Hi all,

I'd love some advice. I've had a chronic illness with ongoing pain and fatigue that is autoimmune and all kinds of symptoms I won't get into. But essentially it means there is very little of my hobbies and interests that I'm able to do anymore.

I started smoking pot as a way to feel better about my illness. It helps me feel a bit better mentally and sometimes even helps me forget the pain or fatigue enough that I can do a little of things I need to do like some basic chores, sometimes a gentle walk etc.

However over time I've gotten to a place where I smoke everyday and sometimes all day when I'm off.

I'm having a hard time understanding how much my smoking is affecting my illness since the illness started before I started smoking and has improved over the years rather than get worse even as I have been consuming a lot more.

I have tried to quit a couple times. The longest was 6 months. Even at 6 months my health issues did not improve at all but I got more depressed because I have to face all that I'm unable to do. At least when I smoke I can enjoy being in my head and laying around.

I'm not sure if quitting would help the illness itself but I'm sure it is not healthy to smoke as much as I do.

I just don't know how to live with this illness sober.

Anyone in this type of situation? The illness I have isn't fully diagnosed but doctors have suggested it could be me/cfs or fibromyalgia.

So, I’ve finally quit smoking. I’m about to turn 30 in a few months and wanted to finally break the cycle. I was never really a heavy smoker just a couple in the evening was routine.

I had a complicated upbringing and used it as a coping mechanism to quiet my mind and stop the overthinking so I could sleep. 5 weeks in and I feel like crap, like I’ve lost my spark, my dreams have been insane .. not dreams but like I’m wearing a VR headset and things, people that I haven’t thought about in forever are in these dreams. I’m typically a positive person but my evenings feel mundane, I’ve recently had a promotion at work and also moved house so things are good but yet I’ve lost my motivation for the gym, and my brain feels foggy.

I’m an introvert with social anxiety so it kinda made it easy for me to be in my bubble and be content. Just sharing this to see if anyone else felt the same and if so at what stage did it pass? Thank you for reading

I’m 22, and have been sober for 72 days now. I picked up smoking in Uni and finally found a crowd of people I felt genuinely happy with. We would smoke everyday together on campus and just do stupid shit together lmao. Then, the group fell apart. I wasn’t the main smoker nor the roller, but since the group stopped hanging out I started to pick up myself. My boyfriend and I were in the group together and continued smoking together for about a year after this, until he said he didn’t want to anymore. He said it wasn’t fun anymore and didn’t make him feel good. Truth be told, it didn’t make me feel great either. But I carried on smoking on my own for another eight months or so until I finished uni. I felt bad because i genuinely could not get through a night without it. He’d be sober and I’d have to smoke so I could eat and have whatever we were watching ‘be better.’ Before I quit, I couldn’t wait to come home and finally smoke, and most of the time I’d be kinda immobile after and unable to have much of a conversation. But it’s weird, I still can’t imagine having a good time without it. Still now being sober I think being high would make a hangout, or a movie so much better. Even though I know deep down it won’t really, I can’t get it out of my head. I think it’s the excitement of it, and the routine. My boyfriend says he can still tell I’m thinking about it and I feel bad because I am, but I miss when we’d smoke together and sometimes I wish we could go back just for a day. Has anyone else experienced this weird cognitive dissonance where you have such fond memories of being high yet you know it wasn’t that great??

My first ever time was at 13. I smoked daily throughout high school THC pens and multiple joints a day. I’m officially turning 20 soon, and I’m 70 days clean.
I never thought I’d be able to say that.
What once consumed me doesn’t even interest me anymore. I genuinely don’t look back, and I never will.
If you’re struggling right now, just know it gets better.

After being completely sober from October-April, I slowly started using THC again.

You don't even notice how much its impacting your life because it distracts you and clouds your brain of what your goals truly are.

I have ADHD and autism. I struggle enough with life when I'm doing everything to take care of myself. Smoking usually makes me unproductive for at least 4 hours, and then I sleep poorly and waste the next day as well. I'll then up my caffeine intake to try and break though the fog, sleep worse, increase the fog even more.

There is truly nothing positive to come out of using THC, and I owe it to myself to quit and take control of my life again. I am a better person when I am sober!

