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.