Marijuana withdrawal

Oh, and I do feel far more pain in my muscles after excercise as well. I do believe that will pass after a month or so. I'm around three weeks, and it's getting better but still noticable.
I try to stay a little bit active all day to keep from noticing, and end my day with a little Kava root tea or Valerian to ease the pain. Both work great. I find Valerian is better for physical pain even at very low doses, and Kava is especially good for marijuana cravings since it has a similar effect to marijuana without all the side effects. It's best not to rely on supplements too much either. But they will certainly help you get past some physical discomfort.
As for not being about to move, that should get better as time goes by. But being emotionally motivated is the best way. If you can try some yoga or meditating it will help get you motivated. I use energy meditations all the time. I'm not well disaplined when it comes to meditating yet, but it stills works a great deal. Perhaps the power of suggestion. Try this: close your eyes, and breath deeply and slowly. Then as you breath in picture energy flowing into you, waking your muscles. Breath out bad energy, stress and the like. I like to do this with my arms above my head, usually stretching my arms and torso for the first minute or so. This won't take long, maybe 5-15 minutes. You should feel better and ready to stretch some more afterwards. Look up some stretches or even more details meditating techniques. It works for me even when I don't fall into true meditation. But meditation is meditation if you accomplish anything through it.
After this I usually have a cup of ginseng and guarana tea to get me going. Much nicer than coffee or energy drinks.
Also if you do this and proceed to excercise not long after your first meal you'll feel better about excercising or being a little more active all day. Just be active, but workout until your muscles pump battery acid.
Hope that helps. I always write too much when I just have a small suggestion, ha.

Peace

Thanks Samsara. I actually eat quite well. The whole post-eating disorder thing. I eat plenty of fibre, try to eat natural foods, lots of fruit and veggies, whole grains, eggs, tuna and chicken. I'll try the grapefruit idea though.
Today I'm feeling a bit better (day 4). I went for a long bike ride which turned out to be much better than trying my usual run or going to the gym. The nice weather and newness of the biking (I used to bike a lot but retired my bike for a while) got me energized and I actually managed to work pretty hard. So that was a great improvement.
Now I just need to dump the rest of my weed...although I don't even want to go near it for a few more days for fear that the smell will be too good. I guess I should have done this before I started to quit, but I didn't know I would be so resolved to quit this time! This is good, I suppose. Maybe I'll just get a friend to dump it for me.
Well that's it for me for now. Hope everyone else is staying persistent!
BTW, I'm female.
Oh, I snapped at my boyfriend today. I got pretty emotional about something silly. That's very unusual for (the stoned) me. I apologized though and he's very supportive about me quitting.

Hi, I've stopped smoking pot for about two months now after 10 years of heavy daily use. The worst symptom I have been having is bizarre dreams and nightmares going back 10 years before I started daily use. I relive work situations with old bosses and colleagues. It's like my mind is replaying my entire life while I was high. I can't sleep the entire night because these dreams wake me up about every three or four hours and I feel as stressed out as I was when I was working at these high pressure jobs.

I'm tempted to start smoking again just to get some relief from these dreams. Any advice?

ONE suggestion, all - do NOT try to quit weed and cigarettes at the same time! I actually just wanted to quit cigs b/c I was going home to family, had planned to smoke weed instead, but couldn't find any. I am smoke-free (both ways) for 3 days now and am a total wreck. It's not that bad during the day, but the nightmares/night sweats are awful. If you for some reason do this on purpose, have a friend on call if you wake up screaming!

I second that one... tried to quit smoking then ran out of pot and decided to go clean for a while. Bad idea. First quit pot, then quit smoking. Or the other way around, but smoking is much harder to quit (IMHO) so stopping the greens is preparation!

after 7 years of smoking pot almost everyday I finally quit 5 days ago and I must say the only symptoms I ahve had so far are these amazingly freaky scary dreams that are so scary I will wake up at least 5 times during the night with my head spinning and it feels more like my brain is a wheel in my head constantly moving at high speed untill I get up and turn the light on and steady myself again, does anyone else experience this at all?

