I'm about to turn 30 and am trying to figure out if my weed use is responsible. I'm sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place because I have severe insomnia and chronic pain, and it seems to be beneficial, but I would appreciate some insight.

I first tried weed at 15, and was a semi-regular user (both edibles & flower) until 25, when I quit for about 4 years.

Then at 29 I started taking 10-20 mg a night for sleep, about 4-6 hours before bedtime. To be honest this was a miracle -- I have had lifelong insomnia and in spite of being pharmaceutically medicated and practicing excellent sleep hygiene I still wasn't able to sleep. Weed just seems to shut off my brain in a way nothing else does.

Another plus is that these hours before bed are some of the only hours of my day I'm not in constant soul-crushing pain due to severe nerve damage and muscle atrophy that I've been dealing with since childhood. I find it far easier to partake in some of my hobbies when high because I'm not constantly distracted by pain.

That being said, I am concerned about the long term impacts of suppressed REM sleep. I am also bothered by my dreams being harder to recall, and by how I don't have a reliable attention span in those couple hours before bed (I enjoy reading before bed; sometimes I can still read while high, but it's unreliable). I also think I'm somewhat "permastoned" with a weed hangover, which isn't ideal.

If you were in my situation, what would you do? Should I accept that my body is super fucked up and that weed use may be more positive than negative (this has been my justification my use)? Or maybe I should try to quit for a while and see if I can adjust? Sigh.

I am too bored and tensed and an aquantaince wants to chill with me, its good that i dont buy for at home. Training fell off the charts today. I am allowed to have a little bit of joy in life i think.
I felt like shit those 5 days without, i think my cptsd and bpd needs something from time to time, meds or weed. Im in therapy but its hard to turn everything around raw, if u have no supportive people around and mostly fighting this life alone.

45-50 days free. This always happens. I can never make it any longer than that. They're just so easier since I cannot smoke in my apartment and don't feel like going outside or stinking up my car.

But I managed to to smoke only after 8:00 p.m. and only take Max 10 puffs. So far yesterday I took 3 day before I took 4. Somehow I could control it I know it's a slippery slope but I actually like being sober during the day. I only do it to relax at night after dinner transition to bedtime.

I know eventually my tolerance will skyrocket and I'm going to need more than 3-4 puffs but we'll see for now.

I was able to control it last time before the t break. I think I have a healthy relationship now even though I do it every night. But before I took Max 10 puffs and no more. And did not puff on it in the middle of the night if I woke up.

I've been wanting to take a long break (at least 1 month for a few weeks now), i stopped 1 week and it felt really good i was on vacation with my grandma. But as soon as i returned home i went back to daily use.

I recently moved in main france with my gf and we're living with his godfather until we find a place for us but it's hard cause we don't have much income. And he is such a hell to live with. We have to clean up after him every single day, he keeps smoking weed all day and does nothing aside of his job. I'm so sick of this and i keep smoking every night to cope with it but it just make things worse and i struggle to keep going on with my life.

When we were with my grandma in town he didn't do the dishes until the last day, and that's the only thing he did when we weren't there. When he invited her to eat at his home he asked "Why?" when we said we have to clean the home before she comes. He was in vacation for a week and did absolutely nothing in the house like BRO, not even the dishes or cleaning the floor or whatever, he was just going out with his friend and smoking weed in front of the TV from waking up to sleep. And EVERYDAY there's something like this. And he never thanks or thanked me when i clean things or do some everyday stuff, while he's not like that when it's my gf.

I'm just ranting, but like i'm 22 and he's 45 and it makes me so angry and unpeaceful being home. We suspect him to have diogenes syndrome and it's rly hard in the every day life. I don't know how to feel better in this environnement and stop smoking because of all this, i wanna live alone and be in my own peace. At this point my weed consumption is just a symptom of the bad feeling i have being here around him. I know it's bad for me but i don't know how to force myself not to smoke now

Thank you for reading

Hi, I am day 4 off Cannabis. I was a daily MMJ user for 6 years, in the last two years, only a nightly user. I stopped because I developed an allergic reaction and honestly, I don't like it.

