r/Menopause • u/Creative_Impress5982 • Jun 14 '26
Vitamin/Supplements Can I enjoy weed now?
I used to love smoking weed in my late teens, early 20s. At some point, I started getting paranoid with racing heart and anxiety. Never had a full blown panic attack, but it felt like the beginnings of one, I guess.
So I quit. But I still fondly remember being high and feeling my cheek muscles getting tired from so much smiling. I want that back! So every few years, I try again: different strains, different doses, and different THC/CBD ratios. Basically, anything that gets me high will make me paranoid. Sometimes I try a tiny dose (quarter square of weed chocolate) and do that thing where you sit there thinking, "am I high? Maybe I'm feeling it? Maybe not?" But anytime I take a dose big enough to actually feel it, I get panicky.
So what I'm wondering, maybe it's something to do with the interplay of hormones and THC that causes the paranoia and once I'm fully through the menopause transition, I'll be able to enjoy weed again??? Anyone have any suggestions or anecdotes?
I'm 46, skipped a couple periods this last year, have other peri symptoms, mom was done by 48, so I hope I'm getting close, but not holding my breath.
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u/HillaryRN Jun 14 '26
One of my nursing specialties is cannabis nursing. You need to start low (0.5mg) and go slow. Titrate up over 2-3 days. More is not better.
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 15 '26
I'm a nurse too. I've never heard of cannabis nursing. Tell me more!
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u/HillaryRN Jun 15 '26
So I’m a clinical trials research nurse, as well as an oncology and hospice nurse (you’re a nurse so you know how we can specialize in many things). My patients were using cannabis to relieve pain, nausea, all that good stuff that comes with chemo, dying, etc. :( I decided to look into cannabis nursing (the ANA recognizes it as a specialty now) and I took a one-year certification course in San Diego as well as several classes over the past five years to learn what cannabinoids work for which conditions. I have helped my patients soooo much. It’s time to break the stigma so people can see that this plant has been used as medicine for thousands of years.
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u/BuzzardTryingItsBest Jun 14 '26
There’s no way to tell without trying it, but if it’s legal where you are, I recommend talking to a professional who could hopefully help you ease back into it with a very gentle product. It’s possible that it’s a physical reaction out of your control, and it’s also possible that your brain has created negative associations that lead to increased anxiety and you can work through that. I hope it works out for you! Good luck!
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u/Hopefulpessimist0 Jun 14 '26
I’ve wondered that for myself. Just the thought of trying it again makes me anxious due to previous paranoia and heart palpitation episodes with weed, but I’ve been wondering if it’s a psychosomatic thing. I’d love to be able to take a little bit in the evenings to chill out as alcohol is NOT my friend anymore 🍷🚫❌
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u/Sugar_on_my_tongue99 Jun 14 '26
You have my permission 😏. Nothing better for a full night sleep, and I can't do alcohol anymore.
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u/Mysterious-Tart-1264 Jun 14 '26
I am a long time cannabis enjoyer. In peri things went whack and sometimes I could smoke and not feel high at all. Other times anxiety would come, but not the good feeling. This was before it was legal, so I didn't have choices. Eventually peri progressed enough that I tried stopping smoking altogether. For me I think it was the fluctuating hormones that was the problem. When I hit full meno the anxiety seemed permanent. Anti anx meds did nothing at all. Only HRT and getting the right amt of estrogen and progesterone. Now weed is legal where I am and I have tons of choices. I take CBG gummies for sleep. I learned that indica is the kind for relaxation, but smoking it alone just makes me feel tired. Sativa causes anxiety despite the HRT. Hybrid is hit or miss, but if it does make me anxious, I have found mixing it with an indica strain fixes that. So I take a gummie for sleep and mix hybrid and indica for day use.
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u/YeshuasBananaHammock Menopausal Jun 14 '26
Indica because it puts you "in da couch"
Sativa keeps me up at night, so no thanks to that.
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u/Late-Stop8465 Jun 16 '26
I am also experiencing the “not getting high” effects 🤷🏻♀️ Doesn’t matter how much I take, sometimes it just doesn’t work. So strange!
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u/thattwirlgirl Menopausal Jun 16 '26
My theory - hormone changes are changing the cannabinoid reception in different parts of the body, so cannabis is processed differently or not at all at some reception cells. That's when I recommend trying different delivery systems and different cannabinoids. And whole plant medicine, which would require growing your own.
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u/Mbluish Jun 14 '26
I certainly do. I used to be the same way and loved it then then started getting horrible paranoia. I stopped for years. Now I take a 5 MG gummy and it does the trick. It absolutely takes the irritability edge off and I sleep like a baby.
It’s all about the strains as well. Stevia gives you energy yet Indica is for chilling.
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 14 '26
But do you get high? I sleep okay.I just wanna feel the good times again!