Just about everyone. I've had some of the most bizarre dreams in my life when I quit smoking, which definitely DID NOT help the anxiety I was feeling at all.



While you may not experience many withdrawal symptoms just yet, mine took around two weeks to really peak and be "full blown." I'm on month 2 now, and while I feel about 90% better than I did...it still lingers every now and then. Hang in there, and good luck.

Alllright. I know you weedheads are lazy, but reading all my posts will get into detail about all the symptoms and how to best combat them.. I will go over it again though, since I want everyone to benefit from this.

ps. I'm joking about being lazy weedheads (I was one too). And you're on the right track no matter what your goal is.

Background: So, I smoked for four or five years, everyday straight. 1-5 grams a day. Average of 1.5g a day overall though. I quit because of anxiety and tachycardia (rapid heart beat over 160bpm). I feel great now and recommend everyone takes this step that is experiencing anxiety, depression, memory loose or any adverse effects from daily use.

So, as you've all now come to terms with, there are indeed strong withdrawal effects from marijuana. Some physical, some emotional and they depend on your use of the substance.

Withdrawal symptoms include: sweats, shaking, kidney, liver and bodily pain, increased irritability, decreased or increased concentration, night sweats, night terrors, bizarre dreams, vivid dreams, intense deja vu, increased and/or decreased short term memory, increased long term memory, increased and/or decreased memory retrieval, muscle pain (this is a big one for must heavy users, along with sweats and vivid dreams).. There are a few more, but I'm mainly going to address the dreams and emotional stuff. If you have the physical symptoms, I'll only talk a little bit about that, but my other posts (on pages 3 and 4) are more focused on physical effects. Mainly insomnia due to pains and physical discomfort can be avoided by fast detoxing (cranbarrie juice, grapefruit, green tea, other non-alcoholic anti-oxidants and EXCERCISE)

So, lets touch on some neurology here. Most of the physical and all of the emotional withdrawal effects experienced are a matter of simple neurological processes being disturbed.

Neurology made simple: Ok. We all know marijuana makes us feel good. It also inhibits appetite and better sleeping patterns. Those of you dealing with depression or are just into psychology/neurology probably know that all these feelings are produced from hormones inhibited by 5-HT receptors. Ever wonder why 5-htp helps you sleep and makes your mood better (worse for manics)? Because it plays on the same receptors. So, it's save to assume, from the effects of marijuana that it "tickles" these 5-HT receptors and inhibits serotonin, melatonin, dopamine and others. Lets focus on the main two here, serotonin and dopamine. You all should have at least heard of these. Serotonin regulates mood, pleasure, stress response. Dopamine regulates sleeping patterns, pleasure response, appetite and visual/auditory sensations. If a colour makes you happy for some reason, it's inhibiting production of dopamine. Good food, sex and all "rewards" are dopamine responses. Stress and euphoric responses (environmental stress or relief) are serotonin responses. Why is this important? If you CAN'T SLEEP it's because of these two hormones. If your IRRITABLE, SENSITIVE emotionally and physically it's because of these hormones.
So, you smoke pot everyday. Dopamine and serotonin are produced in excess by unnatural means.. Now you've stopped. It's more than safe to assume that the production of these hormones will slow down significantly. So now you're easily distracted, pissed off, tense, and can't sleep. These hormones will regulate themselves. But if you're thinking of taking to the pipe again to rid yourself of these ill effects (which really, truly, do suck) here are my educated suggestions (and while I'm no doctor, I am very educated in these areas).. So listen up, I'm here to help --

