Quitting weed for a while

[Vaked420]

Peppermint and chamomile are nice to vape to get over the routine.

If I remember right, 1mg of melatonin is a good dose. Your body does not need too much to signal sleep. Less is more.

Any time I take a break the dreams come rushing back for a week. After a week they don't alert me enough to wake me up.

Cannabis is a reward for the mind. Sometimes it can be the only reward and this is when things get sticky for me. Be sure to enjoy the other rewards in life!

Best of luck to all that want try a different perspective. You can't see where you are standing sometimes unless you move.

I like that quote at the end. And I'm not gonna vape any substitutes or use any melatonin or anything. I'm trying to train myself to have a life free of drugs or any substitutes to it and to go back to when weed was just an additive to my already good life. I feel like I'm getting back there already and it makes me want to vape a bowl, especially since my friends are coming over later to dab, but I know that I'm not ready yet and I need to stick to a month because every time before when I've taken a break I felt good at about this 1 week point and then I would give in and I'm not doing that this time. Thanks for the conversation guys. Honestly I don't really feel like I need any help through this process, it's just nice to talk to a mature community about it and to keep the conversation going, so I'll probably just keep posting updates on my progress more so for me than to keep you guys updated, but I'm sure you guys don't mind haha.

 

[CarolKing]

It's you not the weed, moderation is the key. It's hard to be able predict how an edible will hit you because there are so many variables including what is in your stomach. I never take an edible if I have something I need to do later on, such as driving. I usually save edibles for evening, mostly for sleep.

I use cannabis for pain, nerve damage and anxiety. I won't say I just use it medicinally. Some days I don't use any cannabis until evening other days I need to start off earlier in the day. There are days where I choose not to use any, you have to be in the driver's seat not the weed.

If it starts to overtake your life that's not a good place to be. It's all about moderation.

 

[biohacker]

It's you not the weed, moderation is the key

It's all about moderation.

You're right, but it's really hard when it's really for medicinal... but that medicinal can be a double edged sword. There are periods in my life that are excruciating due to the inability to have my medicine...anyone with a highly stressful full time job working rotating shifts can understand where i'm coming from.

My mood is greatly affected though, I really don't want to see or talk to anyone but my children and even then I can notice my patience is thinner than usual.

THIS ^^^^ Exactly like me! If you can tough it out, good things come...but damn it feels like forever sometimes. Some people go through months and sometimes years to get back to "normal" and some people are never the same. SO many variables, but the length of time using, the dose, frequency, body fat, etc all make a difference. One person may have brutal withdrawals and the other may not notice a thing.

 

[ginolicious]

It's you not the weed, moderation is the key. It's hard to be able predict how an edible will hit you because there are so many variables including what is in your stomach. I never take an edible if I have something I need to do later on, such as driving. I usually save edibles for evening, mostly for sleep.

I use cannabis for pain, nerve damage and anxiety. I won't say I just use it medicinally. Some days I don't use any cannabis until evening other days I need to start off earlier in the day. There are days where I choose not to use any, you have to be in the driver's seat not the weed.

If it starts to overtake your life that's not a good place to be. It's all about moderation.

i agree with the moderation thing. I quit for 2 years. Health related etc. but back when I was combusting I could rip 1.5 grams in a single session in a bong. Hell I could rip a .5 bong hit. My issue was even though I was super stoned I still blazed more. I kept going. Now I come home from work eat dinner, chill out, see my daughter for a bit. She's gets put to bed at 8. She's 9 months. I vape a .1. Then what ever is left in my grinder I will hit near the end of the night before bed to ensure I fall asleep. Sometimes I don't finish the bowl till the next day. If it was the old me I would keep smoking.

 

[twentypast4]

You're right, but it's really hard when it's really for medicinal... but that medicinal can be a double edged sword. There are periods in my life that are excruciating due to the inability to have my medicine...anyone with a highly stressful full time job working rotating shifts can understand where i'm coming from.