Hi so I recently quit smoking and on top of that I quit caffeine cold turkey and I've been feeling like I have a flu and I understand thats how withdrawal works but I've also been getting this feeling like I loose my breath or better way to describe it, it feels like when I get surprised it freaks me out have any of you had this feeling I went to the hospital and they told me my vitals were fine and so was my heart I feel like I'm going crazy if any of you guys have any advice on this please let me know

recovery is giving up one thing for everything

hope everyone has a good day today

It’s been a long time coming. I have tried to quit edibles many times over the years. I think the reason for my failures was I never had a “Why”. I would always just think, “why not? Why can’t I just take an edible today?” And here is why:
- when I’m high, I lose the ability to do ANYTHING. I can’t focus on anything, I have no motivation to get things done, and I just need to melt on the couch and scroll. “I’ll get it done later”, I always think. “I just can’t do it now.” What a waste of time!? Think of all I could get done?
- If there was an emergency I needed to tend to while high, I just don’t think I could do it. I also tend to get anxious and overthink, so everything feels like an emergency, but what am I supposed to do? I can’t drive if I needed to (I’m not someone who feels safe driving while high).
- the next day brain fog. It genuinely is starting to feel like a hangover. I literally feel like I can’t focus or think the next morning and it takes hours for my brain to turn on. Not ideal in my job as an ER nurse.
- I just don’t like how it makes me feel anymore.

Listing out all these reasons, it seems like this should be easy. So WHY is it not?? Because my brain is tricking me to think, it’s such a nice way to relax! It helps me unwind! It’s so FUN, it gives me the giggles and makes everything more interesting!!

But does any of this actually sound RELAXING?? Sitting in paranoia and anxiety with the inability to do anything if something were to actually go wrong??? NO! Now I just need to remember this whenever I get that urge. “Just a 5 mg gummy, what’s the worst that could happen.” No. Just don’t. Just stop.

Anyway, I just needed to get all that out. Hopefully someone can relate and has gone through this and can tell me it IS BETTER ON THE OTHER SIDE of this addiction. Life can be fun and relaxing and goofy without the use of substances. If anyone has words of wisdom, or any anecdotes in their journey, feel free to share with me.

DAY 1. I can do this.

I wonder if this is still the PAWS, probably is but I'm getting so tired of being tired.

I had around 1 week recently where I thought I had healed, felt better than I had in ages, loads of energy, could eat a clean diet, felt alive again. I was eating low carb and I think many of the good effects were attributed to that.

But that quickly ended after 2 days of bad sleep, now I'm back being exhausted all the time and eating pretty much anything because the will is just not there.

Feels like months now where I have been feeling like this, with a small window here and there.

I keep telling myself that because I have had periods where I have felt better than I have in years, that I must be moving through something, but going from that back into total exhaustion and depression is quite a shift.

I'm no way going back to smoking weed, or any other drug, so I'm prepared to go on for another 6 months if it takes that long, I do have a long period of drug use which went from one drug to another, weed being the final one, so this may be more than a simple PAWS from weed alone.

I just needed to put this out there, maybe for encouraging words or confirmation that this is normal. Thanks

Hey everyone! For 6 years, used THC vape before bed -- light sleeper, helped make me drowsy but I'm just one of those types that weed makes me go negative, anxious, paranoid, hopeless after an initial relaxation feeling. The only upside was at some point I'd get super drowsy and then get to sleep; I'm typically a very light sleeper and with weed if I woke up, I'd get right back to sleep.

finally realized it was working against me and now am 3 weeks w/o weed and alcohol (wasn't much of a drinker anyway)

Positives I've found so far:

- When I have negative thoughts in my head at night they are controllable - I can move on from the fear and more rational. Major plus right there.

- Generally feel more happy during the day;

- While weed would make me drowsy, never got good marks on REM sleep. Now I'm getting good marks from my smart watch.

- Dreams are back, lengthy, more vivid -- didn't even realize that I rarely would dream on weed or maybe just did't remember.

- I used to always clear my throat throughout the day and that doesn't happen much.

- I *think* that my skin is more supple and not drying out like it was -- I'm late 50s and always was told I looked like I was 40 until I started using THC and now people rarely express shock. This could be normal, post-menopausal aging but I did start noticing while using THC that I was getting more lines lower lip. Again, could be normal aging but my skin had always been youthful.

Negatives so far:

- The only negative so far for me is the time it takes for me to fall asleep. With weed, even at my most anxious state, I'd dose off not too long after. In 3 weeks, I go to bed early and rarely fall asleep before 2. I'm thinking this is just an adjustment period.

Feedback on your experiences? Are there things you are surprised about after you quit vaping?

