Marijuana withdrawal

This is my story,I find this pretty interesting because I just quit on 7-19-06. I had been wanting to quit for sometime now, but my husband kept bringing it to me. That was his way of making his drinking except able. He is an alcoholic and if I kept smoking pot then I was no better then him. I have been a pot smoker now for about 20 yrs. and have been with my husband for 16 yrs. I'm not blaming him, but he doesn't help. Anyway, I have quit before, but for only about 5 months at a time.
The last time I quit was when I quit cigs. on Dec. 19 2004. I quit for about 6 months, but I was having a hard time with quitting cigs. and started smoking pot again. I found it was a lot easier not smoking cigs. if I smoked pot. So, for the last year that's all I have done was smoke pot. All day long, a puff or two of pot about every half hour or so. All I did was replace cigs. for pot.
On 7-19-06 I smoked my last bowl and ended up at the doctor's office. I was having a bad case of acid reflux and anxiety. That's why I decided no more I was done. I thought I was having a heart attach. It was terrible, my lungs were also hurting. I assumed it was acid reflux. I also had some nausea and times where my body got really hot, I was literally burning up and running a fever,the flu virus had been going around and the doctor's said it was probably that. Did I mention I haven't told my doctor about my pot smoking ?
It's been almost 4 weeks now since I've smoked pot. My lungs still ache and so does my stomach. This acid reflux thing really sucks and I know it has to be acid reflux cause I burb several times through out the day and once in a while I will get that gross acidly stuff will come up my throat. I also never get headaches and for the last 4 days I have had a constant headache on the right side of my head that will move to the back and then to my left side, but mostly it's on my right side, if that makes sense.
I am also a ovarian cancer survivor and I'm just wondering if this is normal or if I should be concerned. Please help me if you can. I guess my paranoia is really kicking in.

i just read all 6 pages of this forum..i have been smoking everyday for 3 years now, when i was a freshman in highschool i first tried it and only smoked occasionally and then my sophmore and junior year i didnt smoke at all, when i was a senior i started back and discovered i could do it every day and still function as what i thought was normal, i've been out of highschool for 2 years and still smoked every day, sometimes up to 8 blunts a day, and not the crappy weed either. 8 days ago i found out i had to stop due to some events coming up, from tuesday to friday i didnt smoke anything and i seemed to feel fine, this past weekend i was with some friends and friday night i hit a bowl only 1 time, the next night i hit a blunt only 1 time, today is tuesday and i havnt smoked at all since those 2 hits in those 2 days, 2 sundays ago before going to bed i smoked my nightly bowl pack and about 30 minutes later the right side of my chest started to ache and i suddenly started feeling numbness all over my body, tingling, weird taste, my face felt like it was swelling, i thought i was having a heart attack, but it was anxiety. scared sh*tless i didnt smoke until the next night and i only smoked 1 blunt, the anxiety took over again although not as intense. that was the last time i smoked until the 2 hits this past weekend. since today would be the 3rd day in a row that i have not used marijuana AT ALL i have noticed that i feel like complete c**p. the first day of no use i seemed alright with the exception of clammy hands and armpits, that night around 7pm my right leg began to feel numb and then went into a tingling sensation i also experienced trouble falling asleep and would toss and turn for at least an hour before i finally fell asleep, waking up the next day i felt okay and durring the day i seemed to be fine, my appetite has supressed and i can only take about 5-7 bites of my meal before i am full, yesterday (day 2 with no use at all) i was fine with the exception of sweatyness but at around the same time (7pm) my right arm went numb and this is when i really started to worry, i tried to let it wear off but then the tingling sensation started to occur so my mom took me to the hospital where i had a CT scan, turns out my brain is completely normal and they sent me on my way but im supposed to do a follow up with a neurologist, i didnt really start to think that i was having withdrawls from marijuana until today when i really started to question it, it seemed to make sense since 2 weeks ago when i was still using i felt normal and healthy, when i put 2 and 2 together i started to ask myself if it could be withdrawls from marijuana, since i've never used any other drugs it could be the only one im experiencing problems from, i started looking it up online and came across this website, when i read that other people besides myself were experiencing the same problems as i am im sort of at more comfort, i've been weepy(crying off and on) for the past few days, my muscles have felt really weak, the tingling seems to seclude itself to certain parts of my body, my hands and armpits (no matter how much antiperspirant i use) are clammy (sweaty) i wake up and realize that my brain was active all night due to freaky dreams though i cant recall exactly what went on in all of them im able to remember certain parts which from what i recall are very highstrung and full of anxiety, one particular dream which i remember parts from i was arguing with my mother, today i ran for a mile so i could sweat some of the thc out of my body, right now it is 6pm and today i've experienced cold feet and hands, sweaty armpits, hands, and feet, dizziness/light headedness, pain in my neck and lower back, weakness in my arm and leg muscles and my vision seems to be sort of off, not really blurry but not like im really seeing as straight as i should, my eyes feel sort of tired like the feeling you get when you've come down from your high, i almost forgot upset stomach, i've had diarhea for a few days now, to add to the symptoms, and i have a weird sort of indigestion or acid reflux type feeling where my chest and throat meet, i've always stood up for marijuana and for people who used it but im here to say that withdrawls from it ARE REAL, especially if you've been using it for a significant amount of time I read that they can last anywhere from 10-28 days but depending on your use and your body it could take months…don’t give up!! It will all eventually go away. Good Luck!!