THIS ^^^^ Exactly like me! If you can tough it out, good things come...but damn it feels like forever sometimes. Some people go through months and sometimes years to get back to "normal" and some people are never the same. SO many variables, but the length of time using, the dose, frequency, body fat, etc all make a difference. One person may have brutal withdrawals and the other may not notice a thing.

@biohacker I've been dabbing daily for about the last 2.5-3yrs, and smoking for just about half my life (mj only) I've only put it down a couple of times in my early 20s with a few short stints.

it is rather difficult, I can't find joy in much, appetite is nearly zero -- but I'm hoping it will decrease my tolerance to a more managable/affordable level.

good luck to all who are on break!

 

[sundaddy]

I find that most of these revelations (I need to quit) come after an edible.

 

[Vaked420]

It's you not the weed, moderation is the key. It's hard to be able predict how an edible will hit you because there are so many variables including what is in your stomach. I never take an edible if I have something I need to do later on, such as driving. I usually save edibles for evening, mostly for sleep.

I use cannabis for pain, nerve damage and anxiety. I won't say I just use it medicinally. Some days I don't use any cannabis until evening other days I need to start off earlier in the day. There are days where I choose not to use any, you have to be in the driver's seat not the weed.

If it starts to overtake your life that's not a good place to be. It's all about moderation.

Ya it's definitely me and not the weed and I knew I shouldnt drive after an edible I just have never had one that still had me peaking at 4 hours but that's part of the reason that made me realize I was abusing the weed and not usin it for what it is.

Last night my friends were over and that was a true test of my will watching them dab and hit the bong(though I wouldve vaped I was still very jealous. They were killing spliff bowls as always...pretty bad imo) but anyways I'm a fifth of the way through my break and as my friend said it I only have to do this 4 times longer lol. I actually do feel incredibly confident tho.

On a side note I was bouncing off the walls like I had just drank 10 cups of coffee and I completely forgot how much weed has always mellowed me out. I've been like that my entire childhood to the point where I couldn't make friends a lot of my childhood just cause I was annoyingly over the top energetic and couldn't have control and while I did have some control last night, I was still super energized and it was hard to control at times.

Also I get up at 5:30 for work regularly and thats sooooo much easier now haha

 

[yekezil]

I quit cold turkey 2 days ago, during the day I'm fine, I never vaped during the day anyway. During the evenings I get some craving but doing random activities can distract me from that.

But at night I go through hell, the first 3 to 4 hours I get pretty decent sleep, but then the nightsweats and terrible vivid nightmares start. I tried sleeping pills, melatonine, nothing works. It's making me wonder if I should just taper down (do one session every other day). I'm just scared it will prolong the withdrawal effects instead of easing them.

 

[biohacker]

I know exactly what you are going through. NOTHING works for me, only TIME. Keep pounding back the water, and i'd personally taper down based on all my experiences over the last decade. Saunas can do wonders as well. My mentality was like yours though, i figured that cold turkey would be better...just go through the hell quickly, and then let up. Honestly, it's the hardest shit I have to ever go through... debilitating insomnia that can't be quenched. I found this thread/forum help me tremendous when going through it...it always made me feel better that it's common and i'm not alone: https://www.cannabisrehab.org/forum...ow-long-do-marijuana-withdrawal-symptoms-last

Hope that helps.

 

[snamuh]

I quit cold turkey 2 days ago, during the day I'm fine, I never vaped during the day anyway. During the evenings I get some craving but doing random activities can distract me from that.

But at night I go through hell, the first 3 to 4 hours I get pretty decent sleep, but then the nightsweats and terrible vivid nightmares start. I tried sleeping pills, melatonine, nothing works. It's making me wonder if I should just taper down (do one session every other day). I'm just scared it will prolong the withdrawal effects instead of easing them.

I'd push a little further cold turkey.

The first couple times I quit i had the same issue. But it only lasted a week at the most.

But yeah... Everyone is different.

I hated night sweats... My bed would be completely drenched.

 

[biohacker]

The sweats are the worst.... and it looks like they are headed my way because i'm going to be quitting vaping for a while. I know it sounds weird, but I need to quit in order to get better quality sleep. This is going to be oh so much fun!

