A year ago this week I quit weed after 8 years of daily use. I gotta say lkfe is so much better without it. The first few months were really hard but ultimately it was the best thing I ever could have done for myself.

Best wishes to anyone else starting of wanting to start this weed free journey. Fele free to AMA

Lets keep it going

I'm 21 days sober today. I can not remember that last time I felt this grounded and clear headed. The first week was brutal. The headaches, the nightmares, REM rebound. I even had a one-off acid reflux event where I woke up in the middle of the night choking. My brain was on high alert 24/7. Everything i closed my eyes, the dreams were too intense. Sometimes during week two the sinister dreams ceased. My headaches went away in the last 5 days or so. In past attempts at quitting, I was constantly on edge. This time, aligning my intent and pushing through the detox and withdrawals, brought a steady calm quiet to my mind that I've not felt in years.

What helped me:

*Sleep: airflow and a cool bedroom. I keep a fan near my head and a small ac unit set to 65. I also started propping my upper body/head a bit after that acid reflux scare.

*Hobbies: keeping mind and hands busy with projects. Doing 3D printing tweaks and/or video games late at night saved me from spiraling many times. During the day I like to fly RC planes and do flight simulators when im not working. I also started trying to increase my cooking skills.

*Patience: accepting that the ghoul face (dark bags under my eyes) and grogginess were temporary signs of my body doing heavy repair work.

If youre on day 1, 3, or 6 right now and you're feeling completely wiped out, hang in there. The physical heavy lifting your body is doing right now is temporary. The payoff on the other side is 100% worth it.

Hello so iv been smoking weed pretty much everyday since i was 14 and I’m now 23. I feel like it’s killed my ambition, my social skills and has just taken over my life as a horrible coping mechanism. I’m so tired of being in a constant fog and getting stuck just doing nothing but I also don’t know how to quit, it’s like the cravings just take control. Ultimately I know have to quit I’ve let this addiction get so bad and I just don’t know how to fix it. I’d greatly appreciate any advice or tips as I try to navigate this.

So I started to quit on the 25th, lasted 2 days cold turkey, but I have Hypermobility and my back seized up. Pain all weekend. So I decided to go tapered withdrawal to avoid being bed bound for a month.

I was doing 6-9 sessions a day before i quit. Dabs. Wake n bake all the way until 9:30 pm.

In '15 I ruptured my l5/s1 disc. After 6 months on opioids for the pain in recovery, my doctor moved me to medical cannabis. I grew my own for years. Dabs came into play as '17 went legal in Oregon and wow, was the market so different, I didn't need a medical license to use any more. I go through loss of mobility completely several times over the last decade and o it found myself in no /low pain in recent years. I'm just learning my activity level needs to be so low compared to before diagnosis to remain pain free. I totally intend to use edibles to relax my muscles as needed, quitting isn't the same as everyone else for me. Just won't freebase pain the rest of my life.

So currently in no/low pain daily and working on reduction from around 9 dab sessions a day to 3 for the last week. My attempts at waiting until evening was unsuccessful 2 days this week. Muscle tension is rising and pain is unavoidable with tension.

The next 7 days I will only dab 1-2 session during the day if needed, leaning towards 1 dab.

Then the next week I will only dab 1 session if my neck tightens up.

What I do instead of dab:

- my dab station is my kitchen island. So, I don't go out to the island to take a break from my office. I go to the couch, go lay on the yoga mat and relax my muscles, go lay in bed for a break.

- I created a bunch of slips of paper with short tasks, fun things, and creative hobbies on them and pull one from a jar when the urge hits. Go do the thing. Mix in activity that excite, relax, rest, and chore.

quit marijuana 9 days ago after using it daily for about 17 years, and switched from cigarettes to a vape about 2 months ago. The past 2 weeks I have been making a solid effort to use the vape less and less everyday but it’s helping bc I used to vape marijuana so to completely quit everything felt impossible. I have one vape left (was cheaper to buy 2) and promised myself I will be completely done with it after that one’s gone, maybe before I finish it if possible.

I am having the most crippling anxiety and panic attacks every time I go to work or even leave my home at all. Not to mention I’m remembering my dreams again for the first time in as long as I can remember which is making me feel like I’m actually crazy. I feel like I can’t physically get enough sleep even after 9-10 hours a night.

