I never knew that so many people were out there, trying to quit weed! Thank you, for your words, your inspiration.
I am in my mid thirties now and I never started really smoking until about... three four years ago? Sadly, I don't remember. I married someone who smokes weed daily (only after work) and the parents in law do it too, all the time I go over there, I get offered a bowl. Let's put it this way, if you developed a really fun habit and NEVER had to pay for your weed, didn't need to hold down a job, were only expected to stay home and MAYBE clean if you felt like it now and then... would you REALLY not just go for it?
Sadly I went for it. And something happened... I was getting high every day, first just at night with my mate, but then it was as soon as they left for work.. I'd get high and pretty much stay that way all day. And time passed.... honestly, the last year has been nothing but a blur to me. Last time I remember cohesive time passage was... mid 2011. SInce then one day has blended into another and just meshed into a fog. What was fun for me now and then had become a daily ... not NEED, but.... I convinced myself that I needed it. When there was a drought... I took risks... approached strangers that I overheard talking about it, just to see if I could get some. Sadly, I have exchanged sexual favors for weed in my life.
The thing is.. we are about to move into a new place, to truly start our life together as man and wife in our OWN place (i had moved in with him in a place he already had) and it's time for me to stop. I want to get a job so I can buy my own things without asking him for money. I want us to be able to afford something better than a tiny s*itbox apartment.
When I stopped and looked around at my life... it's perfect, except for one thing... me. I am the only one that can make myself stop and... well it's been 24 hours now. No hits, no blunts, hubby even left the room to do his "home from work" toke yesterday. He's very supportive, it doesnt matter to him one way or another if I smoke. I just.. want my life back. I want to notice the changing seasons, the passage of time... I want to CARE what happens again.
Knowing that I'm not alone in this struggle.... you guys are WONDERFUL for your efforts and for sharing your words. THanks for taking the time to read this, and I wish you luck in your endeavors. We can do this. <3
Blessed be.
Excellent, thoughtful posts, everyone. My situation is a little different -- I smoke 2 or 3 hits a week. I have teenage kids and a wife who smokes rarely and wouldn't approve of my use -- I'm in the closet. This is good because it restricts my use -- if I had total freedom and a supply, I could easily see myself smoking more and more. But it's a drag to have the secret, especially when I'm coming down around them and I'm tired and a little depressed -- and guilty because I'm hiding something. I'd like to stop the secret smoking and just smoke once in a while at parties. But here's the rub: I still have wonderful experiences sometimes when I'm high and I can't just deny that. I'm a massage therapist and have taken to having a hit about once a week before work, and I often have greater sensitivity in my hands -- I seem to feel people's muscles in much finer detail. And I get that "tunnel vision" thing where everything disappears but what I'm feeling. So I have these great moments of total absorption in my healing work -- and my clients have noticed it too. Of course, I'm a little paranoid that my coworkers will notice eye redness or something different about me, but I spend most of my time in a darkened room able to focus on one thing, so it works (so far). I also have great moments listening to music and playing music (I'm a pianist and composer). But even there I see that I get into obsessive loops, grooving on one riff over and over, unable to actually put ideas together. I'm almost ready to stop, to let my secret stash run out. But..but...it's hard to give up. The fact is it's only good 50% of the time, and the come down is never good. BTW -- I'm on Zoloft. Thanks for reading.
All i have read is people saying im a heavy user i have 4 hits or 6 spliffs etc etc what that aint heavy! i smoke 30-40 joints aday! and have done for well over 15 years and b4 that i smoke 20 joints for 10 years , im in big trouble and was told 2 days ago told if i dont stop i WILL get cancer of the throat, so im trying very hard ive stopped smokeing for 2 days now, but i use a vapouriser, ive erd these are still not completly safe but my thinking is the nicotine is the addictive part , stop that and rest will follow and maybe i will live, but my throat is bad still so vapour has to stop soon, i think will i beat it in time? its a race i have got to win, i havnt smoked a cig on its own for 15 years , so am worried im addaicted to weed still, been 51 hours without smoking. its been a drag!
Reading some more i realise there's a few people like me on here well almost. Im using patches for my tobacco hit btw.
I decided to post because I really want to give Bob here some encouragement, even though you seem to have smoked a lilttle more and longer than me, because the first week is the toughest. I just want to say I believe you can do this Bob!
Here's my story (as brief as I can keep it)...
Its been 20 days 4 me. Smoked for 17 years now but daily for over 11 yrs, with just a few very small breaks here and there, but never long enough for the THC to completely get out of my body. I've read every post on here, and received great inspiration from this site. I had have every withdrawal sympton in the book... insomnia, heart and thoughts racing, naseau, no appetite, cloudiness, NO short term memory, vivid nightmares, hot flashes, major anxiety and anxiousness, severe depression, anger, and of course the boredom was/is almost intolerable (it all suck/s hardcore).
