so I used to be quite a regular user of cannabis. on and off user of edibles &amp; joints since 2016, and a regular vape user since 2021. however at the end of 2021, I started to notice I would get chest pains and anxiety after I smoked.

I had the complete wrong response to this and ignored it. this completely backfired. on a night in January this year, I vaped a small amount (3-4 hits) an hour before bed. when I got into bed, just as I was about to fall asleep, I instantly got the worst chest pain I have felt in my life and had heart palpitations with my HR being about 160BPM constantly for half an hour. this combination felt like my heart was hurting and was going to explode. I called an ambulance, thinking I was having a heart attack.

 I eventually got to my local A&amp;E. luckily nothing heart-related was occurring after an EKG, blood tests and other tests. it turns out I was suffering from Costochondritis (where the cartilage between your sternum &amp; ribs were inflamed).

from that day on I suffered from chest pain even when I wasn't smoking weed. as a matter of fact, I completely stopped it from when I went to A&amp;E, as well as alcohol and caffeine. I have still kept this up to this day (nearly 9 months now).

many months have passed since then and my Costochondritis has gradually got slightly better. unfortunately, I still not have completely recovered from it. the pain is much better than before, but can still occur sometimes. I am taking all the appropriate measures I can to improve it on a daily basis. 

however, these past few months haven't been easy. being in the large amount of pain I've been suffering from in the past months has seriously affected my mental state, and I have also been diagnosed with health anxiety since July this year.

after some back-and-forth with my GPs, they finally agreed to give me some treatment for my anxiety as opposed to empty advice. I have been taking 15mg Mirtazapine since August this year. I think it has been a help for the anxiety, and has been useful to other things I've been suffering with (such as insomnia). 

however, I have missed being high so much the entire time this thing has been going on. I don't miss the feeling of alcohol at all. I don't even miss the caffeine rush either - I would easily go my entire life without alcohol and caffiene, just to be able to feel super high like I did before this happened again.

I have tried having a hit of my vape a couple of times in a controlled environment that would be the most comfortable for me. in all of these scenarios, even the tiniest of hits makes my heart race slightly and sets me on edge in terms of anxiety. I've tried this during May, July, and September.

it just feels so shitty that I'm not able to do one of the few things that was able to completely relax myself before. it's not even like I was hooked on it in the past - I would use it in moderation, similar to my alcohol usage.

has anyone been in a similar situation? were you able to use weed in the end? did you have to change your amounts/usage? any other advice would be much appreciated.