Successfully Recovered from Weed PAWS after 20+yrs of smokin

Hoq you guy doing now im 75 day clean and cant stop.obsessing over the fact that im about to go crazy smoke for 7 years all day everyday multiple time a day my mind wont ahut down for 2 sec really anxious lethargic depressed ect..

Hang in there uniqueson..at 75 days i was still a mess. Now i feel so much better! But it takes a really long time. Go for a walk..watch a funny show...and write down the reasons you quit and re read them.

First 3 month is the worst it will get a little better. Just hang on and make sure not to smoke again or PAW will be 10 times worst. Jan 2nd was my year and half mark. 18 months wow...could not believe it...still suffering but much better then first year. In started intermittent fasting..hope autophagy will help and make this easier. I must say that I’m overweight...290 pounds...I headed THC gets stored in fat cells. I was very close to try CBD but then don’t want to another addiction. Lately I been drinking a lot so cutting in that as well. Next goal 2 years mark.
Good luck everyone!

thanks for the answer head in loud and eroica really appreciated take care my man !!

You are welcome, if you ever want to talk let me know. My first 6 month was total nightmare I was scared to laugh, I thought I had mental illness. Weed PAW is one of hardest thing I have ever face and would not wish it for my worst enemy.
All you need is time and you will see the difference...make sure not to smoke again or it will make it worst.
Good luck!

Yeah im pretty much there im almoat 3 month in 10 day these last 5 day be better but i cant stop obsessing on what illness i have mentally and physicaly sorry for my bad english hope you know what i try to mean and yeah i would like to talk when you have some time my man ill go look at your post too i see some progress tho compare to the first month i can distract myself more ect... but still really bad extreme anxiety insecurities,irrarional fear about alot of thing but yeah i see some really slow progress

I can't believe that I am just finding this forum....Ive been told that I am crazy and that it was not the Marijuana that did this to me. I have an appointment with a psychiatrist for panic/anxiety disorder in 2 weeks....

My story, forgive the length.

Ima California girl, home of the homegrown. I smoked since I was 16 years old until I was 19 (2006) moved out of state and stopped. Never remembered any withdrawals but this was before the high levels of THC in the market today. I only smoked when visiting home and such.

Fast forward to January 2019. I was diagnosed with endometriosis, in other words bad cramps (sorry boys, TMI). We currently live in Colorado where it is legal and decided to give it a go to help with the pain. I did for 3 months, smoked 2-3 times a day (just a couple of puffs to get me good) of course turned into an every day thing. No one else around me smoked so of course the smell began to make me paranoid being around everyone else who did not smoke. It was always so much funner with buddies!

Whelp, this was my introduction to cartridges. I started in March 2019 60%-70% THC. I did not know at this time that flower only contained 10%-20% THC, and I was already considered to be a lightweight as it was. As convenient as the pen was of course I began hitting it more often 3-5 times a day.

I had my first mini panic attack on a plane in April. Didn't know what it was and sure didn't correspond it with my vape pen, just thought it was a weird event and was scared to fly (ive never been scared to fly)....kept smoking. Second one happened one month later in the movie theatre. I had to walk out. Arms, hands went numb, heart palpitations, dizziness, couldn't catch my breath, thought I was going crazy. Still did not connect it to the pen.

Fast forward to August 2019. I was going back to Cali to visit my mom, had just ran out of my cartridge and went to get another before flying out. They had a deal on CLEAR brand cartridge, 91% THC....Still ignorant of the statistical comparison of percentage of regular flower, hell yeah! The more the Better! I also believe it to have been a sativa.

Every time I hit this thing I had an attack. Only off one hit. Yet still, I continued to do it believing there would be a different outcome, NO. Heart palpitations, brain fog, dizzy, hands/arms numb, crazy thoughts. I just thought I had a bad batch.

Still I took it with me to Cali, still hit it (just baby puffs so it wouldn't be too bad). I don't know why I kept doing this to myself. Yet i ended up having a terrible attack eventually. Wound up in the ER swearing I was dying. All tests came back normal. EKG, Thyroid, Hormones, Vitamins, Bloodwork, Urinalysis, Kidney function, you name it they tested it. All normal.