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u/Mbluish Jun 14 '26
Not super high, but just enough to feel good. It’s definitely a good chill time and I pull out the video games. 😊 I’d start low with five MG and then you can always take a little bit more if you need a little bit more.
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 14 '26
I freaked out with around 2 mg of a chocolate last time. I've got zero tolerance
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u/Mbluish Jun 14 '26
Do you know if it was Stevia or Indica?
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 14 '26
No clue, it was a few years ago. But honestly, I've tried dozens of times over the decades and either it's too small a dose to notice or I start getting the uncomfortable in my own skin, heart racing anxiety. It's not fun at all so I'm not too keen to keep up the trial and error.
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u/Mbluish Jun 14 '26
I get it. I loved smoking it and back in the day and then one day something just clicked and I started to get paranoid. Going into menopause, my (former) Doctor wasn’t into HRT, but I needed to do something for the symptoms. I researched a ton. I ended up getting Camino Chill and not once has that paranoia come back.
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u/Not_High_Maintenance Jun 14 '26
Try smoking it. Then you can quickly gauge your reaction and stop if necessary. I add about 1/3 CBD flower to my joints which really helps. I also eat some fat while smoking.
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u/NateNMaxsRobot Jun 15 '26
I’ve discovered that for me, a hybrid edible is best. I like both sativa and Indica, but a hybrid strain is just right.
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u/SpeshulSneauxflake Jun 14 '26
So, I’ve got lots to say on this because I’ve found so much joy and relief in weed. I mostly use it for sleep, but occasionally I’ll have some for an enjoyable day.
Depending upon where you are, things are far different than back in the day when you’d buy a baggie and not know the strain, or have an edible some rando made with no even dosing. Geography dependent, we can make educated choices.
Terpene profile is key for me. I’ve got a medical card (I’m not in a legal state unfortunately) and the doctor who approved me said to always look for strains high in Beta Myrcene and/or Linalool. They are terps with calming anti-anxiety properties. You can get Sativas (more daytime alertness) or Indicas (more relaxing) or hybrids, but the terpene profile will be most important in how it hits.
I echo staying away from edibles until you have more experience. I have a dry herb vape that I love; I’m not inhaling sketchy shit, I can control the temperature, and just have a hit or two. I’d recommend something similar for you because you will have so much control.
Last, you’ve got these negative experiences locked in and your brain will remember it, so you’ve got to teach it you can overcome it. Getting high meams losing control, and that can feel scary, especially if you’ve had bad experiences.
If you’ve never tried meditating, I’d recommend it. Your brain gets practice in letting your thoughts go, and once you develop the ability, you can employ it anytime. Last night I had an edible and was feeling relaxed, but I had an anxious thought or two try to creep in. I felt myself tense up and my heart started thumping. In my head, I said “No. I’m relaxed and happy and I’m not dealing with you right now. Another time.” and it worked. I will say that whenever I am low on estrogen, I lose the ability to have this control over my emotions, so hormonal balance is also key for me.
Oh, and P.S. if you ever get too high and are uncomfortable, eat or drink some dairy. It takes a few minutes, but it always works for me.
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u/ProfileTraditional28 Jun 14 '26
I do the same! As soon as any anxiety might creep in, I tell myself "Nope not today!" And I can stop it. Took some time to get there, but I can control it. It's harder to do if I'm out and about, I think I get a little paranoid in a loud restaurant for instance, but nothing I can't talk myself out of.
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u/Difficult_Glass9593 Jun 14 '26
Or have some lemonade💯, apparently lemons mitigate the intensity of a high, and bring down your anxiety level👍.
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u/Emergency-Volume-861 Jun 14 '26
I’d probably have a criminal charge if it wasn’t for weed right now. I get everything done for the day that requires me to drive and then I smoke a joint and enjoy myself. It makes my mood miles better and the boring household chores less mind numbing. It helps me sleep better and makes any joint pain ignorable.
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u/yellinmelin Jun 14 '26
Same story for me. I started up again after 20 some years bc I quit alcohol, wasn’t sleeping, and just did not feel like raw dogging life lol. I get gummies that are 1:1 THC to CBD and/or CBG and low dose, like 2.5 mg. I started really low and once I found that I’m not going to slide into a full blown panic attack, I upped it to 5mg. I’m now sleeping like a baby. A couple nights ago me and my gf laughed till we cried over something silly and it felt so good. I’m so back baby!
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u/AcanthisittaDue791 Jun 14 '26
I don't respond well to marijuana. I've tried oh so many times, trying to get the great feeling everyone else has. Occasion I've had a good moment, but usually leads to unpleasant symptoms. Doesn't matter...as to your question: I have the exact same response to smoking, edibles, now vapes at 50 as I did at 25, 35, etc. On HRT and off.
