Can drugs like weed trigger an episode

hello. i am a 17 year old Canadian who lives in Calgary Alberta, i have not been diagnosed with any mental dissorder but ive researched the symptoms and i believe i may suffer from schizophrenia. let me share my story and some of the reasons why i may be schizophrenic and then i’ll get to my question. so around the begging of junior high me and my friends started experimenting with drugs such as weed, ecstasy, cocaine, and opiates. at probably age 14 i had done over 100 pills of ecstasy which i believe had a great effect on my brain structure since it was and still is underdevelopment. my very first psychotic experience was when i got drunk with my friends and this kid whom i used to be friends with decided it would be a good idea to hold me down and take pictures of me. and i freaked out and hit him so hard he did a 360 and blood splattered over the walls. now i know this would be a normal drunk behavior to get violent after someone steps on your toes like that but when i say i freaked out i mean i FREAKED out after that i started laughing with this almost evil laugh and i started thinking everyone was against me and tried picking fights with half the people there. that experience was mild compared to my next one also involving weed and alcohol. about mid year into grade 10 i got together with a group of people and started drinking and smoking weed. i got to the point of what you would call blackout drunk (apperantly) and from what i was told i started speaking in multiple voices or pitches in my voice, i grabbed my knife out of my pocket and chased this poor kid around the block till i passed out. when i got home it seemed like i calmed down but when i called my friends my dad walked in the room and heard me talking and started asking me questions and i responded with a split personalty i guess you could say one of the voices i was using was a weak scared pathetic voice and another was like a demon possessed voice straight out of Hollywood. so naturally being a christian family my dad started praying over me and i went crazy again and started talking like i was possessed while trying to fight my dad. once that was over i moved on with my life left the drug scene for about a year and didn’t party as much until a couple of days ago. me and my best friend did some lines of cocaine and had some beer the night before the incident and i was fine. the next day i got decently drunk and i was completely okay but once i tried beating my friends record of holding in a bong hit things went pretty bad. i felt like i got detached from reality and i had to fight the high or else it would take over me. i suffered from random emotions (one second i would be crying the next i would want to fight someone etc.) then i just sat there and mumbled things like “im being controlled” and really satanic images popped into my head from time to time. so that’s my experiences with whatever it is i have because i really dont believe its from an external source.

my question is can alcohol or drugs like weed trigger episodes even though i feel fine when im sober. i don’t always have problems with alcohol it’s only when there is weed involved and every single time i smoke weed i get the feeling like im being taken over.

Just sounds like drugs and alcohol don’t agree with you. I used to do both and saw many crazy episodes my friends would fly into…from being high and or drunk. If you’re really worried about having a mental illness you should stop drinking and experimenting with drugs. If still you have episodes after a few years while sober, find a psychiatrist

Certain drugs, legal or otherwise can trigger or make someone predisposed to sz to get full blown sz.
Drugs cannot cause the illness, one has to be born with the faulty genes.

The short answer is yes - you can read more here:

http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevention/streetdrugs.html

Here are some good videos on the topic from scientists who research the topic:

Here is another one:

Here is another more detailed video - jump to the 2 minute mark if you want to skip the intro:

i was diagnosed pschychotic nao “not otherwise specified”, yet i am now diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

and yes i have read somewhere that cannabidiol: link
enter link description here

could have a benefit from it. so i tried it offcourse. and my findings are that it makes me way more hyperactive in the brain. even so that it makes me pschychotic.

I used to smoke weed but I quit. I had a little extra one night, and my heart made a big thump and then i started hearing voices that night. When the high wore off the voices were still there and now it has been four years and they have not gone away. I am on medication for it. This is why I have quit the drugs. Drugs screw with your dopamine levels and that can cause all sorts of problems. Also when my heart made that big thump I think it almost stopped so I don’t go near that stuff anymore. I stick to cigarettes and the odd drink. I highly recommend you quit.

When I used to get stoned I would have psychotic episodes. I wouldn’t have them when I drink.

yes, they are known to. I have episodes if i smoke weed, i tried it as self medication before i got on antipsychotics. I remember being so symptomatic that I couldnt sleep, i had racing thoughts, extreme paranoia and loud constant voices as well as hallucinations of other people talking about me and people on the tv talking about me.

I actually remember hearing my psychiatrist on tv remarking on how symptomatic I was. lol

I am a psychology student and I can tell you that drugs basically simulate psychosis. The same neurotransmitter problems associated with schizophrenia happen when youre high. Thats why people on weed get paranoid, for example- there is too much dopamine flowing in their brains, just like a paranoid schizophrenic. It’s called the Dopamine Hypothesis, and cases like me have given it a backbone as a well proven theory…give them dopamine, they get worse, take it away, they get better.

Thank you guys for your feedback. i made the decision to quit weed before posting. im going to take your advice and wait to see if i get episodes sober and then go see a professional. it would be very unfortunate if i got evaluated
wrong.