Recommendations on how to stop smoking marijuana and what symptoms to watch for

Lockhart I wish you great success with getting over your pot addiction.  You might want to examine some issues with your thoughts as well.  It seems impossible that your wife could be so clueless.  If my spouse had a grow op in our home for 6 years I would know.  Either from the smell itself or because of the mysterious place you spent hundreds on to build & spend so much time in & that I am not allowed to see?  You can bet you sweet patootie I'd be checking it out while you're out of the house.  You are in denial if you think whatever system you have in place conceals the odor as I have never been to a home with plants where as much as they try to conceal the smell it is always there.  Pot is distinct.  Even my straight straight mother can detect the scent of pot even in public.  Potheads on the other hand are rather oblivious to how they smell or that their grow op reeks.  Like people who smoke cigarettes the odor is on you and quite noticeable especially to a non-smoker.  So unless your wife is also concealing that she smokes the reefer either your wife is actually in denial or you are in denial.

My wife turned a blind eye towards my pot habit as i had bad mood swings and would get pissed off at her if she hassled me about it at all so she never went into the basement as she hates pot and she wanted nothing to do with it. She ate browine once that i had made and she couldnt function for 2 days. I kept my basement locked and a complete mess with tools everwhere and had my op air tight with no smell whatsoever. I also kept a rabbit down there so it smelled like a barn. I grew northern lights which is the lowest oder strain you can grow. For real there was no smell as i ran 3 large scrubbers and was proud of my skills as a grower i put alot of effort to control the smell . She may have known but she never said a thing to me about it. Anyway i thank you for your comments and im well on my way to recovery feeling better as each days go by without a toke. Im so fed up with this weed habit i refuse to smoke anymore. I was at the docter today and it went ok he gave me some sleeping pills but im not sure im going to take them after reading the side effects they may cause and he also tells me weed isnt addictive but i have to disagree, i dont think that doctor ever smoked a joint let alone 21 years of it. Seems like this doctor didnt have much info on pot abuse and the real effects it does to you when you stop. Ive have ripped apart my op and sold everything and im so ready for this im am starting to get excited about life without weed. My thoughts are clearer as i focus on my health and my family and i can feel my energy coming back. For me the wosrt part is the dreams im having they are so real i cant tell if im dreaming or its really happening untill i wake up sweating like crazy. Ive smoked more weed then Bob marley and his whole family. Why? i cant answer that just a bad habit in the end. Im glad to find this site it has helped me.

Really !!!!? your telling people to pop a Xanax to help quit Weed .OMG

Exactly, "she turned a blind eye" "She may have known but she never said a thing to me about it."

This seems much closer to the truth than her just not knowing and giving her zero credit.  Women are smart and many would rather zip their lips than argue a topic they know they cannot win or that turns ugly everytime.  I hope you can now make her proud and re-make your marriage into something on the level.

It gets better and better and easier and easier each day and each week etc.  The crazy dreams are common and do subside you just have to get through it.  Taking other drugs to combat a drug addiction is not advisable by many and many long time chronic users have gotten over their addiction to weed without the aid of prescriptions.

"telling people to pop a Xanax to help quit Weed .OMG"  couldn't agree more.  Just gotta man up and take it as it comes find natural ways to get through the tough times.  GO for a walk, mediatate, listen to calming music, be thankful to be free from weed.

I am laying in bed about to finish off day 2 of not smoking. Going to sleep is the hardest part i would say. I have been offered to smoke about 50 times in the last 2 days and have turned down every offer. The times that are hardest for me are when I am sitting in my living room bored. This is when I would usually twist one up. However, I have found something to pass the time. I have been watching You Tube videos on how to play guitar and have picked one up to attempt to learn how to play. I have never played an instrument or done anything artistic so quitting will enable me to develop a talent I've never had. I know it will get harder before it gets easier but I accept the challenge. I am determined to better my life and you all inspire me. Thank you. High Achiever.

H.A.  I was just thinking about you - glad to hear you're sticking to your plan like you said you would.  You're going to be fine.  I have cleared 4 weeks now and it definitely is a lot easier now than the first 2+ weeks.  The beginning was a little rough & an adjustment for sure but I feel great and am honestly THRILLED I have come to this point in my life.  Now I don't care how long it took to get here I am just thankful my day finally came to wake up and STOP the insanity!!!!

It's hard to explain all the good I feel out of this decision but it is immense - wonderful - rewarding.  It seems hmmmmm, unbelievable????? that I waited so long or that I thought it would be so hard or any of the B.S. I once believed or told myself.  I could write a long list of all the positive things that have come out of this quitting.  Confidence, self-esteem, independence, switching priorities, brighter outlook, more social, getting out more, never thinking about when I can escape and go smoke, feeling excited.  It feels great and I've had 2 friends older than me tell me they're now considering it too.  Guess it helps when someone is glowing with happiness about quitting vs. being p.o.ed & deprived.

