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Marijuana withdrawal & nightmares?

I also get nightmare, anxiety ridden dreams after I stop smoking. While I am a daily smoker I either don't dream or have absolutely no memory of my dreams. A couple of days after not smoking the dreams come back and are usually nightmarish, like people breaking into my apartment robbing me, or weird government agents coming after me. If I continue not to smoke the dreams will start to shift from nightmares to regular dreams.
 
i never really experienced any withdrawals, apart from boredom, and i've quit pretty suddenly from heavy smoking..
 
Well, I've decided to take the month of August off from smoking weed. I'm about to blaze up for the last time until Sept. 1st.

I'm 28 years old and have not gone more than 4 days at once without getting high in the 9 years that I've been smoking weed.

I'll let you all know how it goes.
 
This is an old thread...anyway, I get really bad nausea when I quit/stop, as well as sweating, vomiting, shaking- but I actually enjoy the lucid dream aspect, its like living in another strange carnivalesque universe for 10 hours a day. If you can sleep of course. Quitting weed is definitely good if you want to experience and manipulate your dreaming state. I get really vivid dreams if I smoke less then 4 times a day atm. It seems to be a very common occurrence- but I think any major change in brain chemistry can invoke crazy dreams.
 
I'm so glad I found this thread. I was a bowl a day user for the past 5 years. Before that, I was a quarter a week for almost 10 years. I have had to quit lately because I screwed my ears up and got tinnitus, thankfuly it is only a temporary affliction. Smoking weed makes it worse so I had to quit plus, I am just plain tired of it. I am sick of the feelings of paranoia and anger when I am not high. My highs rarely lasted more than 20-45 minutes anyway. Since Sunday night, when I had my last puff, I have had the most awful dreams & nightmares. I wake up feeling like complete shit. The feelings are similar to a nasty breakup or a loved one died. It takes a few hours for the dread feeling to go away. I'm hoping that the dreams will stop being so intense, it is really screwing up my work and normal lifestyle. I will try the "chamomile tea" suggestion before going to bed, thanks for that tip.

Good luck to anyone else who decides to quit. The dreams can be bad enough to make you want to start back up!
 
It has been three days since my last billy. I've been smoking for about five years on and off and i just couldn't bear the roller coaster emotions any more. i didn't smoke during the day only nights. By lunch time I was climbing the walls, hating everyone including my husband and kids. I'd have a cone and instantly the anxiety was gone. I wouldn't be frustrated or angry any more. The next day the cycle would begin again. Angry and irritable, couldn't focus, couldn't remember small details. I'd say to myself every night as i sucked down the first one that tomorrow i would give up. tomorrow just never seemed to come. Marijuana makes you withdraw. I lost all my friends and my motivation. I never went out, never socialised, never did anything. I was once a vibrant happy woman and i've turned into an angry, miserable hermit. Not any more. My last one was Wednesday night. Day three. I can sympathise with those who have experienced withdrawal symptoms. In the last two nights I have had about 3 hours sleep. My eyes just won't close and when they do it is only for an instant. I rarely dreamed when I was stoned. Now my dreams are flooding back and I wake frightened and anxious in a pool of sweat, shivering and nauseous. The irritability is killing me. I feel like all my self control is gone and I am slowly going insane. I feel like this will last forever.
 
Hi... First of all, I'd like to address woodsy's post, and say, that marijuana never changes it's attitude towards us, it's we users, who tend to abuse it. Pot will always be a great teacher. It's us who tend to be lame students.

Second of all, I'd like to thank everyone who has responded to this thread. I'm sure I speak for many of us when I say, that seeing that others also go through these withdrawal symptoms, somehow makes it a little easier.

I've been a cronic user for around 6 years now, And I've started at the age of 15. I've smoked on average of 5 - 6 grams a day for the past 4 years. I consider that to be pretty heavy. I will also note, that in the part of the world where I'm from it is common to mix your pot with tobacco, so that hasn't made it any easier to manage the issue.

I stopped smoking cannabis for 3 months last year, with no intention to stop forever, since I consider pot to be a great tool for inner exploration. My main aim was to have a break so that my system can re-balance itself.