I just read your post and had to respond. It's been almost 5 months since I've smoked and I feel better now then what I've felt in years, I don't think I'll ever touch the stuff again. I loved being high and must admit I miss it, but after all the withdrawls I went through and what I felt like when I stopped, it's just not worth it to start smoking again. I'm still fighting acid reflux, but everything else is good.
My withdrawls stoped finally after about 1 1/2 months, but I still can't sleep without a Tylenol PM. Just one Tylenol PM and I sleep like a baby and boy do I have some wild and crazy dreams, almost every night. I just love going to sleep to dream.The funny thing is that I don't ever dream about getting high, but I do still dream about smoking cigs once in a while and I haven't smoked them in two years.
About 3 months ago I joined curves and now I workout about 3-4 times a week and I feel so good after my workouts. The one thing I have noticed is that I've been gaining weight since I quit smoking pot, almost 8lbs. I'm not overweight yet, but wonder if quitting pot slowed down my metabolism. They say it's muscle, but I'm not to sure about that.
Good luck to you, I hope you can quit. you will feel like a new person again. I forgot what normal felt like, but I do now. ( I think ...lol) If you have any questions or need to talk I'm here for you.

Wow, I have smoked Mary Jane for 10 +years and never imagined or thought I was addicted. I went on vacation last week for 7 days and was unable to smoke MJ or cigs. Didn't sleep the whole time. One night both my legs went numb and I started puking. Reading everones post has made me feel alot better. At least I now can say I have been through the worst and it's sunny skies from here on out ( I hope). I sat down the other night and wrote why I smoke. I have have a stressful job and crappy family life so I smoke to numb stress and pain. I hadn't had sex in years without being stoned and what a difference. Yeh I'll probably smoke a joint every now and then but the 6 I was smoking every night will never happen again. With drawl was the worst and I don't want to feel like that again. At least i know what I was feeeling now and why.
Thank you

i've been on weed for the last 5 years...and honestly.....i can quit any time i want...i've quit for months at a time and just smoke it for fun..

As far as driving goes....you can smoke and drive if u're a good driver..and don't over exceed ur limits...puff in limitations....just to get a kick out of it and not to f**k urself up...anyways...thats a problem i've seen a lot..people **** themselves over by smoking way more than they should.....

**edited by moderator**

I am on my 28th day without any pot and am still experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
Haven't had a good nites sleep since I quit and still experience stomach cramps after eating.
I'm cranky.
I'm weepy.
I'm sweaty.
I'm DONE with pot.