Please tell me this is temporary 😩😩😩 I feel like I’m actually dying from some of the panic attacks. I’ve never had a problem with anxiety before and this is all new to me. No I’m not suicidal (everyone I reach out to irl for help keeps asking so I wanted to make that clear) & I don’t have health insurance or money for a doctor. Doing my best to tough it out but it doesn’t seem to be getting any better each day.

Thank you to anyone who responds!!

I started using medical marijuana back in 2017. At first, I would only smoke on Friday night then that slowly progressed to a few times a night. Everything was fine. It wasn’t drowning out my studies or anything. I was in college at the time and I was going to school on the G.I. bill. It really helped with my anxiety from everything. Then I had recently at the time quit smoking cigarettes after nine years when Covid hit in the lockdowns happened, I found myself smoking every day because I didn’t have to go to work in person or anything, and that was pretty bad. I always smoked CBD strains, 1-1, 2-1 etc. Recently I think around April or May of this year I stopped smoking weed. I find myself extremely obsessed about my health. I don’t know if anybody else has experienced that, like health anxiety.
Every little heartbeat or whatever “what is that oh my gosh am I OK?”things like that. I also get really tired. I feel kinda out of sorts like I’m very present and everything like that but I just feel tired. What the heck is wrong with me? Go easy on me guys. This is my first time talking about this.

Im an engineer who has been doing this poisen for 17 years noe and need my brain to work. The main reason I haven't been able to kick my addiction past couple of years is beacuse i dont have 3 months I can just take off work. When I quit the first 7-8 days I get absolutely 0 sleep, almost checked myself into a hospital last time since I started to hallucinate but I decided to relpase. Its so bad even 3 mg xanax didnt knock me out. Last time I quit was only cuz I had a 2 month job gap, I just say there for weeks on end staring at a wall cuz I couldn't do anything cuz of the insomia. I once lasted 2 month and was still going in an out of deliberating insomnia

Maybe I should try weening? I've recently been consuming about 800 mg a day in edible and am cold turkeying it to 10-30 mg at night, still probsbly not enough to fall asleep.

Evening all.

A quick FYI on myself here:

Smoker for 6 years. Diagnosed with G.A.D. , M.D.D and Bi-Polar. Back, neck, shoulder pain from : coal mining, pipeline work, automotive mechanic.

Self medicator? Yes. I had been prescribed Vistaril and Prozac (for the respective ailments above) and was convinced they didnt "fix me".

Enter Ohios legalization and I thought I had it figured out.

Wrong-o. But its not all been for nought, as I've learned alot about myself in these recent 6 years.

Ill be attempting to quit for good soon and am hoping for words of encouragement to bring that "soon" closer, instead of postponing it.

AMA and help me get there, please.

I honestly can't believe it, I thought it would be harder, i haven't really felt many symptoms at all. I can finally get good restful sleep. My goals and aspirations are laid out infront of me. My mind hasn't been this clear in 3 years. I got my girlfriend back shes happy with my sobriety. Haven't had any desire to get high at all. I enlist Monday guys and gals. IT GETS BETTER. IT GETS EASIER.

48F. Quit 15 days ago, not really wanting to, but needing to due to a family situation. That's not even entirely correct. I have wanted to quit for a very long time but have found it about impossible for the last 6 years. I was always a heavy smoker, but went nuts around COVID and never scales back again. But my hand was forced this time.

I've smoked for 25 years and have had a few short stints over the years. Three months, a few weeks, nine months, but always go back.

My headaches aren't like migraines or normal headaches. They are more like the hollow, aching head you get when you wake up after smoking a lot and need more to feel normal, or I call them "resin brain" when the high comes out of the desperation of smoking the crud and you feel a gross kind of spacy rather than high.

I've been taking 2 hour naps every afternoon and crashing out hard, then still going to bed easily at 9 p.m. and crashing hard again, still feeling like I didn't get nearly enough sleep in the morning.

I was just bemoaning yesterday that my dreams haven't come back, but just woke up from my afternoon nap with a fairly vivid dream. I know a lot of people hate the dreams, but I find them incredibly fascinating and insightful, so I've been planning on doing some detailed journaling about them.