The main withdrawal symptoms which I experienced were; During the day; Extreme physical and mental discomfort, irritability, anxiety,and boredom, to the point where i'd feel like i will be bored for the rest of my life if I do not smoke; at night time; sweating, so much, that at times I've had to change my bed sheets in the middle of the night because they were simply soaked; Mental and physical agitation to to the point where I couldn't sleep; just twist and turn in bed all night. I'd like to comfort some of you, especialy BellaBee, by saying that all these symptoms have passed after about 3 weeks. Maybe except the occasional boredom ;) and I think it's quiet normal to get bored.

After 3 months I started smoking again, mainly because I missed the experience of being high. As I am traveling through Europe at the moment, I havn't been smoking a lot simply because it is not easily available to me at the moment. I've had dribs and drabs of hash, which I've smoked every few days, and those dribs and drabs have been significantly less than what I've smoked in the past year, so my body went through another detox about a month ago, which was less severe, since I was still smoking, it's just that my body was getting used to lesser and lesser intake of cannibanoids. When I finaly got hold of some green, about a month ago I did what I wanted to do for a while. I tried smoking green, without mixing it with tobacco.

*It's here that I will note, that smoking pure and smoking pot with tobacco is a vastly different experience. When I smoked with tobacco, it is the actual hit itself that became the objective of craving, not the actual high. I have monitored myself, and noticed that the reason i've smoked so much in the past 4 years, is because I've craved the hit, and you can hit a lot of bongs in one day.*

So, after having a relatively clean system, because of minimazing my cannabis intake, the experience of smoking pure buds was amazing. it was a lot smoother, and more peaceful than that of the tobacco high. and one pipe would do me fine all night. There would be no desire to take countless hits, as when smoking with tobacco. I only went through 2 grams in a period of a month.

Moving unto Germany from there, being festival season, hash was easily available, and I started smoking lots of Chillums. Chillum is a way of smoking originated in India a loooooooooooong time ago, which I can safely say, is a vastly different experience to smoking bongs or anything else. It's a very powerful high, and it's quiet common, to end up in an instant pool of sweat once a hit has been taken, due to an enormous ammount of thc taken in, along with tobacco. Traditionaly, the chillum requires tobacco, and about a gram of hash. Smoking green weed through a chillum is considered almost a disrespect to the tradition. So after 2 weeks of heavy chillum smoking, I've landed back in Poland, to see some of my family, where I can't get any pot. It's now been about a week since my last hit, and I'm sort of in the middle of my detox again, which prompted me to search the net to see if other people experienced the same withdrawal symptoms. I guess my main aim now, is to move unto smoking pure cannabis, without the tobacco, and not make such a habbit of it, but just to use it occasionaly.

Some of the things which I found help manage the withdrawal symptoms, is meditation, and hanging out outdoors. Things like going for a walk even. That will workout heaps of energy which is just craving a release through a hit. Camomile tea, as mentioned above, is a great way of chilling out, and getting to sleep. If you can't see any beauty in life, outside of pot, I'd recommend a decent dose of mescaline. Even one of these experiences can show us the beauty imbedded in every aspect of existance. It can show us the beauty bahind the worst things in our life, and how it is an important part of the whole, as we would'nt know good things without experiencing the bad ones. Sort of Like a dance.

Once again, thank you to everyone for your input, and showing that indeed, it's standard to have withdrawal symptoms, and that it's alright, cos we're in this togather.



Keep the spirits High! Naturaly High that is!;)
 
^well said!

As for the debate about cannabis withdrawal,
let's just use the old pharm company trick

it's not withdrawal, it's "discontinuation syndrome" ;)
 
brainslookfunny said:
^well said!

As for the debate about cannabis withdrawal,
let's just use the old pharm company trick

it's not withdrawal, it's "discontinuation syndrome" ;)

haha

Im not even gonna get started on that.

But i can remember when i took a 2 month break from smoking before summer came around. I had all the symptoms you mentioned:
-Extreme fatigue and lack of motivation
-Boredom
-Lack of appetite
-Depression (really doesnt help when you have depression!!)
-Anxiety attacks
-Irritability
-Extremely vivid dreams, whether or not they were more vivid or whether i just forgot how vivid dreaming could be im not sure
-Sweat profusely at night, also having to change my sheet or move to the floor i was so hot

Those symptoms all subside within a week, i found. I would smoke 2 grams a day on average. The craving did not subside and thus i had to occupy myself all the time.

It was all mentioned, but i thought id just add my experiences.
 