 

[Farid]

No matter how much your tolerance let's you act normal, you're still under the influence of a drug. And the other major plus is its just way more fun when you get blasted as fuck every once in a while and build that suspense every time you vape

If you're using for recreation, I completely agree with you.

For a mmj patient, I see that kind of as a defeatist attitude. Most of us using cannabis for medical reasons are also on pharmaceutical drugs. I'm not allowed to stop taking my pharmaceuticals or else I could die. If I always thought of myself as under the influence of a drug, I'd be depressed all the time. I'd always be blaming the drug and my condition for my hardships.

When I started taking medication that was my attitude for a long time. I felt like I wasn't fully myself, but a beaned out, drugged up version. But once my tolerance developed, those negative side effects went away and I was able to see the great benefit of being medicated: now I can drive, I'm much less hard on myself and others, and I no longer have to deal with the emotional and mental strain of having seizures.

I'm happy my tolerance allows me to use cannabis daily as medicine. If I was getting “blasted” it would no longer be a viable medicine, because I would not be able to go about my day as a functioning member of society. If you're using cannabis for a physical condition, I think that “getting high” is a side effect, not the desired effect.

 

[snamuh]

I too am cutting back. I already started. I have timed safe that I am using to lock my vices up for ten days at a time. I have another timed safe I think I will set for 7 days and have a very small amount for use each week. (One session... But not a get stoned session.). Or I might just say fuckit and stick to ten days.

10 days is the max the safes go, I wish it was 14... So I could time them by weeks.

So far no night sweats... But I also have had no sleeping pattern at all so I'm not going through the 'fuck I need to fall asleep' anxiety before bed.

I do have some edible though that I can't lock up... At least that is a little different than the vape ritual, and its the ritual/habit I want to kick.

 

[syrupy]

I quit this morning. Am thinking about starting back up tonight.

 

[HellsWindStaff]

2 days clean... took 20 g of Creatine earlier to start loading my body so if I do have a piss test next week, I can dilute and it will look proper. (I have B complex vitamins too but I don't believe I really need to load on that in the week prior.....Creatine takes 24/48 hours to metabolize into creatinine, which is what they check for in terms of dilution, which is why I'm loading up now)

Kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. I either get tested next week, which, while it will be incredibly nerve wracking seeing as I've been clean only 2 days, will allow me the luxury of partaking again sooner. I do have Quik Fix, but I really don't want to use it....if it comes back as synthetic that's just a world of pain I don't want to deal with. (To it's credit, I researched other forums and other users bought from same website, and have same batch number, passed DOT test's and QD tests as recent as July 15'....just nervous is all that it won't stand up to a lab test, only ever used it on dip tests before)

OR, I get tested in like 4 weeks. Which will guarantee me being clean essentially, but I won't be able to partake for the better part of the month.

It's not too bad, I get cravings during the day a few times but if I keep my mind off it, I feel fine. The worst for me is directly after work, and at like 10 o clock.

Have had a bitch of a time sleeping. Not that I sleep poorly when I do start to sleep, just takes me forever to get to sleep.

Good luck to all of you It actually takes my mind off it just reading threads here and posting

 

[Vaked420]

If you're using for recreation, I completely agree with you.

For a mmj patient, I see that kind of as a defeatist attitude. Most of us using cannabis for medical reasons are also on pharmaceutical drugs. I'm not allowed to stop taking my pharmaceuticals or else I could die. If I always thought of myself as under the influence of a drug, I'd be depressed all the time. I'd always be blaming the drug and my condition for my hardships.

When I started taking medication that was my attitude for a long time. I felt like I wasn't fully myself, but a beaned out, drugged up version. But once my tolerance developed, those negative side effects went away and I was able to see the great benefit of being medicated: now I can drive, I'm much less hard on myself and others, and I no longer have to deal with the emotional and mental strain of having seizures.

I'm happy my tolerance allows me to use cannabis daily as medicine. If I was getting “blasted” it would no longer be a viable medicine, because I would not be able to go about my day as a functioning member of society. If you're using cannabis for a physical condition, I think that “getting high” is a side effect, not the desired effect.

