Cannabis withdrawals after 5 months clean

[carbonicfiber]

I smoked since i was 18, everyday 4-6 times a day and never have had a problem up until now i quit a few weeks ago and it has been very hard for me to live with the symptoms. I have been in alot of physiological, and psychological pain. I have tremors and muscle twitching, blurred vision in right eye, dry eyes, pressure behind right eye, sometimes one pupil is larger than the other. For a short time a bit of acid re flux which has now subsided. Anxiety is the though the roof on and off with occasional depression and inability to focus. dizziness/balance problems and the thoughts that i have every neurological disease in the book, which ill be seeing a neurologist tomorrow just in case. Im now a Hypochondriac who googles every symptom which only brings up my anx more. Hang in there, its a rough ride but can be done if you know what is happening to you.

[carbonicfiber]

Just wanted to post an update.

It seems I am experiencing the first waves of severe depression from this withdrawal process. Granted that I was definitely depressed in the first few months of withdrawal, but not like this. This depression is like nothing I've felt in my life. To describe it, I am TIRED! Physically, emotionally, and mentally. I am also very lethargic. I have close to no energy to do anything. I tried going to the gym to swim today, swam a few laps and started to have serious depersonalization symptoms; I felt out of body, absent from the task at hand, and questioning life and my mood and everything like that, essentially stuck in my head. I had to get out of the pool and go home cause I also found that I was not getting that jolt of good feeling from swimming like I always do. It just felt mundane and meaningless. I would also like to make it known that I am always woozy. I want to emphasize this point as it seems to be a main contributor to my suffering. Not off balance like I'm going to fall over, and not vertigo like the room is spinning, but a lightheaded fainting feeling is about to hit me or I have rocks in my head that move me more in whatever direction I'm moving. I almost feel as though most of my anxiety symptoms have gone, but now I'm on the other spectrum of severe lifelessness for the past week straight. Granted, I am still not sleeping too well, getting only 4-6 hours a night, but I awaken feeling like a stiff, paralized body just lying in bed waiting to escape the dream world. It has taken me some time just to get out of bed this past week. This bed ridden in the morning symptom I thought was gone after 2 months withdrawn. Again, I wouldn't say I'm suicidal as I have too much to live for with a beautiful wife and 2 year old boy, but life just seems incredibly meaningless at the moment, more than it has ever been for me.
I am now 160 days without cannabis or any other toxic substances. I really have been trying to "get out of my head" and leave the house and interact with friends and society. And I really make an effort to exercise, but I just cannot seem to due to extreme physical tiredness. If anyone can relate to these symptoms after 5 months withdrawn I would appreciate any advice. Thanks for listening and peace to all.

I have experienced the same woozy feeling that Nate has listed here. Not falling over but right as he describes it as like what ever direction i am headed i will over compensate a bit, like a rock in my head that drags me in that direction. seems like a small inner ear problem with withdrawal, creeps me out once and a while but one of the top common symptoms is dizziness which also must have something to do with the inner ear.

[Saleem.S.Shaikh]

14 months Clean, On Dec 26th 2015, had a panic attack, after that decided to quit smoking pot, but still having symptoms, dizziness, tremors, brain zap and tongue zap. Please help some one.

[Blazedout420]

Yo Saleem, these symptoms are probably just lingering affects of anxiety. The best thing you can do in my opinion is just get on with your life and not pay attention to these symptoms, if you feel them then accept that's how you feel in the moment and get on with your day before you know it you'll not realise they are there. Sooner or later you'll stop giving these symptoms any attention at all and you'll realise you haven't felt them for ages. I think from my experience a lot of these symptoms are a mind over matter thing. If you think about it you will feel it, rather psychosomatic in nature. I'm not a doctor but this is the conclusion I have come to from my own experience. Don't worry about it man, you'll be fine.

[Analelia]

See a doctor. They know a lot more about pot now and can help you get counseling and medication if needed. You could also be a training tool for the next patient who tries quitting. Keep reading the forum,too. It really helps to have "new friends" that get what you're feeling.

[Saleem.S.Shaikh]

But which doctor I need to see.