SuGaRbUzZ said:
I've decided for personal reasons to take a hiatus from smoking weed. I was never a heavy smoker to start with - usually just a pinch a day, just 3-4 hits off the pipe at most. Since I've stopped, though, about 3 days ago, I've noticed that every night, I have had an awful time sleeping, and that my rest has been just OVERWHELMED with a slew of maddening dreams... not necessarily all nightmares, but none of the dreams exactly comforting or beautiful. Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do?


smoking weed for me has a tendency to cause me to not have dreams. when I don't smoke, I have weird dreams too......I just kinda enjoy them....
 
brainslookfunny said:
^well said!

As for the debate about cannabis withdrawal,
let's just use the old pharm company trick

it's not withdrawal, it's "discontinuation syndrome" ;)

Wow, I can't believe I havn't heard that before!

That's gold.

Sounds heaps better.

As for dreams, I didn't dream for like 4 years, while smoking heaps of pot, so to get dreams when I stopped, was great. It added a whole new dimension to my life. However, I didn't get nightmares. Other than having a dream few nights ago that I got dredds, and being a lazy ass, I used Coca-Cola to make them stick. :|
 
^^Last time I quit I had a series of dreams where I was a famous Spanish horse-racer, except the race involved the horses being swum through an underwater canal. I read newspapaer articles, saw footage on TV etc. about my amazing horse swimming techniques. And it was all a dream. Weird.

BTW I don't ride horses and I'm australian.
 
willow11 said:
^^Last time I quit I had a series of dreams where I was a famous Spanish horse-racer, except the race involved the horses being swum through an underwater canal. I read newspapaer articles, saw footage on TV etc. about my amazing horse swimming techniques. And it was all a dream. Weird.

BTW I don't ride horses and I'm australian.

LOL. Dreams can be so Bizzare!

I'm an Aussie too BTW. Due back home i a couple of weeks.. oh yeah...
 
Lucid Dreaming as an antidote to nightmares

I have just found out about a cool thing called "lucid dreaming" from a New York Times article about the new Gwyneth Paltrow movie, "The Good Night" opening on 10/5/2007.

Lucid dreaming, or more correctly, conscious dreaming is the ability to "wake up" in your dream/nightmare and realize that it is only a dream. By so doing, the fear/anxiety factor is eliminated and you will be able to deal with it while remaining asleep.

Lucid dreaming is a technique that, for most people must be learned. You start with keeping a dream log that you fill out immediately after waking so that you begin to forge a link between your conscious and dream states.

You also learn to perform reality checks in your dream that cue you to the fact that you are dreaming. Soon you will be able to direct the action in your dreams and resolve the conflicts without waking.

You can have sexual fantasies, fly at will, go bowling with Albert Einstein, etc.

I am just beginning this exciting training that is set out by Dr. Stephen LaBerge in his 88-page book, "Lucid Dreaming: A concise guide to awakening in your dreams and in your life." This is available from amazon.com for $15 and includes a training CD-ROM.

For more information check wikipedia.com's article on lucid dreaming. This is not quackery and was first mentioned in western literature in 1867 although it goes back to the fifth century in eastern philosophy.

As for the night sweats, place a towel on your pillow and over your sheet. This is a lot easier than changing the sheet in the middle of the night. Pleasant LUCID DREAMS!
 
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deviate said:
ive never experienced anything like that with the amount you are using but when i stop after weeks of heavy use i can't sleep and have no apetite. i'm actually going through withdrawal right now cause i can't find any chronic and i refuse to waste money on mids. it's been 3 days since i stopped and i've slept a total of 5 hours and only eaten 2 meals. does anyone know a way i can get to sleep without weed? i stay up all night every night when i don't have it.

^^ Try Melatonin.

Sleep like a baby!

<3 :| <3
 
I smoked weed for almost 2 years straight, then i quit for a a few weeks, It was at this time that I first became interested in astral projection. Just by browsing around the web I was able to find quality information. I've had lucid dreams before a few times. One time I also had this lucid dream that somehow started from my bedroom, where i was fully conscious and able to walk downstairs and out my front door to my street. I later realized that this was an "astral projection" when I learned about what an astral projection is.

