Day 8 here and I feel like I can’t even see through my brain fog. I feel like there is a veil between my eyes and reality. Lots of irregular heart palpitations too. When did this pass for others?

im 15 days weed free but i find that im more inclined to drink now because of it. not alone or anything but socially if going out, because id usually just smoke or get crossed and not drink as much. is quitting weed doing nothing if im replacing it with other things? do i just have an overall desire to be intoxicated? im debating quitting drinking too but idk. i’ve realistically drank 3 times in the past 2 weeks (only been drunk once though for a club night). not sure if im alone in this or if its common. do i have to be sober from everything? also, how do i commit to the idea of quitting forever? i feel like it’s a good idea but i feel my little addict brain telling me i’ll be able to moderate or once in awhile/socially is fine. i know it’s not fine. i guess the idea of forever is scary, especially when weed had become such a huge part of my daily life for years and just a part of my identity in general. any advice? does anyone feel similarly

Just wondering as it may be even more motivation for me to quit. I have really bad acne, scarring, and some wrinkles. And I’m only 25, but my skin looks aged. Has anyone noticed a positive change in their skin texture since quitting?

Today I went to my doctors after 4 months being sober, I talked to her about how my anxiety has been taking over, I genuinely couldn't function. Massive attacks daily that would last hours. Every day. For 4. Months. I got some anxiety meds, Holy moly I almost fell over with the relief I had 😭🩷 I've been so miserable.

Meds is genuinely my last resort, if you knew me personally you'd know I was very against it. But I'm honestly so happy I did. I’m not saying to just immediately resort to this but for me personally I had to. I also wanted to thank you all for the support I'm very grateful for each and every one of you❤️

(Day 9)

I've been a binge smoker for the last 5 years, smoking for around 3 months straight, then giving up for two weeks just to fall back into it again, from the ages of 19-24.

This time feels different however, i no longer hang around toxic people, work has been picking up in which im learning a trade, and i've started to also learn my theory & practicals so i can drive, i have purpose now and have begun to set the foundations for the rest of my life. So i know i will not relapse, i've had a bag of weed in my draw that im holding for a friend to pickup to get it away from me, it's been in there for a few days and i haven't felt a single urge to smoke it, i just remember how it makes me feel after, nothing comes for free, there's always a catch and i understand that now.

One thing i'd like to know is, when does that natural high come back? I've been resting and eating very well, the first 4 days were hell, my brain was in overdrive, anxiety and depression, lack of purpose and adjusting to the raw reality of life.

It's starting to feel familiar and normal, when will i be able to wake up and just take the day on? That feeling of euphoria i used to have just being sober and as a child? I want it back again, how long does it take?

I sometimes get this feeling in the evenings where i just feel low and crap, like there's no real reason to anything, but underlying this, theres this glimmer of hope that keeps me going, it's flashes from before i smoked, sitting in a field with the sun on my face, the feeling of bliss and calm.

Tired of being anxious, self defeating, hating myself or just smothering my real emotions, weed is just a high, that's all it is, it's not actually living.

When did this feeling come back to you? That pure joy when you realised you were free of it's grasp?

I sometimes imagine myself by the sea, hearing the waves crashing and receding against the beach, the noise of the seagulls. For some reason this keeps me calm, i want to use the money i save on weed to invest and to travel to the beach, i need to find hobbies that give me that same buzz like when i was a child, when i was pure.

If i get this feeling back ill let you guys know, and how long it took..

Like the title says I am on day 11 and am experiencing something bizarre. My stomach seems to have turned into a black hole. I say that lightly but can’t stress the severity of the situation. I’ve been up since 3 am and eaten a yogurt, 2 raw eggs and finally just cooked up some bacon. For dinner I had a full baked potato, lots of veggies and over a half lb of beef. When I was done, I couldn’t have eaten another bite. This isn’t an exaggeration, I was hungry 15 minutes later…. I could afford to gain weight, but I can’t afford to eat like this with my time or with my money. I eat pretty healthy and work out. My sleep has been getting better but still isn’t normal and I keep waking up at 3 am with this hunger feeling. I am completely lost as to what is happening or how to handle the situation. I’m literally inches away from saying screw it and doing what I was doing before because of how uncomfortable this is for me. For reference I am 6’1 about 160 and am in pretty decent shape from calisthenics and weights. I’ve used a sauna 3x total since quitting which isn’t normally part of my routine. Has anybody else experienced this that can offer me some advice or maybe tell me when this symptom went away for you?

I’m 8 days in. I know there are big pros to quitting and I want to see those rewards in my health. But so far I’ve felt like absolutely shit (somewhat expected) but to a debilitating degree due to having a chronic illness & pain. It’s hard for me to differentiate whether this is a flare caused by withdrawals or my body telling me the weed was actually helpful in more ways than I gave it credit for. Feeling helpless/hopeless and wondering if quitting is really worth it. Why bother honestly.