[Saleem.S.Shaikh]

Thank bro Blazedout420 I feel good when I see your reply, I m trying to not give attension on those symptoms but still I feel it, can u tell me how long it will be exists with me.

[Thinker121]

Hi guys, NatetGreat - your post was probably the most informative, resonating, and closely matching post that describes how I am feeling at the moment.
I am a 34 year old Kiwi guy from New Zealand.
I smoked my first joint when I was 14 years old, I've indulged in pot every day since then bar times where I've traveled overseas - otherwise I've been the one to wake in the morning and puff; I've had pot during the day, pot on return home, pot before dinner, pot after-dinner, pot before bed - I have been a really heavy pot user for a very long time. (34-14 - 20 years, I almost feel sick making that simple equation).
I am on my 8th day without Marijuana and my symptoms of withdrawal have seen me find this post, among many others - this was the closest match to how I am feeling. Not only have I given up pot, also threw the cigarettes away at the same time, after 8 days I haven't had a puff on anything and I know it is for the best, but I need to express that I'm hurting, wow I'm hurting to the extent I've summarized to my wife, the Doctor, my best mate that I must have a brain tumor behind my right eye, something just isn't right with me though the Doctor has performed the tests, blood work is fine, I've no symptoms of having a tumor - the most he suggested was that I have a sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics!
On the first day, I had planned well, I took a week off work for this which was a very good call indeed. I went to the Doctor and told him my plans, that I'm sick of feeling tired, unmotivated, tired of being an addict and he suggested the best thing to do was to try Wellbutrin / Zyban to assist in giving up the cigarettes as well as improving my mood and levels of energy.
After the second pill on Zyban, I felt like I was completely off the planet high, but not in a good way. I felt angry, short tempered, upset, ready to lose the plot - like a nasty mean meth-addict whose been awake for a couple of days.
I immediately stopped taking the Zyban and I still haven't smoked, and the hazey hell that it had induced has passed but I went back to the Doctor because I was still experiencing the following, which made me feel like 100% I had something very wrong with my brain:
1. Pressure around and behind my eyes.
2. Dizzy spells, felt dizzy a lot of the time. Not like I was going to fall over dizzy, but just dizzy and vacant.
3. Headaches, dull but noticeable - wanting to rub my temples / have a head massage type headache.
4. Still grouchy and angry - more likely to snap and become tempered, I'm never the guy that would start an argument and escalate - at the moment I feel like I could easily; I've vent up anger ready to spill out at the closest person.
5. Tired, still knackered, just feeling under the weather - even if I have a really good sleep at night and snooze during the day, I'm exhausted - ready for bed.

The comments all seem to resonate with Nate's original post back a few years ago and I'm very keen to understand how Nate is doing now! Nate, please can you post a comment and let us know mate, your post was such a relief to have read your posts about your journey into recovery that I am incredibly thankful that I can rest assured I haven't a tumor growing inside my brain causing me this discomfort, that it is related to my 20 years of heavy marijuana and cigarette use.

I am really hopeful for the future, I want to be clean and I want to feel a natural high, a natural thirst for life. I want to be motivated again to be social, to be out in the world, to be a great husband, an inspiring father, a contributing member of my community and I feel that marijuana has always prevented me from being that person for so very long.

I haven't started having any other symptoms / withdrawal pains like sleeplessness or sweats, hot and cold spells, nightmares etc, should I be expecting these as my abstinence moves from 8 days into weeks, into months?

How long until I can expect to be a normal person again?

From any of your experience guys, should I be concerned about what is going on inside my head? Is it a normal process I am going through, admittedly many of the blogs mention people that have puffed / smoked for 2 years, for 5 years, not many that have used every day, many times a day, for 20 years - very few comment on having dizzy spells and headaches.

I know I cant get that time back that I've wasted and I am sorry, regretful and I accept that - I just thirst to move forward and become healthy again, to reclaim my stake as an innovator, as one of the Earth's children, with a passion for life with a normal, clean and healthy frame of mind and outlook on life, to move forward as a person with an intrinsic intelligence and love in my heart.

