Im a 22 yr old guy who in a nutshell smokes everyday without fail. i have tried cutting down in the past more times then i can remember but the main symptoms i can never endure till the very end are the cold sweats, suppressed stomach (which stops me from eating properly) and very sleepless nights... sometimes i wonder if the s*** ever really clears from the system. The longest ive ever tried to go without is about 11 - 12 months and yes.... i still get the withdrawal symptoms..... can anybody offer other assitance?
man 11-12 mo. with severe symptoms? i am only 5 mo. and that is as long as i have ever gone. i smoked morning noon and night for a long time/
i still get leg cramps from time to time, nightmares, sleep less nights sometimes, i WISH i couldnt eat, but have replaced weed with powdered donuts. at 3 mo. 1/3 of my hair fell out.
i wish i had an answer, just support, are they that sever that long. one thing i did do about a month in is start taking a B complex vitamin, 2 per day, along with a multi vitamin, i think that has helped a lot. maybe try some other little tricks for sleep, like black mask and ear plugs or relaxation tapes.
good luck
i still get leg cramps from time to time, nightmares, sleep less nights sometimes, i WISH i couldnt eat, but have replaced weed with powdered donuts. at 3 mo. 1/3 of my hair fell out.
i wish i had an answer, just support, are they that sever that long. one thing i did do about a month in is start taking a B complex vitamin, 2 per day, along with a multi vitamin, i think that has helped a lot. maybe try some other little tricks for sleep, like black mask and ear plugs or relaxation tapes.
good luck
August West; Your ammends for your judgement is commendable. I know hippie personally, and wether or not he is an addict remains to be discovered by him. You are right, someone with 60 days should be applauded; especially someone doing it on their own without support surrounded by those who still use.
I have 15 thirty day chips, and recall that miserable time, when you promise yourself abstinence but justify "one more"; or blame others for pulling you back, yet deny powerlessness. How can a relapse be the fault of someone else if you are in "control"? That is the mystery of my own addiction. One interesting thing about using culture is the pecking order. The pot addict can tell themselves "not as bad" or "not like that"; and semi-function. Addiction is addiction, and the insidiousness of pot is that you get nowhere. I think of that old TV spot that showed thirty-year old pot heads playing video games half eaten bowls of cereal everywhere, Mom yelling from the other room to "get a job" and pot is not a problem. The prev post of the woman who would rather get high than do her dishes or care for her children...children know when you are not present, but they dont blame the drug between themselves and their parent. They blame themselves.
Happy to be clean, gotta go do some dishes.
Bella
I have 15 thirty day chips, and recall that miserable time, when you promise yourself abstinence but justify "one more"; or blame others for pulling you back, yet deny powerlessness. How can a relapse be the fault of someone else if you are in "control"? That is the mystery of my own addiction. One interesting thing about using culture is the pecking order. The pot addict can tell themselves "not as bad" or "not like that"; and semi-function. Addiction is addiction, and the insidiousness of pot is that you get nowhere. I think of that old TV spot that showed thirty-year old pot heads playing video games half eaten bowls of cereal everywhere, Mom yelling from the other room to "get a job" and pot is not a problem. The prev post of the woman who would rather get high than do her dishes or care for her children...children know when you are not present, but they dont blame the drug between themselves and their parent. They blame themselves.
Happy to be clean, gotta go do some dishes.
Bella
bellarose- that was so well said. i'm saving those words!
hippinerd-in response to your question what made me come out of the closet...?
i suppose there comes a time.
jojo
hippinerd-in response to your question what made me come out of the closet...?
i suppose there comes a time.
jojo
really you people should be careful, when you talk of withdrawl symptoms I just can't relate. never had any of that stuff, sure didn't sleep as well but for all I know the pot was just causing me to sleep more, never went a whole night without sleeping unless I tried really hard. if you do try "controlled using" and it dosen't work the first time, it probably won't work at all. And LXJ have you seen a doctor? it might just be you have some serious medical problems which the pot is just masking, those may not be withdrawal symptoms at all. JMAV-keep up the good work, gotta admit if it were me I'd take the money and go, five days after the wedding it won't matter who paid for the airfare, hotel, or whatever, but thats just me. One last thought, I had a conversation recently with my mom and got the impression she was talking to the person I used to be, changing others perceptions of ourselves can at times be much harder than changing ourselves, but others are something that is beyond our control.