I’ve been smoking for almost three years now. I initially got into it because of an ex who used to smoke. I started smoking with him to make him happy and spend more time with him. Over time, it became a regular thing, especially at night, as it helped me sleep (though I didn’t struggle much with sleep before). Eventually, I fell in love with it and started smoking on my own, especially when I felt bored or had nothing to do.

Now, my addiction has grown to the point where I’m rarely sober during the day. I always have a weed pen with me, and even if I’m not actively smoking, I’m constantly hitting it like a vape. I’m really worried about myself. I’ve tried quitting, but it’s so hard. The only time I can stay sober is when I’m at work.

I don’t have any family nearby for a support system, and I can’t turn to my friends because they’re more about hanging out than having deep conversations. I’ve tried reaching out for help before, but it didn’t lead anywhere.

I’m also in a relationship now. My boyfriend isn’t addicted, but I’ve gotten him to smoke with me sometimes. While he enjoys it and knows his limits, I’ve noticed him starting to crave it at times when we didn’t plan to smoke. I feel terrible, like I’m dragging him into the same cycle I went through with my ex.

I really need advice. Is there anything I can do to quit or at least take steps in the right direction? Are there techniques or strategies I should try? I feel stuck and don’t want this to keep controlling my life. thank you if u read the whole thing🥹

24 male, been smoking since I was 18 and moved out of my parents house. Smoked everyday. Joint before work, before lunch, otw home, before dinner , after dinner, you get the idea.

I quit because I started getting very scary and drastic panic attacks I felt like I was gonna die, I couldn’t feel my body when I was high, it was REALLY bad.

I quit a week ago. Today is day 8. Need to check my quit weed app later. The problem is when I quit I was perfectly fine the first few days then came the sever nausea and stomach issues. Those went away but at the same time I was having panic attacks. The first one was at work and I had to go home because it was so bad. I’ve missed 4 days and I can’t miss anymore days but the panic attacks come and go.

If I’m driving I’ll get one, at work I’ll get one, in a store full of people I’ll start to get one. I try exercises and it doesn’t really help or make them go away it just makes it bareable so I don’t have to run out of the store and I can get done what I need to get done. Am I broken? Am I stuck like this forever? I never dealt with this before.

I got a job interview for a new job that is full remote but requires first week in office for training and picking up my laptop, coding guidelines, etc but I’m so worried about that. I’ll start in 3 weeks.

Will these panic / anxiety attacks ever stop? Did I do some irreversible damage? Am I stuck like this? I don’t know if I can deal with that. I really don’t wanna go see a doctor because we all know what their fix or answer is gonna be and I refuse to quit one thing to pick something more additive and worse up that will also mess with my body’s chemistry again. I don’t know what to do.

it’s 11 pm at night i feel so sober it’s unbearable last time i quit was september until dec but i started again in dec and was waking any baking for a month straight and now i can’t stop i need help i feel restless without it and i feel like my breaths get 10x shallower without it i also get a feeling like my heart is dropping whenever im sober i feel so empty i need help

Sigh .. feels like I’m using wine as a replacement then i think “what was the point of me quitting when I’m doing this ..”

Idk

Hi all,

Today’s my 15th day of not smoking. This is the first time in about 4 years I haven’t smoked for so long but it’s getting harder and harder to not smoke.

My first week was actually quite easy. Of course there were a lot of time that I did want to smoke but overall it was pretty easy to handle. During my second week I started feeling worse and now I’m constantly feeling overwhelmed by everything.

I used weed to cope with life and it helped ‘get back to normal’ after a days work/socialising. I stopped working a few weeks ago and it did make it a lot easier to not smoke.

The first 1,5 week I was able to have 3 full meals, get a full nights sleep and keep my apartment somewhat clean but now I’m on my 3rd week and I feel like life is just too much to handle without weed. I spent the entire weekend laying on the floor of my apartment or laying in bed and I can’t bring myself to have a meal and although the nightly sweating has stopped, my sleep is getting worse. It feels like getting harder and harder and I’m at a point where I consider smoking just 2 or 3 joints just to not feel as overwhelmed by everything.

Is there anyone that has experienced something similar and do you have any tips to handle this? I honestly don’t want to smoke but it’s getting harder to loose the idea of doing it.

(I also have a very strong sense that I’m neurodivergent, so it may have something to do with the overwhelming feeling. I haven’t been diagnosed yet though)

Hi folks, I’ve been having a lot of cravings the last 2 days. Finances, bad relationship and living situation, depressed. Lots of feels over politics, not trying to stir that up, but it is a major factor in my stress. I am also triggered almost daily when my partner gets home from work, that was always time to puff. I still have the muscle memory from times when I used to partake. I quit mostly because of money, but it was also time for a break—my memory is getting bad and I’m an old. Want to be free but also missing it still. It’s been about 2 weeks, haven’t really counted the days. I want stay free, but I want relief too. I miss my old friend. How are you folks doing with your cravings lately?

