Anxiety caused by quitting marijuana

[powerathlete9]

Hi everyone,

So I was a heavy smoker for about the last 9 months and had been on and off smoking heavily for the last year and a half. I quit 40 days ago today, and it has been a living nightmare.

The first week wasn't too bad, it wasn't until day 10 that I started feeling awful. Numbness on the left side of my body, pulsing headache, feeling weak on my left side, insomnia, heart palpitations. You name it I experienced it. So this prompted me to go to the Hospital, and I had every test under the sun ran on me.

Obviously everything came back perfectly healthy. So the last week and a half I have been feeling much more normal but I keep getting spurts of pure anxiety out of nowhere. Heart starts thumping hard, light headed, depersonalization.

I've been just trying to tough this out, but I'm curious if anyone can relate to what I'm experiencing and also give me an idea if this will be permanent or will I begin feeling human completely again.

any insight or stories are appreciated and I am really grateful for you reading mine and helping in advanced!

God bless!

[gypsylee]

Hi and welcome here,

Congratulations on quitting! I've never been a dope smoker because it doesn't agree with me at all (makes anxiety worse) but I know there are many who will never quit (including a good friend of mine).

I'm a recovered alcoholic though so I know a bit about substance addiction (and have read a lot). I personally think some of us are just born with a chemical imbalance which is "corrected" by particular substances. For me it's alcohol/benzos/opiates. I feel "normal" (and often pretty good!) when I take these. When you quit something like that your brain is obviously not happy and you get withdrawals for ages. Even when the physical withdrawals are over the psychological withdrawals certainly aren't.

It's really hard to say if this anxiety you're getting is permanent or not. I get random anxiety attacks and I try to just think "oh there goes my subconscious sending adrenaline through my body again" and take some deep breaths. That's all it is really.. But it feels like crap!

Hope that helps a little..

Chhers,
Gypsy x

[Kirk]

Welcome to the forum. My daughter who is 25 got anxiety from pot, so she never tried it again.

[Nowuccas]

Hey powerathlete9,

A previous post follows:

CANNABIS / MARIJUANA ADDICTION:
Long term use of cannabis / marijuana changes the pleasure pathways of the brain, so that you can have difficulty experiencing pleasure from other, non drug sources, and this can take a considerable time to recover from, even partially, and it can permanently affect short term memory adversely, and shrink the emotional centres of the brain, affecting the ability to form lasting relationships. It may permanently destroy the ability to perform higher mental functions, such as theoretical physics, or mathematics. The new strains of super potent marijuana are bred to have high TetraHydro Cannabinol, but it is at the expense of the levels of the stabilising cannabidiol, which are reduced accordingly. After quitting, there will be a huge void left by the absence of drugs, and that void will need filling, so have a plan in place for when you get over the physical withdrawal symptoms.

Marijuana Anonymous USA 1-800-766-6779 View http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Secrets-of-Quitting-Marijuana!&id=751159 and check out the top 2 articles at Wikihow: http://www.wikihow.com/Special:GoogSearch?cx=008953293426798287586%3Amr-gwotjmbs&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=quitting+marijuana

It's a good idea to avoid your previous associates, and hangouts, at least for a fair while, so you are not unnecessarily exposing yourself to the temptation to backslide, but, if you do, don't just give up! Accept that you are only human, and therefore fallible, but use that failure to re-double your resolve that you won't allow it to happen again.

SUPPORT GROUP: Marijuana Addiction & Recovery http://dailystrength.org/ If you are one of the 40% of people who are fairly suggestible, you may wish to consider professional hypnotherapy, or: hypnosisdownloads.com/ Perfect Partners: Overcome Cannabis Dependence or the FREE addictions download shown at http://your-mental-health.weebly.com/6.html Kindly donate if helped; they rely on it to maintain the free service.

BOOKS - ADDICTIONS:
Willpower's Not Enough: Recovering from Addictions of Every Kind by Arnold M. Washton, & Addiction: Why Can't They Just Stop? by John Hoffman, Susan Froemke, Sheila Nevins, and Susan Cheever, & The Addictive Personality: Understanding the Addictive Process and Compulsive Behavior by Craig Nakken, & 7 Tools to Beat Addiction by Stanton Peele,
from your bookstore, or enter "addictions" in the searchbar at www.amazon.com for more media.