hippinerd.... tell me more about your 'controlled using'. i've had many false stops and yet well i stopped cigs that way, which was really my own way and it's been 10+ years. i know it's not the same thing but the mind-set is similar. it's one of the things you can't ask in the rooms. what do you think?
jo
jo
bellarose you really hit close to home regarding kids. i have noticed since i quit, it has been like i have gotten to know them all over again. i almost hate admitting that. but the majority of their life i was buzzed, while i played with them i was numb and i am sure very disinterested, and face it playing was few and far between, let me get honest here, it was more like lying in bed watching tv hoping they would leave, or sitting outside shooing them to play on the swings. i hope they are still y oung enough to forget those feelings that maybe they were doing something that distanced me. (iguess that is that river august always refers to) all i can do is enjoy every minute now, they are no longer strangers and luckily it only took a short while to get acquanted.
MAN THAT WAS HARD TO ADMIT.
MAN THAT WAS HARD TO ADMIT.
yes had to admit. those words about children kept me awake last night.
Feeling tormented with confusion.
I'm clean and lonely as hell.
I'm clean and lonely as hell.
jo jo-see my previous post on this topic, will be happy to answer any specific questions you have.
hippinerd-
hi, i read your previous post and think i get the gist of your method. it is really how i quit cigs but then again i'm not sure i was as addicted to cigs as i am to weed. it wasn't easy but it worked for me.
questions:
1. did you just give yourself "sacred time" in the morning hours? did you address the evening at all or bite the bullet?
2. how long did you do this till you went clean.... ? 60 days is great, congrats!
3. after all this do you think yourself a weed addict? you were questioning that on your post.
4. how are your dreams- did the controlled using help the dreamstate?
okay enough questions for you but i want to get on a program even if it is self enforced, i think i can do. yours sounds doable for me. i do better when i know i can get to it and decide not to.
10+ years ago i quit cigs this way and i think i can do it again with weed. it's sounds so better than all the false stops i've had going c/t. which makes me anxious and depressed........
the whole situation does actually but we do what we can, true?
thanks in advance!
jojo
hi, i read your previous post and think i get the gist of your method. it is really how i quit cigs but then again i'm not sure i was as addicted to cigs as i am to weed. it wasn't easy but it worked for me.
questions:
1. did you just give yourself "sacred time" in the morning hours? did you address the evening at all or bite the bullet?
2. how long did you do this till you went clean.... ? 60 days is great, congrats!
3. after all this do you think yourself a weed addict? you were questioning that on your post.
4. how are your dreams- did the controlled using help the dreamstate?
okay enough questions for you but i want to get on a program even if it is self enforced, i think i can do. yours sounds doable for me. i do better when i know i can get to it and decide not to.
10+ years ago i quit cigs this way and i think i can do it again with weed. it's sounds so better than all the false stops i've had going c/t. which makes me anxious and depressed........
the whole situation does actually but we do what we can, true?
thanks in advance!
jojo
jojo-I will do the best I can to answer your questions honestly.
1) During the course of my "recovery" I never did expand the range of "sacred time".*
2) Honestly, I can't remember how long, months (6) at least, years perhaps.*
3) Ok, I should come clean about my first post. I don't think I'm an addict.^ Bellarose expressed a different opinion. We met in another chat room (singles looking for each other was one aspect of it.) I think we could end up being in love with each other, but when she found out I had smoked pot every day, she was convinced that I was just an addict in denial (she's a 12 stepper, "not that there's anything wrong with that"{ha ha}) and as she raised the question my personality is such that I needed to do my best to consider it objectively. So my first post was an attempt to solicit an (or several) opinion(s) from a neutral party(ies). Clearly from her post, she remains skeptical and she is entitled to her opinion, only time will tell.
