Dear Alice,
I have smoked marijuana on and off for about a year, not ever more than
about once every other week. The last two times I smoked, I experienced
uncontrollable tremors in my leg. It wasn't painful like a muscle spasm,
but it was uncomfortable and unsettling. Was this merely just nervousness
(this was the first time I had people "over" at my own suite to smoke and
I was a little worried that my roommates would be angry)? Or, could this
be a side effect of the drug?
Signed,
Reefer Madness
Dear Reefer Madness,
The tremors you're describing sound more like a nervous tic, which is
one of the body's physical responses to stress (i.e., the stress that your
roommates might be angry). Your experience of the tremors as unsettling,
however, may be more due to the effects of the pot than to stress. Low
doses of marijuana affect people differently depending on their setting,
but are usually associated with feeling good or high. Very high doses can
produce feelings of depersonalization, sensory distortion, and changes in
body image. So, a small tremble could get magnified into a mountainous
earthquake.
- Alice
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Marijuana or just paranoid?
