Wow, did i really just spend the past few hours reading through this thread (well most of it anyway)??
SOOOOOO many stories that I can relate to. Some are so similar to my experiences that it's a little scary. Although the denial is still strong in a lot of people in this thread I am pleasantly surprised to see that more and more people are acknowledging and speaking out about the negative aspects of chronic marijuana use. Some of the points made have been absolutely brilliant. Especially ErgicMergic's model for the typical progression of the daily weed smoker. I have also noticed this pattern and every time I end up reading through a thread like this I've noticed that most of the people who get defensive and deny or downplay the negative effects are younger people who are still in the "honeymoon phase" or phase 2. I used to try to let these people know that they might want to think twice and reevaluate their usage etc. But then I remembered what I would have said to anyone who tried to tell me weed was going to cause problems for me later in life when I was still in the honeymoon phase ...
Now after 15 years of more or less daily smoking I know full well that allowing pot to become a daily habit was definitely a mistake and has caused me physical and mental health problems that I could have avoided or at the vary least lessened with more judicious use. Anxiety, panic attacks, depression, insomnia (when dry), tendencies towards being a hermit (although I have always been this way weed makes me way more anti-social, I will no longer smoke before a social event), and MASSIVE stomach problems
I actually wanted to mention my stomach problems in particular to burn out who claimed he had gastritis from smoking (even though that post is YEARS old by now hah). I suffered from chronic heart burn and gastritis for YEARS. At first it wasn't a huge deal and all I would need was a few tums after a spicy meal. Next thing you know tums isn't really cutting it anymore and I'm onto the Zantac and then prilosec, then it just got ridiculous. This was no joke, it eventually ended up causing massive stabbing pain after nearly every meal unless I had taken some sort of antacid or acid suppressor. I literally walked around with at least 3-4 tums and/or a couple zantac on me at ALL TIMES because almost everything I ingested would flare it up. After years of abusing prilosec and other acid drugs, only to have the symptoms come back way worse when I stopped taking them, I finally realized that the real problem was my diet. I ate like SHIT and my body was screaming at me to stop. Several cups of acidic coffee every day, almost everything I ate of super processed and/or loaded in sugar, salt and grease, meanwhile I'm charring my throat smoking 3-4 times a day with weed smoke and going on epic munchie frenzies. I was the type of guy that loved to make late night candy runs to 7-11 while baked and just down a whole jumbo bag of skittles on top of a box of gobstoppers and pass out (perhaps with a blow-pop still hanging out of my mouth).
Which brings me to Doctor_Ew420 who made a really good point
"People like to blame their vices instead of their personal choices with health.
I know a lot of people that ate like shit for a long time (I am included, mcdonalds twice a week) and when they realized it wasn't the liquor or pot doing it to them, they started eating healthy, some cut meat entirely (me) some became vegan, some just started being wiser with what they do on a daily basis. I can promise you that all these people (even myself) sound like goofy yuppies that you see on jennie craig commercials... I didn't lose any weight. I have always been ok in that area, I just feel better, I wake up faster in the mornings and have more energy all day, I don't feel like a burnout anymore and all I did was stop eating meat. For a while I thought that maybe I was slightly allergic to tobacco smoke. I was just to blind to see that the low grade fuel that I gave my body everyday made me a groggy mess... Not the pot."
Essentially the main cause of my stomach problems was an extremely poor diet and the daily ingestion of substances that irritated the lining of my esophagus and my stomach. The inhaling of smoke (pretty sure it was all the smoke that started the ulcer that was in my esophagus) and the way that weed encouraged my bad eating habits DEFINITELY made the problem way worse. About a year ago when my stomach problems were at their peak I finally realized that the only way I was going to fix my stomach was to completely change my diet. I went on a 10 day juice fast and that FINALLY and completely healed my stomach. Since then I've more or less become a raw foodist. i discovered a ton of foods that I just can't eat because they blow my stomach up (basically cut out all bread/wheat, coffee, alcohol, refined sugar, red meat and anything that is excessively salty/spicy) and also try to get a good hour of cardio in at least every other day. I am BLOWN AWAY at the difference it has made in my health and day to day outlook and attitude. And after a 4 month smoke break I have come back to the herb and realized that most of the side-effects to be GREATLY diminished and disappear more quickly when abstaining.
So that's really the point I came here to make. Daily weed smoking is generally unwise and unhealthy and most definitely will eventually start to cause problems if you push it far enough and/or find yourself in vulnerable circumstances. All you cats struggling with depression and anxiety and just general burn out should keep in mind that if you've got a shit diet and/or don't exercise that is at least 50% of your problem. Quitting or cutting down on weed and other substances is definitely somewhere in the other 50% but it's usually not the only thing causing it.