4) Generally, I don't dream, or at least I don't remember them. I do meditate every day, something I only realized since I have known bella, it is such a natural part of my life (sometimes it just involves sitting quietly for a min and clearing the mind, or just shutting off the "internal dialouge" enough that I can focus on NPR in the morning. I would encourage anyone, addict or otherwise, to do this for the mental clarity and peace it will bring you.
NOTES:
*this was never meant to be a program focused on quitting, I just found that I was undisiplined in my using and used this as a way to control my using, quitting just turned out to be the result.
^see a post on another thread, but I don't have any "withdrawal symptoms" when I quit, and I have quit a couple of times. Also, never feel (felt) anxious when I don't have access to pot-just can't seem to keep out of the stash if its around.
Like I said before, this may not work for all, but hey, "if it works it's good!" I always say. Thanks, folks, for your opinions, they have been a blessing.
1) During the course of my "recovery" I never did expand the range of "sacred time".*
2) Honestly, I can't remember how long, months (6) at least, years perhaps.*
3) Ok, I should come clean about my first post. I don't think I'm an addict.^ Bellarose expressed a different opinion. We met in another chat room (singles looking for each other was one aspect of it.) I think we could end up being in love with each other, but when she found out I had smoked pot every day, she was convinced that I was just an addict in denial (she's a 12 stepper, "not that there's anything wrong with that"{ha ha}) and as she raised the question my personality is such that I needed to do my best to consider it objectively. So my first post was an attempt to solicit an (or several) opinion(s) from a neutral party(ies). Clearly from her post, she remains skeptical and she is entitled to her opinion, only time will tell.
4) Generally, I don't dream, or at least I don't remember them. I do meditate every day, something I only realized since I have known bella, it is such a natural part of my life (sometimes it just involves sitting quietly for a min and clearing the mind, or just shutting off the "internal dialouge" enough that I can focus on NPR in the morning. I would encourage anyone, addict or otherwise, to do this for the mental clarity and peace it will bring you.
NOTES:
*this was never meant to be a program focused on quitting, I just found that I was undisiplined in my using and used this as a way to control my using, quitting just turned out to be the result.
^see a post on another thread, but I don't have any "withdrawal symptoms" when I quit, and I have quit a couple of times. Also, never feel (felt) anxious when I don't have access to pot-just can't seem to keep out of the stash if its around.
Like I said before, this may not work for all, but hey, "if it works it's good!" I always say. Thanks, folks, for your opinions, they have been a blessing.
hippienerd. thanks for all your info. yes i understand that this is not a 'program' toward quitting. just like mine wasn't to quit smoking cigs, but somehow i had the discipline to cut down and then it was nothing. then a day went by and i found myself saying, "i didn't smoke today". 10+years ago.
i do know for sure that i have a much different relationship with weed. i am addicted on many levels, yet with much ado in my life this time i'd like to try some behavior modification (if you will) and changing my habits and my intake would be a good first step in letting go. i have tried to guit c/t many times, freaks me out. i'm considering alternative ways. i've cut down a lot. now i'm going to see if i can deal with "sacred" time....i'll let you know how it goes. thanks!
jojo
ps.
i had a feeling about you and bella. between your posts and her post about children i now see things differently. i hope it works out with you two :)
i do know for sure that i have a much different relationship with weed. i am addicted on many levels, yet with much ado in my life this time i'd like to try some behavior modification (if you will) and changing my habits and my intake would be a good first step in letting go. i have tried to guit c/t many times, freaks me out. i'm considering alternative ways. i've cut down a lot. now i'm going to see if i can deal with "sacred" time....i'll let you know how it goes. thanks!
jojo
ps.
i had a feeling about you and bella. between your posts and her post about children i now see things differently. i hope it works out with you two :)
Jo jo-
thanks for your ps. have you started yet? how's it going? what timespan did you choose to make "sacred"? been busy for a coulpla days, these answers may be in other threads I have not read. Please keep me posted.
thanks for your ps. have you started yet? how's it going? what timespan did you choose to make "sacred"? been busy for a coulpla days, these answers may be in other threads I have not read. Please keep me posted.