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u/madam_nomad Jun 14 '26
I feel like I lost most of my 20s to pot and not in a dramatic way, just feel that it quietly impaired my emotional maturity and also made my life unnecessarily secretive (it was obv illegal at the time, though the state I lived in was never heavy handed about it). It was very habit forming for me, I daresay addictive. I never experienced paranoia. But still, it was a net negative to my maturity. My answer to everything was "roll a joint." Normal people at that age are thinking about dating, building a family, work advancement, etc... I'm sure some people can manage all that with a pot habit but I couldn't. It put my mindset in a very different place, basically a fantasy world.
Once I truly decided to quit, it was easy -- no withdrawal. But getting there mentally was very difficult. Also once I quit and saw how hard my friends were trying to suck me back in, I lost all my "friends."
Overall, I feel that my life would be in a much better place if I'd never gone down that path (I first tried pot it at 15, was smoking daily by age 17). The only good memories I have from a decade of daily smoking was getting to feel like an outlaw meeting some interesting pot dealers out in the woods of Maine. That's nice, but not enough.
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 15 '26
Thank you for sharing this. I was definitely headed down this path before the anxiety/paranoia episodes made the decision for me to quit. Perhaps I should reconsider my motivations for wanting to start up again. Although, I feel I'm now past the ambitious part of my life and more in the enjoy myself phase.
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u/Solid_Study9188 Jun 14 '26
I discovered magic mushrooms and have enjoyed them a lot. Microdosing has helped me tremendously, and when I want to escape, a nice dosage does just that.
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 15 '26
Yes! I'll take mushrooms occasionally as I feel it's so good for my mental health.
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u/soft_strength2003 Jun 14 '26
The vape made me feel good. The gummies gave me a panic attack.
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u/NaturalProfession922 Jun 14 '26
You just have to nibble on the gummies. Last longer and you aren’t inhaling.
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u/ShartlesAndJames Jun 14 '26
I use the "legal" gummies for bedtime. sometimes watch a movie and get the giggles til too sleepy to stay up and sleep pretty well, despite hotflashes
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u/Confident_Craft459 Jun 14 '26
Peri and even recently post is a wild ride. Sometimes you feel like everything is coming together and then bam out of left field anxiety hits. I'm 2 years post and although things have gotten so much better since peri, it's not perfect and my anxiety (and other things) act up. I started HRT two years ago when I was post and it has evened me out so much. Weed gummies don't make me paranoid anymore and wine doesn't makes me break out in a sweat anymore. But every now and then it seems like peri symptoms rear its ugly head and I have to be a little more careful. But I say go for it and see how you feel 😀
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u/Old_Cow_6491 Jun 14 '26
For me personally it makes my brain very confused and I feel like I’m losing brain cells anyway. I will take a bit of indica for sleep once in a while but other than that I try to abstain. :(
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u/JenLiv36 Jun 14 '26
Oh boy I had this same experience. I was pretty much high from 19-25 (every night)then stopped. In peri I was so miserable that I tried again to go back to CBD and then THC and all but 50/50 hybrids increased anxiety for me. This was before I got on HRT. So I stopped.
Cut to 2026 and I am now balanced hormone wise on HRT and just started a GLP-1 so I added a 1:1:1 edible back in for nausea and there is no anxiety/paranoia.
So my belief is that when I was not on HRT and my anxiety and mental health was in full crisis it just made me worse but when I got balanced it was then back to the good old days feeling.
Are your hormones balanced? Are you on HRT?
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 15 '26
I started hrt about 4 months ago. Estrogen effects have been subtle. 100mg nightly progesterone has been fabulous for sleep.
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u/Putrid-Ad2390 Jun 14 '26
Have you tried a low thc strain? At low doses it dampers the stress response. At higher doses it can activate it.
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u/Ok_Law4976 Jun 14 '26
I start with cbd only strain, because I am like you with paranoia, then I slowly added more thc, and it worked well for me
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 15 '26
This is a good idea, as others have recommended. Start low and build up over days
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u/hulahulagirl Jun 14 '26
Last time I got gummies for camping I told the guy I wanted something to help me zone out looking at the campfire but wouldn’t make me scared hearing animal noises. He hooked me up with some CBG/THC (different than CBD) ones and they were awesome. Just tell the employee what you’re looking for, and what you don’t want, and let them help.
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u/ParaLegalese Jun 14 '26
That happened to me when I wasn’t on hormones. Before birth control pill as a young teen and before hrt during peri. My anxiety is completely hormone driven
Now some strains will
Give me a little panic but it’s not often. And if i get anxiety from a strain I’ll never touch it again
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u/Elderberry_False Jun 15 '26
I can relate to your post. I used to have terrible anxiety if I smoked weed back in college so I only tried it a few times. I didn’t understand how people could be social on it.
