Six months in, some interesting helpful questions!!

[HarryGasikara]

Hello everyone,
I finally decided to join the forum to write about my journey like everybody here. I find this forum really helpful because it already saved many people's life. First of all, I would like to talk about my story a little bit (my story is not long like other people’s). I am a 21 year old man (or boy if you like) and from Madagascar. I am among those people who smoked MJ at a very short time but still felt the result of it months after; I smoked it once really really really heavy. On 31st of May this year at 2 p.m, my best friend visited me with MJ in his pocket as he is a stoner. He invited me to take some. Out of curiosity, I accepted as I wanted to know how being high feels like. He told me to smoke only two joints but I don’t know what happened to me but I finished all the stick. Moreover, it was not a simple MJ brand but a Spliff (composed with a lot of cigarettes) and we drank alcohol too in the evening. I smoked approximately 20 joints or more at that time because I have learnt since then from a handbook that mixing marijuana and tobacco increases the amount of THC in your body up to 3 times. That was the biggest mistake of my life. After about half an hour, I had a very scary panic attack; my heart was pounding very fast and my ears felt like they were covered with cups that I heard the world differently. That night, I decided to sleep at his home because I continued panicking and told him to bring me to the hospital but he didn’t because he didn’t want anyone to know it and he didn’t have enough money for that; so, he bought me calming pills and I slept. One day after, the high didn’t subside. One week after, it still didn’t. I, consequently, find help from forums about permahigh and my situation but the members mocked at me saying “You are lucky to be permanently stoned” and something like that.
At 3 months mark, I found about Biggiesize’s story in this Forum. I searched for more stories and realized that this is the best Forum ever as people here never bring bad atmosphere and I finally found hope that everybody has to recover. After surfing here for months, I found some people who have roughly the same situation as me like BullFrog!! Are you here man?! How are you feeling right now??
Anyway, I am at my sixth month mark now. I noticed that most of the people here notice great improvement from the fifth or sixth month which is not my case actually. I still have brain fog which bothers me a lot. It brings DP/DR, loss of short term memory, lack of attention. I am currently experiencing ups and Downs every day. when it is up, I have brain fog and when it is down, it gets just milder but I have never been normal and sober. So, I have some questions to ask those who are already out of wood or who already seen that improvement.
How did you feel at sixth month mark?
What are those major changes that you feel in your brain?
Does it subside slowly or is there a period where the change goes very fast?
How many months before your recovery did you feel your last high?
Does brain fog mean that you are still far from recovery?
looking forward to being sober!!!
Thank you very much for reading and any answer and comments will be appreciated!!!

[type0]

hi harry,
I cannot answer all your questions because I'm not at the 6th months mark like you. I'm at my 5th and I can confirm all your feelings. I think I will be in the same situation at the 6th month mark also. It would probably take 1 year at least. Like you say, things move very fast, one day you re ok than you make 2 or maybe 3 step back!... it s so frustrating. In my case for example at the 3th month I was feeling better than now. Everything look like normal for let say 2 or 3 weeks. Than everything come back again brain fog anxiety depression. We just have to be patient. I remember many years ago I got a panic attack (I wasn t smoking at that time) from too much caffein and ephedrine. It was so scary and stressful for my mind, I wasn t the same for very long time.

[Cthompson21]

I'm in a similar situation. Quite terrifying to be honest. I only did a little bit once (!) the past summer and my life changed for good, and now I don't know how long I'll be like this...my symptoms are still bad but less at this point but the DP DR strikes randomly. Same with anxiety. I'm somewhat functional and hope to improve to normal within the next year or two. Seems like it can take two years to recover, sometimes three. Patience is key. I'm at 4.5 months. Things I've noticed have improved are anxiety is less intense (i used to get stomach cramps, now I don't) and the DP DR is less intrusive. I have bad dreams, but not as crazy as in the beginning. I can function at social events in short bursts whereas at the beginning I felt like I was in a constant panic. I hope you find some relief soon. Seems like recovery comes in waves.

Do you just get brain fog and DP? Or do you get any other symptoms as well? Just curious.

[type0]

The worst is depression without a doubt. Depression also cause fatigue and anxiety. Without depression I think everything will be a lot easier.