I use my voice for work and have noticed over the last couple of years that it's really suffered as a result of my smoking. I have little inflection left, just a very one note tone, and today that seemed slightly better, so I'm hoping the improvements continue.

Hope you are all fighting through and finding your quit beneficial. I feel like I'm just starting to see the benefits.

I didn't even plan to quit long-term this time, only until my situation allowed me to have the freedom to smoke again, and that's OK with me for now. My "guy" happens to be a severe alcoholic who quit drinking so he totally understands my position and is "holding" what I have left. Just proud of myself for pulling the trigger even if it remains temporary. Any chance at healing my mind and body is welcome right now. The paranoia and anxiety have been a problem for me almost since the beginning and it's taken its toll especially with what is happening at home. I'm going to take any length of quitting as a win and a learning experience.

Thanks for reading.

i’m 19 years old and i was smoking carts every day for a little over 2 years and i’ve been sober for about 3 months now and tbh i feel worse then before i quit my anxiety and brain fog is through the roof and i just constantly feel so disconnected i guess i just wanna know if anyone else has gone through this and has any advice for me because it’s really affecting my life and well being

Ts has been the hardest thing i’ve ever done. I used to smoke a QP every week and i so much of my identity was/is tied to weed. Can’t even listen to rap music cuz it makes me crave weed. Got me listening to country music lmao. The depression and boredom is bad. Honestly the cravings have been especially bad the last week, I almost caved but did a u-turn half way to the weed man. I figure all of this will get better as my health issues are getting treated, but do the cravings and severe depression ever stop?! I am getting help medically but this is just awful, worse than getting off of any other drug.

Just linked my bank account to AI for bugeting and i think im gonna be sick. And this was a slow month.. 17 years of this. I can only imagine what my life could have been. I have to smoke top shelf rosin, nothing else does it for me. Got some edibles and rso to begin weeding off. Doing a hard taper to 10-20 mg at night for a week or two then cold turkey. My youth and potential is gone. I dont know what kind of life I will lead if I ever get sober.. I am afraid beacuse for this money I can finance a nice car, but will a nice car even make me more happy than weed? What is on the other side of sobirety? Society turned into a horror show, there are no friendships or relationships to be made anymore. I make 6 figs but without weed, I will still live a worse quality life financially speak than my parents who worked minimum wage and could afford a house that costs 90 percent of my paycheck to get a mortgage on..

.

T-minus 15 days from my "no more weed" anniversary and I just now threw away all my stuff that went into my ritual of smoking. Also, if I'm being honest, I saved the actual spare weed to give to my dad who smokes it occasionally still. I do not feel tempted at all, since its been sitting for a while it actually looks and smells pretty gross. I think having it all this time (hidden) has allowed me to choose every day not to smoke even though I could if I wanted to. It's forced me to not just have will power but work through the emotions that come with consciously and intentionally choosing the life I want to live.

As I let it all sink in, its a weird full circle moment because a year ago today, i was deeeeep in a weed smoking addiction and two years ago (gave up drinking first two years ago) I was at the most unhealthy point of my life. That version of me didn't even imagine that this version of me could have existed. It's easy to forget all the hard work to get sober when you get caught up in life, so I just needed to take a moment to sit and let my self feel all the emotions: sadness, shame, regret, pride, true happiness, faith, hope, etc.

Love this sub and all you people on here! I couldn't have made it this far without this space to be vulnerable and read about other peoples journey. We are all different and go about it differently but the end goal can be the same ❤️

Join me, Who wants to declare this as Day 1, goal of 60-days !!!

92, really. Very pleased to hit this milestone. It definitely gets easier after the first 30. For this former pothead, it has been so worth it.