I have been smoking mj since I was 17, but didn't come a heavy user until 18. I am now 23 and trying to quite for the 2nd time. The first time was hell. I was throwing up every day, not able to eat, sleep, or get off the couch. I had horibble anxiety wiht panic attacks frequently. I went to rehab, and got over everything that I was expirenceing. It took about a month to really get over the stomach pains .But the worst thing is haveing it hit you mentally. I felt like anything I ate I was going to throw up, so I developed some what of an eating disorder. and would havew horrible anxiety about eating. Then once I got everything out of my system, and felt like I could control my mj use I started up again and quite my treatment at the rehab center. Now after about a year I am trying to quite again, and is experinceing the same syptoms. It has been 4 days of not smoking and quiting cold turkey. And I was smoking the second I got up, 2 to 3 times during the day, and of course a heavy amount to pass out at night. It has been hell trying to quite. Wiht in the last couple of days I have only eating like 4 pieces of toast, a couple bowls of cereal, and have thrown up everything else I hae try to eat. I am expierencing horrible stomach pains from being hungry, but my anxiety keeps me from eating. I am 5-7 and only weigh 105 pounds. At that is what I have the worst anxiety about. I want to gain wieght but cant rihgt now. I guess the best advice I can give is hang in there and try to relax if you are having anxiety about eating. Because it ca ngt to you mentally. Not to mention the horrible depreesion I am experenceing. Just try to keep happy thought in your head because the days get long and boring. NAd one thing that I have turned more then anything rihgt now is GOD. It also helped to tell my family for the first time ever what my promble has been for the past 4 years, and it is great to get it off my chest and know i am able to go to my family for support for the first time ever. I hope this pain goes away mentally and physically. Good luck to all the quiters out there, and god bless.

I've been smoking weed for going on ten years now. I'm tired of the amount of money that I was spending on it, I want to move out of where I'm staying but getting high is much more important to me. So I'm trying to quit. It's been 3 days and I feel like I'm going to have an anxiety attack and die. I've been either so angry I can't think or crying. I can't stand to be around anyone or even myself. I haven't eaten and barely slept. All I want to do is curl up in a ball. I feel like a id**t. My gf is being very supportive even though all I'm doing is being moody and bitching at her about everything. Is there anything that helps? And does rehab really help?

Of all the reasons in the world, i guess I had to endure 17 years of basically regular pot smoking, 17 years of running in circles -WITH A RAG IN YOUR MOUTH!- , and I had to meat this person that would reveal to me... a secret. The only reason it had remained a secret to me was that I was simply not aware of it. Here's something that might change your way at looking at things... for ever.
The drive that permits us to live our life the way we want is dertemined by the Buzz that we get out of it. Let's take an obvious example: why do we get up every morning to go to work or to school? At the end, whatever the reason in detail is (money, prestige, survival, blabla), you want the buzz that comes along the way, too often at the end, like on payday or "when I'm done school" or "when I retire" etc. Of course life is filled with a wide variety of buzzes that seem to enrich our life, a bit just like vitamins and minerals that not only "enrich" , but are essential to the well being of our body. And the key is, just like anything else, a matter of balance. So far, nothing new, will you say; hang on. If have been smoking up for the last 17 years and that my nickname among my close friends (who also smoke up too) is "La Puff" (my first language is french...), I have been living in denial in thinking that i had a well balance lifstyle! What did my parents did wrong with me? No money problems, caring and loving parents the whole nine yards, happiness in Québec City's Suburbia!