For the most part, my post requests some comments from your experience around the key pains I am feeling at the moment:

- Scared that I've got something more going on inside my head than withdrawal. That the dizzy spells are a normal symptom. That the headaches are not the result of something more sinister, but a natural part of giving up.

Its crazy to note that I am the highest performer at my work of over 200 sales consultants, of all of them, I've sold the most year upon year, I consider myself the most outspoken, the smartest, the highest achieving yet I've been an addict for all these years I cant even begin to comprehend how I am able to carry out my professional / business life with such killer accuracy yet be so pathetically hopeless as a contributing member of society on a social level, that I'll arrive home and puff every day after killing it as a professional, then become dormant on a couch, winding down, considering everything but doing nothing - a half shell of a man that I know my parents in heaven would frown upon.

I don't know if you have seen those Anthony Robbins seminars where he is grasping his hand at the audience, and they are waving their hands back, thirsty, passionate, ready to engage, ready to enjoy ... I want to be one of those people again and I am very hopeful that I am on the right track.

I am steadfast in my stance that I am over being an addict, that I wont pick up another cigarette, another joint, bong, spot, reefer again in my days, that part of my life is over - I just want to get well and your comments around your collective journeys would be most appreciated - can you guide me around me symptoms, should I be demanding my Doctor get me an MRI scan - should I pay for one myself? I cant stand this feeling of dizziness, headaches and heavy eyes. It just freaks me the hell out that something more sinister is going on inside my head.

Lastly, I'd be very keen if you have any reference material around the biological changes that will be occurring in my brain, what is actually going to happen and how, and at what time scale?

[NateTGreat]

Hi Thinker121 and everyone going through tough times,

I am happy that you have made the decision to quit. It will not be easy. I have not been on this site for some time and feel the need to briefly update my situation.

I am 2 years and 9 months weed free. I am also 5 years and 2 months alcohol free, as well as tobacco free. I do not do any other drugs. I rarely consume caffeine and I avoid processed sugar as much as possible. I am also 6 months gluten free. Whew! For all these 'frees' you'd think I was also spiritually free! Unfortunately, that is not the case.

I casually started using when I was 17. I gradually increased my use until about at 27, I was using daily. As expected, the potency and frequency of my use continued to increase until I was using multiple times daily and using higher potency products mixed with hash and dabs. So, I quit at the age of 36 for the reason that many do, panic attacks during the end of use. It got so bad towards the end, that I was having to curl in the fetal position after vaping my weed and hash oil. I even had to call the ambulance toward the end because I fainted after using. These were some of the most unusually frightening experiences of my life, and I know now that it was BECAUSE of the weed and oil that I was vaping. I eventually quit due to the worst episode of my life in which I blacked out for 30 seconds and found myself on the floor of my bathroom after vaping flowers and bubble hash mixed (my regular, daily concoction). I then had a 6 hour panic attack when I came to and never wanted to touch the stuff since.

The acute withdrawal phase lasted about 2 months for me. This was easily the worst 2 months of my life. I awoke every night in sheer panic, wondering who I was, if I was dead, etc. etc. I was tired all the time from never sleeping, I had headaches all the time. I got panic attacks throughout the day for no reason. Any symptom you can think of, I got it. After the acute phase, the PAWS started, and I must say that things really didn't improve. I was depressed to the point of suicidal thoughts. I had no motivation. Nothing was fun anymore, I lost all of my humor, and my life felt meaningless. Not to mention, I was plagued with physical symptoms too i.e. headaches daily that analgesics didn't touch, dizzy spells all the time, feeling completely dazed and depersonalized, anxiety attacks to the point of near fainting, etc etc. Though I still had hope in my conscious being, my physical form was a total mess. I would have to say that the worst of PAWS continued well into the second year of withdrawal. It wasn't until 2 full years of being clean that I noticed consistent improvement in my state of being. However, I still deal with episodes of symptoms to this day. I still get that dazed feeling from time to time. I still get panic attacks while sleeping once in a while. I still get tired spells and headaches from time to time. All the symptoms of PAWS I STILL GET! Granted, they are much less in frequency and severity, but they still exist.