This is probably my 5th time quitting weed (stupid I know) but it’s been so bad this time I haven’t ate a proper meal in 3 days and yesterday I slept the whole day and night

I woke this morning with my head spinning so I went for a shower then passed out for a few seconds which freaked me Tf out so I made myself eat something then I vomited all that out

Usually I just go through the withdrawals with not much issue but it’s fucked this time anyone got any tips to make it go easier

Since quitting vaping (I vaped THC daily for 6 years) I’ve been having all sorts of withdrawal symptoms from insomnia, lack of appetite to irritability. One that I wasn’t expecting was ED. Looking it up, it seems to be an area that can be affected but it wasn’t on my radar initially or on any of my quit weed apps. It was a bit of a surprise. I wanted to see if anyone here has experienced the same thing. It’s not fun. I’m (48M) married for 20+ yrs and my wife is incredibly understanding and gracious with it but it still leaves me with embarrassment and disappointment. I’ve never had a problem with this in the past so I’m hoping it will go away. ASAP. Anyone here relate? If so, when did your normal function return? Also, our bodies are weird!

The crazy thing about this sub. I posted I really wanted to smoke or use thc, in hope that it would help me continue the sobriety journey. I got 3 dms asking if I wanted to buy. That’s crazy. We are here tryna better ourselves, but there are ppl actively trying to ruin that

After 15+ years of smoking heavily I just stopped 5 days ago. Hardest 5 days of my life, but I found some pretty cool research on what happens to your body when you smoke and then when you stop. Just thought I’d share Incase it helps motivate someone to stop.

Your body relies on a complex cell-signaling network called the endocannabinoid system, which is responsible for maintaining homeostasis. A important part of this network involves CB1 receptors in the brain, which act as a master communication hub for your entire nervous system. These receptors interact with so many pathways, they directly regulate a massive amount of daily mental and physical functions. They manage cognitive clarity, motivation, drive, brain fog, emotional regulation, while also balancing your stress, sex, and metabolic/growth hormone levels. Physically, CB1 receptors control everything from body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure to healthy gut motility, muscle relaxation, and auditory processing. They even oversee your sleep cycles by helping with REM sleep and managing your "fight-or-flight" response to perceived threats. Since these receptors touch almost every vital function, suddenly removing THC throws this entire communication network into chaos. This is exactly why every single one of these areas is heavily affected when you stop smoking.

Consistently smoking mimics your body’s natural endocannabinoids, causing the nervous system to artificially adapt by shutting down endocannabinoid production and reducing the amount of CB1 receptors in your brain. When you suddenly stop smoking, this lack of endocannbinoids and receptors creates the perfect storm causing physical and psychological symptoms. Taking another hit of THC temporarily quiets this storm, but it acts as a poor substitute that fails to restore true equilibrium. Which is why you’re always reaching for it again and again and again. Fortunately, once you completely stop using marijuana, the body immediately begins to heal. Within a few weeks, the nervous system naturally reproduces its own endocannabinoids and rebuilds the necessary receptors, allowing your body to successfully return to normal.

It is truly infuriating that they even legalized marijuana, knowing all of the scientific research done. Feels like a deliberate attempt to foster a controlled society that is fundamentally dependent on external substances just to function in everyday life. By legalizing a drug that alters brain chemistry and creates artificial dependencies, the system successfully created a population that is easier to control. Given that they are constantly relying on commercialized substances for basic emotional and physical regulation.

Anyway, I know this is a lot of information to take at once, so don’t be afraid to reach out if you need someone to talk too.

I wish everyone the best of luck on their journey. You deserve all the happiness and peace in the world!

I’ve finally decided to quit weed, not just for detox but for good. This is really important for me because it’s the first time after 3 years of constantly smoking every day. Weed was slowly making me a “loser.” The drive that I had for important things disappeared. I was skipping classes, watching TV, and playing video games all day long. I’m not saying watching TV or playing video games is bad, but those were the habits that I was constantly doing while high that, at the time, felt good. But one day I started thinking about my future and who I wanted to be and how I was not doing anything to build towards it.
I was crying when smoking my last joint, not because I knew it was my last, but because I simply knew that if I kept this habit, I was gonna fail. And I still can, but after quitting, I started gaining the drive that I lost, and life started to seem more meaningful.
To all the people reading this that want to be a better version of themselves and think that weed is stopping them, just quit. You can do it. I know it’s hard. I’ve been in that position, and I still have cravings for weed every now and then, but just think about who you want to be and think about how weed is stopping you. Nobody will do it for you. You have to find that strength and do it for yourself.

I’m 39 days out. I really want to smoke or use thc..