I threw the pen away, half full. I didn't care and never looked back (Aug 2019) ... Total amount of time that I had been smoking was 7 months, although 3 of the months was flower.

This was only the beginning. I had random panic attacks everyday almost for many weeks (6-8), I couldn't even get on the plane home. I missed so much work. Every attack led to worry, swearing I was dying with all of the other physical symptoms. Knowing that weed could not be responsible for this....withdrawals aren't like this from weed.

I got home and immediately made an appointment with my doc. Blood pressure was high 150s/90s. He diagnosed me with high BP and put me on meds. Vitamin D was also low, was given meds.

By week 8 attacks were maybe once-twice a week, still had palpitations. It took like 2 days to physically recover from an attack and a few more days to mentally recover, so by the time i fully recovered from the attack (because i would be so tired/fatigued/body drained) it was time for another attack. My doc put me on a 48 heart monitor for the palpitations, I had a resting heart rate of 104 all the time. Heart monitor reported nothing. I pushed for the doc to do more, did an ultrasound of the heart and nothing but minor Tricuspid Valve Regurgitation, apparently very common and nothing to worry about. Still kept pushing. He made me do the heart monitor for a week this time, still nothing.

This is mid Nov 2019. He says it's anxiety. Ive never had anxiety/panic attacks in my life. Ive always been happy, outgoing, awesome, never worried about much of anything. Since all this I became depressed because of my health, swearing I was dying and there was an underlying health issue and no one could help me. Im sure I had other withdrawal symptoms at this time but the panic was the worst for me and all i focused on. I do know at one point, around month 2-3 I was having nightmares and trouble sleeping. But the anxiety/panic was and is the worst for me.

Switched my meds to Metoprolol in Nov 2019, a BP med that helps control BP and pulse. BP remains in around 110-120/80-90 and pulse is now 60-85. Was feeling great. Thought I was through the woods with no attack since mid Nov 2019. NO.

Last Tuesday, I had another panic attack. Completely random, although to be completely honest i took a half of a Percocet because my mom gave them to me for my cramps since I stopped the weed. I just hadn't taken them at all because anything that I would take that altered my state of mind (made me calm/drowsy) - even wine. I'd freak out thinking something was wrong with me. But this headache was terrible and I was out and about and didn't have anything else so I thought, just one half, I should be fine? (I used to take Percs before the weed for my cramps so it's not like Im not familiar with it - plus I had been doing so well and thought i was through the thick of this sh**) - I should be ok I thought. About an hour later was when it happened. I immediately knew what it was and all of those symptoms returned as If they had never stopped. I was shaking, BP 175/118 (I bought a BP machine since my BP issues began) pulse was still low though 89 but still felt like my heart was pounding. I was about to go to the ER when my significant other told me to try and calm down. I was able to, eventually...

Ive been on other forums like this, they say weed doesn't do this and that it just made me develop a panic disorder or that i already had an underlying disorder and the weed just "woke it up" I'm so glad that I have found others like me. I almost at the 5 month mark and cant believe it is still happening. I heard about PAWS and considered it but with not too much research or finding others like me, I quickly dismissed it swearing something is still wrong with me. Especially since i don't think that I was smoking enough for this to take this long. But clearly it did something to me and the fact that it happened every-time I hit it, I should know it was the weed. But when you're in your mind during or after a panic attack your mind can really f*ck with you. I really hope that this ends soon....

Female, 31 year old, 175 lbs, 5'7, I don't do other drugs or drink, no tobacco, no caffeine/energy drinks, I could work out more (i'm pretty sedimentary due to when my heart rate increases i freak out) If anyone else whose withdrawals were more on the panic side than other symptoms, please any tips or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for everyones testimonies, your stories truly inspire and encourage others, I hope you know this.

I know this is an old post but I am struggling with PAWS right now and reading this brought me a lot of peace and hope. Thank you