My advice for those going through this is to keep hope. You will improve over time. You will have set backs where you think you've made no progress at all. You must press on though. To get through it all, you must take extra good care of yourself. Exercise when you are able. Meditate and relax. Socialize as uncomfortable as it may be sometime. Eat healthy fats, proteins, and veg. Take a few good supplements. I recommend Magnesium glycinate, krill oil, taurine, B complex, and anything else that works for you to quell the anxiety and pain.

Life after addiction is not easy at all. Especially if you've been using for most of your life. I actually was very opposed to trying anti depressants for a good year and a half before I gave in. My panic attacks last year came back with a vengeance, and I was having horrible dizzy spells again. I saw pretty much every specialist in the book and they found nothing wrong with me. The only solution was to put me on medication. I took Lexapro for 5 months before quitting that too. It really did not work to be honest. It made me calmer, but didn't relieve the symptoms of PAWS. When I quit the Lexapro, I had withdrawals for about 2 moths also...I would recommend against trying pharmaceutical meds, but everyone is different. If they work for you and increase your quality of life, then do what makes you happy. I just knew I didn't want to be on any medication long-term, and coming off of pharmaceuticals can be just as difficult as coming off of cannabis. I even tried CBD oil from hemp to relieve my symptoms. This did not help as I had hoped either.

Take my advice with a grain of salt. I am one case amongst thousands. My testimony is real and can be used as a reference, but it certainly is not the truth for you. I wish I could say that I'm all better and have reached that state of being I hoped I would when I quit. That is not the case. I have had to readjust my perception of life due to this sobering process. Being high for 20 years straight and then quitting is not only a psychophysiological renewal, but a spiritual one as well. And, I would greatly scrutinize anyone who tells you that it is 'in your mind' and that you need to just 'move on'. WEED PAWS IS A PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESS. The brain is totally scrambled and damaged. PAWS is the process of healing to which there is no timeline. I expect it to be part of my life forever. Maybe someday I can look back and see this all as a distant memory. I think you need to accept and embrace the suffering and do the best you can to exist and fight on. This has been the hardest 3 years of my life. Everything has changed for me, but I still try to find the joy and happiness of my existence by living NOW.

Please love, respect, and care for yourself. Peace to all.

[Hoofhearted]

NateTgreat, you truly are an inspiration and a hero! You actually cared enough to respond 2 years after your original post. Thank you!

You're testimony is hard to read, but I'm optimistic for you still. Your symptoms now sound like issues of any normal person (I.e. Nightmares, fatigues, and headaches); however, I don't doubt for a second that weed enhanced these symptoms now and supressed them in your past.

I wish you well and hope things get better for you in time!

[Thinker121]

Nate - legend mate. Thanks so much for the updating post, and its a bit daunting to think that after all the time that has passed for you, that there is still a struggle, but in the grand scheme of things, life is about a journey and I know that if getting clean was easy, there would be no reward in it. That the best things in life take time and distance to arrive at, and I'm hopeful that I am steadfast in my approach of not using, keeping clean, and working through the withdrawal symptoms. I certainly dont feel like using today, and I'm just focusing on today, one day at a time.

I think you touch on something very accurately and that is that there is more than just the physiological part in getting clean and free of marijuana. There is very much a spiritual side as well, and I think I am only really in the early days at day 21, so I'm only just starting to get a glimpse of what that side of the journey is going to look like for me.

But I wanted to let those know that have found this post today and read my previous comments 3 weeks ago, and are within your own first week or two of stopping marijuana that since my post above of feeling absolutely certain that there is something incredibly wrong with me, i.e. a brain tumor / certain death, that I am now on the 21st day without a cigarette or marijuana in my life and not feeling any where near as bad.

I am no longer feeling constantly dizzy, and my headaches are no longer as constant. In fact I hadn't noticed the head-aches much at all until a couple of days ago - and I've felt a bit tired and achy for the past couple of days, with a few faint dizzy spells but nothing in comparison to my first week / week and a half of going without.