Going to sleep was the hardest for me at first.  I was pretty crabby too, touchy, sensitive, irritated.  All starting feeling better after day 17.   No more cray cray dreams waking me up in a panicked sweat.  This used to happen to me on vacations too I just never realized it was pot withdrawal.  I think Soothing Bedtime Caramel tea helped me to start falling asleep more easily but that could simply be placebo.  In the winter I quite like hot tea before bed so I got one that had a possible sleep promoting effect.

I probably won't be posting on here anymore but wanted to make sure you got started.  You sound convicted and that is all that is needed IMO.  Every hour, every day you refuse to smoke is a success.  Each success builds upon the other.  Soon you too will be out of the weeds and amazed at how easy it was to do.

Best of luck to anyone & everyone who reads these words and decides to quit.  I was SCARED to quit.  I was SCARED I would fail.  I smoked a lot of bud every single day for over a decade and abused for far longer than that.  I truly believe I am not special in anyway.  I was as addicted as anyone.  I don't believe anyone is 'more addicted' or worse off than I was.  I made a decision.  I stuck to my goal through all the good and bad of it and now I feel absolutely awesome and proud of my determination.  Cliché or trite or whatnot - if I can successfully do this than any person who makes the same decision and sticks to their conviction CAN do it too!  Best wishes to all and all a good night~!

Thank goodness i found this site.  i'm 34yo female, been smoking since i was 16 on /off but EVERYDAY (all day) for the past couples of years.  I really want to stop.  I know it's not good for my health or mind.  Reading all these responses gives me hope but let's face it, it's certainly not my 'first' time quitting there are countless of those, and yes I have had a baby amongst all this :-(

it could be paranoia after all these years but i can't help think of bad health consequences when i'm pulling a bong yet i stil do it.  we have run out now (last night) and i'm tempted to get more but trying to be strong. 

if anyone comes across this site, please don't think that it won't become an addicition for you.  It will.  Once it has you in its grasp, you're gone, for years.  So are your friends, social outings and living a 'normal' life.  Too scared to drive in case cops are out and they drug-test me with a toddler in the car.

oh god, please let me stay off it this time  thankyou everyone, glad to know im not alone :-(

Y_L- Thank you for your comforting words. Today is day 3 and the hardest one so far. I just signed docs to complete the refinance of my house and this is when I usually roll one up to celebrate. Now I am sitting on the couch while my roommate smokes right next to me and I have to say it is torture. However, I still have not given in. I also got my first B of the quarter today (took the test while smoking so I do not attribute the poor result to quitting) but it was very discouraging. I almost gave in to smoke today but am happy to say I am staying strong. The hard part for me is that I feel like I don't really need to quit for short term reasons so the thought I get in my head is "what's one more blunt going to hurt". But I keep thinking about long term ramifications and that is what keeps me strong. Best wishes to all.

Uhmm yea... 30 years later/ 5 times a day.. now coughing all the time, chest pain, numbness in left arm and cold clammy feeling in left arm. I had enough. I cut down from 5x a day to 1x a day thinking that would allow me to continue smoking, however, the chest pain continued and it scared me enough to quit cold turkey in honor of thanksgiving. Its been 4 days now clean and I have been coughing up lots of black stuff and even some streaky blood. The chest pain has mostly gone away although I still feel weird. I havent slept well and I have been trying to drink lots of fluids and exercise rather than play my guitar 8 hours a day. I think I can turn this around. I feel like at this point I have no choice other than to just smoke myself into a grave. I am actually looking forward to cleaning up. Dont worry about the blood, it wasnt much and it is probably due more in part to the heavy coughing than anything crazy serious. It only happenned once but its scary. I can already breath easier and i am only coughing in the morning now. Its time to change. Slow and steady I am going to turn this ship around.

I'm not nearly as old as you (no offense) but i see people smoking weed my age all around me, especially at school. I dnt even know what weed looks like, but i really wish i could make them stop. I have respect for them and their choices, but the fact that this is becoming so casual at my age is extremelyy concerning :( It just upsets me ...

if u started smoking when u were 15, then can u think of your 15 year-old self and tell me one thing that might have stopped you, or scared you from doing it for the rest of your life.im near 15 and the fact that all my classmates are trying weed scares me....

