Here we go again...

Been feeling like this sleep issue is becoming a problem, don’t ever feel like I’ve had good nights sleep what with the dreams and waking up at various points. Yesterday went gym and was tired and felt like this morning I had slept well but was well drained all day, zero motivation at work,
Proper brain fog and been ratty this evening with the kids. I feel shattered but not sure if it’s because of the withdrawals, general tiredness or just life in general?? Anyone got any tips or advice??

Stevenpearce wrote:Been feeling like this sleep issue is becoming a problem, don’t ever feel like I’ve had good nights sleep what with the dreams and waking up at various points. Yesterday went gym and was tired and felt like this morning I had slept well but was well drained all day, zero motivation at work,
Proper brain fog and been ratty this evening with the kids. I feel shattered but not sure if it’s because of the withdrawals, general tiredness or just life in general?? Anyone got any tips or advice??

You sound like me the first few months. I wish I had tips for you, but you seem to be doing things alright. I can motivate you by telling you that my zombie, always wanting to sleep, no concentration and brainfog lasted about 3 months. So hopefully your tiredness will go away pretty soon now. Or not soon for you since your early on, but think about how fast 6-7 weeks fly by. Did this happen the last time you had a sober period?

One thing I did was being very active during those days. Much more active then than i am now soon 2 years after i quit. My "zombie" periode effected everything in my life. I got beaten up inn the thaiboxing ring, fell asleep during the last 10 minutes of rest/meditation in yoga, could not rememder my yoga moves, at work i did nothing for many months.. People around me noticed it. Developed an appartment i own and when i saw it with sober eyes, I had to do it again.. But still, I kept going and going. At least time flew by, and I had things to occupy my head with. But it was a hassle. I did not want to do any of it. I just wanted to lay in bed all day..

But one glorious morning after a very good nights sleep, I was super well rested when i woke up. AND it lasted. The tiredness was gone...

Time my friend, seems to be the best doctor in this business...

Bagobones wrote:

Stevenpearce wrote:Been feeling like this sleep issue is becoming a problem, don’t ever feel like I’ve had good nights sleep what with the dreams and waking up at various points. Yesterday went gym and was tired and felt like this morning I had slept well but was well drained all day, zero motivation at work,
Proper brain fog and been ratty this evening with the kids. I feel shattered but not sure if it’s because of the withdrawals, general tiredness or just life in general?? Anyone got any tips or advice??

You sound like me the first few months. I wish I had tips for you, but you seem to be doing things alright. I can motivate you by telling you that my zombie, always wanting to sleep, no concentration and brainfog lasted about 3 months. So hopefully your tiredness will go away pretty soon now. Or not soon for you since your early on, but think about how fast 6-7 weeks fly by. Did this happen the last time you had a sober period?

One thing I did was being very active during those days. Much more active then than i am now soon 2 years after i quit. My "zombie" periode effected everything in my life. I got beaten up inn the thaiboxing ring, fell asleep during the last 10 minutes of rest/meditation in yoga, could not rememder my yoga moves, at work i did nothing for many months.. People around me noticed it. Developed an appartment i own and when i saw it with sober eyes, I had to do it again.. But still, I kept going and going. At least time flew by, and I had things to occupy my head with. But it was a hassle. I did not want to do any of it. I just wanted to lay in bed all day..

But one glorious morning after a very good nights sleep, I was super well rested when i woke up. AND it lasted. The tiredness was gone...

Time my friend, seems to be the best doctor in this business...

To be honest I can’t remember during my last quit having this sleep issue and the tiredness during the day, last time I was just so relieved to be finally weed free so maybe didn’t notice it so much? Will need to go over my previous quit post.

Appreciate your kind words and your last sentence is so true!!

Stevenpearce wrote: last time I was just so relieved to be finally weed free so maybe didn’t notice it so much? Will need to go over my previous quit post.

ha! Nice! Why didnt I think of that? hehe.. sounds like you pink clouded your way through withdrawals last time..

In my country weed is still illegal. So this is about a place where its still illegal.

I am just curious. I got access to everything. Doctors, social workers, shrinks, nurses etc. that specialize in adiction and detox, because of my job. So coworkers and professional contacts, not my own personal healthcare providers.. I have been grilling them about weed. And they do not have a clue. The doctors just dont have an answer for this. They are fumbling in the dark with cases like I had, and keep klinging to a 25 year old research thats written by scoundrels. That research says clearly it takes 6 weeks to become perfectly normal after heavy weed use. The shrinks are a bit better, because they know the magic trick called "to listen to what their patients says", that the medical doctors dont have. Most of the social workers smoke themseves, so they got paranoid when i asked. . I was one.A big time stoner that knew all the drug police in town because of my job.. I dont know how many meetings I have had with the local drug police while high AF.. hehehe. Using my lunch break to smoke weed while the cops was eating.
My country is using a model after the usa/australia model, customized for local cultural differences. But that is a mess of 20 - 30 year old half a*s studies, with roots in the "war on drugs" delusions...

How are you doing these days Steven? Are you still having sleep issues? How long have you been sober now?

Bagobones wrote:

Stevenpearce wrote: last time I was just so relieved to be finally weed free so maybe didn’t notice it so much? Will need to go over my previous quit post.

How are you doing these days Steven? Are you still having sleep issues? How long have you been sober now?

Doing OK thanks! Still sober!! Sleep think getting better, dreaming a lot but not so vivid and usually forget them pretty quickly. Do wake up a lot, need drink or toilet !!!

