Hi Everyone,
I'm sitting here at two months and cursing the gods at how I appear to be on the very end of probabilities with PAWS, harboring just about every godamned symptom you can imagine.
About three weeks ago, huge facial redness, dry skin, very dry hair. At the same time, (mostly) the left side of my entire head, including left temporal lobe, for lack of better explanation, seems very, very tense. Not quite "throbbing", just very stretched, like the muscles are in continual contraction or spasm. I have a lot of trouble focusing on things, particularly reading and on anything between 10-50 ft. away. Really odd. Some hesitations in speech, searching for my words and pronouncing others poorly. I've found it's like my brain wants to say words or versions of a sentence at once, before I catch myself.
Additional problems with balance, feelings of chest tightness & weak heartbeat, poor hand-eye coordination and motor skills, dizziness, etc. Sometimes mild, sometimes quite intense. In separate Google searches, all of these things are associated with PAWS, though not all with marijuana-PAWS...
I've had recent (8 weeks ago) brain MRI, neck and base of head CAT scans. Aside from some minor vein malformation near my left ear (same side, btw, but apparently not a big deal), all clear. These symptoms obviously weren't present prior to marijuana cold-turkey cessation, so the correlation seems pretty clear to me.
As these more recent symptoms popped up (~ 3 weeks prior), so did tooth pain, jaw tightness, etc...basically TMJ (TMD, if we're being proper). This hasn't been tied to PAWS too much, but is very closely correlated with anxiety, which I won't deny is through the roof.
On the positive side, zero cravings whatsoever. The last two months have been sheer hell.
I suppose I'm just looking for a proverbial pat on the head. These are some really scary things to be experiencing for so long. C'mon brain! Rewire yo' damn self!
Day 62 oddities
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by ClintonW » Sat Sep 02, 2017 10:50 am
That's the spirit. You're realising that your brain is rewiring itself. I can definitely associate with a lot of what you say, especially the part about words. Sometimes I felt like I struggled to get simple words out.
I had so many aches, pains, weird feelings and moments of sheer dullness with PAWS. I always tried to tell myself that my brain was having a bit of a reboot. I try to sum it up as in your brain is working hard to sort itself out and rewire itself. Like anything that works hard, it will get tired and ache.
The good news is it does get better. Much better in fact. After 3 years clean my brain seems so much sharper. I'm learning a second language, studying more in my field (Computing) learned to ride a motorbike and ultimately I feel like I can concentrate and absorb so much better.
Ride with it mate and it will be worthwhile I promise. Eventually you will start to feel a new normal.
I had so many aches, pains, weird feelings and moments of sheer dullness with PAWS. I always tried to tell myself that my brain was having a bit of a reboot. I try to sum it up as in your brain is working hard to sort itself out and rewire itself. Like anything that works hard, it will get tired and ache.
The good news is it does get better. Much better in fact. After 3 years clean my brain seems so much sharper. I'm learning a second language, studying more in my field (Computing) learned to ride a motorbike and ultimately I feel like I can concentrate and absorb so much better.
Ride with it mate and it will be worthwhile I promise. Eventually you will start to feel a new normal.
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by Lightweight » Sun Sep 03, 2017 9:01 pm
well done fella. Keep it up I went through all what your saying and more when I gave it up cold turkey (big mistake). I'm nearly on 1 year just take every day at a time.
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by TMJyikes » Thu Sep 14, 2017 7:12 pm
Thanks, Lightweight. It's so odd as these symptoms cycle and persist. Today out of no where the heart palpitation feelings came back, and I got very disheartened. I'm getting convinced these symptoms all point toward some sort of auto-immune system flare out, as the body freaks out due to neurotransmitter disruption and attacks itself.
Really tough. Cold turkey has really been a challenge. Simultaneously, my doctors want to keep adjusting my thyroid medication, which can also complicate matters. Whether I'm a bit high or low on thyroid function for the next few months, I have a feeling I need to just let the current dosage ride! Can I ask how long your journey has been going and how you're feeling?
Really tough. Cold turkey has really been a challenge. Simultaneously, my doctors want to keep adjusting my thyroid medication, which can also complicate matters. Whether I'm a bit high or low on thyroid function for the next few months, I have a feeling I need to just let the current dosage ride! Can I ask how long your journey has been going and how you're feeling?
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