulated.

I would like this topic to get at the health section and maybe other Nexians can contribute. I think after the spice it is also a part most of Nexians "kit".

Stay safe, J2j.

Related paper : http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/184/2/110.short

Where did you hear that Sativa C. engages the right brain moreso than other strands?

Interesting. I'm not a huge fan of cheese as it tends to overstimulate my mind while couchlocking the hell out of me. I also had a small panic attack shortly after smoking it once... I agree that strains should be switched up every now and then, and also that breaks should be taken (which I am rubbish at!), but even so, the psychosis / schizo thing is still a bit of a mystery.

Based on personal research & experience with more strains of cannabis.

It needs more research but just wanted to open the topic and maybe help someone who was going down this road.

What is personal research? What empirical evidence do you have?

This appears to be the second time in less than 24-hours that you are making unverified claims and backing them up with vague declarations of "personal research". No to be harsh, but your other claim turned out to be the somewhat the opposite of what you had actually been told by your source.

there is research on that

Wild Ganja will play a role in developing psychosis in less then 1% of users

High THC ganja will do so with 6% of users

Synthetic THC substitutes are even more potent, addictive and dangerous


In general it is better to smoke more natural strains which have closer to 50/50 THC/CBD. Those are hard to get in times where producing strains became an industry.
High THC plants sell better as it is more addictive.


Psychosis induced in that way are reversible. As he stops smoking for a while he should take lecithin, Omega3 rich oils (Fish,Flaxseed) and Piracetam. That should quickly counter bodily tendencies for his psychosis. If deficient he would need an Iron supplment (III), Liquid Ginseng extract if low on bodily Energy.

Psychological Counsel by an experienced experts to become clear and honest about what he want to do in his live and what his options are. From there he should be able to make goals or whatever he should be fine.

If not sprinkle some iboga on him until he smells like vanillacoconut

I am sorry to go against the Attitude. It is a subject with little to none research.

I work in the field of cannabis - i work with breeders, genetists and medics. I don't have alot of time into this, but I have a strong will to continue on this work.

The personal research I've made is only relative research because we didn't actually thought of looking into the psychosis effects so we took notes from memory when the schizophrenic episode happened.

Her medics diagnostic showed that she had increased and abnormal activity in the right hemisphere. She ended up stabbing her husband and wrecking the house. I just wanted to let people know that this CAN happen, so they take precaution.

It may be called the start of a collaborative research project ( maybe ) but also the cannabis plant is one of the most chemically complex plant in nature.

I do not want to give out disinformation, and am sorry if I do so. I see much hope in the Nexus community and in the collaborative research initiative.

PS: I am also sorry if I am misunderstood, english is not my first language. Also I think communication leads to understanding.

@bindu: synthetic THC is LETHAL. can't get into the subject now, but the Spices analogues are really bad for mental and physical health.

I agree that it would be great to add as much as possible to the collaborative research project, whether cannabis or other plants. I also think that there is a lot to be said for subjective data and personally observed phenomena.

That being said...




It seems (in my non-professional opinion) that there are a myriad of factors, both in general human beings and with this particular individual that could (and probably do) effect neural functions. To jump to the conclusion that Cannabis sativa caused schizophrenia due to a postulated effect on the right-brain appears premature. I agree that it's wise to be cautious, I just don't understand how the conclusion is being drawn in this case and whether or not there's enough information to point at weed as the culprit. I hope that makes sense...

I think your posts are quite understandable for not being a native English speaker...certainly far more coherent than anything I could hope to type out in another language.

Thanks for the understanding

I think cannabis is the most used plant, it does not have an OD level ( it does, but it is ridiculous to think you can inhale that much ) and its used throughout long periods of time.

Just to be clear, I was refering to the Sativa C. compound ( found in many Indica strains also - high levels in Cheese ), not at the Cannabis Sativa subspecies.

Sativa C. is one of the 60+ "cannabinoids" found in the flower. Little to no study has been done on most of these chemicals.

Lets say this topic has educational purposes for further research over the plant. So far I havent found a better place to open this box and go deeper into the subject. I found many open and bright minds here that would contribute to this.

I agree that THC can trigger psychosis in certain individuals, for me the experience serves as a model for schizophrenic thought disorder, in other words I had to stop using it many years ago.

However your "requirements" don't make sense at all to me. A/ most schizophrenic illness is early onset, before the 20th year. Perhaps you mean THC induced psychosis imitates schizophrenia?

The brain hemisphere theory is also a bit suspect, I'd sooner speculate that dopaminergic mechanisms are at play.

http://www.cannabis.net/cannschiz.html

Do you have any information on this? I can't find any papers or anything even referencing this cannabinoid.

Personally I think this is a lot of rationalizing something that does not need to be so complicated. Yes cannabis itself can be bad thing for some people at certain times and it is not just always medicine when you smoke it all day every day.

Best thing to do is just stop smoking it for a long period of time and regain some balance..maybe let your neurotransmitter levels get back to normal for a few months if you have been a heavy smoker and are having problems. Ideas of switching strains etc seem sort of far fetched to me. I love cannabis but after years of heavy smoking I had to just stop for a very long time altogether. There was definatly changes that went on in my nervous system from heavy use, some not good and it took a little while for that to normalize again.

I love it but I dont use it daily or even weekly really at this point. A puff once or twice a week is nice though after a long break to clear the system.