Just back from a 2 week holiday with the family. Was great to enjoy it without thinking about how many more days I had left, so I could then have a joint. Don’t think about weed anymore, that has passed. I remember having crazy dreams when I quit but it goes. Sleep becomes more regular and better but I have a young baby so sleep is precious anyway. Everyone keep going you’ll be better off in the end..

Read a post yesterday and it said how we often share our struggles on this forum and we don’t often share the good times. I have to say yesterday I was in a great mood! Slept brilliantly, productive day at work and Germany knocked out the World Cup! Was walking home from work, sunglasses on, glorious weather, tunes pumping and had massive smile on my face!!! Loving feeling good, healthy and positive mind set!! Hope it continues into today!! Have a great day and if you are struggling good times are always round the corner!

Stevenpearce wrote:I have to say yesterday I was in a great mood! Slept brilliantly, productive day at work and Germany knocked out the World Cup! Was walking home from work, sunglasses on, glorious weather, tunes pumping and had massive smile on my face!!! Loving feeling good, healthy and positive mind set!!

I got a massive smile on my face just reading that.. thank you. Euro summer is a magical time.. And today its all sun here...

So been feeling really good lately! Weather is beautiful, eating well (putting on some much needed weight as well) and exercising regularly which makes me feel positive!

Feel like I’m the exact opposite of my stoned self, enthuastic to get stuff done both professionally and at home, I definitely need to keep myself active and busy. Weed makes me feel like all the things I am currently grateful for disappear. So weird!

Sleep feels like it’s proper rest and dreams no where near as vivid as first couple of months. Overall I’m happy and will do everything in my power to continue in that way!

I'm on my second quit that started in March.

I smoked for about 8 years daily and then stopped for 1.5 years and then started again until this March.

Massive panic attacks put me in hospital twice. If I smoke, it takes about 10 minutes for a panic attack to set in. It was after lying in the hospital bed that made me realise enough is enough.

The second time I started then stopped the PAWs didn't really exist. I smoked daily for 1.5 years and felt completely fine and advanced in my career and life. But instead of PAWs hitting me daily it decided to build up and all explode at once which hit me in March 2018 leading me to have a massive panic attack; numb face, can't breathe, 148bpm heart rate and pins and needles in hands and legs. Since I've quit i've basically had no paws apart from the odd anxiety attack which is nothing like the first one. Quitting has been easy because I know I physically can't go back to it.

Anyway, I'm sure your second quit won't be as intense or powerful as the first and may also not be as long. Most people take a few attempts before they quit for good, so don't feel bad for going back to it. Good luck on your new quit!

Well done Steven! That's fantastic news, right on man. I crossed over 3 months on July 4, Independence Day this side of the pond (Irony?)...it's getting better, but still trying at times. I find being inactive and understimulated really makes me want to jump right back into the lifestyle. If I can mitigate those two factors, life seems ok. I'm still getting used to the idea of filling my life with things that engage me mentally and physically, all whilst the brain does it's repair process, which to be honest, could really be going faster if I had my way. Which, of course, I don't. In it's own time for each of us as it were, I suppose. Anyways, keep pushing, stay up. Take care

Heh tokes and calidetroit thanks for your feedback and best wishes. Appreciate it greatly.

Cali first of all congrats on your three months, you are doing great by sounds of things. I often think about the whole should weed be legal debate (I think it should by the way) but often wonder if I would be able to quit / stay off weed if it was freely available with none of the negatives (police, hanging round dealers etc) ?? Do you find it hard (I am presuming it’s legal in California right) or does your state still have it illegal??

Hey Steven,

Thanks for the good words, I'm working on it daily. As far as legality status...That's a great question actually. In California, it's been legal for medicinal purposes since 1996, but even for the general public, less than one ounce on your person was considered a misdeamenor offense. But that would have to mean you were being blatantly obvious about it, which of course we were many times. But even then, most cops out here had far more pressing issues to deal with than some peaceful potheads, so it never was a problem. Now I'm speaking as a white man, and I can assure you had I been black or Latino, the story would he radically different. That was and still is the reality in these United States.

Shortly after I started smoking, I started growing, right in my back yard. My next door neighbor was a local sherriff, and I'm positive he knew the score, but really didn't care a whit.

It's a fun hobby to be sure and it saved us thousands upon thousands of dollars over the years. (Whole family of heavy smokers). Not to mention having control over pesticides and fertilizer and what not. It was lucrative for a time as well, seeing as most people were smoking Mexican bricks from across the border. If you were good, you could clean up. Legalization (it's now fully legal here) and the internet made it easy for most and now the market is oversaturated and flower is really not worth much. I don't know the numbers, but for the past 5 years or so, California has produced far more weed than anyone can smoke. And this is a place where people smoke a LOT! The supply has far outpaced demand.

So anyway, yes, having that kind of access (last year's harvest was 10 pounds plus, from a very modest sized backyard plot), plus the changing legal and social tides do make it harder to abstain, but at the same time, it takes the novelty out of it and frankly after 20 years of heavy usage, where else can I go from here? Is my life going to all of a sudden become great and will I finally become the person I had always hoped with just one more joint? No, and no. Also the upside of legal status is that we can have bright minds in the science and medical fields studying the effects of this drug and giving us real information. Hopefully the next generation will have the information that I didn't.

The truth of it in my opinion comes more down to personal influence. What I mean is, if your hanging around people to whom a particular habit or behavior is deemed acceptable and/or normal, you're going to usually fall into that mindset, regardless of laws or the opinions of others. Who we surround ourselves with is a major factor in the game of life, whatever the situation.

I knew my parents smoked front the time I was small, and I was determined to never be like them