I completely agree that for medical purposes it's the best alternative to anything else, but again as you said at the beginning of your post it's just for recreation.

Also it wasn't necessarily the amount that I was smoking but more so my mindset that I would say that I didn't wanna smoke or that I wanted to just smoke a little and then I would get to the end of the day and look back and wonder how I had vaped all those bowls.

As a report back I now only smoke maybe 4-5 times a week and feel so much better. I'm way more productive, I don't think about weed all the time, I don't have to worry about smelling like weed all the time or having bloodshot eyes and my tolerance is so much lower. A like third of a bowl out of my MFLB will get me pretty toasty and when I wanna go ham a little I'd guess .03 gram dab of some bubble hash will have me gripping to the chair to keep my sanity grounded lol.

Also when I was smoking a lot I would use like clear eyes and visine a lot and now usually when Im smoking it's in a situation where I don't have to worry about that, but yesterday I used eye drops for the first time and I can't believe how used to them I'd gotten. I was using them about daily and man did it feel terrible to use them yesterday. I know they're not supposed to be good for you so I'm just gonna try and stay away from them.

All in all I'm glad to have cut back my smoking. Do I think everyone should? No, everyone can find their own happy relationship with mj and if that's a couple grams a day that's fine by me. But for those that feel they've gotten to the point where they smoke/vape more than they want to I hope this helps as a success story to those that want a more stable use of mj. I really think taking a 10 day break helped to clear my head and then from there I sortve forced myself to smoke 2-3 times a week and it wasn't easy but after a month or so it just feels natural.

 

[slick]

I too am cutting back. I already started. I have timed safe that I am using to lock my vices up for ten days at a time. I have another timed safe I think I will set for 7 days and have a very small amount for use each week. (One session... But not a get stoned session.). Or I might just say fuckit and stick to ten days.

10 days is the max the safes go, I wish it was 14... So I could time them by weeks.

So far no night sweats... But I also have had no sleeping pattern at all so I'm not going through the 'fuck I need to fall asleep' anxiety before bed.

I do have some edible though that I can't lock up... At least that is a little different than the vape ritual, and its the ritual/habit I want to kick.

Can I ask why? The most interesting things about these threads imo is why people choose to cut back.

Obviously if you're a medicinal pt it's a whole another deal. But I think the fact that MJ is an intoxicant used recreationally with potentially negative effects on people's lives is a somewhat ignored facet. I guess this sort of logic can be applied to any vice that's not moderated though.

 

[snamuh]

Can I ask why? The most interesting things about these threads imo is why people choose to cut back.

Obviously if you're a medicinal pt it's a whole another deal. But I think the fact that MJ is an intoxicant used recreationally with potentially negative effects on people's lives is a somewhat ignored facet. I guess this sort of logic can be applied to any vice that's not moderated though.

I realized I have no structure in my life and I hide behind weed and anything else that i can use to supplement 'happiness'. I'm kind of self taught when it comes to life and growing up. I didn't and don't have it very bad but I now know I never learned how to be happy without any type of fix. Ive known this for a long long time and I was always on the look out for someone to help me out and be a mentor but no one I know seemed to understand where i was coming from or care to take that on the position...

When I first quit weed I realized I didn't know how to go to sleep naturally. Now I realize I don't know how to live day to day life naturally without weed. I don't know how tame my stress with out weed. I don't eat right, or exercise or have goals.

When I smoke negative thoughts marinate in my head. It lost the teachings I used to receive from it. Drugs seemed to teach me the lessons that people around me ignored. Now it is clearly telling me I'm abusing it.

I'm 27 but I feel like I have the life skill of a teenager.

I need to tackle the obstacles in my life and get past them instead of trying to medicate them away.

I was always taught life is supposed to good as if life being good and enjoyable is the base point and that it is naturally going to to be that way. But its not like that. I need to put the work in... "The world doesn't owe you shit, you owe the world everything"

Most people around me blame other people for their life sucking. I need to get away from that..

