Marijuana addiction-withdrawal

Hi
Most often.. the use of weed in my own life put up another layer of rubbish for me to deal with.
By that I mean that the addiction becomes very much part of a collection of problems and kind of takes over the situation.
One month is a good attempt at a quit! Well done..so now you can notice that begining to smoke again after a month has not been the answer you hoped for.
This is a good moment and I would call it 'quit experience' for want of a better description.
You know you can always return to the weed but also that no answers or progress will be found in this cycle.
I have had to quit tobacco after 26 years because of my need to break this vicious cycle and inner conflict caused by dope and smoking.
And for this I used group support for seven weeks (run by the NHS) and then Nicotinell Gum (fruit) 4mg packs for a while only recently shifting to 2mg nicotine content packs.
I think I needed structure and the quit tobacco program helped and gave me focus..seven weeks went so fast and after that I was up and running.
But I still have 3 boxes of gum and I regard myself as 'smoke vulnerable'.. for want of a better expression.
On my own journey I would say I have sailed round the rough waters of the Cape..and they were a lot tougher than I thought when I look back at my experience.
Things do get easier!! ..The distress you describe to me in your post is all part of the addiction and its effects I feel sure.
For me..two months were rough or up and down..but now I feel I am seeing the light at the other end of addictions dark and lonely tunnel!!
After 3 months I feel I am definately in a good space and that lots of my own depression and anxiety was attributable to the dope,
and the problems that remain stand clearly before me and in focus.
Three months..

How do you deal with the depressive feelings?

Hi Mazi
My best advice would be don't look to quit your addiction to marijuana by just using this discussion forum.

I did it with the (gentle) support of my partner who's an addictions counsellor and a recovered addict... I encourage you to seek out real people to talk to. Your addiction isn't about chemicals, its about feelings and emotions and the use of chemicals to cope with them / alter them / deny them.

My experience is that growing out of addiction is about personal growth and learning, not just stopping using a substance.

Find people who have done it successfully, and talk to them in the real world - they'll be such a great help and inspiration to you.

Good luck

Dear Mazi

Very well done on not smoking for a month. Even at the times when you may be feeling low, if you can hold on to this as an achievement, you can only build on it. I've found it very valuable to look down at how much of the hill I've climbed - moreso than by trying to keep looking for the top, because I know now it may never be visible!

Well, anyway, that's my experience.

I gave up smoking dope a very long time ago (15 years). I find it difficult to separate what were actually withdrawal symptoms from the other stuff that was going on in my life, but I'm quite sure that the longer I didn't smoke, the more clarity I got about everything else.

Depression? My own personal understanding of depression is actually as a numbing or covering of emotions than an emotion in itself. The best way I've found to understand my own emotions was to take some time to try and br still with them and then to explore them creatively. It was the only way, despite many different other therapeutic approaches, that I could personally make sense of the things that made no sense. Of course, to talk to others can be valuable too, and too much self-reflection is not a good idea either, but I think they have to be people you really know and really trust. Try to strive for a balance between solitude and company, activity and reflection.

When I tell friends these days that, for example, I used to smoke roaches from ash trays in the middle of the night, it just feels like I'm talking about someone other than myself. I honestly never thought I would reach this stage. but I promise you it's possible.

Happy to talk more if you like

Above all, be gentle with yourself

Kindest thoughts

Netta

For me the dope was a mojor cause of my depression..It fuelled the whole vibe.
The depression was so tied in with this I too thought It must be me and not the weed..
Sure there are other problems which I need to address..but the real killer stuff came from the weed and the mind set that grew out of it.
It is impossible to say what you might need..for me..a clear do or die situation seemed to come and I had to really be serious...
But I was surprised I quit..especially tobacco..I just told my doctor I really want to quit and with a twitch of her nose..I was in a quit group!!
I too would not recomend just comeing here for your support..because it is no match for real world support...a date in the diary and a place to go for group support with other people was best for me and I realised that I had to quit cigarettes too...timetogetunstuk says he was able to work through things with a partner who has experience of addiction..
You will need to think what you can do to make your next attempt more supported than your last one...ask your doctor to advise you and see what is available...
Like I said, even though my group was cigarette based..I would talk about hash too and no one seemed to mind at all..the main thing was to support our collective quit.
Exercise is as good as any drug (e.g prozac) for lifting depression and actually stops re-accurance..just a thought!

The biggest problem, I think, is the company I keep. They're all so drug-centered, all they think about is smoking pot...It seems, the only things we have in common is drugs. Either we're smoking pot, or doing cocaine or speed, or drinking alcohol...Do you think I should just stop hanging out with them? It's very hard since they're my best friends, I've known them for years... But whenever someone calls me to come hang out, I just know that there'll be drugs involved, there's no other way....

