2 years clean of weed

biohack9 wrote:

SparkleFly12 wrote:I'm here at 2 3/4 years and I've still had a lot of bad days along with some good ones. Since my symptoms regressed 4 or so months ago I have slowly been getting better, but not back to 100% yet. Still poor sleep and swollen lymph nodes and low libido.

@Magicisreal I did get blood work done and my hormone levels are normal.

@DerJogge I did stop porn for a while and it doesn't help. The libido isn't there still. Hell even porn isnt that appealing. Even now I rarely watch porn or masturbate. I have no desire to when I have no libido.

You’re not over 2 years clean. You stated in the ED thread that you took two tokes of dank weed in July 2020. Quitting and paws doesn’t work the way you think it does. When it’s the last day you ever touched any form of cannabis, even after a year clean, that’s when it starts dude. Cheating doesn’t count in the streak no matter how little you think it sets you back.

Thanks a lot for pointing that out.

No problem, people need to take some people with a grain of salt before it creates even worse anxiety. Especially when it’s not factual. Also lots have legit hypochondria.

You're right biohack, I did back 1.5 years ago. And the reason I haven't counted that s because it didn't cause any regression in my symptoms. You seem to think of things in eitherblack or white but that's not the case with the body.

My symptoms the first 2 years were very physical and regular, and they got better steadily over the time. The first time I quit for 3 months (3+ years ago) then at 3 months I smoked many times over a week, when I stopped again felt a huge regression in my symptoms. This didn't happen from the tokes in June 2020 and it seems to not have affected my recovery. So sure, I you want to be that guy, its 1.5 years. Take me with grain of salt if you want but I've gone through what a lot of people on this forum are going through and I want to answer Tham from my experience.

I appreciate the "hypochondriac" comment but its not true bud.

Lol it is black and white. When you relapse, if if it’s just a toke or a tiny gummy the counter resets. It’s no different than nofap lol regardless of your symptoms. Regardless I wish you success but you’re going to need way more time. Even just one use causes changes in the brain that last over a week even if you feel sober and no symptoms. Dopamine is a pretty incredible thing. Not to mention all the other receptors.

I would assume the degree of recovery from its most dysfunction. Is more paramount in comparison than the date of any stimulant reintroduction.

In truth Dopamine is being constantly stimulated from many sources besides recreational drugs eg coffee, chemicals, cigarettes, antidepressants, soft drinks and even simply excitable circumstances. This occurs continuously for all recovery patients weather they like it or not..

As theres no way to measure personal recovery in light of all these. Stating "since my last stimulation" seems the weakest gauge of progression to me. I believe its better depicted by the sufferers self analysis of symptom improvement from his lowest point. As in the end. The sufferer is the best to judge of change beyond that even western medicine can diagnosis (besides perhaps a DAT Scan?

The timelines are when people quit weed. It’s delusional to think that the counter doesn’t reset and does nobody any favours. It’s the same for nofap, semen retention, alcohol, whatever. When he smoked, that’s a relapse. Sure PAWS doesn’t go back to zero but that’s not the point I’m making. It’s misleading when people see 2.5 years yet last use was 1.5 years ago.

You’re right about other elements blowing off dopamine so it makes me laugh when people complain about libido and erection issues when they still have orgasms, drinking coffee, alcohol etc. it’s all about the dopamine reset which even the little things add up.

It’s just ridiculous to see people struggling THREE years later when they don’t have to be.

These other dopamine producing activities (which are not your DOC) definitely delay PAWS in my opinion. However, just about everyone who drinks coffee, has sex, drinks alcohol does eventually get better, they probably just extended their misery by a little bit.

I think blinkers is right in saying that the sufferer is the best judge of his/her progress and whether or not the relapses were significant enough to justify a full set back. If someone goes through 2 years of PAWS and relapses and feels fine after, it would be wrong to say 2 months later 'I'm only on month 2 but have no PAWS symptoms'.

The question of how long one relapse sets you back in regards to PAWS is a tough one to answer. I would certainly love to hear some of your thoughts on that as I myself relapsed about a month ago now and want to know whether I can still expect a 2 year recovery time frame or not.

I think it’s impossible to say since it’s so unscientific, but like you said only you know yourself how you feel. Best to not have any expectations or dwell and focus on it and just live and love your life. I’ve seen cases of SSRI recoveries lasting even 7 years on some forums and some never recover. I know that SSRI are a different thing but there are many parallels with cannabis in terms of what it does to our chemistry, withdrawal etc.

How long was your last use before your relapse?

The possibility of never recovering is certainly scary. I think it’s harder to judge with SSRIs because there were obviously big problems with the user before taking them and like u said the mechanism of action of the drug.

My last use before the relapse was in September 2020. Since then I’ve definitely felt worse, no where near as bad as I did in the first 4 months but periods of intense symptoms have returned. I’m hoping this is a bad wave which will pass.

I’m sorry to hear that. Was your relapse just one time? I think it will put a dent in your recovery because of the “muscle memory” of the brain and nervous system but I don’t think it will set you back a year. How were your symptoms just before your relapse? And why did you relapse?

Yeah just the once. I had seen huge amounts of progress but still wasn't close to 100%. Id say about 50/60%. Now I’d say I’m 30/40%. There’s no real reason for my relapse apart from complacency and stupidity. I just got carried away when hanging out with my mates.

After a year you were at 50-60%? What symptoms did you still have? Thanks for sharing btw you’re helping me to never ever relapse again. Did you even actually enjoy the relapse?

Also do you do anything else to flood your dopamine receptors like orgasms, alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine?

No worries, at least a little good has come out of it then. I did kind of enjoy it but not as much as I used to. Yeah, I'm definitely one of those severe 2 year cases as I started really young. Still had most symptoms associated with PAWS. it's not like one by one they were going, they just got less intense as a collective.

I didn't drink for 9 months but have started to about once a month. Started nofap at the same time so no orgasms apart from one relapse (had sex the same night as other relapse). quit smoking and caffeine a couple years ago and only got withdrawals from them for a couple weeks. I'll have the occasional green tea but that's it.

Did a doctor just tell you they are normal or did you do your research on what normal is. I’ve met doctors that don’t know what normal is. Your levels maybe normal but I just want you to be sure.