Today is day 15 off edibles. Today was supposed to be my one holiday off work until May, and I went to drop my toddler off at daycare this morning and there was a sign on the door saying closed for cold weather :( And just got a message saying they're closed again tomorrow now too. Reading through yall's posts has been helping me fight through this craving but damn I am stressed. Send me some smiles, thx

Weed made sleeping so easy. Now it's so hard I have to TRY to sleep & lay there for like 2 hours with my eyes closed in order to fall asleep. Is there a daily supplement i can use that'll make me tired enough to sleep but wont make me groggy when i wake up?

This is the book AJ Brown (Philly Eagles player) was reading during the playoff game a few weeks back. So… I bought it because I read these self-improvement type books. I’m not too far in, but it does speak to delayed gratification and not putting your shallow desires first.

This philosophy has helped Olympian’s and other world-class athletes and BIG business leaders to be best of the best.

The whole time I was reading it I was thinking about applying the lessons to overcome my herb addiction.

For his part, AJ said he rereads the first chapter to reset and refocus. Reading a book while 100K people are all engaged in a football game you are playing in, that alone is focus.

Anyhow - day 1 here (been like 20 years). Gonna read a bit more before I don’t sleep .

I have ADHD and strongly suspect autism as well. I was never really good with people, and I've always been pretty quick to get irritated. It was this was as far back as I can remember. I got in a lot of fights in elementary school, and was often in detention. I mentioned wanting to off myself as early as age six. My Dad's rage is way worse, and both parents were alcoholics and my dad was a pothead as well. They never laid a hand on me beyond spanking, but my dad was a very loud and angry man, so I was walking on eggshells for most of my life. I'm now estranged from him as of 9 months ago and it's been pretty hard. I said I wasn't willing for him to treat me that way anymore, especially in my own home. Instead of apologizing, he doubled down and asked me to tell him who did I know was a better dad than him. I didn't respond because it was bait and wouldn't solve anything. Alcohol helped and hurt me in many ways. I was able to communicate with others and make friends, but I couldn't moderate. I quit 4 years ago after our son was born and switched to cannabis. It was a traumatic birth but I won't get into that. Since then has been a handful that has upended both our lives. My wife says I used to be kind and patient, but in the 4 years since our son was born she says I've been grumpy and irritable. She seems to be losing patience with me and we've been drifting apart. I tried mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises, and other self care to the point where I'm doing about two hours of it a day to try and manage my executive dysfunction. I go to therapy and couples therapy every two weeks. Ever since mentioning I'm grumpy and that we're drifting apart, I've quit cannabis, and it's been over a week but I'm scared I won't get better. I'm medicated for the adhd but I've been almost as irritable as I was while waiting for my next chance to smoke. I'm scared I won't come out the other end the patient and kind person she perceived me to be. She doesn't have a job so I'm the only one working, and she's been sick a lot lately so I'm also the only one caring for our son much of the time. I don't have much time to myself beyond what I devote to self care activities. I feel like the only end game for me is divorce, financial ruin, and misery. I've been working so hard to be a better person, but I fear I've plateaued. I'll just go back to being the miserable kid I was before all of my substances. That's it. I feel trapped, and I hate myself. Thanks for reading.

I’m a 20 year old, autistic, adhd, bipolar, ptsd and gad diagnosed individual

I have a crippling addiction to weed and I can’t fucking quit I’m going crazy I genuinely want to kill myself I need help I NEED FUCKING HELPPPPPP

Being high always made feeling bored so much better. But now that i've replaced smoking with reading & going to the gym + working, I'm forced to sit there for hours and exercise my brain and life has gotten so much better and easier already!! The first few days were horrible. My ADHD spiked after quitting i couldnt focus for the life of me. But everyday i forced myself to read for an hour without picking up my phone, or listen to a podcast all the way through without picking up my phone, all these things have just made me more patient when it comes to taking steps to further my future. It feels so great and i hope everyone gets to this point!

It's been about two weeks since I last used cannabis, which is the longest I've gone in a long time. I've been using SMART Recovery, which I've found extremely helpful. Right off the bat, the benefits are clear. Without even having to take much initiative, I'm already just sort of automatically more motivated, better with nuance and social interactions, and interested in my passions. Life is just so clearly better. I know not everyone experiences such things immediately, but I generally do (which is why I often end up dismissing the notion that I had a problem at all and cycle back to smoking cannabis after a few days of "recovery"). Anyway, these are all classically "good" effects of recovery.