 

[CarolKing]

I realized I have no structure in my life and I hide behind weed and anything else that i can use to supplement 'happiness'. I'm kind of self taught when it comes to life and growing up. I didn't and don't have it very bad but I now know I never learned how to be happy without any type of fix. Ive known this for a long long time and I was always on the look out for someone to help me out and be a mentor but no one I know seemed to understand where i was coming from or care to take that on the position...

When I first quit weed I realized I didn't know how to go to sleep naturally. Now I realize I don't know how to live day to day life naturally without weed. I don't know how tame my stress with out weed. I don't eat right, or exercise or have goals.

When I smoke negative thoughts marinate in my head. It lost the teachings I used to receive from it. Drugs seemed to teach me the lessons that people around me ignored. Now it is clearly telling me I'm abusing it.

I'm 27 but I feel like I have the life skill of a teenager.

I need to tackle the obstacles in my life and get past them instead of trying to medicate them away.

I was always taught life is supposed to good as if life being good and enjoyable is the base point and that it is naturally going to to be that way. But its not like that. I need to put the work in... "The world doesn't owe you shit, you owe the world everything"

Most people around me blame other people for their life sucking. I need to get away from that..

Sounds like you need to find new friends. Surround yourself with positive people. Being pot smokers shouldn't be their first priority in life or what you look for in a friend. Being a cannabis user should be low on the list.

Spend a weekend writing down some goals, some things that you want to accomplish in life. Go somewhere that you can have complete privacy, with just you, nothing to disturb you. You could even go back to school? You are a young guy with a whole life a head of you. Think about doing things to improve your life. Do you have a job and do you like it? Is it something you want to build on or do long term?

Slowly cut down on the amount of cannabis you use if it's something you use all the tine. It's maybe not something you need to completely remove from your life? You may find out that cannabis needs to be put on the back burner for awhile.

 

[slick]

I realized I have no structure in my life and I hide behind weed and anything else that i can use to supplement 'happiness'. I'm kind of self taught when it comes to life and growing up. I didn't and don't have it very bad but I now know I never learned how to be happy without any type of fix. Ive known this for a long long time and I was always on the look out for someone to help me out and be a mentor but no one I know seemed to understand where i was coming from or care to take that on the position...

When I first quit weed I realized I didn't know how to go to sleep naturally. Now I realize I don't know how to live day to day life naturally without weed. I don't know how tame my stress with out weed. I don't eat right, or exercise or have goals.

When I smoke negative thoughts marinate in my head. It lost the teachings I used to receive from it. Drugs seemed to teach me the lessons that people around me ignored. Now it is clearly telling me I'm abusing it.

I'm 27 but I feel like I have the life skill of a teenager.

I need to tackle the obstacles in my life and get past them instead of trying to medicate them away.

I was always taught life is supposed to good as if life being good and enjoyable is the base point and that it is naturally going to to be that way. But its not like that. I need to put the work in... "The world doesn't owe you shit, you owe the world everything"

Most people around me blame other people for their life sucking. I need to get away from that..

How much are you using now? Is it to the point were its an event, or still just standard part of life? I find, depending on my mood, a good session can be an introspective eye opener. It helps me analyze my behavior and see where I could have been more understanding and were where I should not give.

 

[pdx3325]

I was always taught life is supposed to good as if life being good and enjoyable is the base point and that it is naturally going to to be that way. But its not like that. I need to put the work in... "The world doesn't owe you shit, you owe the world everything"

Most people around me blame other people for their life sucking. I need to get away from that..

I might just change the quote to, "The world doesn't owe you shit, you owe yourself everything."

Great thought/philosophy. Best of luck to you in getting your world together. You'll be better off for it.

 

[biohacker]

Decided to stop vaping so close before bed because it was fucking up my sleep cycles something fierce (a process that has slowly crept up on me over a number of years, vaping used to be my sleep's best friend). So last night I decided that after dinner, i'd have one last session at 6pm and that was it. I didn't feel as drowsy as usual when it was time to crash (just after 9pm), as I usually just "pass out". As a result, I was basically mostly awake most of the night, save for a micro sleep here and there. And thus the torment begins... self inflicted I suppose, mostly for medical reasons.... it's so hard, having ailments is the absolute worst, because you have to deal with side effects from the drugs, and i'd choose mmj over anything else, but even mmj is a double edged sword for some people.

