Addiction - Cannabis physical withdrawal

[snapper]

SWIM can now attest to it's being real, at least for SWIM. SWIM decided that after 16 years of rarely missing a day and about 25 years of use, SWIM would try to stop for a month or two to see what it was like. Well, SWIM got through day two with no real problems, but day 3 made SWIM into a manic wacko, and then day 4 was when the physical symptoms set in. Extreme agitation, tremors, diarrhea, severe nausea, lucid dreaming, mood swings, dizziness , sweats, chills, and a general feeling of malaise. SWIM decided to abort the experiment since SWIM had to work (and also to determine if they were truly withdrawal symptoms or a flu) and was mostly normal by about 2 hours after smoking a bowl. SWIM remembers stopping before (over 6 years ago) without going through this and bought the hype about physical withdrawals being merely psychological. Interestingly enough, SWIM did not crave weed at any point. SWIM was actually disappointed to smoke, since SWIM does not like to stop once SWIM sets SWIM's mind on something. SWIM now wants to try and taper slowly, since SWIM wants to do some travelling in a few years and will have to stop at that point.
Note SWIM is a heavy smoker of very strong pot. The quality of what SWIM smokes has only been consistently lop grade relatively recently, so perhaps SWIM's THC levels are much higher than most now. Given the constant arguments about whether physical THC withdrawal is real or not, SWIM is convinced that it is. Also note that SWIM has no problems with pot use and is very productive, functional and lucid with it. The quitting was just to gain some perspective, after which SWIM fully intended to start again.

[Heretic.Ape.]

Interesting, thanks for sharing swiy's experience. Let us know how the tapering method works in the future. I've heard of moodiness and agitation before but had figured that was mainly a psychological withdrawal. I suppose it isn't suprising that some effect would be noticed when a fairly drastic change occurs in the system. I find it interesting that there was no craving for the substance itself, leading me to think it's mainly a matter of disrupted homeostasis. Hmm. Anyway, thanks.
h.a.

[Powder_Reality]

SWIM never really suffered from many physical withdrawal symptoms when he quit smoking marijuana, more psychological symptoms. However, the most noticeable physical withdrawal symptoms had to do with sleep. SWIM had a lot of trouble falling asleep when he quit smoking, and he had even more trouble staying asleep. He would have vivid and intense dreams/nightmares that would cause him to wake up in the middle of the night. He would wake up several times a night every night, which left him exhausted.

These symptoms lasted for about 2 or 3 weeks after he quit, but decreased steadily after the first week or so.

[augentier]

Originally Posted by Powder_Reality

..the most noticeable physical withdrawal symptoms had to do with sleep. SWIM had a lot of trouble falling asleep when he quit smoking, and he had even more trouble staying asleep. He would have vivid and intense dreams/nightmares...

SWIM is the same, she has trouble falling asleep..and then her dreams become very vivid and disturbing. She will get irritated for a couple days after not smoking, but she thinks that is more just being stubborn and pissy because she doesn't have it rather than a physiological problem..but maybe she's wrong. These things go away after a few days, though.

[keats]

SWIM wasn't aware there was any argument for the idea marijuana was caused physical withdrawls, interesting post. Frankly a lot of that sounds like more psychological withdrawl than the physical kind, though. Mood swings, sleeping problems, malaise; these are all widely known attributes of halting heavy cannabis use. Moreover when you do any activity/substance daily for decades you're going to feel some serious effects when you stop. Has SWIY been through withdrawls from any addictive drug? SWIM doesn't mean to be patronizing, but while he believes cannabis can be tough to quit and cause unpleasent symptoms when halted they're nothing compared to withdrawls from a real addictive drug.

[snapper]

SWIM kicked heroin twice, and had severe physical withdrawals from both barbituates and later benzos. SWIM also quit cocaine, nicotine and meth at other times which were primarily psychological withdrawals. SWIM is very familiar with withdrawal symptoms and was really surprised to find that there was a strong physical component which reminded SWIM of a milder version of narcotics withdrawal (minus head cold and muscle cramps) with worse mood swings. SWIM has also kicked an 8 year daily GHB habit and a 1 year kratom habit with little to no (for the former) withdrawals, so not everything causes these symptoms for SWIM. Keep in mind that this was day 4 and the symptoms seemed to be just starting. SWIM feels almost back to baseline after starting up again 2 days later, but is still a little manic and unstable. SWIM will not test the waters again this way, but will slowly taper, then stop. SWIM was naive to think cold-turkey would be easy. SWIM's last quitting experience with kratom was easy, which made SWIM cocky.
As an aside, SWIM has NEVER had such vivid dreams, bordering on lucid, with near 100% recall afterwards. It would have been interesting were in not for the fact that SWIM worked 2 long shifts with no sleep over the course of 3 days...lunesta did not help and made the vivid dreams ever worse..