REHABILITATION & RECOVERY:
Check out: http://www.recoveryconnection.org/ and http://www.alldrugrehabs.com and http://www.recoveryforums.org/ and http://www.smartrecovery.org/ and http://www.addictions.net/resources.aspx (recovery forum) http://stepchat.com/na.htm

---------------------------------------------------------

Check out https://www.google.com.au/search?client=opera&q=cannabis+withdrawals%3B+supplements&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 about supplements which may help, such as 5-htp, and/or melatonin.

Previous relevant post/s:

GENERALISED ANXIETY DISORDER: http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?33964-New-to-the-site-and-looking-for-help&p=223989#post223989

HERBAL ANXIOLYTICS / ANTI-ANXIETY SUBSTANCES: (passionflower, valerian, St. John's Wort, kanna, sacred lotus, kava kava, etc.) http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?34269-5-Powerful-Tools-You-Probably-Haven-t-Tried-Yet&p=225415#post225415

NON HERBAL NATURAL (NON PHARMACEUTICAL) ANXIOLTYICS: (5-htp, SAMe, etc.) http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?34355-Help-Please!!!/page2

--------------------------------------------------------------

Depersonalization:

Regard DP/DR as being purely temporary.

Advice from therapists, and sufferers: When affected, run your hands under cold water for several minutes. Adapt the following to your situation: Look around and find 5 colours; feel 4 different textures; smell 3 different odours, and taste 2 different things. Focus on your hands for several minutes, multiple times daily. Try snapping a rubber band on your wrist, lightly, at first, then increasingly harder; remove afterwards, and pocket.

Give the EFT a good tryout, to see if it helps you. It is free via the searchbar at http://eft.mercola.com * or http://www.tapping.com (13 free videos) or YouTube EFT. Professionally instructed is best. - There is a version for use in public places*, (if you want to, you can claim to have a headache, as you employ the acupressure massage/tapping on your temples, but you would then be restricted to subvocalising: [repeating to yourself in your mind] ) "Even though I sometimes suffer from depersonalization/derealization, I deeply and completely accept myself". Use the PMR, at http://www.drcoxconsulting.com/managing-stress.html

DP/DR often results from anxiety/panic attacks, so if this applies in your case, see http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?34482-What-can-I-do-to-feel-better-after-a-panic-attack&p=226304#post226304 about anxiety, and/or panic attacks. Neo-Reichian therapy has been recommended for DP/DR, but I suggest using the above treatments for at least several weeks, as they may well be all that are required.

RECOMMENDED READING:
Overcoming Depersonalization Disorder: A Mindfulness & Acceptance Guide to Conquering Feelings of Numbness & Unreality by Fugen A. Neziroglu, & Feeling Unreal: Depersonalization Disorder and the Loss of the Self, by Daphne Simeon and Jeffrey Abugel, and Depersonalization: A New Look at a Neglected Syndrome, and The Stranger In The Mirror by Marlene Steinberg and Maxine Schnall, and Depersonalization Disorder Medical Guide by Qontro Medical Guides, and The Haunted Self: Structural Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatization (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology) by Onno van der Hart, Ellert R. S. Nijenhuis, and Kathy Steele, from your bookstore, or www.amazon.com

Google DP/DR chat sites & forums, such as www.anxietyzone.com & http://www.dpselfhelp.com/forum and ask what worked for them, such as: http://www.dpselfhelp.com/forum/index.php?/topic/20892-the-holy-grail-of-curing-dpdr/

I suggest minimising, or avoiding fluorescent lights when reasonably possible; check out: http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=1899&bih=888&q=depersonalization+%2B+derealization%3B+fluoresce nt+lighting&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another option is to resume cannabis use at a reduced level, mixing it at first 50/50 with Damiana, (Turnera diffusa - Google supplies) Passionflower*, Sacred Lotus*, or Leonotis Leonuris, etc. (but not Catnip, or Kanna; possible potentiators) then gradually reducing the amount of cannabis in the mixture over at least 6 weeks until very little remains.

* Both have anxiolytic / anti-anxiety effects, and are only very mildly psychoactive, when smoked.

Hoping something in the above helps.

[powerathlete9]

Thank you for the detailed response! I will definitely take a look at these websites and see what helps me the most! I will continue to push through this I know I can get past it, it will just take some time.