Hey, I'm 34 and I've been smoking since I was 16 or so, so about 16 years. I smoke heavily; I would smoke many times a day, blunts, bowls, joints, it all, I practically smoked before I did anything. It has always been tough not smoking because of the people I hung out with. Also, I noticed I always had a compulsiveness to my smoking.. I would take many hits close together, sometimes because I forgot I already took a hit. I think part of the reason why I smoked was because I liked the act of smoking (I smoked cigarettes too but managed to quit that with ease because most of my desires to smoke cigs came from drinking which I don't do often anymore). The longest I ever quit in those 16 years was about a month or two and I cant remember what I was like then. I've struggled with insecurity, depression and anxiety throughout my life so I used the substances to cope with my problems. Before anyone asks, I tried many different drugs for depression and anxiety that did not help and sometimes worsened my conditions (I smoked while on these drugs as well). I'm starting to think that the mental issues I had were actually caused by the smoking this whole time. I have been high for so long that perhaps I forgot what was real or not; that all my worry was caused by the smoking but I was too high to notice. Being high all the time was the normal world for me and I felt like I could not live without it. Today I'm trying to make a stand and I haven't smoked all day and I still feel shitty in my head but I know it will take some time to get it my body adjusted to normal. I want to see if the sober me is different than the "always stoned" me.

Does anyone know how long it might take for the symptoms to go away for someone who has been doing as long and as often as me? What can I do to help counteract these symptoms? How long will it take for me to feel how I'm meant to feel when normal, like when will I know that its out of my system or not? I know none of this will happen overnight or even in a week so I'm ready for that but is this going to take many months?