TEEN HAS 'BAD TRIP'

Dear Dr. Barbara: I am 15 years old and have been depressed for a while.
Since the first of December when my parents moved me away from friends and
family, I have been under stress. A lot of stuff was going on in my life. I
needed something to help or to do something to change the way I was
feeling. So I started to smoke marijuana.

That went on for about two weeks. The last time the marijuana I was smoking
didn't look familiar. But I want ahead and smoked it because I was so
desperate to feel something other but sad. I went back to class. We were on
lunch break and I started to freak out. I felt different than I usually do
when I am high. I started to look at everybody in class and just thinking
about everything and all of a sudden I started to get hot and my head was
pounding. I could hear my heart beat and I couldn't see. I was moving
around like I was having a seizure, but I wasn't shaking. I panicked and I
couldn't breathe and I don't know what that is called. I think that had
something to do with my depression.

Now I have really bad headaches and out-of-control ringing in my ears. My
mom gave me this little article you wrote in our newspaper where I live. I
think that the weed I smoked was laced with some other serious chemical,
ecstasy or angel dust. I had the symptoms of what they do. I want to know
if you can give me some information on what I can do for the ringing in my
ears. I can't go to sleep at night. My dreams are really weird. I get into
such deep dreams that I can't get up and when I do I am weak and my head
hurts. I get fevers out of nowhere.

I just want to know if you can help me in any way with some information. I
would be most appreciative. Thank you for your time.

- -- Looking for Answers

Dear Looking: Moving away from friends and loved ones is extremely
difficult. Starting in a new school, especially as a teen, is even more
stressful. Impacting on all of these changes in your life is the fact that
you were depressed for a while.

Unfortunately, instead of confiding in your parents and asking them to take
you to a psychotherapist, you chose a "different therapist" -- marijuana.
Interestingly, while some people take marijuana because they think they
will get out of their feelings, numb out, escape from the problems they are
facing, marijuana often does just the opposite. In fact, marijuana use can
cause depression and damage brain cells. And when the person comes down
from the trip, the problems still are present.

However, you now may have additional problems such as addiction, depression
and side effects from a "bad trip." An interesting fact: marijuana today is
15 times stronger than it was in the '60s. In addition, since production of
marijuana is not under government control, you have no way of knowing
exactly under what conditions it is made or the "purity" of the street
drug. The bottom line is just don't be a user.

I am not sure whether you have been forthright with your parents or your
family physician. You must fess up and it is imperative that you get
professional medical and psychotherapeutic help immediately. Get a complete
physical from your family doctor. You may need to see a neurologist or an
ear, nose and throat doctor for the tinnitus -- the ringing in your ears --
as well as treatment for the headaches, nightmares and sleeplessness.

Teen years are very difficult. But trust me when I say, "This, too, shall
pass."

Dr. Barbara Freedman is a licensed marriage and family therapist in
Calabasas, Calif. Write c/o The Ventura County Star, P.O. Box 6711,
Ventura, CA 93006, or e-mail drbfreedman@aol.com.