What the hell to do about neurological disturbance! : Ok, as if this post isn't getting long enough.. this might take a while, please take the time to read it all.
First and foremost, seeking a stress reduced lifestyle is very important. When you're worrying, craving and stressing neortonine (I've got the name wrong here but it's just serotonine's bratty little sister) is produced in place of serotonine. All you need to know is that this will keep you from sleeping, feel as much pleasure and can effect your appetite for both food and lovin'. The suggestions I have hear may sound silly, new-age or like hippy-c**p.. But, seriously this stuff works better than any suppliment or drug. Ok, firstly, EXCERCISE, my friends. Excercise is the single best drug known to man. You produce dopamine, serotonine and a full cocktail of "happy chemicals" when you excercise. It's not just you feeling good about being healthy, there is a strong neurological effect here. Simple daily excercise for 30 minutes to an hour a day (you ALL have time for that, don't fool yourself) can straight up cure depression. I've been through thick and thin with my mind and body and excercise really helps, always. On top of making you feel great right away, this "drug" lasts longer than any other. An hour of excercise can positively effect your nuerological balance (and therefore, mood, sleep patters, appetite, stress related pains, and sooo much more) for up to 48 hours. I don't just mean extremely vigorous excercise here. I dance, and skip, go for hikes, short walks.. Whatever gets your heart pumping slightly more than usual. This is also great for the lungs and speeding up detoxing effects (mainly sweats). Sweating during excercise will prevent you from sweating randomly during a detox period. Most people get night sweats due to marijuana withdrawal because 60% of THC is secreted via sweat glands.. The rest you piss out. This is why smoking pot or detoxing from pot can make you urinate more frequently (so can stress, so don't do that).
Ok, other than excercise, the next best thing to sooth your neurons is to talk to people (or just someone) about your problems. But keep everything (or anything) in. Stress has terrible physical effects the range from sweating, shaking, pains, muscle tension, IBS, blurry vision, you name it, stress will do it. Tell everyone that you're going through a hard time if you're irritable. You don't have to mention marijuana if it's co-workers or family, but let them know you might be on edge and you're sorry to put them threw it. People are very empathedic. We all go through a lot and will do amazing things to prevent someone from stressing that is already suffering. People's slight change in dimeaner will really effect you mood and serotonin production. And also, remember that these things happen and you're not alone. If you were there wouldn't be so many posts on this thread. Meditating works wonders. Yoga, playing with your pet, hanging out with people that are in good spirits and just making time from yourself to rest and think quietly will help you more than you think. Don't take family, friends and spouses for granted. If you have anyone special in your life, remember they are special and you're lucky to have them. Sometimes when I'm pretty stressed I can mentally catalog all the things that make me a fortunite individual, and that works after a few minutes.
Alright, so you're trying this. Not stressing, excercise, dance and laughing, getting intouch with your primal, basic and innocent inner self (inner child, if you will) and you still can't sleep and have some stress, craving and whatnot to deal with. That's ok. What works great for sleep, for me anyway, is Valerian. Now this is cheap stuff, so try it first. But mix it with anything or buy supplements that include other sedatives. Valerian is great for putting you in a trance. I find it can either augment or dampen your dreams. I usually find them more vivid, but since it's a stress reliever (and a very good one) it makes my dreams very positive and playfull. I love going to sleep now-a-days. If this doesn't work or augments nightmares, don't sweat it, it's cheap so just put it aside for a while. Move on to some Kava if you can get your hands on it. This will more than likely dampen your dreams. I find it's amazing for crazing pot because it plays on the same receptors and the GABA receptor like alcohol, but without kicking you livers ass and making you sweat and urinate like mad. I live in Canada where Kava isn't legal for sale, but can usually be shipped without issues. In the US it's available everywhere. Don't overdue it or mix with alcohol. If you don't want to risk having even weirder or scary dreams because they are really effecting your wellbeing, I strongly recommend Melatonin (3 or 4mg does wonders). Take it an hour or so before bed and don't eat afterwards (that goes for all of these supplements). 5-HTP works great too and is also good for stress. It's a precurser for Melatonin, so don't bother taking both. 5-HTP shouldn't be mixed with SSRIs or MAOIs, so don't drink Kava with it either. I find that 5-HTP can be mixed with half a dose of Valerian (300-600mg) with excellent effects.. But again, valerian can augment nightmares (I find it to rid me of them though)..

Valerian can also be taken for muscle pains and works great if you have shakes. Just take small amounts in the day or it could make you drowsy. Valerian, like I mentioned is also good for stress. But stress is a big part of horrible dreams. Don't let it f**k your day up. Keep smiling and helping your neighbors. Kindness, smiles and wellbeing are contagious just like depression and anxiety is.. So, even when you're stressed try to smile and let it pass..