[jcdjinn]

SWIM never experienced any physical withdrawl even after going on long binges when he blazed multiple times a day for several months straight. He actually felt happier and healthier when he stopped, but missed the fun so he returned within a few months to repeat the cycle. But maybe a user who has an illness and smoked a lot simply never noticed their illness because weed covered it up, and stopping reveals that they have been sick all along but never known. Just a theory.

[Kindras_bk]

SWIM notices, when he stops smoking weed for a while...that he gets much more adhd.. but since he actually has adhd that would be why. He has also noticed that if he stops for a very long time thathe becomes much more irritable and agitated, but that is from the frustration of not being able to smoke b/c he lives at his parents place.

[Nature Boy]

Originally Posted by snapper

Well, SWIM got through day two with no real problems, but day 3 made SWIM into a manic wacko, and then day 4 was when the physical symptoms set in. Extreme agitation, tremors, diarrhea, severe nausea, lucid dreaming, mood swings, dizziness , sweats, chills, and a general feeling of malaise.

Four of those symptoms are non-physical. I'm genuinely surprised about the other ones, especially diarrhea. I don't see how quitting using cannabis could cause that seeing as cannabis use does not interfere with the digestive system in the same way opiates would, for example. The nausea, dizziness, sweats etc. seems strange, even after very heavy use. Perhaps missing out on SWIY's daily dose of cannabinoids has weakened their immune system.

[snapper]

Perhaps the GI signs were from excessive anxiety, but honesty SWIM was floored and did not expect this to happen. SWIM will try again at some point to see if these symptoms are repeatable, though the psychological ones alone were really bad. Weed has kept SWIM's bipolar disorder in check for a long time, and quite successfully, since SWIM has yet to take any mood stabilizers and functions quite well. Take the THC out of the picture and SWIM becomes a basket case, or at least remembers this when SWIM did not use (both times at least a year). Perhaps the rebound mood swings had a visceral effect, and it was not the THC at all. SWIM is going with this at this point, though admittedly SWIM smoked a lot of very strong reefer for a very long time, so who knows. SWIM has been totally back to normal since starting up again and all the symptoms subsided within 24 hours of using.. SWIM is actually relieved to hear no other reports of similar symptoms, as SWIM feels they may be attributable to something else.

[Nature Boy]

The fact that SWIY uses cannabis as a means of dealing with bipolar disorder is quite significant and obviously changes the picture. Not suffering from bipolar disorder, all the psychological symptoms listed above do not apply to someone who smokes cannabis heavily and suddenly quits cold turkey. SWIM's a pretty heavy smoker himself and has dealt with the occasional dry spell, by circumstance and not by choice, and did notice perhaps some minor annoyances like difficulty sleeping, change in mood, appetite decrease etc. But nothing that lasted longer than a couple of days.

[hh339]

I have been waiting with this, as I know someone is probably going to mock what I say.

Now this is the second time this has happened in a short while. As usual in the morning Stan reaches for the bong the minute he wakes up, to wake him up and calm his crazy nerves.

Just like about 10 days ago, this morning he skipped smoking anything just to see if he would crave it or not, and 3,5 hours later, BARF! Stomache feeling really weird as it did the last time, and one bong hit is enough to make it all go away.

So far he only puked for like 10 minutes, but that's because his g/f had to get out of bed and load up the bong, which takes her a while in the morning.

Do NOT ridicule Stan and say that this is not true. It may very well be something else, but it's the weed that helps when he gets sick, and it also prevents him to get sick when smoking.

If this is not addiction (though extremely mild), then why does this happen?

[Nature Boy]

Not addiction. It's well documented that cannabis helps prevent the nausea that causes vomiting in chemotherapy patients and the like. Perhaps SWIY has become reliant on cannabis to the point where it effectively dictates the condition of his stomach. Try doing this again a couple of times and if it continues, seek medical attention. It's extremely rare that someone would need cannabis to avoid vomiting without some serious medical problem.

[hh339]

Well SWiM wouldn't throw up for forever. He has a friend who also experiences this when stopping, he gets sick for a whole day. Sweating and vomiting.

[Alicia]

Swia gets shitty, and sometimes sweaty whens she stops smoking suddenly, increase in creepy dreams more lucid in there nature. she cant eat as much as she usually would which is one reason she uses cannabis in the first place, slight manic moods lasting 3 days then everything goes back to normal swia has been smoking daily for 7 years. She does get run down but then THC does lower your immune system. So its not surprise if its been excess.