I stopped drinking about 8 yrs ago, because it resulted with me ending up in the hospital with a cracked skull and the crack was literally millimeters away from death or permanent brain damage. I thought weed was the perfect solution to alcoholism for me because it kept me outta the bars, made video games/movies/tv/everything more enjoyable, and made being alone tolerable. To make a long story short I recently lost my job, and the guy that fired me implied I should go work at a fast food joint, and that I was just not getiing it. That's when I realized I have smoked myself almost stupid, and my memory was getting worse and worse, and as a result had lost a lot of my confidence, and my sharpness, which affected my job performance. So here I am trying to stop (with no alcohol to use as a crutch this time), what I had come to love sooooo very, very much....weed. Hell, the 1st week I didn't want to live anymore, if I had to live life without weed and 100% sober!
While I have received great inspiration and motivation from all the wonderful ppl that have shared their experiences on this post, I was still feeling sorry for myself, until I read Bob's post. I have complete faith in you, Bob! Good job also going on th patches for the nicotine, and getting away from cigs. I use the lozenges or the gum myself now, but cigs/cigars did help get off the weed at first. Some things that helped me is exercise (P90x)at the time I would usually be smoking, sharing with others that I love, and that could help support me, that I was trying to quit, and that it was much tougher than I expected. The first week was horrible, especially with all the down time I have being unemployed (since it seems everyone DTs now), and still 20 days later I still am having headaches, hot flashes, and cravings. Of course I can't play video games anymore cause they suck now, and so does tv/movies, and even food. When I find myself justifying smoking again, I refer back to this site to remind me of all the crappy withdrawals that others, just like me, are going through. A big thank you to the creator of this site, and to everyone that shared!
Hi all,
Thank you for sharing your stories. I am twenty-five and have been smoking for eight years. The first two years were sporatic--smoking coincided with high school parties and random smoke sessions with friends. Once I got to college the smoking ramped up considerably. Smoking caused incidents with police and nearly ended my college career. Luckily, I was able to finish college, smoking multiple times everyday, and then get into law school. I told myself that I would quit once I started law school because I would be moving and wouldn't have a supplier, and because I broke up with my seven year girlfriend who was also a daily smoker.
Well, I didn't stop once I started school. In fact, a lot of the people here smoke. If I were to guess, I'd say probably twenty to thirty percent. My best friend in school and I smoked nearly every day the first year, and we both still made top grades. I'm in my second year now and already have a fantastic job lined up. Unfortunately, lawyers are drunks (not at work, but those who work hard tend to play hard) and I'm not very much looking forward to being surrounded by people like myself all of the time. But at this point, with the debt mountain I have built, I don't have much of a choice.
I smoked daily until five months ago--about four months after I started dating a fantastic woman who will smoke on rare occasion but basically almost never. I wouldn't smoke before school, or before I had finished my work for the day, but after working twelve hours or more every single day there simply was no other way for me to unwind. Now I smoke about three nights a week. I know I need to stop, but smoking is really the only release I have besides drinking (and I'd much rather smoke than turn into another alcoholic lawyer). We'll see what happens. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for sharing your stories.
9/23/2012 About a month ago I wrote in about my experience with smoking pot starting in 1967. Just want to make a few updates and reccomentations that may help you. It has been difficult and I expected that. You can't just stop smoking pot after 45 plus years without going thru major psychological and physical problems. I started by tapering the amount I smoked to only one joint per day then to 1/2 joint per day. During a normal day of smoking before I started to taper off I usually smoked 5 to 8 joints per day. After two weeks of smoking 1/2 per day I quit. Anxiousness like you would not believe. Went to my doctor and told him what I was up to, he is very suportive of my decision to quit. He started me on an antianxiety medication. My blood pressure was sky high, needed to increase my bp med as well. LOST 35 pounds in just over a month into this project. Diarrhea was almost unbearable. Now I do feel much better I am off the antianxiety med. Bp still a little high but not to bad. I totally understand I still have a very long way to go but at this point I know I can do it. One of the things that really helped me was going online and reading the stories of others who have gone or going thru this. Just knowing you are not alone and understanding the symptoms of withdrawl are universally about the same. We are all in the same boat together. This did really help! There are some reccomendations I would like to bring up.
1. If you are a chronic smoker of pot please get your doctor involved. The price of an ounce of good buds is about $400.00 instead of buying that ounce use the money to spend on a doctor that has experience with marijuana detox. (go on line and find one.) I say go to a medical doctor not a psychologist or therapist. A medical doctor can if necessary prescribe meds for you the others can not. Also if you have other medical conditions he can monitor your medical conditions during the detox.