The dreams are absolutely mad. They are so vivid and I remember them in great detail when I wake. Most of them have been about things in my life, in particular work (I have a pretty stressful job) - my word they have been crazy! So clear, so real - there must be a scientific explanation behind this, but I'm going to summarize that I've numbed by brain for 20 years with pot, perhaps it is just my brain starting to fire as if I've never given it the opportunity to do so before.

I'm super happy to have quit and in a bloody good head space. My pocket is thanking me, would you believe it, roughly $1500 bucks better off - which is really nothing in terms of the reason I decided to quite; it inst about the money, but certainly its a bonus right! I have a little nest egg growing, and I'm going to try and save a bit for my local Hospice that looked after my Mum in her final days, I look forward to the day of gifting that money, I know it is going to be a very tearful, enlightening and spiritual day for me.

I've been for a run with my dogs, they loved it - I did too, the endorphin release was magical. For a guy that used to run 20km without batting an eye lid, I have been able to do 3-4km and feel totally worn out afterwards, but at the same time - a renewed motivation and passion I feel is being born inside me.

I'm short tempered! Yes, I notice it most certainly with my wife (whom is still a smoker) and at work, my tolerance for people is pretty thin and I am quick to want to get a bit blunt with people and put them in their place at the moment! I've always been the guy that wears his heart on his sleeve and isn't afraid to stand up and make comment, but previously would have been a bit more controlled / tolerant - at the moment I'm very quick to bite! I am hoping that this will start to diminish as the cravings (in particular for cigarettes) dwindle and my recovery progresses.

I'll continue to pop back here from time to time to update, but at 21 days I can tell you that I'm not feeling as horrendous as I did during the first week or two, and that I am no longer freaking out that I have a brain tumor / something seriously wrong inside my head! I dont want to puff on anything, and I wont be, and I strive to follow in Nate's footsteps and progress along a journey to reconnect with myself and live a full and spiritually aware life.

Cheers,
The Thinker

[Dr. Aftab Uddin]

However, some cannabis users commonly long term and heavy categories, continue some symptoms for several months until they fully dissipate. They may persist-

1) Coughing & RTI: Due to chronic injury to the respiratory epithelium, coughing may persist some longer in duration. You may coughing up thick mucoid sputum after 2 weeks. In this time you may suffered from respiratory tract infections (Pneumonia and/or Flu like symptoms). Coughing is one type of body defense mechanism that remove foreign particles from your respiratory tract and lungs. Your body clearing processes (coughing, micturation, sweating , defecation etc.) are always working to make you clean.
2) Insomnia: Your sleeping difficulties may persists from week to months or even upto year in some cases. You can try our sleep regularization protocol (described below).
3) Anxiety and Depression: All addiction either resulted from anxiety & depression, or anxiety & depression can resulted from any addiction. Both of them can persist for several months to years. It is the main issue that the user has an underlying mental illness, and should see a therapist. Do not delay to get help from your physician.

So, in the long run you need to fight against anxiety and depression. The person who do not take marijuana for once in whole life, he/she also fights with anxiety and depression all time. In this state, hopefully you become a normal person without using weed completely. Now, it's time to enjoy weed free life forever.

Wishes for healthy and productive life
Dr. Md. Aftab Uddin

[Swim75]

Hello is anybody still using this site..all the posts are a few years old.i have just joined this forum and would like to interact with ex cannabis users fo receive and offer my support...i smoked for 25 years and have just past the 11 month mark..still feeling weird and a bit frightened..

[Soberchic]

Yes there are a ton of new topics if you just click addictions you will see a ton of new posts..but some of the responses are old.to left there are numbers 1234....to get newest responses you have to click on the highest number and scroll down to the most recent comments. Ive been on here for 5 mo and i have almost 9 mo clean..its definetly a ride..i smoke for 18yrs straight and finally quit on Aug 28th 2016, ice been in recovery from other substance s for yrs now and finally gave up the weed problem. Hang in there. Write your own topic people most likely will reach out to you that way

[Soberchic]

I just realized you wrote your almost at a year..go you..i think paws can take almost up to 2 yrs they say.but it gets better and better