Giving up dope - advice PLEASE!

OK, the government anti-drugs ads have got me.... I feel so guilty.... bwahahahahah yadda!
Am embarking on kicking a 7 year habit - yep we're talking morning bongs etc..... and was wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom, suggestions or advice on how to go about this.
*straightens halo* I actually have called the drug help line to get some tips but when they told me the GOOD news was that it was ONLY going to take 3 months to get my sleeping patterns back to normal I nearly hung up and ripped back a cone.... *giggle* however this is something that I have to deal with or get under control so ever onwards...c'mon BL'ers.... give me something to work with here...please!!
Also - is it better to go cold turkey or cut down. I've found that the experts say cold turkey, but most of my friends who have kicked their habit or at least got it under control (social smokers only now) have told me it's easier to have a long term plan and cut down.
My main concern is loosing sleep, I can't afford this to effect my job...
Also - has anyone experienced any other side effects apart from disrupted sleep patterns, ie. impatience, irritability, sadness etc etc
Thank you all so much.....

stompr, quit smoking morning cones for starters and try just smoking a few b4 bed for a month (i got to there and have just stopped, i smoke nightly hehe)
I love the stuff
sorry if im not much help

Stompr until late last year I was a 7 seven year reasonably heavy choofer. I first cut out morning bongs and weekend day bongs. That bit was easy as I still had planty of night bongs. Anyway the next step was to substitute some bongs with joints (They take longer to prepare etc). Well as of four weeks ago I've had thre cones (All in a foreign country) and I can say that my sleeping patterns are fine. I'm not giving up for good but I'm doing the zero use for a bit so that when I have a joint I'll enjoy it far more.
Good Luck!
------------------
Huh,...What,...Who,....Dude I can't here a fucken word your saying.

Giving up marijuana
Search button rocks.
BigTrancer
------------------
Load universe into cannon. Aim at brain. Shoot.

smompr. Good to see u want to give up that shit. I smoked hooch for 11 years, Waking up in the morning smoking anywhere between 15 to 20 cones and several more during day. I was smoking 1/2 an ounce aweek to myself easily. I went cold turkey and its now been 7 weeks. The first thing is to write down all the things you dont like about smoking then all the things you do like about smoking. For me i didnt like been stoned anymore cos it was nolonger fun, I would see people i have known for long time and have nothing to say to them, They all got the impression i had turned into a rude cunt, Also parinoia had set in I thourght all my friends where dodgy and scamming shit behind my back. My life was run by the bong. As for side effects of giving up YES it is hard to sleep and eat for the first week or so. I slept for about 18 hrs inthe first week and lost 5 kilos in 5days. Believe it or not i started drinking hot milk before i went to bed and found it put me to sleep.
For the first week i felt like i was on speed the whole time. The next two weeks i felt like a dumb cunt with a blank mind, Then i realised how much i was using hooch to trigger my thourghts. This also past along with every problem ive ever had. I still do the same things at the same places, its important to still hang with your mates wether they smoke or not. It actully helped having them tell me how well i have done while they sit back and smoke.
You must have many reasons to want to give up. and you must be strong enough to not make excuses for yourself to smoke.That is the hard bit, I fullon had to picture the bad me and the good me to ignor the temptations. I could just about write a book about this subject so if i havnt answered anything just Ask and i will do my best for you. Cold turkey was the best for me cos it leaves no exeptions. But a friend of mine she gave up by cutting down. She would make herself not have bong till after five then the next night she would make it six then seven and so on.So its amatter of finding the way that suits u. Its ahard thing to quit and you have made the first step well done.
------------------
http://daybreaks.envy.nu
It is necessary to cultivate some disiplne of mind,for an undisiplined mind always finds excuses to act selfishly and thourghtlessly. When the mind is undisiplined the body is also and so is speech and action.