2. If you are a diabetic be so careful. The stress of going thru detox will put your blood sugars on a roller coaster of ups and downs. Losing weight will also have a effect on blood sugars. I am a type II. Now that I have lost the 35 pounds I am off of my oral antihyperglycemics meds. If nothing else I am thankful for this.
3. If you do get started on antianxiety meds, stop them as soon as you can. They are addicting don't trade one habit for another.
4. If you are having constant diarrhea this means you are loosing potassium which can cause serious medical problems. Talk to doctor about replacing the potassium. Just about any of the sports drinks will help to do this. Also drink pleanty of water to replace the fluid loss and help to flush out the THC from your system.
5. Keep yourself busy. At first I could bearly get off the couch. I saw this was not going to me any good. The more I sat and did nothing the more I thought about going back to smoking.
6. One of the most important things for you to do thru this is EXERCISE! You don't have to start a vigorious workout program. Try walking just 30 minutes a day, more if you can tolerate it. Work that THC out of your system! This will help in reducing the anxiety.
7. Hang in there, after you have stopped do not think for one minute you can just take a few hits off a joint and be able to continue with your detox and be successful. This will take you back to step one. Get rid of all your smoking materials, don't give youself the oppertunity to restart.
8. Remember each day brings you closer and closer to kicking the habit, it will take time, do not give up.
Great discussions here i am to an everyday smoker, i take my oney with me to work everyday, smoke on my way in the morning then out to the car every hour or two for the rest of the day. For some reason i finally broke down, i have been married for just over a year ad my wife doesnt smoke with me but maybe once every 4 months. i am 27 and like most other started smoking in high school to have fun and get a little funny with my friends. Turned into a habit that i know i am going to have a very hard time quitting. Its my 3rd day and im doing what i can but man it is hard. I have tried to quit before and never made it over a week or two. I am not sure what made me break down but i have a good quess that there was a big guy up there telling me that today is the day. I dont want to wake up and be 50 yrs old and still have this habit that like others have said is a terrible habit because the first smoke of the morning is only ok, then every smoke after is not even getting me "high", I am an avid outdoorsman and bow hunting season is about to start. After i broke down a little bit i tried to tell myself just wait till hunting season is over as sitting in my stand puffing my oney is so much more fun than sitting up there sober. Reality then hit me and i realized is it more fun? or does it just make me think about the weed all the time, throw my focus off, its sure not making me any smarter, or see any more deer.
I have read every single post on this and it all seems like we are affraid of moving on with our everyday activities without being stoned. I am scared as i think this has become such a mental addiction. We think about how much better it would be if we took a few rips before we go and do something. Problem is after you do smoke and go to your activity, do you really feel better? i Dont i feel like everyone knows (parania), and then all you can do or think about is how you are going to sneak off to take another toke. I have been lucky enough to smoke the finest and lately i have been smoking a lot of bubble hash, i dont think marijuana is a bad drug, alchol in my opinion is a much worse drug. I just think that it is easy for old habits to get out of hand and like old habits they are hard to break. God Bless everyone out there whom is trying to overcome this addiction. Life is good, weed doesnt make it better, maybe artificially better for the first hour of being high in the morning but really after that what good does it do? sorry for the rambling i am another whom never posts stuff on the internet but this thread had helped me out a lot the last 2 days. Hope that everyone finds it inside them to quit because it has to come within and you have to know you as your own person can overcome this.
Thankyou JT, you are doing so well! i hav'nt smoked for over 11 days , ive so wanted to, but not as many times as i thought,and lately hardly at all, i dont think i will smoke again :), the vapouriser has helped me though , i dont think i will be able to stop doing it as i almost love it as much as when i smoked. I dont think ive ever gone 2 days on the trot without weed , WELL DONE JT! we are doing it the other way round to each other , im thinking giving up smoking fags is over-rated its the weed thats hardest , cor i can smell any1 thats just had a fag so much its untrue, i move away from them its distgusting i cannot beleive i feel this way, can't believe my girlfriend was with me or any1 that dosn't smoke is with any1 who smokes! i almost get it now . always im thinking if only id of done this 10 years ago (first warning) when they removed a lump from throat that was benign , i could of vapoured for life and not got cancer, but i no thats the devil in me (im an atheist btw lol) Hear hear to tv(eastenders lol)/video games being better when totally stoned , also i do seem to be quite sharp and hav'nt lost intellegence , but saying that would i have been a scientist otherwise, u never no just how much it holds u back i guess.Keep it up JT! i will check back soon..
This was very helpful. It is nice to know that I am not alone. I need to quit smoking all the time. I am afraid to say that I will quit forever...