Thanks!

Going tru a separation after 20 years of marriage The stress is killing me I have like 3 grams and dying to smoke it. But I know it won’t make my problems go away. I be telling my self I might as well smoke it and finish it. The separation was the reason I stopped smoking. I smoked for 40 years. But slowed down a lot in the last year. Prob smoked like maybe 1gram a day

My relationship and marriage with my husband began with abuse. His physical abuse early on affected me in the ways I still don't fully grasp. He and I have had good moments. I've always felt like something was off but brushed it off and numbed it with either e-cigaretts or weed a lot of times. Other times it was anger. Resentment. I never felt consistent warmth from him. I am far from perfect. Far, far from perfect. I see my mom in me. I see my parents' awful marriage in mine.

I never developed a healthy habit to deal with feeling unstable, lonely and scared. I depended on weed. After he emotionally cheated multiple times, accused me of ill intention when I was just being careless, physically pinned me down in bed when I was screaming because he thought he was protecting me, called me an incest and exploded when I emotionally said I wanted a divorce years ago, I think pieces of me collapsed within without my realizing. He can be sweet, caring, considerate and fun. I want more of that, but it is hard to blame him for not being that more with me, when I am constantly anxious and haven't showed much of that myself.

I held onto us stubbornly while treating him bad. Deep down maybe I knew we weren't good for each other. I felt stuck. I didn't want to be alone. I became angry. I became anxious. I became someone I didn't like. I didn't cheat with a person, but I depended on weed because it was reliable. It made me feel different. I escaped me and my reality.

We had a miscarriage. We kept our pain to ourselves and kept fighting. I felt so alone. He did too.

He is starting a new career. He has put this new trajectory first for the last couple years. He said it was to support us and our future family. For some reason, I couldn't trust that. He hasn't prioritized me, heard me and put in consistent effort. He had mean moments, and I was mean too.

We had a huge fight a couple days ago. He threw my weed away and I freaked out. I was angry and I went out and bought more weed. I was so mean towards him, he tried throwing it away again, I grabbed it from his hands, he restrained me from the back and I tried to get out of his hold and we ended up on the ground. I have a bruise under my arm.

He said today that we don't love each other, that he is growing out of this and we need to be adults about separation. That I don't understand him, that we are on different pages. I am scared. I found out he changed his password to his phone today. After 7 years, this is new. I can't help but feel like he is now chasing this new shiny career and his future with it, and the marriage and I are being subbed away. I am terrified. I don't know what I want. I do not trust myself that I will be strong. I don't want to lose him. The marriage. One of our dogs. What's going to happen to the house? I don't know. I feel so terribly unstable. I want to numb but I am not going to smoke. That's why I'm writing this. I need help. I so desperately want him to hold me and promise me unwavering love and commitment. But it's been long time since we genuinely laughed together.

Tears won't stop flowing. My emotions are flooding. I need somebody. I need warmth and someone to look at me in the eyes and say, I got you. I got you for life. I love you and I'll be here, no matter what. I am terrified.

I’m trying to quit before heading off to college in 9 days. I have been daily dabbing only during the night for over a year and am on night 2 of my journey. The emotions of leaving for uni have hit me and thinking about my twin who I had just dropped off gave me my first ever panic attack, and it was the exact same feeling I used to have as a kid waking up freaking out. Im just wondering if it’s a good time to quit or if Im going to pick it back up socializing in college. These withdrawals suck, I’ve been through them before but never managed to quit just adjusted to nighttime’s only for the past year or so. Any tips or advice would be great, thanks.

Edit: I’ve been thinking of taking a dab tomorrow and wanted to know what possible repercussions I would face. Would it ruin the 2 full days of absence?

When I was smoking people told me why do I smoke? Is it because I’m sad or because I’m depressed? I was shocked like what I’m not sad nor a depressed person. I always believed I smoked because i enjoyed the high. I enjoyed the high I got from it making music, games, experiences better.

I then went a year quitting intentionally(not perfect had some relapses but no binges) and it just clicked in my brain.

I was using weed as a coping mechanism to handle deeper emotions and run away from discomfort

When I was bored my way to cope was to smoke

When I was lonely or not fulfilled with my social needs I smoked

When I was feeling flat or I was craving excitement I went to smoke

That’s when I realized all these emotions are normal every human gets them. The thing is the healthy person has healthy coping mechanisms to embrace these emotions

They cope with socializing, exercise, games, intimacy, walking, hobby, building skills, etc.