I hope this stuff helps a bit. I could be a lot more specific, but no real need. Just ask for anything specific. I was mainly trying to address the sleeping issues for you guys and gals. You're all strong for trying to kick a longterm habit.. In my experience it was harder to quit the tobacco which is constantly compaired to cocaine and herion.. So, don't feel down or silly for needing help or any of that. Reading all these posts prior to mine really helped me too. No one's alone.

Keep it real, and keep it positive.

Peace be with you.

Hey I've read this whole thread, and its been very interesting, so i just thought i'd add my story.

I started smoking almost two years ago now, and the strange thing is, that unlike alot of you guys i was withdrawn/antisocial and whatnot prior to starting. Even though I had just turned 17 when i started, my first time using it was when i bought an eigth off of a dealer. There was no peer pressure, living in canada i had been around weed loads, and never felt the pressure to use it. Then one night I was like hmm...i wanna start smoking, so I talked to like my only friend who lives a couple of hours away, and he hooked me up with his guy. I basically went right into it and started using it as regularly as possible.

Strangely enough, that year was great. I got straight A's and everything. I saw no reasons to stop.

This year i increased how much i buy, and smoked daily. Not alot cuz im a lightweight no matter what. However I noted that already this year, if I try to take a "break" even just to lower tolerance so that getting high is more fun, I have difficulty doing so. It seems like I dont smoke its worse, because then i just spend more time thinking about smoking...where as i usually would just do it once a day and be done with it...content. Along with that i notice whenever i dont smoke crazy dreams, where you wake up and feel like you werent really sleeping, you know you were having crazy dreams all night, but you dont really remember them. Also not feeling hungry, whatever all that stuff, so yeah I've realized that there is a physical side to it, even after my (comparatively) short usage.

This year i've done various things like say "ok dont smoke at all this school week, wait until friday night" and i've never made it. I've done that this week, and its just about to turn into thursday (its 11:56). However i smoked on monday, because it was a long weekend. So really If i make it through tomorrow, I'll only have gone 3 full days without it. I do plan to smoke this friday.

Yes, thats where i have to differ from the posts here. Despite these experiences i fully plan to at the present time continue smoking weed. Alot of you are probably going "stupid" or whatever, but I still just don't even mentally feel like giving it up. I just feel like reducing my usage so that getting high is more fun, and withdrawl symptoms do not occur. The withdrawl symptoms don't really tell me i need to quit...just that I need to keep myself in check and use moderation. In addition I plan on trying a few other drugs in the future (mainly shrooms and lsd, certainly no "uppers").

Its not that abnormal, I know lots of smokers who talk about how they went through a phase where the smoked X amount a day, but then they just cut back to weekends only or whatever.

my best advice to anyone is to never ever try LSD, EVER...
***** is where u will find people that have done acid and seriously are ***** in the brain

**edited by moderator**

Hello all. I must say that finding this site today has helped me alot. I have been a chronic marijuana smoker for 16 years. It had become a morning, noon, and night thing. I've come to the realization that it has been my crutch for many things in life. I'm sure when I started smoking heavily in college it was all in good fun. I did have a good time with it. But over the last 5-7 years I don't think I was even enjoying it anymore. I just had to do it to feel "normal". Also, I had access to some great stuff and I was never without if I so desired. Anyhow, something drastic happened to me about a week ago.

I suffer from severe allergies. I was having trouble sleeping and I took some over the counter severe allergy stuff which contained some sort of ephedrine derivative that supposedly speeds the anti-histamines into your system. This had a bad affect on me and made me not be able to fall asleep. I started thinking about it too much and became kinda obsessed with why I couldn't fall asleep (I'm sure it is anxiety of some sort). Well, I had cut out the smoking during these beginning days and I am now starting to see that that was probably exacerbating my inability to sleep along with the phedrines I was ingesting in the allergy pills.

