When I began this journey, I didn't think I'd make it past the first couple of months. But today I'm happy to say it's been 9 months since I quit weed cold turkey. It has been a rough ride. By far the most difficult challenge in my life. I've suffered more than I could describe with simple words. But I'm still giving it my all!
Unfortunately, it seems that my journey is still far from over. I'm in a much better state than I was in this first months, but I'm still being haunted by many debilitating symptoms that still challenge me day and night. This last weeks I've been plagued again with symptoms I thought I left behind months ago. My sleep is destroyed once again. I've been having constant flu-like symptoms and malaise. My whole body is twitching, specially my calf and thigh muscles. Sometimes I get involuntary jerks on my arms and legs. I have lots of muscles contracting and cramping in my upper abdomen and in the middle of my chest. My back hurts, I'm in a lot of pain. Dizziness, shortness of breath, and chronic fatigue are the order of the day. I feel weak and fatigued with my heart pounding from just walking from my bed to the front yard. My memory and thinking had improved a LOT, but with this wave it feels like it went a step back in progress, but still a lot better than months ago.
Going to sleep is still a challenge. I get jolted back awake during the night a lot. When this happens I wake up with chest pain, feeling sick, dizzy, and with a deep impending doom. Last night I decided to make a mark on a paper each time I got jolted back awake, by morning I had 18 marks. All my worst symptoms start around 7PM and last until around 4AM. This has been the trend for most of my journey since quitting. I think it may be related to the time I used to smoke heavy vape carts, which was always after 7PM. After 4AM most symptoms subside, and I am able to fall into deep sleep.
My last trip to the ER bore no fruit. All tests came back negative and the labs didn't reflect anything wrong with me. I had another visit to my GP this week, he ordered more tests just to ease my mind, but he says to be 99% sure it's the PAWS. This doctor has been a blessing, since most don't even think weed paws is a thing.
I hope this wave ends sometime soon. It's really frustrating that I felt so much better and then this big wave comes and hits me out of nowhere. But I know it keeps getting better.