Cannabis withdrawal?

Hi all,

I have been smoking cannabis daily for 5 years now and it's been 3 days since I last used. I'm feeling restless and agitated, but exhausted and depressed all at the same time. My mind races and it won't stop. I'm becoming increasingly overwhelmed and I can't relax.

I've tried hot and cold showers and running. I've tried loud and gentle music but I've heard unintelligible voices in the music. I've tried meditation but it almost made things worse as I start to focus on how my body feels and that's not very pleasant right now. I have a headache, I'm nauseated, have no appetite, I feel weak and can't sleep. The physical stuff I know is likely just withdrawal and will pass but my thoughts are scaring me. I've tried to quit before but used alcohol and benzodiazepines to calm me down and eventually started using again. To be honest I never believed cannabis could result in a withdrawal syndrome until I experienced it myself. I also have a history of methamphetamine abuse (ice). I'm shocked that cannabis has proven to be more difficult to overcome than that insidious drug, but I suppose the negative outweighed the positive 10:1 after 3 years of regular use (not daily).

I'm looking for other tips to calm my mind and body?

Have any others had a similar experience when trying to quit smoking cannabis?

Thanks in advance.

Well done for stopping and getting through the first few days. Try and talk your Dr into giving you a prescription for gabapentin. It's non addictive and can be helpful for MJ withdrawal.

splitimage

Thanks splitimage.
We actually have pregabalin at home, but I don't know if I should combine it with my meds. What kind of dose and schedule is gabapentin taken for cannabis withdrawal?

I don't know - except it's highly individual. My addictions Dr. prescribes it all the time, so when I was in rehab, there were always a lot of people on it. that's how I know about it.

splitimage

From my experience - weed is a better alternative if you're trying to stay away from doing harder drugs every day.
But if you're trying to be completely sober, I think weed is highly addictive and def has withdrawal effects
If that made any sense.

I feel like I'm addicted to the heightened / dulled feelings and senses they give me, whatever they are, not a specific thing. Guess that's why I can't stay sober for very long... Things are too plain without them. Like we're just floating on this dying rock pretending we're not going crazy in our heads. Most of the times, they make me more honest, grateful, and in touch with myself and others.

Wow, I read your original post and could swear I wrote it myself. I just stopped smoking cannabis as well as cigarettes. The only reason for doing so was because my coughing is absolutely ridiculous and constant, the kind of unproductive cough that just leaves you coughing more LOL

But yeah, what you are experiencing is crazy similar to what I am going through right now. I am depressed, exhausted, constantly going back and forth between hot and cold sweats all day and night. I wake up and have to change around 3 times each night usually.

I also abused meth regularly and have been clean from that as well, but I attributed my being able to stay clean from meth to my cannabis use. Now, however, because of the throat and lung irritation I feel like it's time to stop for health purposes.

MJ withdrawal is intense for some. It sure was for me. I suffered and constantly suffer every time i quit. It was much worse during some of the quit attempts. Especially Once i had symptoms for 6 months entire months, depression , anxiety , and worst of all was the night sweats and insomnia and interrupted sleep. For that entire period! It was pure agony.

It honestly felt like i was coming off heroin or something. Not that i have experience with that drug but rhetorically speaking.

The last attempt was much much less intense and physical symptoms lasted about 3 weeks which was insomnia and sleep issues, but i ended up taking melatonin pills to regulate my sleep which helped.

It will subside obviously so stay strong. What can help is magnesium glycinate (the good absorbable variety) or epsom salt baths which has magnesium. Fish oil supplements. A good diet. There are other things you could take like over the counter stuff but if you're on medication so they might interact with them so i won't recommend those alternatives. But in case other people read this, 5-htp which is a precursor of serotonin production in the brain and there is another supplement called L-tyrosine. They're not strong and fast acting and definitely discuss with your Doctor first before taking any supplements to be on the safe side.

Also exercise. Any type of sweat inducing cardiovascular type of daily exercise is helpful for detox and recovery. Yoga too is good.

Dude!!! Just when I got through the most intense of the withdrawals coming off narcotics I decided it would be a good idea to quit cannabis. Because we all know there are no cannabis withdrawals right??

WRONG!

I'm TOTALLY experiencing those night sweats and interrupted sleep you're talking about. I wake up 3 times a night usually and have to change every time because I'm always in a cold sweat. Besides that, if I wake up any time after 4am, that's good enough for me! I stay up (well, I drift in and out while watching tv lol) because I can't deal with laying there trying unsuccessfully to sleep.

It's crazy! Actually, I would compare this withdrawal to when I reactivated my metabolism during anorexia recovery... Night sweats galloooore and all kinds of little things very similar to drug withdrawal.

Hey Jess! It is craaaazy. And it's so tough really. I remember when i used to tell my friends some used to not believe me and think that its impossible to it must be something else. I'm like NO there is a direct freaking correlation and i am experiencing it first hand and in real time so no its not some other thing!

I've been off MJ for for 5 months now! yay.

Good on you for stopping cannabis, Wanderlust90 and Jessabee! It will take time to heal completely. Just take it one step at the time and give it time. Hopefully you'll feel better soon. I'd suggest to talk to your doctor about this and see how it goes from there, if you haven't already of course. Wish you good luck! Let us know how it goes. Sending many hugs to you

I agree with MickeyCheeky as far as taking the step to healing completely.

As far as withdrawal symptoms, I know from many many attempts at quitting various drugs that the mental aspects of withdrawal can be the most difficult. One thing that has helped me greatly and may help you is a deep observation of time. If you understand that it will get better over time, it may help you focus on staying away from the herb just one more moment. Many recovery groups talk about one day at a time. Let's break it down even more. Try not to pick up for a minute at a time. It WILL get better. Marijuana dependency is real and it took me a long time to get off of it for good.

One thing that helped me and is a bit of a crutch (and if you look at my meds you'll see I'm only where I am because of a crutch), high grade CBD oil may help you greatly. Depending on where you live, you may even be able to but hemp buds that look and smell like the real deal but have hardly any THC. This is what I used to completely break my dependency to cannabis.

Good luck.

Hi all,
I'm proud to say that I've abstained from MJ for 7 months now and haven't looked back! I see a drug and alcohol counsellor now to try to get to the roots of my propensity for substance abuse. I still drink wayyy too much when I do drink, I still love the occasional speed/coke session, but it's a work in progress.

I would not take another prescription drug like gabapenten to replace cannabis... I am wondering if you’re feeling all the anxiety, depression, anger etc that youve been suppressing with cannabis. You could definitely be feeling a lot of things that you don’t know how to deal with. My personal beliefs are that cannabis is the safest thing out there to treat a lot of issues from mental health issues to physical stuff, but if that isn’t the route you want to take I would highly recommend therapy to help you process and learn new coping skills if you aren’t already in therapy..

I forgot to say maybe you could use some cbd oil?

Good work.

That’s all you can do, keep moving forwards.