[snapper]

SWIM's solution to cannabis withdrawals is just not to stop at this point. SWIM feels much more normal and functional smoking several times a day and does not have the time or money to travel at this point anyways. SWIM will put this one on the back burner and try again some other time, probably really slowly. SWIM is still convinced there was a component of physical withdrawal, though admittedly the bipolar stuff went out of control pretty fast. SWIM forgot what a manic up was like and how dangerous this mental state is... lesson learned.

[khrma]

Even if it were only a withdrawl mentally, has not one person pointed out that you would not be able to function your body correctly if you cannot function your mind correctly?

[dbjay417]

Sounds more like SWIYs been smoking Opium.

[Alicia]

Originally Posted by dbjay417

Sounds more like SWIYs been smoking Opium.

Dont think so the effect and effects of withdrawal is completely different even the psychological craving is different comparing to weed. Opiate withdrawal hurts physically and emotionally more so then weed ever could if your at that level of addiction with opium or any opiates.

[dbjay417]

I definately agree, but listening to the flu like symptoms of the marijuana withdrawls described by the OP, they do sound an awful like the the same symptoms exhibited by some one who is dopesick. The only thing missing is that horrid stink of death that acompanies the dopesick, and the unrelenting drive to secure their next fix.

[snapper]

Yes, SWIM felt that there were some aspects in common. SWIM has kicked heroin before and knows very well what happens. It had a few of the components, but lacked the body /muscle pain, cravings, and snot. It had GI signs, malaise, fatigue, insomnia and depression in common. SWIM will eventually try again to see if it was an anomaly or not. SWIM wishes that someone would dip SWIM's weed in opium, but alas SWIM knows that it is not. SWIM has not seen any opiated thai stick since the early 80s.

[SteveD]

SWIM has just quit smoking weed after 13 year of near-daily use, including some times of very heavy use when quitting tobacco-smoking cold turkey. The individual concerned had been going through a tough time and had lots of time on his hands, and was in many ways using the drug as a kind of 'crutch' to get going in the mornings. This person also had a readily-available and practically free supply of a hybrid variety of Skunk x Indica x Sativa.

Withdrawl was very intense for this person, he did not so much experience cravings as intense irritability, lowness of mood, also major loss of appetite, feelings of confusion and disorientation, tearfulness, anger and bursts of rage, a whole host of symptoms in fact. In recent times this individual had been experiencing fits of rage and general lowness of mood, however he had not really thought to connect these to cannabis use. This person was run-down, depressed, not eating well and also smoked tobacco so it could well be that his baseline level of health was poor.

IMHO it makes no sense to say that you can become dependent on weed 'psychologically'... For a start the drug is well known to promote appetite and it seems that when someone stops they are going to have absolutely no interest in food. Anyway I hope this post has been of some help. The bottom line is if you ain't enjoying it any more it is time to look at 'knocking it on the head.' take care peeps

[Nature Boy]

Cannabis does temporarily increase appetite but there isn't any hard data to suggest that one's regular appetite should be effected when use is ceased. Many users will obviously notice they are eating less than when they are stoned, but that's not to suggest that the normal appetite has changed. It might make an interesting study.

As far as almost every other so-called side effect listed here, they're all psychological. Removing anything profound from one's life can cause the exact same symptoms e.g. breaking up with a lover, losing your pride, financial ruin etc. Don't toke unless you enjoy it and if you do decide to give up, don't be a baby about it. Anyone with even a shred of resiliency should be able to quit without too much trouble.

[SteveD]

Hmm, no offence but sorry I can't agree with that last comment 100%. My friend was physically disorientated, SWIM was physically disorientated, unable to find his way back out of the doctor's surgery after a consultation. SWIM was mixing up words and letters, couldn't remember own cousin's name. SWIM was waking up at 2am and unable to return to sleep. SWIM was only able to eat tiny amounts of food and feeling nauseous after. SWIM was sweating like a pig and overheating so much he had to have cold baths.

Look I know I'm just a newbie here but IMHO 1) cannabis affects production of neurotransmitters 2) neurotransmitters are used to control bodily function => withdrawal from it has physical affects as your brain and body will inevitably struggle to return to a balanced state. Of course, everybody here knows that C. does not create physical *dependency* in the same sense that opiates and alcohol do. You can like, die, coming off those. But when SWIM has to jump into a bath of cold water due to overheating and SWIM's heart feels like it is going to burst out of his chest, something is happening to SWIM's body, IMHO...

[Nature Boy]

Everyone's entitled to an opinion but have you got any evidence that cannabis affects the production of neurotransmitters? That's a fairly large blanketing statement to make without any proof.

Now complaints like an aged cannabis user experiencing back pains after ceasing heavy use I've heard of, but overheating and heart explosions? Is SWIY certain they didn't simply have a coincidental fever or illness when they stopped using? Those symptoms sound highly unusual to say the very least. SWIM is quite a heavy user and has never experienced anything of that nature when he stops. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

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