hippienerd-
thanks for asking... i've been doing 'sacred time' 4-5 and a late night bowl if everyone is asleep but i've pretty much cut the late night. (which is great).
and yet the situation will change on friday as i start a new job. i have been working from home which has been difficult to keep clean and stay clean this past long while. the 'controlled' use is def. helping me and come friday the job will make it out of the question to smoke during my sacred time.
and soooooo between then and now i decide if i think it's best to just come clean and stop period. and/or allowing myself 6-7pm 'sacred time'.
it's really not easy. either way i'm smoking less. gaining "control" and understanding....and working toward an eventual exit. yet in truth for me and my habit/addiction i think i am just postponing the inevitable ...
this is much more huge than the cigs were for me. (i am learning) it's not just the physical addiction it's the behavior it's the mindset and it's tied up in the basic reason i smoke in the first place. not to mention the habit.
i am in therapy so that does help too.
i'll let you know how it goes.....
how are things with you?
take good care,
jo
thanks for asking... i've been doing 'sacred time' 4-5 and a late night bowl if everyone is asleep but i've pretty much cut the late night. (which is great).
and yet the situation will change on friday as i start a new job. i have been working from home which has been difficult to keep clean and stay clean this past long while. the 'controlled' use is def. helping me and come friday the job will make it out of the question to smoke during my sacred time.
and soooooo between then and now i decide if i think it's best to just come clean and stop period. and/or allowing myself 6-7pm 'sacred time'.
it's really not easy. either way i'm smoking less. gaining "control" and understanding....and working toward an eventual exit. yet in truth for me and my habit/addiction i think i am just postponing the inevitable ...
this is much more huge than the cigs were for me. (i am learning) it's not just the physical addiction it's the behavior it's the mindset and it's tied up in the basic reason i smoke in the first place. not to mention the habit.
i am in therapy so that does help too.
i'll let you know how it goes.....
how are things with you?
take good care,
jo
Jo jo-
Things are good here I think today is 90 days clean or maybe 92, don't remember for sure, just not that important. What you said about the behavior and the habit is very true, I hope it will strike a cord with some others who read this board, we all have our own reasons for using, and for quitting. Perhaps that is the key for some of us, to let the reasons for quitting overwhelm the reasons for using. Sounds like the web which surrounds your "habit" is complex what with therapy and all, glad to hear you are attacking it on multiple fronts, and glad to hear about the new job! That is one of the things which occurs on this journey, putting new things in our lives which preclude our using, causing us to use less, making our desire to succed greater, kind of a "vicious cycle of success".
As for me, actually had a couple of dream fragments left over yesterday morning, and bella and I seem to be hitting a rough spot the past couple of days, just part of the growing process is the way I am looking at it for the moment, or there may be a waterfall ahead on the river, no way to know from the canoe. But that is part of the journey called life, be pretty boring if we knew how it turned out, huh.
Remember the only way to quit is to quit.
Things are good here I think today is 90 days clean or maybe 92, don't remember for sure, just not that important. What you said about the behavior and the habit is very true, I hope it will strike a cord with some others who read this board, we all have our own reasons for using, and for quitting. Perhaps that is the key for some of us, to let the reasons for quitting overwhelm the reasons for using. Sounds like the web which surrounds your "habit" is complex what with therapy and all, glad to hear you are attacking it on multiple fronts, and glad to hear about the new job! That is one of the things which occurs on this journey, putting new things in our lives which preclude our using, causing us to use less, making our desire to succed greater, kind of a "vicious cycle of success".
As for me, actually had a couple of dream fragments left over yesterday morning, and bella and I seem to be hitting a rough spot the past couple of days, just part of the growing process is the way I am looking at it for the moment, or there may be a waterfall ahead on the river, no way to know from the canoe. But that is part of the journey called life, be pretty boring if we knew how it turned out, huh.
Remember the only way to quit is to quit.
Very impressed with 3 months. Good on you hippienerd. How do you reward yourself? Oh just remembered you're on vacation.Nevermind.
Wonder woman-don't need to reward myself-just have no desire to smoke