for me i just quit. I smoked many cones pretty every day for a fair few years.
After about 2 or 3 months of not smoking whenever i tried a cone it would hit me sooo hard i would just sit down on my ass and think. I would always end up thinking of how much i didn't enjoy the feeling anymore. This is what really made my stop completely, it just didn't feel good when it really hammered me. I still remember how fun it was with friends when i was in highschool although that fun was simply gone. It was the same high again but i just felt guilty and depressed.
I realised that when i was smoking it everyday i must have been smoking it just for the hell of it.
I don't know how you will do it but i highly reckomend going cold turkey for atleast 1 month. After this length of time, try it, because you will have lost a fair bit of your THC "immunity" you will feel what its like to REALLY get stoned again, rather than smoking cone after cone just for a numb mind.
Like i mentioned, you too, will hopefully realise how boring and depressing the feeling is after you have had a break. You will hopefully give yourself enough insight in this one last high to give it up for good.
Hope that helped, Im sure you'll get there. Just remember you will feel like a new person when you have giving it up. Your mind feels like a sponge for knowledge again, you feel happier, you feel proud of yourself, but most importantly you have time for those people you love and care for.
------------------
I said....nice one brova!!

Well done for at least travelling down this far down the the path.
Welcome back to the world of proper dreaming Get ready for some amazing stuff during sleep.

Stompr,
Your already part of the way there by identifing that you need to give up. I can't give you advice as I haven't been there but offer my help in any other way I can.
Hugz KDM

Once you've decided to quit, I mean really decided it aint all that hard. I tried on and off for 2 years to quit but really I didnt care or want to quit so I didnt. 3 months ago I just sorta snapped and thought fuck this enough is enough and stopped cold turkey. The first week was hard to sleep and the second like Soma said things started getting interesting.
When you smoke for years non-stop you dont relise but you dont sleep properly and you dont dream. All of a sudden I started sleeping properly and dreaming and I started freaking out, the dreams seemed real and I kept waking up sweating and not knowing if what I just dreamed was real or not. Even thro the day I'd start thinking about what I'd dreamt and couldn't decide if it was something that happened or not.
I seem to have a handle on it now but I had a few mornings waking up worse from lack of sleep than if I'd smoked a foil the night before.
But things get better and better the longer your off the green, like I can actually put on weight now and have a normal eating and sleeping pattern
But the main benifit is if I ever want to go smoke a billy the the boyz on saturday night I'll actaully get wasted and half a cone will blow my head off
[This message has been edited by Fry-d- (edited 19 September 2001).]

I say cut it off at the source... Tell your supplier not to give it to you anymore..
*HUGE GIGGLES*
Actually i think i will do that! Save you the trouble.
See Stomps, I look after ya
Chem

*hands Stomps some Valium, G and sleeping pills*
That should cover the losing sleep bit.
*looks at Stompr's bong*
You actually smoke out of that? Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew
*rolls a bit phat joint*
I'll just sit on the fence now and watch.
No really best of luck with it Stomps.
*hugs*

Munchee u r prob only joking, but stompr dont replace drugs with drugs. Once ur sleep get back to normal u will be suprised at what natural sleep is like, Its the best. And what soma said about dreaming is so true. The dreaming is what has really kept me away from smoking they are the best trip u will ever have. Hows this i somtimes even dream that im stoned. its really spun out shit. RobE i agree with what u say I had a cone on sunday and it sent me to the most fucked up place, somewhere i never want to return to. Btw hooch destroys any good feeling u will get out of a pill. Id never dropped without smoking, didnt think i could do it, but now I have truly experianced extacy i will never smoke again. Also one thing i realised is that hooch seems to roll all of ur emotions into one fucked up ball of confusion, not allowing you to seperate reallity from non reallity. U will always have problems while u smoke dope, But when u dont smoke u can seperate these feelings and do somthing about what has to be done rather than worrying about shit u dont really need to be. I feel great i smile when i should now, i cry when i should now, and i also know why these emotions are happening at the time. Life is here to be lived and being stoned stops u from doing it to the fullest. I hope cos u havnt replied to any of these doesnt mean u have given up already. Come join us on the bright side. (fuck im starting to sound like a preacher) but really once u are over the sleep thingy, it only gets better from there.