Needless to say with my head swimming and constantly contemplaing just why I couldn't sleep I decided to take a hit "to calm my nerves". Well, that was probably the worst thing I could have done. It definitely brought on some form of anxiety/panic attack. I didn't sleep much for 3 days. I went to the doctor and told him I was having just general anxiety and he gave me some sleeping pills. They have worked but it hasn't really helped my overall anxiety about why I can't sleep "naturally". I know it's because for the last decade and a half my smoking is what allowed me to fall asleep.

I also suffer from all the other symptoms you folks mention: no appettite, depression, more anxiety, pure emotional responses to everything. I'm scared as hell. Which just makes this continually cycle. I've got a feeling that all this is because I've wanted or felt I should have quit long ago. I have to say that reading everyone's posts has helped me know that my feeling all f'ed up is not singular only to me. I am going to take alot of the advice on here (especially to exercise) to help get this c**p outta my system. I know one thing, I will never, ever smoke weed again. I'm not too thrilled with taking sleeping pills so I will try some of the natural suggestions on here.

Thanks again everyone for sharing your stories. I had these theories that I would be normal in a few days. I see that this is not the case for alot of people. It's gonna take alot of effort but it seems that if I put the work in the results will come. I'll be checking this blog frequently to see if anyone has anything to say that can help me even more and I will be sure to share how this works out for me. Take care.

Hi I have read all the posts here too and have found them extremely comforting (especially those of SamsaraSanskrit) bringing tears and understanding of all of your experiences. I stumbled across this site when googling answers for my vivid dreams and nightmares since quitting. I am 28 and have smoked weed for about 15 years now and am on my 3rd time of quitting, first time after about 10 yrs and then twice since and experienced all the withdrawal symptons mentioned.

First time i quit i used alcohol to substitute the withdrawal, although I do not recommend this, it worked for me as long as you dont let yourself get addicted to the alcohol. I experienced physical and mental withdrawal for about 28 days (sweats, mood swings, anxiety, loss of appetite etc.), second time round it lasted about 7-10 days but I was eating more and excersising then(and with my family). 2 of the 3 occasions on quitting have been after splitting from my partner and this time is no different, I suppose it's the hard times in life made me realise I needed a change.

I am on week 2 now and still getting the sweaty palms and armpits etc. although i dont crave for it, I am not substituting it with alcohol either as I am currently on antibiotics and want them to work so its pure hell and boredom for me along with being alone and out of work which doesnt help. I too am a tobacco smoker and have been for about 16 yrs and am currently smoking triple the amount of fags since quitting.

I dont really have any advice to give as most has already been mentioned but just wanted to say good luck to all of you and keep your heads up YOU CAN AND WILL DO IT. Lifting weights, walking my dog and bike rides are getting me by although I cannot eat like many posts mention as I do not feel hungry at all tho I know my appetite will come back when life starts looking up for me, as I said I am going through a rough patch.

The one thing I wondered and have not found answers in any of the posts is that why do you get "the munchies" when first starting smoking (whether it be first time round or after starting back up) and then after chronic smoking your appetite surpresses as I barely ate and ate a lot more when off it?

Keep on quitting and dont give up giving up!