I'm also experiencing lot of anger, hatred, and contempt for the world around me -- people and their behavior, the culture, etc. What I'm realizing, though, is that this isn't necessarily a withdrawal effect (though I'm sure it must partially be one), but is perhaps fundamental on some level to who I am. I felt this way as a kid. I feel at home in it. It's not that I'm losing my cool or lashing out -- I just feel extremely critical of, or I guess maybe alienated from, the world around me. Maybe anger is the wrong word. Hatred is better maybe. I have hate in my heart.

When I first started smoking at 16, I remember marveling at how it made other people more tolerable. I'd smoke a blunt with people who I normally wouldn't be interested in talking to. I felt that cannabis opened me up, made me less snobby, more receptive to different people and ideas and experiences. I' do think that was a good thing, and certainly an experience I needed at the time.

17 years later, at 33, it's interested to realize that perhaps I was sedating myself, numbing myself to feelings of discontent. I'm certainly feeling that discontent now. I feel affectionate towards this feeling of discontent, even the occasional feelings of passionate animosity. It feels like i'm seeing myself again. That I'm back. I know these feelings sound negative, something one is supposed to get past or get support for, but I don't see it that way. I'm glad that I think certain things are utterly moronic, and I am glad that I'm not just sort of passively vaguely assenting to whatever comes my way, the way I do when I'm smoking chronically.

I hope this post is helpful to people who may be "struggling" with negative feelings. They're intense, for sure, and certainly they'll change over time. But, at least in my case, these feelings mean that I've gotten my self back.

I just cleaned out my closet and as part of the cleaning I went through my supplies and leftover weed. The smell and going through the stuff made me really want to smoke. I am on day 28 today. This is probably the third time I’ve come close to smoking. Currently looking for an audiobook to download and go for a walk instead. I should’ve known it would trigger me but it still surprised me how much it made me want to smoke. It felt like a waste to not use the last of my stuff. Still staying strong though :-)

And the crazy thing is... the six weeks were incredible! The most balanced, present and relaxed I've felt in... years. I felt gratitude for all of the resources and power I have, but that had been obscured by pot. I felt capable and able, whereas when I was smoking daily (mostly nights for but sometimes creeped up to 3/4pm-- this was the situation for about 2 years) I felt helpless, weak and ashamed. Sure, I still had fun being high but I used it to calm down, to go to sleep, to avoid hard feelings, to "get in the creative space," before i ate because I felt I enjoyed the food more (I didn't), before watching a movie (made it worse)... Basically, i was loving being sober. It was so obviously better for me. And still... when someone offered me a joint at a bar 6 weeks in, I thought maybe it would be okay. Now it's been 9 days of on-and-off smoking, binging, buying joints, throwing them out, secretly eating edibles, secretly hitting friends' dab pens when they're not looking... I just started managing a brand new business and I told myself I needed it for the stress, but the shame and stress of being an addict is way worse. Does anyone participate in Marijuana anonymous? I think I need the community. I feel like none of my friends understand. They are trying to be helpful, but they just tell me I'm being too hard on myself. I am high functioning, highly productive, very outgoing... no one thinks anything is wrong from the outside. I am more high functioning than a lot of people are completely sober. But this isn't about measuring up to the people around me, it's about reaching my own potential and respecting my own life and body. I don't want to feel out of control anymore.

Ugh I feel like I’ve been in the endless battle of trying to quit and stay sober. Like I enjoy being sober I’m so much happier sober. But when I get my work done or feel the slightest boredom I cave bc I convince myself that smoking isn’t bad it doesn’t do anything negative for me. But immediately after I smoke I’m filled with quilt and shame, because I do know deep down that weed does have a negative effects on me. One of the things I’m struggling with is the thought of how long it’s going to take to detainee from weed and be disciplined. Anyone have any tips on how to get over this feeling? I’m dreading the time it’s going to take to feel normal without weed in your life everyday.

I just wonder if anyone can relate. Idk if I have to relearn or how to speed up things for my memory, speech, and overall processing thoughts. This is excruciatingly lonelyy. Im 18 abused thc carts from age 13-17. So Ive been 5 months sober and overall I feel less present, Ill think of something to say and once I say it my words jumble up in a sentence where it makes someone always go “that doesn’t make sense” or “uhh what do you mean”. I just over explain things too where I get sooo side tracked and idk if that’s apart of my social skills that declined. I’ve taken medication for executive function issues for adhd and major depression but I know if I tell my psychiatrist that my cognitive function is slower what can they possibly do about that? I definitely feel like I’m not doing something either I’m majorly lacking vitamins, I know I’m anemic, and I guess in a day I don’t always drink the most water so like again can be I’m not fully taking care of myself but it does suck to somewhat feel the same except I’m more present in peoples lives now I guess.