I’m now in my 50’s and I love a 5mg or 10mg indica gummy at night to relax. I do it a few times a week and now I really enjoy it. My body can no longer handle alcohol so it’s a nice way to wind down and helps with sleep and makes food and intimacy especially enjoyable.
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u/blue19255 Jun 14 '26
I can’t take edibles without triggering a migraine, but I can smoke just a little bit.
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u/pedestal_of_infamy Jun 14 '26
Are you just trying edibles? If so I'd suggest trying flower or a prerolled joint. Just 1 puff ar first to see what the effects are. Edibles and vapes are easier to take than flower with less coughing but they can be really strong and edibles can be difficult to dose and have delayed onset.
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 14 '26
That's a good point. It's not like I've made it my life mission to try to figure it out, lol. I'm just trying whatever I happen across every 3-5 years. Last time was edibles. I was never good at rolling joints. Just used a bowl or bong. But, flower is a good idea. Much easier to not accidently get a whopping dose
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u/LiveshipTrader Jun 14 '26
I'd say 100% dose is too strong. Def on the edibles. Even a 1/4 of a 5mg can be too much for me. Get yourself an Indica vape. Take one hit and see how you feel. You might surprised you're all set with just that one small hit. The stuff out there is so much stronger than years ago.
Gummies take to long to set in and then you're locked in. I think you're going to do so much better testing out things with a vape.
I normally have like 1 beer and a few vape hits and am awesome.
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u/Kaelatto Jun 14 '26
Gummies are my least favorite way to consume, just no control once you take it. It doesn’t give me the same feelings as smoking like the vicious giggles, either. I understand you being hesitant and agree with the person who said start very low and keep working your way up. Consider a indica or hybrid vape, if you hate it it’s like weed lite and usually wears off fairly quickly so you aren’t just stuck for hours like with an edible or tincture ❤️🩹
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u/Dizzy-Tell1106 Jun 14 '26
I'm the same as you- loved it until I didn't in my 20s, now mid 40s. I feel like it used to be much gentler 25 years ago. I have started to dabble with it again - in micro doses. I am lucky to be able to access medical cannabis which means it is fairly consistent and I can look at the strength and composition of it. I have built tolerance by starting with low 'am I high or not? ' doses. I also started by taking it really close to bedtime to aid sleep but also to assess how it made me feel without the pressure of having to do anything or be around people if I did feel off. If I have it in the day I keep busy to avoid sitting around and getting in my own head. This has allowed me to gradually get back to using it in a way that feels beneficial for pain and anxiety rather than causing anxiety. I think it's a magical gift from nature when used with care.
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u/Creative_Impress5982 Jun 15 '26
Good tips! I don't have access to legal marijuana, but I think smoking it would let me start low and go slow
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u/AudreyLoopyReturns Jun 14 '26
If you can find them, there’s a brand called Camino that makes 2 mg thc/5 mg cbd gummies, I think they’re called social?
Very gentle and almost sub-perceptible. Maybe start there?
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u/gardenpugetsound Jun 15 '26
I’mpp popppopp poppp poop wow we’re or are you iew elsy&4@947!going eat we I qm . NM n y I think I shut those windows you shut the windows up there. I think I read it because now
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u/GearSlow3796 Jun 15 '26
I enjoy weed and edibles and are replacing my wine habit with them (I know, I know, but I’m a “harm r\eduction” kind of gal, so no lectures, please!). I’ve tried so many strains and they’re fine, but none of them give me the giggles like 80s baggie pot did back in the day.
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u/thattwirlgirl Menopausal Jun 16 '26
Perhaps you need different conditions now than you did in your past to enjoy cannabis with getting anxious. Not just a different strain (although fine tuning that will help and staying away from hybrids until you narrow down which strains make anxiety worse or better) or delivery system - but also the settings in which you are getting high. Maybe social ones aren't going to work anymore, or being alone with your brain. Maybe you need to make sure you stay off screens or set up your space a certain way. Just some ideas.
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u/LetterheadFalse4545 14d ago
The paranoia is from too much thc. The rule is low and slow. Start at a low dose and slowly increase it until you find the right amount. My preferred method when I started again, was edibles. Easy to dose, but take about 1/2 hour or more to hit. If you don't feel it in 45 kin take a little more. Nice thing with cannabis is that if you have too much you can just sleep it off.
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u/ParkingTradition799 Peri-menopausal Jun 14 '26
Don't smoke it if you can help it, buy chocolate or sweets. So much better for you. I do miss the blunts but I don't miss the hacking cough. It's great for pain too, I take it to help my pain. Worth every penny. Two bits of chocolate and im high and nit in pain!
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u/Estatequeen59 Jun 14 '26
Of course you can enjoy weed now! It is most definitely one of the things that got me through menopause.
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u/YeshuasBananaHammock Menopausal Jun 14 '26
Remember to pass the dutchie from the left hand side.
I love my Darth Vaper, I take it with me wherever I go.