This is just how I feel about. I think people start to get into problematic spaces with their canabis use and are just too attached to their ideas of it etc to take a step back for a time.

I do think that certain strains are better than others for some things..but I dont think that just switching strains is the best approach when people start to feel off with their cannabis use..unless they have some kind of serious medical issue where they cannot function without exogenous cannabinoids.

I also personally find the right brain-female schizo link hard to buy into..I think maybe the fact that cannabis is an estrogen plant more likely, possibly throwing off the estrogen to projesterone ratios etc..that can cause problems..though too much estrogen in men compared to testosterone is not good either..And yes I know the man boobs thing in relation to cannabis is bs.

There is little information on the many chemical compounds found in cannabis. Looks like I was wrong tho; there are 60 ( 80 as of 2009 ) known compounds out of more than 400.

Here are some articles about these compounds :

http://medicalmarijuana....rs.php?questionID=000636
http://www.everyonedoesi...o_chemical_compounds.cfm

Sativa C may be found in the Cannabichromene, or CBC group; although not 100% sure. The information I've got about this is mainly from breeders and genetists that work in the field for many years. Thanks for asking me for these informations because I can ask forward to ones who know more than me.

I love cannabis but always do have a feeling that I smoke too much of it and wonder what negative side effects it might be having on me, especially as i smoked it chronically as a teenager and after that Swedish scientific report came out saying that it reduces the IQ in teenagers (opps hehe) I wonder if it has left me or will leave me with any mental disorders in the future, breaks from it are certainly needed which can be very hard to do lmfao.

-Technique

Cannabidiol enhances anandamide signaling and alleviates psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia

www.nature.com/tp/journa...2/n3/full/tp201215a.html

Abstract
Cannabidiol is a component of marijuana that does not activate cannabinoid receptors, but moderately inhibits the degradation of the endocannabinoid anandamide. We previously reported that an elevation of anandamide levels in cerebrospinal fluid inversely correlated to psychotic symptoms. Furthermore, enhanced anandamide signaling let to a lower transition rate from initial prodromal states into frank psychosis as well as postponed transition. In our translational approach, we performed a double-blind, randomized clinical trial of cannabidiol vs amisulpride, a potent antipsychotic, in acute schizophrenia to evaluate the clinical relevance of our initial findings. Either treatment was safe and led to significant clinical improvement, but cannabidiol displayed a markedly superior side-effect profile. Moreover, cannabidiol treatment was accompanied by a significant increase in serum anandamide levels, which was significantly associated with clinical improvement. The results suggest that inhibition of anandamide deactivation may contribute to the antipsychotic effects of cannabidiol potentially representing a completely new mechanism in the treatment of schizophrenia.

Is anandamide a natural anti-psychotic?

In pre-treatment subject with schizophrenia anadamide levels have been found to be significantly higher than the healthy subjects.

www.m.bjp.rcpsych.org/content/194/4/371.full

www.science.naturalnews.com/Anandamide.html

Like Arcanum said schizophrenia is normally developed around the age of 20, without actually doing the research again, from what I can remember, I think schizophrenia is very rarely if ever developed later than this [edit: later than 25-30, tending to show earlier in males]. Smoking cannabis (or doing anything else that offsets you) can lead to psychosis. There is a difference between acute or drug induced psychosis and schizophrenia. Like jamie said, the thing to do is probably to eliminate smoking altogether, why would you just switch strains if it's having a negative effect on you? Saying that being between age 40 and 45 and being female puts somebody in a higher risk group is not true. Also, synthetic thc is not lethal, it is a partial agonist at the cannabinoid receptors. Some synthetic cannabinoids could be lethal I believe as they are full agonists.

The paper that was linked said cannabis can be a component factor, not a cause in and of itself. It can't be proven (by the methods we have today atleast) that cannabis in and of itself causes schizophrenia . Like other drugs it can be a contributing factor. However, that being said, there is definitely some kind of association with schizophrenia and cannabis use, especially so when being smoked heavily during adolescence. My opinion is that teenagers really shouldn't being smoking pot (although I certainly did) and if they are going to they should at least be in there late teens and not smoke often.

This hits home in a way though. I just found out my 17 year old brother tried to hang himself a few weeks ago and is now in a psych ward. He hasn't smoked pot in a couple months but when he started smoking pot about 8 months ago which he continued for about 6 months I started noticing a difference in him. It took a while for me to notice it as I never actually saw him during the time and for a year or so prior ( and then very rarely ) but when I did see him it was at the tail end of his smoking. He visited me and I noticed a lot of odd behavior that was very concerning and my father noticed this also. After visiting me and our family all talking he decided to stop smoking. Unfortunately he hasn't recovered. I am very worried about him. Anyways, sorry I kind of went off on a tangent there, don't want to hijack the thread. Please send positive vibes his way if you can.

lol - this made me laugh.


I always interpreted those studies that showed lower IQs in cannabis using teenagers as a result not directly of cannabis use itself, but of the result of motivation loss and rebellion in a pubescent teen who's been shown the wonder of MJ and realized that the world lies. In other words, they are choosing not to apply themselves intellectually. This can be demonstrated in those that do apply themselves -- there are plenty of stoner geniuses. In fact, I see more and more studies about the link between intellect and recreational drug use all the time. Many of history's most famous intellects used cannabis.

so, forget all that.