i know im planning on quitting, but its the sleep thing that worries me....
im hatching a plan, that whenever i cant sleep i just get up and hit my decks (not like punching, i could never hurt my babies)
i dont care if im tired for work and i value taking time on my decks over being alert and preppy for work
I seriously love smoking pot, and i feel it really doesnt fuck up my sense of reality.... ive been smoking for about 1-2 years, im in qutting limbo, like part of me wants to, the other half just wants to have a few cones and watch tele, play on my decks and talk crap hehehe
------------------
the secret to success is clean underwear and a good top hat

Go Stompr! It is not as hard to quit as you think it will be, providing you are doing it for the right reasons (ie: because you really want to , not because someone else wants you to).
I gave up a 7 year habit fairly easily. First I cut back (just a few before bed), then went cold turkey. I had trouble sleeping at first, and occasionally still do, but the sleep you get is a much better quality. I sometimes use some herbal sleeping aids (like passionflower and kavakava) to help sleep. They are pretty subtle, and you don't get hooked like you could with prescription pills.
You might feel anxious, and headachey for a few days, but it passes. You can use herbs like passionflower for the anxiety, or panadol for the headaches. I read somewhere that drinking cranberry juice can help you detoc from pot (don't know why though), and lots of fluids is good.
I agree with everything RobE says. Once you are off it you realise it was no fun any more. And you do get a new zest for life. You will actually want to go out and do exercise again! You will be interested in new things! You will gain weight (watch out for this one - it is easy to go overboard with this). Everyone will tell you how healthy you look.
It can help to keep a journal at first (I know it sounds wanky, but seriously). Start by writing down why you are smoking before each session (for eg: to relax). Then afterwards, reflect on whether you achieved that aim (did you relax?). You soon start to see that you are niot achieving the aims, and this givs you real incentive. Also, think of some things you can do to amuse yourself when you would usually be smoking - like reading, going out, whatever. You might want to get some books about insomnia, to find out how to help yourself sleep - you can actually learn this!
I wish you truckloads of luck - it will be worth the slog!

And what exactly is wrong with weed?? Ma3Stro and I were talking about this on Monday and to us it's like a glass of red wine. Not a drug at all, but essential to your health...
Jokes, but if you want to give it up, don't hang with people who are perpetually stoned or talk about it all the time. Also, be careful you don't replace it with something else, like porn or starting meaningless threads...
------------------
You startin' shit??

I have quit for exactly one month now!!
I dont usually drink, so on my first nite I got trashed and had lots of spews etc! So by the next night i was sleepy and ready for bed.
A friend in Amsterdam says take the herbal pills called "Kava Kava", and they help u relax and stuff, u can get them at health food stores.
Other than that, its just will power. Like I am living with my boyfriend who still smokes 24/7 and i havent had 1 cone! Its just the habit of getting up in the morning and smoking till u go to bed - u just gotta get over it!! GOOD LUCK!
The dreams come back to u too! Weird shit.. AND think of all the money u will be saving too!
[This message has been edited by Jabba (edited 20 September 2001).]

ummm..
Goodluck stompr.

*runs in a grabs handful of pills and measuring cup of G off Stompr*
I was only joking!!!
*looks at pills and G in one hand and big phat spliff in other*
Hmmmmmm...
*chows pills + G and sparks up spliff*
Yep... sleeping well tonight.
*stuffs big rock of meth up nostril*
Aha! The challenge begins... meth vs. assorted sleepy stuff... FIGHT!
[This message has been edited by Munchee (edited 20 September 2001).]

Just thought I would relay an interesting storie. On Friday I shared (MY first in six weeks) a joint and was completely floored but sitting down so it felt all good. Then on Sunday I had a joint all to myself and about 20 minutes after having it was standing around in the backyard of a mates place talking shit. Then I get the whole brain doing cartwheels thing, everythings getting weird. The my legs go and I grab hold of one of the lines on the close line and start doing this real weird movement (Thing 'Something about Mary' When the fake cripple dude is trying to pick up keys). Eventually I fall on my ass (Without spilling one drop of my Beer mind you. This only after a mere six weeks break. Prior to this I could have had ten joints without so much as a stumble. Anyway thought I would share.
------------------
Huh,...What,...Who,....Dude I can't here a fucken word your saying.

how much better are joints when your thc tollerence is low!
give bongs the kick if you can help it.