So for after about 2 years of smoking weed AT LEAST everynight, I quit for a while and coincidently, that night, I was able to project. I haven't been able to since, I've had some lucid dreams since, but i've never projected as of late. It's not that I don't know the techniques and the mindstates and theory behind it enough, I'm just not ready to explore that realm yet. Entering a realm like this shook my belief system a little, and the fact that I had some trouble re-entering my body also turned me off for a while. But all things come to pass eventually.


I'm hoping I will be ready soon enough, and I have confidence in myself that I'll know when that is. I have the same view on DMT, although I may have some in pocession, I know that i'm just not ready for that yet. Obviously, after having such an intense/rare/ (to some unbelieveable..) experience I wanted to tell people. I got a lot of skeptisim from friends/ workers / anyone really, I can see why some people would think astral projection is nonsence and far-fetched at the least. Heck, I don't even know for sure if I'd believe me had I been in someone elses shoes getting this story. The idea of astral project is pretty "out-there", especially to some people, but that makes me feel even better. I get a feeling like ... "I know a seeeecretttt!!!" (even though its not really a secret) when I tell people about it and they don't even consider astral projection real. Truthfully, I find humor in it. Although i've met the most resistance is from friends... who try and try and haven't been able to do it yet... some think i'm full of shit, some think that i'm lying, others think i'm trying to show off, and the funniest people are the ones think i'm full of shit AND trying to show off. I take pride in being able to truthfully say, "I don't gotta lie to kick it"

I haven't really tried to project recently, I'm more involved in the physical realm right now, school, friends, family, getting everything into place, perfecting the art of attracting beautiful women, which is an art I highly advocate . Through dreams, drugs, humiliation, psychedelic plus 4 legit experiences (the ones that cannot (IMO) be described fully by words. If you've been there, you'll know what i'm talking about. A true moment where I am so content with everything, that it would be ok to die and join the cosmos. And I wouldn't feel as if I had wasted my life at all, I would feel the opposite.. but i'd bet money that many of the people of this board have been there, and plan on going back.) I've gained this massive amount of confidence and who's to say that life in the here-and-now can't potentially be as equally satisfying as some state of mind under the influence of a combination of drugs. I've been told that achieveving transendance, enlightment, etc through drugs is morally wrong, and that it somehow doesn't count. But IMO as long as its from earth, how can it truely be "un-natural"


^^ Melatonin is some good shit. Natural sleep aid not only making you relaxed and tired, but also as a dream potentiator.
 
It will go away. It will be hard to sleep for a few days, I usually just take some OTC PM medication for a day or two. Its better to get some sleep, then sit up all night even if you do have to take a pill for it.

Congrats on the break. I'm going to do it after I finish this last gram and a half I have. I smoke about the same amount as you (i've been much heavier in the past) and I feel this is the best way to smoke.

The first time you take a break is the hardest, it gets easier to do once you realize that the effects are temporary. I think I smoked pretty much daily for about 3 years until I even considered taking a break. 5 years later I do it a few times a year. Plus I smoke so much less now its crazy, I only really puff indica dom. strains and take like 1 to 3 hits. Usually only one time a day. I can't stand getting all ripped like I used to. If I get too high theres a good chance I'll get a panic attack for at least a half hour.

Oh yeah for some reason Marijuana doesn't really effect the amount I dream. I still dream pretty regular when I'm smoking.
 
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Have you noticed you don't dream much on weed?
i'm supposing that it's cus it suppresses REM stage sleep
So i guess it's only natural you'll be dreaming a lot more, and yes some might be nasty...

insomnia and waking up in cold sweats is usually the worst i have
 
I smoked very good pot (medicinal from Cali Cannabis club) heavily for about 3 years. I then quit cold turkey as I just grew tired of it and later got into OxyContin and heroin. After detoxing from the opiates, I can't even consider the "withdrawal" from weed a withdrawal. If anything, it's more the fact that your stopping something pleasurable that you had every day. Obviously your not going to be nearly as happy or sleep as well when your off pot. Because the euphoria from the pot was an every day thing, your mind got used to it and considered that normal. Now going back to real life, which is not nearly as pleasurable, may seem shitty in comparison. Thats really all it is I think. I didn't really get any physical symptoms from quitting pot cold turkey. The heroin/oxy on the other hand.......
 
^^ I don't think it's useful to compare the two, some people find quitting weed incredibly difficult, and this is a thread about cannabis, not opiates. I have known at least two regular opiate users who say quitting weed is harder (for them) than quitting dope. Everyone is different.
 
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