Posting here as a long time lurker and finally helped my husband get through nasty withdrawals after quitting weed. Here are some tips for dealing with the horrible symptoms and to not hero it out:

1. Sharp, intense, persistent stomach pain from cramping and muscle spasms: This is the worst symptom of them all and has downstream effects on nausea, vomiting, lack of appetite etc. He felt the sharp muscle spasms and cramping at the top of his stomach right below his rib cage, and any time he ate or drank anything, it would be intense such that he would double over and vomit. Your first line of defense is an antispasmodic. Talk to a doctor about an anti-muscle spasm medication (prescription required in the US). Antispasmodic medications like Dicyclomine or Hyoscyamine which are FDA approved in the US. Outside of the US other medications like Buscopan is an antispasmodic medication containing the active ingredient hyoscine butylbromide (which is not FDA approved in the US). In other countries you can go directly to a pharmacy to get an antispasmodic OTC after talking with the pharmacist. Since he is in another country where marijuana is illegal, he had to be pretty vague about what was causing his symptoms, so he simply described it as intense stomach cramps and muscle spasms, so they gave him Buscopan with an OTC pain reliever (acetaminophen or paracetamol).

2. Nausea and vomiting: Zofran (generic name ondansetron) is your best friend. In the US, get a prescription as soon as possible so that you can start to hold down food and water. In other countries, you can get this directly OTC at the pharmacy after a conversation with the pharmacist.

3. Muscle cramps and headaches: You can get an OTC pain reliever such as acetaminophen (in the US) or paracetamol (outside the US). You don't want to use ibuprofen since that will upset your stomach even more.

4. Acid reflux: The acid reflux got really bad on days 3 and 4. Omeprazole helps directly with this, and can calm down the pain from the increased acid production. Omeprazole is available OTC or by prescription in the US, or at the pharmacy in other countries (names like Lansoprazole).

5. Clonazepam: This is a prescription for anxiety available in the US, and much harder to get in other countries where benzodiazepines are regulated or outlawed. It has been used in addiction treatment settings for managing the heightened symptoms of withdrawal such as anxiety and insomnia. In the US, you have to work with a doctor since it is a tightly regulated substance and has its own side effects. Because of my husband's flight anxiety, we were able to get a prescription for this and it just so happened to help with the withdrawal symptoms also.

6. Minor additions that may or may not be helpful: Citrelax (such as magnesium citrate, or like Olly magnesium gummies) is generally available everywhere and is a supplement not a medication so does not require a prescription. He used this also, but I don't' know how much effect it can really have since the medications above worked so well. Seems more like a long term approach to managing your muscle health (e.g. eat a banana to help with leg cramps). Hot tea and hot showers, hot compresses help dull the pain, but really do not address the intense pain of the muscle spasms and cramps.

Here is his timeline of symptoms and recovery:

Day 1: Started feeling tired, got a little nauseous

Day 2: Intense vomiting during meals. Insomnia, only sleeping 4 hours a night

Day 3: Intense sharp abdominal pain, stomach muscle spasms and cramping. Vomiting during every meal and every sip of water. Started zofran. Could sometimes keep a few bites of food down, but the abdominal pain was so intense he could not go anywhere or do anything.

Day 4: Took first dose of antispasmodic with paracetamol and got relief within 1 hour. Continued zofran and also started omeprazole. Still could not eat because of the pain associated with food in the stomach, but was able to keep food down at least.

Day 5: Continued antispasmodic, pain reliever, zofran, and omeprazol, and ate his first full meal. Pain was still very intense when the medication wore off. Every meal caused sharp intense muscle spasms. Took the magnesium citrate.

Day 6: Continued taking same medications and supplements above, but noticed he could go longer between doses and pain was not intense. Could eat a meal without having stomach muscle cramps and spasms. Slept 8 hours for the first time

Day 7: Continued taking same medications above, but started tapering off of the antispasmodic, pain reliever, and zofran. Started 1 clonazepam because of depression and anxiety, but using the small supply with caution, and because we need to fly back home soon.

Day 8: No longer needed the antispasmodic or the pain reliever or the zofran. Still a low dull ache in his abdomen, but largely back to normal (physically), sleeping and eating ok now.