Kudos to all those out there making the effort, i'm starting to fear what i've done to my brain and neurotransmitters... some people seem to never recover (i'm also on some other forums, so have witnessed those who have abstained anywhere from a day to nearly a decade).

Moderation and will power are two things that I will be unfortunately learning the hard way.

 

[snamuh]

Thanks for the responses @CarolKing @pdx3325 @slick

I am a fairly light user in terms of the quantity I use.

I know some of the steps I need to take but the issue is how long it takes. I have two semesters left before I get my associates degree but am not feeling it. I went to school partly for a change in life and hoped it would force me on to another path but it hasn't. This past 6 months I've been using adderall... Prescribed... And it would be good... But since I don't know how to cope with stress and don't have much structure in my life it just makes me get lost in bad habits.... It's been a real eye opener to me. I haven't been taking the medicine lately. Oddly enough when I'd vape on adderall I was alot more with it than I usually am when I vape... It was nice and relaxing.

I got in touch with an older friend that has ties in the medical field and asked him to help me get into therapy.

I have my tiny stash locked up for 10 days and a .07 load Iocked up for a week.

I have like 6 cookies... I have been eating them and they are great for sleep but unfulfilling for a head high... Which in terms of quitting/cutting back is good for me because its not my normal ritual/method. They just make me sleepy.

Well see how it goes! I just gotta find something to replace the time I usually waste.

I got a subscription to the headspace meditation app... I'm curious to get deeper into that. I also have a work out exercise app to utilize.

If anyone is interested theres a good subreddit for quiting weed call r/leaves
Those threads are good to read but do t go getting lost in reading them to avoid actually making the changes that need to be made.. I've seen alot that are very similar to my story, even the same age and lengh smoking!

Good luck everyone! And thanks for sharing!

 

[biohacker]

Full strength @snamah brother! The day I get my sleep back normally i'll probably get tears in my eyes... another 3am wakeup, textbook, and all i did is stop vaping after 6pm. Took a melatonin 1mg for the first time in years (previously up to 20mg), and it must of had some effect on my because I definitely wasn't tossing and turning all night, but ofcourse now the withdrawal sweats have started. CannabisRehab is an awesome forum for withdrawal support...the main withdrawal thread has over 100 pages of anecdotes going back years.

It's funny, obviously i'm pro-legalization and think this plant is a miracle if used properly, and the propaganda over the decades has been completely BS. But recently a huge part of me is wishing that it wasn't so sensationalized and made such a big deal over. It seems to me that it has swung so much the other way, that the negatives are often downplayed. The biggest thing has been the lack of research because of the obvious, can you imagine how much farther ahead we would have been by now?

I continue my quest for knowledge on this plant....specifically in relationship to sleep science. I used to think it really helped my sleep (and for many, especially medicinal/pain it can)....and it did for a while, but it was all smoke and mirrors, and in the long run has hurt my brain (hopefully temporarily) and reversed my ability to sleep, and that has caused me some mental and emotional issues. But, i'm taking action and doing what I need to do to resolve this, which means a new relationship with vaping. What scares me the absolute most, are the poor souls that don't fully recover at all, or who improve but continue to struggle not only after months of quitting, but even years. I've read anecdotes (including on our forum) of people simply having to resort back to vaping, even after 3 years free of it because their sleep simply would not come back naturally. Perhaps it's just the chicken or the egg theory though, because their is a massive correlation between sleeping issues and cannabis usage.

 

[Reliable ShotZ]

Exercise until your in agony and you will sleep like a log. I know it's not an option for everyone. Exercise outside rather than going to the gym so you get some sunlight and fresh air. Our lives are so different to the natural lives our species used to live, one thing we used to do a lot of that we don't do enough of now is exercise.