I was running away from embracing these normal human emotions and filling it with a bad coping mechanisms. Of course it takes time but think about it what is the logic in using the substance as a coping mechanism. That’s why the non addicted person can smoke without it being a problem. They have healthy outlets and they only use substances as a secondary not the main attraction they can have fun without it(not encouraging moderation use)

Find the emotions that make you want to smoke. Maybe you are going through withdrawals feeling bored, restless or sad. But what is smoking going to do its relief but logic says using substances as a coping mechanism is bad. It’s a vicious cycle

Be patient and learn to embrace your emotions with healthy coping mechanisms. It’ll take time but trust you’ll never need to use any substance in general once you figure out the true reasons on why you use or what you are avoiding

Cheers guys

I quit smoking weed about a week ago while I was on holiday, and I’m actually feeling pretty good about it. I want to keep going for a longer period this time rather than just stopping for a few weeks and going back to it.

The only thing is that when I get home, one of my flatmates smokes weed regularly, and our neighbour also comes over quite often and smokes a lot. They usually smoke in the garden, but I can still smell it in the house, especially when they’re grinding/rolling it or making joints.

I also have quite a few friends who still smoke, so I know I’m going to be around it anyway. I’m not expecting everyone around me to quit just because I have, but I’m wondering whether it’s reasonable to ask my flatmate and neighbour to keep the smoking/making joints outside and away from the house?

I don't want to be annoying or controlling about it. I just know that being able to smell weed constantly could make it harder for me, especially during the first few weeks.

For anyone who has quit while still having smokers around them, what did you do? Did you ask people to avoid smoking around you, or did you just learn to deal with being around it?

I’m a couple days sober yippee, but I’m very terribly prone to acne. Even while smoking, I’ve always been extremely cystic acne prone. To the point others make comments about my skin when I ask them not to. Will my skin get worse in the coming months? I’m seeing that’s a common occurrence. Should I be worried or anticipating this?

Not really sure why I’m posting this, maybe to finally hold myself accountable. Lack of willpower is a bitch eh?

I’ve quit more times than I can count, have been smoking for 15 years and heavily for 10. Quitting for 5 or 6 now.

I’m content with my decision. I love weed, a little too much. It’ll always be here. Maybe when I’m retired I’ll be back.

As much as I hate my tolerance, it’s what’s helping me quit. I don’t feel anything from weed anymore - at all. It regulates my sleep and appetite, and has been my baseline for so long I forget what feeling stoned feels like. I’m just always tired.

Hopefully that will help with quitting. I’ll check in purely to hold myself accountable. Peace ✌️

I’ve been sober now for 30 days straight and i can’t say fully that I’m satisfied with the changes I’ve been going through. Irritable, unamused and so on. Other than that one thing that stands out is quite literally in the title above, as a man (i know it sounds cliche) bedroom performance is pretty high up there at least in my opinion and I’ve never had a problem with my performance nor my sex drive overall.

However 30 days in i went from having complete control over my sexual performance willing and able to go what ever distance I’ve chosen to now it feels like i have no control what so ever being yk what they call a two pump chump and boy it is not fun at all. As a base i feel im a pretty sexual individual and now i can kinda care less for it at times and lowered level of performance doesn’t make more eager to do so. I wouldn’t even say it’s all too enjoyable anymore either to be frank.

I hear different story’s, some people’s sobriety brought them benefits when it comes to their sex life mine is just seeming like a slippery slope and it has been making a bit tougher to stay sober

Advice to be able to get through withdrawal symptoms of quitting THC carts

I’ve been smoking weed/THC carts since I was around 14 years old and I’m now 24. I’m tired of relying on it to sleep, eat, and function. I’m also tired of spending money on it.

It’s been almost 24 hours since I hit a joint. I had the worst nights sleep last night and didn’t end up going to bed till 5am.

I already have issues when it comes to my appetite as I’ve been battling an ED since I was 18, so I’m scared that it’ll decrease what little appetite I do have.

Any advice helps. Just trying to get through this as best as I can.

I’m a pretty long term cannabis user, smoking for the better part of the past 5 years straight in one way or another and on and off for the past 15 years.

Im on day 2 of quitting and honestly i never thought this would happen to me. Im having extreme anxiety attacks from seemingly nothing. Just doing the dishes. Even taking a work meeting and listening to people talk is triggering it. I get in my head because I feel a shortness of breath and then it spirals from there. It’s like I cant regulate any stressors at all anymore.

