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

Hey, all -- I'm a 28 year old male in LA, originally from Boston.  Been smoking for about 4 1/2 years after graduating from film school.  Man, my life has gone down the shitter in such a depressing way since I started smoking.  It doesn't help that most of the people I've associated myself with also smoke.

But it's gotten so bad that I'll wake up at all odd hours of the night just to smoke out of habit it seems.  I'm writing this after having just smoked a bowl of hash and bud, but I KNOW/WANT to quit.  Weed has ruined my relationships with women, my ambitions to have a real career, made me depressed, and completely killed my physique -- I used to be a gym rat and in the best shape of my life.

I started smoking like it was drinking a beer to relieve some stress -- it's brought down my quality of life and killed this strict discipline I was brought up with.  I want my focus and drive back.  I sit on my couch whenever I'm not working, watching Netflix.  I'm told I carry myself like an immature and aimless kid 6 years younger than I look.  I need help.

Thank you so much this has helped me.

Hi, I am 21 years old, I started smoking when I was 14 with friends weekly to bi-weekly and really enjoyed it. We would smoke weekends or maybe once after school on a week day. Now I`ve been smoking multiple times a day for the past three years (excluding summer) as I`ve also tree planted for the past three years and due to low availability during my summer job and the dislike of doing physical labour while high (made me feel weaker, less productive, work got harder) I would smoke only before going to bed. Every summer I notice I get happier, I make more out of days, I feel like doing things, learning. As soon as i get back to school or really even in the couple weeks before school ( my break) I start smoking weed multiple times a day. If I dont take hit within a couple of hours before bed its almost impossible to go to sleep. After a couple months of daily smoking (two years ago) I`ve thought about quitting constantly. It really makes me worse in everything I do.

I know im less happy since I`ve started smoking regurlarly. I have very select memories of myself crying growing up (fights with brothers, hurting myself as a kid, etc...) and very few. I was very happy, active, but now I find myself getting depressed about my life and my smoking and crying a couple of times a week (out of self pity). All my friends who I grew up smoking with have quit. Some occasionally smoke every couple of months, one maybe every week but none like me.

I enjoyed reading other peoples post, alot. I do want to quit. I ran out earlier today (4ish) and have managed not to buy anymore. Sleep might not be so easy tonight but w.e.  Hope everyone reading and posting is very happy and that you all take control of you lives however you might wan to.

To those who read my post thanks. To those who shared thanks a well. I love all of you and hope to post back in a couple of days that I have not smoked any weed.

P.S. WearBear is my account name in a video game that I cannot play not high, but as soon as I get high I can`t stand doing anything else.

hi and thank you i thought i was the only one going through this hell, i came off it cold turkey as my boyfriend really doesnt like it and it was starting to ruin our relationship and my social life as well, i am considering xanex like you said but worried i would get addicted to that too but my weekend panic attacks are too much to bare did you find this really helped and also my partner is out friday night and i am considering one last night to myself but am worried i will put myself backwards what do you think?

 

***Post is edited by moderator *** Web addresses not allowed***Please read our Terms of Use

Habitual Smoker for around 3 years, I'de say roughly around 4-5 grams personal consumption a day... my road to recovery

Well - I am just shy of 2 months of being a non-stoner.  I did not use the recommendations in the first post here - - I just went cold-turkey and that's it.  The first 17 days were not pleasant but I am proud to be where I am today.I'm getting ready to go visit family which was the tip off of me quitting this fall.  I went for a short visit & didn't smoke for 6 days because I was out of my environment and only b/c it felt too icky to sneak outside for a toke.  I didn't sleep at night and was a bear.  When I got home and hit the pipe it was like WOW... the feeling that got me addicted.  What I noticed most was that within a short time that WOW was GONE.  I was only smoking out of addiction & habit and all I had all day was a numb, dumb & blase feeling .I finally got the power to go cold-turkey and have not looked back.  I feel good about myself, better about myself.  I feel good about returning to my family this holiday and not having the underlying thoughts of --- when can I fricken' smoke.  Today marks of the end of a season & end of a time period that marks a movement forward - - I am thankful and grateful to being  moving into the new period & new year free of THC.  Wishing all readers the best to do the same.  I am truly LOVING my new unstoned life.

I deside to stop smoking for the same reason...... started at 15 now 38. Is time for me to take the long brake or i´ll woun´t  ever be able to recover my self, my really deep self.

Where do I even start? Well, I am 24 years old and I have been smoking pot pretty consistently for 8 years. The last 3 years I have lost any control that I thought I had over my addiction to marijuana. I have tried to stop probably a dozen times this year alone with nothing but the same result. When my stash would run low I would hurry up and smoke the rest of it to get as high as possible to try and make my last high the one to remember before I quit. Why do I even want to remember it? I have no idea. Then, I would throw away all of my paraphernalia only to have to buy another cheap bowl from the local gas station, and hunt down a bag of weed  the next day on my way home from work. It's like I'm stuck in a revolving door at the Hilton. No matter how many negative emotions I could feel the weed creating within myself, the thought of 'everything' is more fun when you're high, would trump them all with ease.

As you might have guessed, I am typing this post because I have thrown away everything I used for my addiction, and everything that even reminds me of pot...’again’. It is the first night in I don't even know how long since I haven't taken a toke all day, and will be attempting to fall asleep sober. Usually I would be passed out and full of junk food by around 9pm every night, but here I am typing this at 11pm on a Thursday trying to keep my mind off of my terrible addiction. I read all 25 pages of this forum, and I feel like I relate to 99 percent of the people who posted. It's crazy how weed has tricked our minds into believing that it controls our anger, when in reality, it causes it. Even when I was buzzed I found myself extremely irritable just waiting to snap on someone for something that wasn't even their fault, and of course if I snapped, I would need to smoke even more to attempt to calm down and forget about it.

