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Quitting weed (or at least abstaining for a while)

Norules

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 22, 2004
Messages
622
Location
Melbourne
Well, I noticed a few people mentioning there should be a thread on quitting, where people who have quit weed can offer advice on the safest, least painful methods of quitting gunja.
Now a lot of people (including myself) have 'quit' weed for various periods of time; for me- I've been smoking since I was 14 (I'm now 22), and daily for at least five of those years, the longest I've quit is for 8 months, but I've stopped for anything from two weeks to three months during that time period.. So my advice/suggestions are to be taken with a grain of salt, but because I still enjoy smoking, I know that having lengthy breaks is the best way to ensure I minise the negative effects of both the actual cannabis and the cannbis dependency. Some of the reasons I have quit:

- Feeling anxious/paranoid when not smoking
- Feeling anxiou/ paranoid WHEN smoking
- Bad effect on respiratory system
- Negative impact on short term memory
- Laziness
- Can't afford a drug habit (mainly when younger)
- Family worried about it
- Annoyed/frustrated at desire to smoke all the time
- Effects of weed become lessened due to tolerance


I have found weed both easy and difficult to give up- some of the troubles (withdrawal's if you like) that I've encountered are:

- Loss of appetite
- Insomnia
- Anxiety/nervousness/mild depression
- Sweating; hot/cold flushes
- Anger, irritable, snappy twmper
- Desire to smoke (not really a craving just a niggling want)
- Nausea, feeling vomity, constantly gagging
And there are more . . . .

Ways I've found to alleviate these symptons:

- Patience; they pass (for me) after about three-five days
- Some GP's recommend using Diazepam (valium) to help reduce anxiety when quitting (not advisable really).
- Eat healthy (force yourself to eat if neccesary, you will find healthier food easier to digest, so eat healthy!)
- Try to tire yourself out during the day, so you will sleep well at night. A lot of people find the insominia which can result from quittiing gunja the worst part, so being really tired can help you sleep.
- If you cannot be bothered exdercising or don't have time, try melatonin or speak to your GP about obtaing a mild sleeping aid.
- Breath deeply to avoid a fight or flight response from your nervous sytem.
- Have sweet drinks to rapidly replenish energy levels.
- You may sweat profusley at night, so ensure you are in comfortable clothing/attire when in bed. Even have a towel handy to clean the sweat of your self.
- Drink heaps of water, and avoid coffee- unless you are also addicted to that ;), whereby it is not advisable to withdraw from the that at the same time
- Try to take up a relaxing hobby, like making music, reading to distract the mind
- Try meditation
- Most of all, WAIT IT OUT. All the symptoms that can manifest themselves when you quit dope are pretty mild really; this does not detract mush from the crappy feelings you may have to endure, but just remember it won't ever get too bad and will be over in several days.
Cannabis dependancy is very dose related; the obvious way to avoid all these potential problems is to not allow your smoking to get over the top. Try not to use so much tht your body becomes reliant on having a steady stream of THC entering it; whilst weed MAY not be physically addictive, in the traditional sense, it still carries with it many of the risks associated with addictive drugs. Try to have days when you don't smoke, or just time periods of the day where you won't smoke- for example, say that you won't have a smoke until 3 in the afternoon or something.
Anyway, I hope this is helpful in a way- any other contributions would make this a good resource for people wanting to quit, cut back or, that old sawhorse, take a break from our favorite weed. Peace out :):):):)
 
Norules said:
whilst weed MAY not be physically addictive, in the traditional sense, it still carries with it many of the risks associated with addictive drugs

Well, what you described about withdrawing were physical symptoms, so yes, it is physically addictive, but not to the degree as heroin or benzo's are for example. But nice thread for the rest.
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Well done mate , just one thing to add is excercise helps a lot in quitting.

Last week i wanted to stop smoking for a whole week and achieved this goal ( after smoking pretty much all day this year). This week my goal is to go a fortnight and then probably a month after. What im saying is set mini goals first , its very hard to quit cold turkey, builid your way up and hopefully you will get the control back.

Some positives of qutting also to help you quit
- Not smoking increases my motivation so much, essential for my uni work
- I feel so much better normally , do not require weed to be happy or entertained.
- More social , speaking to people i never would. One of the things i hate is how i just cant socialise well if i have been smoking to much , just wanna sit at home with mates in a comfortable environment than going to clubs, pubs etc.
- Improved short term memory, again very helpful if your doing something like uni
- Improved relationship with parents.

Good luck quitters.
 
That's definitely some good advice.

Your point about waiting it out is definitely key to quitting. Every time I have quit in the past the withdrawl symptoms and negative effects are horrible but only for about a month. Then I feel refreshed and much better than before.
 
Thanks for posting this. My bf and I have been half ass trying to quit for a while, but every time we end up going back. In my experience its been very hard to quit weed. Thanks for the advice
 
Very nice. Norules your post sums pretty much all my symptoms as well.