The truth is that, although my parents probably did the best they could for me, they did not care enought about their own well being -espescially psychological- and I'm just realizing now at 32, having a 5 year old son, that my parents lived in a state of anxiety, that deprived me of something that whould have made the biggest difference in the world for me as develloping kid: BEING EXPOSED TO THE PLAIN AND SIMPLE BUZZ OF MY PARENTS AT RAISING ME.
No matter what socio-economical class you are from (don't get me wrong I do not ignores statistics and reality), it has been revealed to be that the most important factor that will make of somebody a more or less fonctionnal individual, is partly du to his or her exposure to that essential buzz that we need to feel from our parents (care-givers at large) at a youg age. And there you are now, an adult , being from totally functionnal to not functionnal at all (disfunctionnal). In average, I heard that one family out of two is more disfunctionnal than functionnal, covering the whole spectrum of different functionality level of any family. Am I making any sense?
30 years ago, people generaly still smoked cigarettes indoor, SURE ENOUGH! with your son on your laps bah! We will all agree 2 things here: second hand smoke is bad for your kid's lung, but even worse, you multiply 10 fold the chances of your kid immitating you in starting smoking, in getting at their turn into the trap of addiction for the rest of their life. Let me add a third one: NOW THAT WE DO NOT SMOKE INSIDE' ANYMORE WE ABANDON OUR KIDS AT EVERY 20 MIN TO FORFILL OUR ADDICTION, GET OUR BUZZ- OUTSIDE! Every buzz from from each cigarettes you smoke deprives as much your children of that essential thing that they need from you, YOUR NATURAL BUZZ OF RAISING THEM: loving them, being proud of them, being "openly gealous" at them for doing better than you in same situation when you were that age.
Where am I going with this? That exemple of the cigarette/ nicotine addiction is just one one the many addictions that are available to us (pick your poison...). Smoking pot, Drinking, being a sexoholic, gambling, workoholic, bodybuilder(steroids...), anorexic f**k NAME IT! are all disbalancement that deprived our kids of that real and essential thing:YOU

Firstly, i'd like to thank all whom have posted their accounts of pot use and/or dependence, it has helped me a great deal. I've been smoking weed consistenly since i was 17. I am now 30. I am on my 7th day of marijuana abstinence, and, I want to know what it feels like to be normal and functional again. I have always been outgoing( sports, marching and concert band, academics, leadership programs). Even during my first years of using, I maintained good grades and worked after school. After graduating high school, I went on to college at 17 and started getting into trouble( with grades , girlfriend, and friends). My college girlfriend, who smoked weed occasionally, could party harder than me and seemed to abstain from using and reach any goal she set for herself. Of course, this always frustrated me , but it also provided me with a crutch to say, "He or she smoked pot and they turned out alright." But everyone is different. In high school, it seemed everyone was doing it-it was ok; In college, all my buddies did it-it was ok; later, on the job after work, some of my co-workers did it- it was ok. I kept giving myself excuses to keep using( to make myself feel better). At times, all i needed was to know the girl i was hooking with smoked, i would get enough weed for both of us. The point is...NO MORE EXCUSES. I have a 3 year old daughter whom i love very much. Her mother moved her and her sister miles away from me and I want and need to be sober if I am ever gonna be given custody of my daughter. I am a great dad on weed, I can only imagine how good i can be for her sober. Yes, withdrawal is a b*&%$, but hearing others talk about their personal trails with pot helps a great deal. The crazy dreams, aches and pains, and discomfort are REAL, but so is God. Keep reading and writing, God made you guys do it-never forget that.

I have been smoking pot for 20 years and over the last ten years I have smoked every day. In the last year I have been smoking at least half an ounce of good heads a week. I smoked at least 10 bowls a day. It is now 5 days since I gave up. I've lost 5 pounds in weight through loss of appetite and haven't slept much for days.
Then I hit the natural therapies and found that motherwort is a good herb for counteracting the anxiety and being highly strung. Magnesium helps the appetite and general stress and tissue salts help boost the body while I'm not eating much. The severity of my withdrawal has gone right down from the magnesium and tissue salts. I also saw my doctor and got some temazepam for sleeping so I am able to function.
One of the biggest cravings I have is to actually smoke. That is suck some toxic burning smoke into my lungs. I gave up cigarettes 7 years ago and substituted extra dope. My biggest problem now is giving up the actual act of smoking. I have heard needle users get like this about needles.

I feel confident that I can make a go of it. I have a doctor behind me, some natural therapies and on Wednesday I start thereapy at the drug and alcohol adiictions dept to help me stay off. It is going to be a battle to stay straight in the long term and I am trying to get all the long term back up I can.

One thing that helps is reminding myself that I spent $10,000 on pot last year. What else coul I have done with that money! How upset would my husband be if he knew that was how much I have kept back from the household KItty ( he doesn't smoke or drink or use any drugs)

Apart from insomnia and not eating I havent had many psychological problems like anger or irritablity which is good.

Wish me luck!