[HarryGasikara]

thank you very much for answering guys! i feel that i am not alone. @type0, you were right when you said that 3rd month seems to be easier than the 6th. anyway, i believe that this head pressure will go away one day and i am looking forward to being sober again. i keep exercising every day to sweat a lot and it helps me have a good mood during the day. good luck for all of us who are still struggling! we have to heal the longer we abstain!
i will post my updates here next month.

[HarryGasikara]

@Cthompson, thank you for the reply! i also have head pressure, ear pressure (month 3 was the toughest), breathlessness which also bothers me, low attention, at month 4, i had bad irritability. i feel like i am still high at the moment. the surrounding is moving. i believe that they will fade away one day!

[type0]

I'm in a similar situation. Quite terrifying to be honest. I only did a little bit once (!) the past summer and my life changed for good, and now I don't know how long I'll be like this...my symptoms are still bad but less at this point but the DP DR strikes randomly. Same with anxiety. I'm somewhat functional and hope to improve to normal within the next year or two. Seems like it can take two years to recover, sometimes three. Patience is key. I'm at 4.5 months. Things I've noticed have improved are anxiety is less intense (i used to get stomach cramps, now I don't) and the DP DR is less intrusive. I have bad dreams, but not as crazy as in the beginning. I can function at social events in short bursts whereas at the beginning I felt like I was in a constant panic. I hope you find some relief soon. Seems like recovery comes in waves.

Do you just get brain fog and DP? Or do you get any other symptoms as well? Just curious.

Come on don t be so pessimist. It can take 2 years ok but it depend on how bad was your situation. I think this timeline is only for extreme cases. We will be 100% before one year I m sure

[HarryGasikara]

I definitely 100% agree with you @Type0! 2 years recovery is really rare and exceptional. most of people in this forum recover from 8 months to 14 months. so let's hope that our case will not be that exceptional and that we will recover between these months.

[type0]

yes I myself think too 8 months could be the right time for 90% of peoples. I mean for Dp/Dr and depression. Anxiety maybe can last longer and come in waves. In any case we will see!

[thegreatdane]

What i will never understand is why one time smoking weed would cause PAWS? I thought PAWS happened to addicts because the brain gets out of chemical balance. Anyways, im not questioning your story, of course what you are experiencing is 100 percent real and is PAWS. Just keep going man and we will all heal! Im at my 11 month and i still feel bad, this year has been hell for me. IM 21 and smoked for 3 years. Very rarely i get a good day, but its very very rare. We just got to look at the positives, keep having hope. We will recover

[type0]

What i will never understand is why one time smoking weed would cause PAWS? I thought PAWS happened to addicts because the brain gets out of chemical balance. Anyways, im not questioning your story, of course what you are experiencing is 100 percent real and is PAWS. Just keep going man and we will all heal! Im at my 11 month and i still feel bad, this year has been hell for me. IM 21 and smoked for 3 years. Very rarely i get a good day, but its very very rare. We just got to look at the positives, keep having hope. We will recover

How do you feel right now exactly?

[HarryGasikara]

What i will never understand is why one time smoking weed would cause PAWS? I thought PAWS happened to addicts because the brain gets out of chemical balance.

Hey @TheGraetDane, I can confirm that my case is PAWS. From a Document that I read, I found that PAWS comes when the user's THC store is released. when people smoke MJ, the THC gets stored somewhere in the body. that is why we get sober the next day. and when the THC quantity in our body become much, the body release it and that's why people experience its effects even without smoking it. getting back to my case, because I consumed too much MJ at that time, may be my body didn't even store the THC . each one of us has its own body function. Some people smoke more than 10 years before the THC gets released. some people, however, do not exceed one month to get to that point. I know it is still paws and not anything else. Good luck to all of us during our journey.

[thegreatdane]

How do you feel right now exactly?[/quote]


Im feeling emotionally dead, there has been progress but its so so tiny and veryyy slow. Social anxiety, confidence, mild depression is probably the main problems PAWS have gotten me. Basically i just feel horrible still, very rarely i have a good day. But i know i will get out of this sh**, people have went through it before and came out better on the other side. Maybe when i pass 1 year changes will happen.

[ashthewarrior7]

Yeah think of it as THC poisoning, too much too soon or too much over a long period of time will affect you. Basically it's the break of the balance/homeostasis of your body and mind. Returning to that balance and homeostasis is what we call PAWS. It's just another perspective angle of PAWS.

[HarryGasikara]

thank you very much @ashthewarrior7 for that additional explanation! that really helps me understand more my symptoms! where are you now in your PAWS?