Long term marijuana use

Guest · Guest

I am a long term heavy marijuana smoker and was wondering, when I stop smoking will the areas of my brain, that were affected by smoking tree, be restored to its original capacity or does the brain never fully recover from long term heavy usage. If anyone knows please respond and please no Bulls*%t.
Thanks

DennisD. · Silver Member Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 152

Cannabis has other effects on the body, not just cognitive and you should know that some of them resemble tobacco use effects.
Cannabis has 4x more tar than tobacco does and it stays on lungs especially because there are no filters when you smoke joints and because you hold the smoke longer when you smoke pot. This has stronger effects on the lungs. Long term heavy pot smokers may suffer from chronic bronchitis such as coughing and wheezing and suffer from lung impairment.
Then, it has been shown that cannabis can have negative short-term effects on fertility especially on men who already have decreased sperm count.
Regarding the immune system, there is no evidence that it gets impaired by smoking weed.

As for the cognitive effects such as poor attention, memory, proceeding information, etc…..it is said that they may be impaired especially with longer use and that it is not known if they can be reversed or not. This is a very hard field for research. In the end, it has been reported that there is no structural brain damage from smoking weed but then again, it is just one of many researches and there have been plenty and all of them have different results especially because of the difficulty of analyzing the brain.

High doses of THC can cause confusion, amnesia, delusions, hallucinations, anxiety, and agitation especially in individuals who are prone to it. But these affects seem to go away once the cannabis is stopped.

Guest · Guest

I suffer from siezures and am on medication for siezure,these siezures are auras and pictures in my brain, before I pass out. As long as I on my siezure medicine I,m find. But, I 'v been smoking everyday for 30 years , a couple of hits each day..and have never quit. I have been sober 3 days now and I'm experiencing all the effect of withdrawal that I'v read about in this web site.But does anyone have any idea about the brain and siezure and marijuana withdrawal??

Yoga Honey Bunn · Newbie Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 83

Well, long-term use of any chemical will alter your brain. I've found that my ability to discriminate between what is important to remember, and what is interesting to remember has been altered. But, this might be a psychological predisposition, too. I'm not good with facts.

The truth is that after 4 years of daily smoking, I quit. I feel much more clear headed. Stopping has many advantages, not the least of which is actually dealing with emotions, and facing my shortcomings. If you're running away from coping with these...you're not ready to stop.

ras411ras · Newbie Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Posts: 13

In contrast to an earlier post on this topic, the newest research shows that YES there is immune system suppression with chronic, daily marijuana use.

However, as far as mental deficits, the newest research shows that they tend to disappear over time after quitting. These were tests where subjects were tested in short-term memory and cognitive skills while still heavy smokers and then tested again at regular intervals following abstinance. After a period of time, they were gradually back to normal mental and memory function and were comparable to the contrast group that had never smoked or smoked casually/very little (these two groups were indistinguishable in their testing scores).

I'm not saying it has no long-term affects at all as you can also medically prove it kills brain cells, but I would propose these tests show you can at least get close to pre-smoking memory and cognition. And perhaps the type of long-term problems it can cause would not show up in standardized testing used in this particular study.

I have only recently quit after many years of heavy daily use myself, so it will be interesting to see in the long run if I personally feel any long-term differences.

HEMP4Victory · Newbie Joined: 30 May 2007 Posts: 1

ItHurtMe · Newbie Joined: 06 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

I will say this. I smoked everyday fairly heavy for about 30 years - 1 week. I was ok up until about 2 years ago I started feeling cloudy and confused at work every once in a while(even though I never smoked before or during work). I figured the weed was too strong and I should stick to RB because I smoke to smoke. It was just the beginning and it progressively got worse. But very slowly. I currently have stopped for a week and I am confused, cloudy and have some trouble just doing my day to day routine. I am a computer engineer and have a good job with an IQ of 135+ not a genius but certainly not stupid. The weed has hurt my intellect. I can say that for sure. People who say it does not, probably have either been lucky so far or are like my friends who visit the pro marijuana websites and believe them. As for me I'm done and I hope I can recover at least most of the way.

dixsonator · Newbie Joined: 27 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

Hi guys,

I was a long term smoker, most days for about 10+years. I have recently given up tobacco and weed. Well, i still vape a few times month but for all intents and purposes, this is giving up for me. I have had some strange withdrawal (well, that what i blame) symptoms so far. Fatigue first, IBS style symptoms next (still there) and periods of dissociation though they haven't affected me cognitively as far as i know, its certainly disconcerting. Im a phd scientist by the way so i decided to stop before i'm 30 both for mental aptitude and long term health issues associated with smoking.

Currently i hope these symptoms go away soon, though on the plus side, i'm already much fitter, lungs are much better and i recently cut myself badly and noticed that i have healed much faster! This is only 6wks after stopping.

Hope this info is of some use. I think to be a regular user is bad, like everything, especially 'approved' drugs like alcohol, continued heavy, regular use is definetly bad.

Guest · Guest

It is important to note that people experience noticeable mental decline after 30 years of /life/. Perhaps you are just getting older, ItHurtMe?

Guest · Guest

I have heard/read that it can also suppress ovulation. I have (now had) been a steady smoker for seven years but have been recently been trying to quit. I have tests done that show I do not ovulate, I have done IVF with poor egg quality on the few they could get. I can't seem to find anything though, to tell me if this problem might be corrected once I have been smoke free for a while. I am coming up on one month smoke free, I know that is too short to notice anything so thought I would ask here... Any similair problems out there?

Thanks in advance!

Long term marijuana use

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