New quit, physical withdrawal
 

Hi guys, I’m new! I decided to quit weed for good at the end of last month after several months of debating it. I finally reached the point where I was fed up with how much time I spent thinking about weed and can honestly say I don’t enjoy the way my brain feels on THC anymore. So I woke up one morning, decided I was done, told my husband for accountability, and have not had the desire to smoke since.

HOWEVER, I am getting crazy withdrawal symptoms. I’ve looked up these symptoms online so I know I’m not alone: excessive sweating (hands/feet/pits), intermittent high BP, chills/hot flashes/fevery feelings. None of these are accompanied by cravings (we still keep weed in the house and I havent even thought about seeking it out) but they’re still driving me nuts! Last year I took my first tolerance break for more than three days and less than two weeks in got these same symptoms—part of the reason I’d been considering quitting! I don’t like being dependent.

I also know from my internet research (and my husband, haha—he took that t-break last year too and was fine) that not everyone gets these physical symptoms and it seems like people who don’t get them are very skeptical that they’re legit. I’ve had a hard time finding advice or support for them so I thought I’d ask here if anyone has any words of advice or encouragement to get through them?? Any experiences to share? I’m trying to get regular exercise (I jog) which I think is helping, but our weather has been bad so I’ve missed the last few days and I think that’s making things worse...

Hi tragicoolbus and welcome to the forum.
Boy, do I understand what you are going through. Read around the different threads and you will see you are not alone.
I agree the symptoms of withdrawal are hard to take, but keep in mind they won't last forever...unless you are menopausal and then sweats are just something you'll have to live with until those are gone too.
Even though you can test positive for THC in your system after 3 months, my withdrawal symptoms didn't last that long.
Exercise is excellent, especially sweaty exercise as this will speed up the detox process. Lots of water and a clean diet is also beneficial.
The only other thing I can recommend is just don't pick up again. You'll set yourself right back at the beginning again.
Stick around and let us know how you are doing. You'll find lots of support and advice here. It's also a good place to just commiserate!

Welcome tragicoolbus!

I can only tell you that I quit multiple times and that there were similarities in withdrawal-symptoms, but also differences. For instances, on my last quitting attempt (some year ago) I had night sweats too, but this time (nine weeks and counting) I haven't had any. Insomnia's the same: I've had it on some attempts but not really this time.

Don't doubt your own judgement, you know what you feel. And congratulations on deciding to live a sober life. I've kinda always wanted to quit like you did: wake up in the morning, know it's over and not look back. Unfortunately my experiences have more in common with pushing over a Coke-machine: a lot of rocking back and forth first (yeah I stole that from a Seinfeld episode hehe). I hope it stays turned over now.

Good luck with the symptoms, they will vanish!

Thanks, lynnmarie! I did browse around a couple of threads and it’s good to know other people have gotten through similar. I better not be menopausal yet, I’m still in my early 30s XD Gotta come up with good sweaty exercise to do inside... maybe a bunch of jump squats a few times a day would do the trick. I did notice it decreases the sweatiness during the day when I exercise.

But yeah, I will for sure remember this and never want to go through it again! Now that I know this is what my body does. I’m an artist and I’ve admittedly come up with some great stuff after smoking, but it isn’t worth it anymore.

Hi, thanks for the response! I read a few of your threads earlier :) That’s interesting that you had different withdrawal symptoms for different quits. I quit when I was pregnant with my kid a few years ago and don’t remember any physical issues at all, but I wasn’t a nightly smoker then like I eventually became, whoops. I do have such bad insomnia anyway though, I couldn’t tell you if I’m getting that side effect or not! I was having tons of trouble sleeping before I quit too.

I do feel really fortunate that I finally got to an undivided decision about quitting, because I’m not sure how long I would have kept smoking if I hadn’t (probably as long as I could plausibly hide it from my child, oof). I think a lot of my motivation came from getting more involved in my Native (American) community where there is a huge push for sobriety since there are so many substance abuse problems. And since my people didn’t use any drugs pre-colonization, sobriety is a return to tradition. (I’ve given up alcohol too, which is a super small deal for me but I know is going to be a bigger deal socially, which is funny.) I had to ask myself how I could help my community while I was still relying on a substance, and the only answer is that I can’t.

And congrats on your nine weeks, that’s great!! That Coke machine better stay knocked-over... or whatever the proper metaphor is.

welcome tragiccoolbus :)

The withdrawal symptoms weren't fun but after a week or two I felt better.

Make sure you eat right, maybe a little light exercise, keep hydrated - stay away from excess caffeine or nicotine...you know, common sense stuff :)

D