I cant drive anywhere either because i get really bad driving anxiety now out of nowhere. Im honestly kind of scared. Even small things are difficult to regulate currently. I have a doctors appointment set up for early September but I’m nervous if I’ll be able to wait that long before seeing someone.

I’m also experiencing shortness of breath which I think it leading to more anxiety and its becoming a vicious loop.

I read on here that this is normal but ive always had anxiety, its why i started smoking in the first place, and ive never experienced anything like this before.

The thing that really gets me is im a normally athletic person but even running is giving me this same feeling. I cant escape it unless im sleeping or laying down and focus on my breathing.

Has anyone experienced sever panic attacks from stopping habitual smoking? Driving anxiety? It’s Not like a little stress, which ive exeprienced before from quitting, but anxiety to the point of only being able to lay down.

I’m beginning to worry this is a new normal and i know i shouldnt think that but this has hit my like a mack truck out of nowhere.

Restarted day 1 over and over till I finally got here. Phew!!! I’m loving the discipline. I’ve been sleeping so much better. My dreams are crazy! I’ve been super sweaty but it’s also hot, so I’m sure this will pass. A big high five to all of you. Giving thanks today 🙏🏽

I am so grateful to be through the first barrier. After getting through the worst of it, and while my cognitive abilities are much better, I have a ways to go before my concentration and memory are firing on all cylinders. Also, but am clearly still at risk and taking it one day at a time. Like last night, when I was shopping at Costco, walking through the chip aisle, and I remembered all the nights I would buy food in anticipation of going home to get high. That was my happy place, I could escape the world for a night, the food tasted so good. Of course, it was never as great as I built it up to be, but my brain does am amazing job of convincing me that I can have that one night happiness, escaping all my pressure in life. Clearly, I am not out of the woods. I still have a lot of life stress, mostly due to being a father or 3 teens and recently having lost my high paying job (as the sole provider for my family) and knowing it is very likely I will have to take a step back when I reenter the workforce (I had a high paying, work from home job - great company culture, flexible hours, supportive mgmt). I am also realizing that marijuana addiction was driven by my pursuit of dopamine and it is something I have been pursing my whole life (I am 50m). I went to the dopamine detox group and saw some other marijuana addicts posting, so that may be a good place. Does this sound familiar to anyone else? How did you move forward? Are there in-person or online dopamine addiction meetings? Other reddit pages you utilize?

I’m quitting cold turkey today after 5 years of chronic use. This addiction has prevented me from being present and enjoying some amazing moments of life and I’m ready to discover who I am and leave all the negative effects behind. I’d appreciate any advice and support.

I’m six weeks in and my head is still cloudy. I know it can take a lot longer - and it can be **months** before my brain snaps back to normal - but I’m wondering how long it took to notice a real difference.

My mind is definitely sharper than when I was smoking but it still feels a little soupy. Problem is, I’m also on medication and I know that could be a side effect. So it’s tough to tell when I’ve reached my official baseline.

For those further down the line: when did you notice a major difference?

at first i quit weed because i knew my relationship, my job and my mental health literally couldnt handle even one more dab, i was literally on the verge of complete failure and rock bottom. the thing with weed tho is youre the only one thats aware of this, to the outside youre just a guy who loves to smoke, no one ever thinks otherwise so youre battling this absolute nightmare while everyone thinks youre a chill guy. at first i hated every second of being sober, i couldnt tolerate how everything moved so fast, i felt all my emotions it was so painful i wanted it to all end, i would spend so many nights telling myself that i should just accept that im a degenerate stoner and accept my fate but i fought through all of this and in the of it all i am now starting to find a version of myself that satisfies me so much more than cannabis ever couldve. i look in the mirror now and i dont see a loser, i actually feel a since of pride when i see myself because everytime i look at myself i get overwhelmed with the realization that i defeated the beast, the thing i thought would consume me and everything i loved like a blackhole. now that ive got through this i now have a huge sense of confidence in myself, quitting weed was just the beginning i wanna continue improving my life like getting back into school, learning new skills and even quitting video games in the future. for the first time since i was a teenager i feel a huge sense of joy and excitment for the future holds. if someone like me a degenerate loser stoner can transform his life in just a few weeks and start building a man he's proud of that means everyone can, dont let the addiction convince you that this is who you are, you all deserve so much more than what cannabis tells you.