Look..you gotta make a little break for freedom and that may invole change.
If you are at the time in life when hanging out feels important..perhaps all I can say is..
is there anything else you could be doing?..i hung out too and had some good times but....
Just this summer I sat in on classes at the local uni'... summer school program in psychology..
not the sort of thing I would usually do but I have energy for myself now..and that was one way of
helping break social patterns as well as getting me out of myself.
And I managed all the course work without smoking !!
You can't go through life blameing others for holding you back...like the elephant who's chain was unlocked never even thought of heading into the wilderness..freedom..liberty..it is a wonderfull thing.
Have courage..you probably don't realise it yet but your journey could be so much more than hanging out and getting trashed.
personally I stopped calling those friends and they stopped calling me..we all kind of fell out for various reasons anyhow.
I have no pressure anymore in that regard.
I was tired of the situation and burned the bridges .. it was the only way to say 'good bye to bad news.'
be courageous..have compassion.. dig deep for wisdom..

you can have tow groups of friends you know. you can jsut start hanging out with other friends MORE.

the only depression i can imagine when not having weed is just that, not having weed hehe

My daughter also said that weed gave her problems she never had before and caused mood swings anxiety depression etc., I believe marajuana is one of the longest drugs to stay in the system after quitting so withdrawal can be lengthy of course the emotional withdrawal may linger for longer. In any case, they do lessen and there will be a time when you dont even think about it

But well done you for giving it up, I do think its a good idea to do it with some support if you are struggling though. you could ask your GP if there are any groups or individual support that you could access. I think some areas are better than others in terms of resources for this, but its worth seeing it through. It will get easier and you will be in a better place in the end. All the best

I have the same dillema as you mazi (also can't last more than a month sober, trying again).
My only friends are drug users and all they think about doing is getting stoned, drunk etc and they always want me to do it too (probably cause they won't admit to themselves that they're addicted). I mean, it's not like that's all we do (we play basketball, billiards, sometimes poker...), but the fact that they're always thinking about it and wanting me to smoke to make themselves feel better just makes it harder. I mean, it's hard enough to do it on my own because of the depression, lack of sleep and everything that goes with quitting. I don't know anyone who successfully quit weed and there are no rehab programs for weed or alcohol in my country. I basically lost all my non-drugs-small crime related friends, cause they moved away or they avoid me cause they think I'm bad for them (just like my current friends are bad for me).
I have no idea what to do...

heres the thing, quitting marijuana is a complex task. the worst thing you can do is decide 'ok im gonna try and quit'. the best ways to quit are:

getting into a situation where you have to quit or your f***ed on

shortening usage from once a day, to once every second day. set up a routine whereby you have sober days and not sober days. you have to think that the sober days are punishment for getting yourself into a bad situation, theyre not some bad fall of luck that you feel obliged into.
if you can get into a weed one day, no weed the next, eventually youll learn ways to feel good during the non weed days, but its all personal, different things for different people, what they do on sober days.

or, simply not saying that your quitting, but just sop smoking. you see the problem with the idea of quitting is that your mind thinks 'oh sh**? quit? never again? wtf? i want more now, if its the last im gonna get!'

you need to not even say your quitting, not think your quitting, but merely get in a situation where you have no weed and you have to put up with it. its got to be 'sh** ive got not weed.. oh well ill get some by the weekend for sure.. but for now.. ill have to put up with it. but JUST for now'.

my theory about weed addiction is that the reward system while stoned does not come from the stimulation of the drug, but by the stimulation of your environment while on the drug. if you can find ways of getting stimulation from your environment without weed then you wont have any problem, but when you depend on being stoned to enjoy things and be calm with issues, then without the weed it makes those things bad.

ive had to slow consumption recently to here and there because of my exams, so at teh start I played video games, then i watched televisio. i started reading a book on psychology (normally cant read at night due to being stoned.. and fiction sucks balls always), and continued playing music and listening to music as i do while stoned.

its a maturity thing. you got to get get over it, everyone can, but its hard at first because its easy to pity yourself for not having any weed.

but yeh, never say 'im quitting' with weed, or youll just get cravings. you got to just stop smoking for some reason and tell yourself (you dont have to lie either.. you werent instantly addicted so you cant expect to instantly get unaddicted) that you will smoke again soon. then once youve found things to do while sober, youll get the hang of it. its hard at first, but why should it be easy?

Try looking at this from a different perspective. Pot is NOT physically addictive. Nor does it have alot of serious negative effects. It will, however sometimes magnify things that are going on with you to begin with. Instead of worrying so much about quitting and focusing on myths, you should be looking at the baggage you are carrying around to begin with, aside from the pot. Blaming marijuanna for your problems is like blaming the sun for giving you a sunburn, or blaming rocks for hurting your feet. You have some personal control over if you stay in the sun too long or if you go barefoot or not. If ya throw gasoline on a fire what happens? If you throw gasoline when there is no fire what happens? Believe me, marijuanna isn't the problem, and if you keep blaming and focusing on that, then you won't fix the real trouble.

Well, I guess, for me, pot, alcohol and cocaine are ways to escape from my problems. I did have problems before I was addicted. I've been depressed for 4 years now, and I have a strong social phobia... I'm taking a lot of antidepressants, I was seeing a psychiatrist for quite some time but it doesn't cure it all...it does keep me from getting in the deepest depths of depression though where I would cut myself and things like that...

I feel like there's something important missing in my life and I'm trying to fill that void with drugs. It works, but only when I'm under the influence, when I get sober, things just get worse than they were before...

I'm seeing a psychologist in October so I hope that will help..intense physical activity seems to help also...

mazi wrote:I'm trying to fill that void with drugs. It works, but only when I'm under the influence, when I get sober, things just get worse than they were before...

Hi Mazi

So.. it doesn't work, then.

It's great that you know already how it works. It's all there in that post. Good luck starting to explore and light that void - all you need is to keep being courageous.