You listen to me and you listen hard my freind. Don't even start it seems like everyone says its not addictive and not bad for you its all natural and i preached that awell to everyone and i was convinced it wasnt bad for you . Its cool or just fun at the time because my freinds older brother who we thought was so cool and he smoked weed with all his cool freinds so we thought hey we want to be as cool a him so lets get some stuff and try it. So we got some and from that first puff it turned into a 21 year addiction. I totally regret that first puff no matter how great it was. Now im discusted at myself that its takin half my life away and wonder where id be if i didnt take that puff. Life is short you only one have shot at it and i wasted it being stoned 24/7 for 21 years and neglected everyone thats important in my life now. Never went to collage becuase i was to stoned to care about anything barly got through high school now i have mood swings from hell getting pissed of at everything and everyone even my kids i snap on without even thinking it just happens without my control. My wife is mad at me right now cause i snapped out on her cause she didnt fold some laundry i washed and i feel like sh*t and shes crying up stairs right now. f**k me how the did this happen i hate myself right now. I dont think my kids even like me which makes me think about some really bad things to do to myself thinking they might be better off without me being around. This is the cold truth and i feel like sh*t all over again its like a never ending cycle of hell. She is supporting me trying to quit but im such an as****e im not sure whats going to happen tommorro. Instead i just got mad left the house for 2 hours sitting at homedepot parking lot and got some beer and drank 6 beers now im half ripped and writing this for you. I know i should not of done this but damm im messed up and cant control my emotions and feel like i needed somekind of buzz because thats just what im used to doing. I am staying off the weed as im to scared to smoke it anymore it makes me have panic attacks but im in heavy withdrawl now and feel great one minute the next its back to mr. as****e. Ive been off work for a week and to two walk in clinics and finnally they sent me to the urgent care centre and the doctor said hes never seen anyone this bad from pot withdrawl which scares the hell out of me. Shaking like crazy heart racing sweating all the time cant sleep and when i do sleep its just one vivid nightmare after another. I hope i can make it through this but man is it rough. Im not even sure who i am anymore or what i should be doing. I just hope i can come out of this brutal situation im in, im starting to think thats its just me and that im just an as****e of a human being. Im not not sure how much longer i can keep this going im just sick of myself.

I feel ya man. I snapped on about 4 people today. Broke my door when I got into an argument with the cable customer service person. Its my fourth day without smoking and all I wanted to do was smoke. I am getting maybe two hours of sleep a night and my energy is suffering. However, the thing that drives me is the light at the end of the tunnel. It will be tough but things will get better. Best of luck to you my friend.

Hey H_A --- and anyone else on the quit -------> I was a beast for the first 17 days.  Short tempered, turrets, snappy, crabby, cranky, beotchy - it was not cute or pleasant for me either.  I felt disgusting.  I also felt cloudy, boggy, grumpy, tired.  A zombie of a wreak.  On days 14-17 I literally felt like someone had pounded on me.  Like physically exhausted and in physical pain, beat up.  My arms hurt worse than a crazy workout or something where I had used my arms for many hours chopping wood or something along these lines.  I just did not feel like a normal person at all.  I'm guessing some of it was withdrawal and some of it crank-master-ness from lack of sleep because I did not sleep much or well for probably two weeks.

IT GETS BETTER!

This is Y_L ---- but now, I feel like Mama Bear and want to help others get through the hard part just by sharing my experience.  It was a rough ride for me physically BUT IT GOT BETTER!  I feel so much better now.  I don't think about smoking anymore, it is not like it was during the first 2 weeks.  It takes time to get over the physical & mental addiction but we also have to break the habits we built around our addiction.  It is weird for the body/mind at first.  It's like OH, I would normally smoke right now.  Yea, but, I QUIT.  Then your body/mind has to go Ohhhhh, right, I forgot.  It seems the more this dialogue happens and you stick to your goal and conviction telling yourself I QUIT, you start to retrain yourself to accept and understand your new ways and then less and less your body/mind will think "hey, this is when we smoke".  Not smoking becomes the new norm!   If that makes sense!?!?!?!  I hope so.    BTW - I smoked all day everyday chronic bionic style medicinal grade so it's not like I just occasionally smoked or I smoked dirt weed and maybe this has been easier for me because ________________ !

IT GETS BETTER!

You just have to get through the difficult phase.  If you go back eventually you are going to want to quit again and you will be back a square 1 and going through this again.  Some people go through this torture again and again and again.  NO THANKS!!!!  If you make it through your short-term goals and go back to the reefer... who knows how long you will stay smoking ESPECIALLY if yer' getting it done in life and being totally successful.  This is what happened to me.  I was able to fool myself into thinking pot was not a problem for me because I was successful and almost all my cool, smart, creative, successful friends smoked too.  But I know I short changed myself in this round of life.  I actually am liking life way better without pot which while I was a stoner life without pot did not interest me AT ALL.  Life is better without pot - pot clouds our judgment.  Now my pot smoking friends are looking at me and thinking, hmmmm maybe I can quit too!  c**p, if she can do it then I should be able to too!  No, it's not that exactly, I think it has to do with how I look, how I feel, how I talk.  I am a positive example of how changing your metal attitude makes the quit easy or hard.  Don't short change yourself, your life, your brain.

this is from an outsiders point of view, but get outside, go for a walk in the sunny park every morning, drink fresh home juices and read, you truely need a clense, atleast 2 weeks of getting your physical body in turn, which eventually pulls your mental state inline, its all about being happy, thats the key to life.