Hi, im Jess and im a pot addict...if there is such a thing, i suppose there is since of all the posts people have writen. i didnt think it was possible to be addicted to marijuanna, i rather use the word "habbit forming"..i guess it makes me feel better and sure doesnt sound as bad. im 16 and i've been smoking pot for 2 years, in the beginning i only smoked occasionally with friends. then after a couple months i smoked at least a couple times a week, by beginning of the first year it was everyday alone or in company. i never saw the effects of it, like short term memory loss, unable to concentrate and not wanting to partake in peer gatherings... at first it was actually more of a social thing then ever...i usually only liked do it with friends but now i prefer to stay home alone or only with my boyfriend and just smoke pot. i really notice the change in me every since i started smoking weed, i dropped out of school, i stopped hanging out with my friends, i can hardly remember anything exactly in the last 2 years without it being completely foggy, hell i cant even remember where i put my homework i just finished a half an hour ago. im not very well spoken, i mumble and slurr my words somtimes. since i also have asthma im always coughing, what comes with it is big black gunks of tar (ps i smoke cigs too). weed is just the first step into the drug world, after a while pot becomes dull and it doesnt affect you as much as it used to, so you move on the harder drugs...and thats exactly what i did. thats probably also a contributer to my poor english. my maryjane is true and only real love. she has standed by me a rough and amazing and fun times...until last sesmester i decided not to smoke weed at school since it effected my working habits and being able to concentrate or even make any sence in class. but as soon as i came home i hit my bong, i couldnt wait to get home to my big red <3 and mr.bubbles, and DONUT-she is my fav....they are my best friends...i love to toke them and they loved to be toked. anyways...near the end of the school day i started to get this really bad headaches...and the pain would merge down into my neck and shoulders. but as soon as i got home and burned, it went away, almost automatically. after a week of this pattern i began to think maybe its withdrawl? i wasn't sure but i had a pretty good idea...since my pain went away within mintutes of smoking and soon as i started to feel my high. later on i started to get really bad heart burn, i told my mom about it and she said it was from smoking (she doesnt kno i smoke weed but she knows about my cigs)...so i thought it has to be from SMOKING IN GENERAL. now its 1:32 am and i have school tomorrow...i havent smoked all day long...this is like a record...i dont remember the last day i didnt smoke at all in almost 20 hours. i decided not to smoke at all today because i had summatives to do and i needed to be able to conectrate so i can get them done properly and so it wont take me twice as long. around 6 pm yesturday i began to get a bad headache (i still have it now), and for the last hour i;ve been feeling sick like nausea. i want to eat but my stomach feels like it cant handle it...now to solve this solution im sure i could just smoke a bowl and then fall fast asleep in minutes. but im deciding not to....i actually decided that this is a good start to quit marijuanna for good...i've wanted to for a while but i never really had the will power...i cant believe that there is such a thing as being addicted or even having withdrawl from pot. but from the posts i've read and my own experiences ....its unfortunatly true. if pot makes me this sick without smoking for a day imagine what i would be like in a couple more years...now that would really be painful. so i think this is a good start even though summer is coming up and its definetly time for partying, i think that if i dont quit or at least cut down i will suffer alot more later... now i have a feeling going cold turkey is gonna really suck balls...does anyone have any helpful suggestions for fighting my withdrawls?

I smoked pot for almost 10 years...I finally quit about 1 month ago...been feeling the stomach problems a lot of you have mentioned.. I know that it will get better. My mind has never been so clear...Thanks for everone that posts. I thought that maybe I was the only one going through this constipation/stomach issues...

yeah i'v been smoking marijuana since i was about 14 years old(i'm now 18) and i just decided to quit about a week and a half ago. ever since that night i've been feeling quite depressed and very tired(i also did mushrooms on tha same night...). i have frequent head aches and it constantly feels like i have a buzz or a kind of a mild high(which is kind of scaring me becuz i havent done any drugs/alcohol in sevral days), every now and then i'll get dizzy when i'm sitting down and i feel as if i have to walk it off. i do smoke ciggerettes(its seems to be tha only thing to calm my anxiety/fear down.....i told my mom about it and she said it was just becuz of marijuana withdrawal and that it wud go away.....i have a hard time falling asleep and my body often has a mild tingling sensation(as if i'm high) in different places as i'm trying....tha back of my neck hurts most of tha time and it feels as tho i have a hard time seeing strait or focusing on somthing..........i've read sum of tha other things that people have wrote and its made me feel a little bit better but not much....i'm just wondering if what i'm experiencing is normal or if theres somthing wrong with my brain(as i mentiond i did mushrooms on tha same night that i decided to quit marijuana and thats what really making me feel freaked out) i've been drinking alot of water so that i can try to pee tha rest of tha thc out of my system and i've tryed excersizing but i dont really have tha energy to go long enuf to build up a good sweat......if anyone reads this and is A. experiencing tha same thing or B. knows whats happening to me, then i wudnt GREATLY appreciate u to write somthing cuz i'm kinda scared....