Hello People.

Just Googled cannabis withdrawal and found this, and wow what a relief... it seems there is very little information about cannabis / ganja withdrawal, except for forums like these who share their stories.

Basically I'm trying to quit for the 2nd time now... I don't even know why I started again... I guess I thought I could "control myself this time".

I started smoking when I was 19 on and off socially, but when I moved into my first place with my girlfriend I started smoking more and more, eventually I was smoking everyday at night, then eventually found myself smoking in the morning.. Then unfortunately about 6 months into my blissful lifestyle I got a kidney stone, which was terrible, but made me stop smoking as smoking made the pain worse.

And I basically turned into a wreck during this period, couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, anxious all the time... I kept trying to pretend it wasn't the weed withdrawal, and just this kidney stone killing me... but eventually I gave up and just decided I had to quit smoking, and went cold turkey.

So I left my flat and went home and stayed with my parents for 1 year, after about 1 week my apatite came back and my anxiety pretty much vanished... after 1 month I felt completely normal again.

However 1 year later I decided to move out again, and got my own place again... and yes I just repeated the same stupid thing, and started smoking every so often, with the excuse that all my problems before were just medical related before..

This went on for about 1-2months, eventually my weed source ran dry, and I had nothing, and then all the symptoms came back... and it all clicked, it was nothing to do with the kidney stone, leaving my flat, all of that **** was just an excuse I was making.. as at the end of the day I like to smoke, but I guess like anything, you have to do it in moderation.

The worst thing I find for me about the withdrawal is in the morning I feel terrible, really bad, but when I get up I tend to start feeling better as the day goes on...

All I can say to people going though the same thing is, hang in there.. if you go cold turkey you seriously will feel better between 1-2 weeks clean.

I have been smoking marijuana scince I can remember. I was 12 years old when I started and I am now 26 with two beautiful boys aged 4 and 19 months. I have seperated from my husband and he has been out of the home for 5 weeks. I am completely alone except for the occasional help from my Mum, who tries to understand and support me but really has no idea what I'm going through. My whole life has turned upside down. Everything I knew to be normal and "safe" to me has now gone. I hate and love this drug with a passion. But I finaly recognise that it truly has destroyed my life. I can't think rationaly, I have verbal rage attacks at the people I care about the most, and at the moment, I just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have only been clean for 3 days, but with the constnt care of my two kids, the pressures of my seperation, and financial problems I feel like I'm going to loose it. I have tried unsucessfully to quit in the past, but it's so hard for me. It's like a faithful friend who is always there for me when no one else is. I do not want to feel like this any more. If anyone can offer any support through e-mailing me my address is *******. I have very few friends and they have their own lives and just don't understand. PLEASE HELP ME

**edited by moderator**email addresses not allowed**

I am 32 and have been a regular smoker for over 15 years, smoking multiple times a day in that period. In the past I have quit for a week or two during finals or while on vacation and once for 30 days to pass a screening to get a job when I was 24.

Recently I had cut back to once a day or once every couple of days, but I decided to give it up cold turkey about 3 1/2 weeks ago. I decided that smoking was no longer adding to my life and I didn't want to miss my kids growing up while being stoned the whole time (plus I didn't want to set an example for them as my dad did for me).

After about a week I started to feel like complete c**p. I have the following symptoms:

chronic fatigue (no pun intended)
night sweats and cold chills (almost feverish-like)
joint pain in my neck and lower back
constant headaches
low grade fever (99-100.5 F)
flushness/warm tingling feeling in my skin (usually on my face) that produces an itching sensation on occasion
irritable bowels


I never associated these symptoms with withdrawal as I never have any issues in the past when stopping. I finally went to a doctor last week thinking I had something wrong with me. They are currently running tests for Lyme Disease and Rheumatic / Lupus related diseases. I know that Marijuana can repress the immune system response and I am wondering if my symptoms are normal for detox or if my smoking was helping to repress my immune system which is now working stronger causing some of the rheumatic symptoms that I am having. I am almost at 30 days smoke free now and I am wondering if these symptoms will keep going or if I am near the end of Detox.

Anyone have any thoughts?