Reviews
A Gummy-Sized Life Raft
A recent visit with my in-laws proved to be overflowing with triggers.
Much like toll booths and awkward human interactions, anxiety is one of those things we can’t totally avoid. While I wouldn’t describe myself as someone with terrible social anxiety, I do experience it from time to time and begrudgingly accept the discomfort that ensues. Even when I'm around people I know and love, anxiety can rear its ugly head and leave me cringing for days. Elaborate family trips are a big trigger for me, as is juggling performative socialization while chasing a toddler. My anxiety is manageable because I know what my triggers are and how to avoid them. But a recent visit with my in-laws proved to be overflowing with triggers, so having Wyld’s Pomegranate Gummies in my back pocket was a real emotional life raft.
“The flavors of this gummy are identical to your corner store candy faves.”
Wyld's Pomegranate Gummies are made with equal parts 5mg THC and 5mg CBD and seem geared toward those who are new or sensitive to edibles. The flavors of this gummy are identical to your corner store candy faves—right down to the rubbery, artificial aftertaste. The single dose high bloomed slowly, creeping up my back and loosening the nervous cramps along my shoulders. It even muffled the panicked voice of dissent rambling around in my head. My body felt just as rubbery as the aftertaste, and my arms and legs were springy, light, and immune to distress. I bet these gummies would be a major mood booster if your day was structured around a single activity with people you’re genuinely comfortable and authentic with. But because I had neither of those things, my experience reflected that.
"Your experience may vary" is a caveat we should all employ when experimenting with edibles to relieve certain medical conditions. We are all subjective individuals riding different emotional waves and looking for different kinds of relief. What might work for some may not work for others, something those of us in the cannabis industry know intimately. To say that my mood simply dictated my experience with these Wyld gummies would be an understatement. I also feel it’s my responsibility to reiterate that certain edibles will heighten whatever emotional state you’re already in. My agitated state of mind certainly engineered how these gummies affected me.
As I sat in the family garden being devoured by mosquitos, I maintained friendly conversation through every tiny pinprick. While navigating my mother-in-law's cluttered home, I chose to smile instead of grimace at every physical obstacle. When the thought occurred to me that she was simply burying herself in ephemera that would one day become her children’s burden, I tucked that thought neatly into the back of my mind and kept my mouth locked in a Stepford grin. Situations that would normally shake me suddenly gave me zero pause. I was on autopilot. I was somewhere adjacent to the Sunken Place. I was present and I was not.
“I wanted to escape and an escape was provided.”
It was a weird, somewhat numb feeling I wouldn’t necessarily recommend. My anxiety manifests as chaotic people pleasing, but replacing a tornado of pageantry with a tidal wave of pretense somehow feels counterproductive. My day started with fatigue, stress, depression, and anxiety. There was no way I was going to escape those feelings and perhaps I shouldn’t have tried so hard to. Because no matter how I attempted to avoid those negative feelings, there were triggers everywhere—triggers galore. Relying on one serving of these gummies to somehow get me through a minefield of anxiety would’ve been naïve at best. This product wasn’t completely ineffective, it just wasn’t the panacea I was hoping it’d be. Had I been in a better state of mind or a happier environment, I’m sure these gummies would’ve uplifted me further.
So, herein lies the issue: Wyld's Pomegranate Gummies relieved me of a great deal of anxiety but replaced that anxiety with feelings of detachment and disinterest. I wanted to escape and an escape was provided. Sure, I wasn’t crawling out of my skin with discomfort, but the gummies amplified my apathy and magnified my malaise. Perhaps that was all I wanted and all I could’ve hoped for considering the circumstances. Your experience may vary.