Too bad I didn't realize that I was just putting a band aid over my emotions to try and cover them up and hide from them.  I have started to notice that a majority of my anger comes when I start to come down from being high, and I can no longer just forget about everything that could create a problem in my life. It made me very disappointed in myself today when I realized that I couldn't even install a dishwasher and clean the house without intense feelings of rage just from being sober. Seems like for me when I attempt to quit smoking all of my built up emotions that I have been hiding from over the last 8 years come out all at once and turn to anger. No wonder it's so hard to quit. Compacting years of emotions into a day's worth of thoughts is extremely hard to deal with.

Also, for some reason every time I would finish a bowl, blunt, joint, or whatever I would all of a sudden get the ambition to quit, and feel like I could actually follow through with it. I'm not a rocket scientist, but I can for sure tell you that smoking to get ambition to quit doesn't quite add up, and it didn’t as every attempt to quit was extremely short lived. Must be another way THC can take hold and manipulate my way of life. I feel like I am learning more about myself and my addiction just typing this post, and hopefully it will make my lifetime of recovery a little bit easier to accept.  Don't really know the answer to the sentence above, but I feel confident that several months down the road I will learn the answer.

Depression is another symptom that I now have that marijuana has blessed me with, and that only seems to intensify when I try to quit. I had quit for several months about 5 years ago, and I know that once you break through the addiction barrier it all seems to somewhat return to normal. However, when I quit last time I didn’t smoke 5-10 times a day of high quality pot, so I’m a little worried I will be stuck with this depression and anger for the rest of my life.

Anyways, I don’t even know what I’m talking about anymore, but I do know that typing this essay has taken me an hour and a half farther into my recovery. I hope this info helps somebody as it has even helped me just from getting these thoughts off my mind. 

Ok here we go it is obvious to me there are a lot of peopl like me out there that want to quite or need to quite but i am so scared so i will post and read because i need help i can not do this alone. I refuse to take a vacation with my girlfriend because i may not have pot. I am 43 yrs old and have been smoking since i was 13. My wife ask me to quit 6 yrs ago to get life insurance and i did just long enough to pass the drug test. Then went back 3 days later she ask me to quite for our family and kids and i did not that is one of the reasons she is my ex wife. Because she said i was moody and depressed. My new girlfriend and soon to be ex if i don't wise up because she has the same issues. I have read most of the post and i have decided cold turkey is the way to go. So here gose nothing see you later

shocker1

Hey!

SO..... its been about 4 weeks since my last post, in which i was saying how i wanted to quit after however many years of smoking.  Reading this forum from start to finish was the best thing i could have ever hoped-for. whenever i felt the weed devil pop on my shoulder i would just read posts. people young and old looking back with regret and shame also.

i have tried to quit a few times, but i realize the difference between your self-serving mind saying you're going to quit and your heart genuinely wanting to. No weed at home is the BIG RULE. I have even smoke socially a few times with no desire to smoke alone or at home. i drink more now, but im not even slightly depended on alcohol as i never used to drink when i was smoking.

I feel great, not as self loathing. Laughing more.. like a good genuine sober laugh. more outgoing. I go for walks, and like the sunshine.

i dont know what i would take for me to bring pot back to my house, coz once that happens.. ur gone.

I cant believe it has been four weeks, maybe more, becuase im not counting anymore. you have to really want to quit. Like really hate yourself enough.. or just crack! THATS WHAT IT MIGHT TAKE. 

 

JUST F#%#^ING DO IT!

WEED the mighty green, that taste ,smell, touch, its takes over your life stay clear well that's what i told my self anyway, well 16 years later i'm still hooked, start with soap, then soft black then the world opened up 2 me,,,, so i hide away head f**ked thinking that every1 out get me , put me over the top tryed 2 end it MAD I KNOW I WAS IN A BAD PLACE THEN, then went 2 doctor for help!!!! ha ha. WE CAN HELP YOU TK THESE 10 TABLES SO I GO BACK 7 DAYS LATER FOR MORE CAUSE they did realy help with sleep and moods and work BUT the doctor she they couldent give me no more cause off my sister was hooked med's, so you could say i felt that i was on my own again so that was (1 year ago and am still hooked HALF O A WEEK )no joke i am up for work every morning at 7 oclock. i suck 5 to 10 bongs befor i go 2 work, then bout 5 more at 10:00 then 5 more at 13:00 then home 5 oclock then its just bong after bong 2 bout 11 oclock at nite, i know i need help but its just easyer 2 keep smoking then 2 put up with it for weeks,

Awesome advice! I'm currently in the process of quitting and was looking for something to tell me what to expect when I quit...you pretty much nailed it! By the way, the vivid dreams are a result of deeper REM sleep...you don't get good REM sleep when you smoke pot. Thanks again!

i discovered i have ruined 5 years of my life today. just like many of you, im in the same boat.

today. im done with it.

writing this down, as a self promise my first step. im going thru the 5 stages of rage: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. at the moment im in between depression and acceptance.

i dont think weed is or has been the problem, i think that it is myself that believes i need it. i just want to stop, i just want another chance at life without it.

i stashed all my weed in an airtight container, locked it in a drawer and filed away the key. i want to see how desparate i shall get before i break in that drawer. ironic, i dont make new year resolutions. but this will be the best thing i ever did if i succeed.

wish me luck! and thank you!

you are no different than many other. ive been smoking daily for 30 years now. i know cold turkey wont work. it will have to be gradual. i hope i havent wasted 30 years neither. i have to find other activities or friends to try to take my mind off it. try not to be to hard on yourself, try to spend more time with your family if possible. bye

not weed at is the biggest rule!