On the road, trust me it aint hard, but it has to be a personal quest.

i mainly quit for a period of time to re-adjust my life, decrease tolerance and save some cash and everytime i am off it for a while i feel very proud of myself + i know that after those few weeks/months of detox i will be able to enjoy smoking again.

it's those few days after the last joints that's really the hardest because i always feel tempted to smoke again.
i always come up with some sort of excuse to smoke again.
but i know it's just the weed talking.


but by far the easiest is to stay away from home, and get serious in any sport. Your mind has to be constantly thinking of something else instead of just WEED WEED WEED...

good luck people.
 
i have quit weed for good

it is a month today and im not going back to it. i have been smoking it regularly for 10 years, since i was 14, im 24 now. but the reason for smoking was my dads death when i was 13. i am now on anti depressants(lexapro) to help deal with his death, but i am still feeling the anxiousness every once in ahwile. not as much as i did when i 1st quit, but if i start to think of bad things i start my mind racing, and thats all she wrote. my depression is somewhat mild, i have my good days and bad days, and cry way more then i use to, but then again i hadn't cried since i was maybe 19 when my brother contimplated suicide, but thank god never followed through, just wrote a note saying he wanted to be with my dad. i feel like weed has ruined my life, or that i let it ruin my life. thank god i am young enough to still do something with myself. the reason origianlly for my anxiousness was a weekend trip on meth that sent me to the er with panic attacks. but i tried to smoke weed before my attack, and that caused it i think, so now weed is tied in with my anxiety. i do feel somewhat better without weed. i can actually save money now, well i will once i pay off the er visit, plus a doctors visit for a physical and trips to see a psychitirst and therapist. it's nice to know im not the only one who has these feelings though after quitting. everything you listed, i have felt over the last month. now all i have left is the occasional tight throat from my meds, dry mouth and mild anxiousness which goes away if i just relax my mind and body. anyways, thanks for posting this, it brought me some comfort.
 
if you have been smoking for months+ and are experiencing withdrawals from suddenly stopping use, try taking beta blockers to counter the effects. much safer than valium. they will not make you drowsy and are not addictive.
 
dayslipper, what is an example of beta blockers. i have quit for a month after using it very heavy for years. i'd say im a 8th every 3 day smoked for the last 2-3 years at least, but have smoked for 11 years. right now i am experiencing anxiety like a mo fo sometimes. my chest gets tight, but i can still breathe normal, it's just my chest muscles getting tight i think. but i feel some pains in either shoulder, but not down my arms like a heart attack. i am also on lexapro for depression, and alot of the stomach and chest tightness started after using this.
 
aaronpickel said:
sorry, i meant for this to go into another post, but i accidently posted it as a seprate topic. thanks for being a dick by the way.

your welcome again
glad to be of such service

you can delete this thread by going to edit, checking the box next to delete, then pressing hte delete button all the way to the right (this is all in a big rectangle near the top)
 
Aaronpickel, I'll merge this in with the thread I think you were trying to post in, if that's not the one, send me a PM later on so I can change it.

Merged
 
MAn i quit weed cause i was smokin too much and ended up jus movin on to ecstasy but now i am straight i was in rehab for a month i still do rolls sometimes.......weed itself is not addictive its you the person smokin its mind set.....like your set on smokin it and you feel like you need too.....but you don't
 
^^^Hey twiztidbitch, hope your going well man welcome to Bluelight. Your statement is true, if you just tell (and firmly) yourslef that your'e quitting/breaking and really mean it and your'e in the right mindset, well then you'll do do and enjoy the change.
So many times I tried to stop quitting when I didn't really want/need to, and ended up beating myself up for smoking again when I gave in. So be true to what you you say and fair on yourself- dont force but guide yourself towads being weed free for at least a while, you will enjoy it so much more if your show your slef that you can be without the magic herb.


No rules :) on g/f's account
 
I quit Cold Turkey(funny word:\ )one night. Well actually it was when I had quite a bad breakdown(ended up confessing everything I did to my parents, told them I needed help, etc...). I was depressed, had anxiety, and just felt the world as "Blagh"(otherwise as nothing). I ended up going to the Doctor which he gave me a sample pack of "Zoloft". Now Im pretty sure it wasn't Zoloft which helped me in quitting, heck I think it didn't even do anything to me except giving me the side effectas of it(which were not pleasant).

I think it was more of my guilty feeling and regret which made me quit. After a couple of days, I grew to a sate of which I despise marijuana and cant imagine me smoking it again. I have had no cravings for it ever since the day I quit. I would say its pretty easy to quit, you just need to have control. Now as for some background on me. I started at age 15(when I barely turned 15)and was a light smoker in the beginning. I gradually started smoking more and more. My peak was when I got a job and blew like 3/4th of it on nothing but weed. I smoked everyday heavily. Usually me, my cousin, and friend would finish half an o a day. So it's not like I was one of those people who smoke every now and then(thinking thats why it was easy to quit).

Although Im not drug free, I was for quite a long time(just sticking to beer)Im pretty happy I quit. I can see some improvement from quitting but nothing to major. Some things which Im pretty positive smoking marijuana cause were.


-Well of course smoking marijuana, your most likely going to gain weight, cause of the Munchies

-I got depressed

-I got anxiety

-It made me feel shitty

-Its hard to explain but boy oh boy, did it make me feel so guilty and awful after I smoked. I basically just pondered and kept on asking myself why, why, why.


Now some good things

I no longer am depressed

Im less anxious now(Im no longer always thinking about this and that and why this, why that)

No longer have to deal with guilt and feeling awful since I quit it.





Trance Music also helped I guess(something Im obsessed with).
 
There's another 7-odd weeks until I'm smoking up again.

I have exams, but also want to save up some money to get royally smashed in the summer.
 
TrAnCe_AdD1kt said:
Trance Music also helped I guess(something Im obsessed with). [/B]

Likewise, without psytrance I would be a wreck . . . only problem is how good it sounds when your stoned and how much fun creating your own trance is when stoned. Good on you though for sticking to your guns mate, peace out :)
 
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