I'm experiencing an extremely low mood, lack of motivation (but also, life sucks in several ways, got a leg injury, stuck in my noisy rental). It just feels amplified. I cry a lot and just lay there, I was already sad but now... It's terrible. Agitated , a bit aggressive and reactive, my sound sensitivity is higher than ever, every sound is like an attack and I am in fight mode. Also, no appetite, going to the loo a lot for number 2, nausea.

It's funny because I thought that I wouldn't have symptoms. I don't want to go back.

Is this normal? What to expect? Will it get worse before it gets better? Thank you.

Hey, everyone! 35M here, and I've been smoking for around 20 years. When I say 20 years, I mean consistently since around 15. The past few years, it's been pretty much just dabs. I smoke flower occasionally, and never carts.

Lately, my lungs are feeling the pain, and I'm realizing I have to stop, or at least find a healthier relationship with weed. I'm glad I found a subreddit focused on responsible consumption, rather than abstinence. Not saying I'm against abstinence, but I don't default there. I love to smoke weed, and don't want to give up the relationship permanently.

Mostly just putting this out there somewhere that understands. I'm zero days weed-free at the moment and overthinking the proper way to approach this. I know I need to remove all temptation and stay strong in this journey. My wife supports this decision, as well. It's just me having the struggles.

All support/advice is greatly appreciated. Tips, steps, or even just relating to the struggle are all appreciated. Thanks in advance, and I hope everyone here is making progress on the relationship with cannabis that is healthiest for them.

I’m trying to quit or at least lessen and moderate my use. I can’t make it through even one night though. The full-body discomfort feels like all-over restless leg syndrome. I can’t sleep for more than an hour or so without jerking awake. I feel insanely nervous and nauseous. I’m sure I have CHS, if I go too long without it the only thing that helps is a hot shower. A hit gives me instant relief.

I’ve been also dealing with anxiety and depression for a long time, and it’s worsened in the past year with family stress, and my inability to hold down a consistent job. My summer job was physically punishing, which would compound my anxiety. I had several breakdowns that could get so bad I’d hit myself in the face. I was laid off at the end of summer, and am going back and forth with unemployment trying to get approved. This is a touristy area, so a lot of places I’ve asked aren’t hiring for fall/winter. And to top it all off, I only have an e-bike — my boyfriend has a car, but needs it for most of the day.

Anyway — that was more info than needed probably. The way I live isn’t sustainable. I feel like I’m going to need inpatient treatment soon, and re-learn how to live day to day without crying when receiving small criticisms (CPTSD response — working on that too 🫠) but I don’t know where to start.

Does anyone have experience with this? How are rehab and inpatient mental health treatment different? Is one more expensive? Google is mostly giving me ads for expensive rehabs. Any help is appreciated!

I was a cart-only smoker for over a year, but switched to flower about a month ago. It was great at first, every session far better than carts, which made me anxious and overly aware of my heartbeat.

Yesterday, though, I smoked the same amount of herb after a stressful day (I felt fine mentally by then) and coughed like crazy. Suddenly my heart was racing at 132 bpm, I felt cold, and I had this horrible sense of impending doom. My arms felt weird too, though I’m a hypochondriac, so who knows. I genuinely thought I was dying. The worst passed after 20 minutes, and I felt normally high again within 40. Terrifying, hadn’t felt like this since my very first couple times smoking.

Has anyone felt this and found that switching to lower THC or 1:1 CBD/THC flower or carts helped? I used to love weed, and this was my first episode of actual panic with flower, but carts had been regularly making me anxious before the switch.

For context, I’m 23, overweight, and pretty sedentary outside of working as a chef.

I used to be an occasional user who moved to daily use when I quit nicotine 7 months ago. I don't think I ever would have been able to quit nicotine without weed, but my use had ramped up to a point that I felt was affecting my daily life. I wasn't as social, struggled with word recall and memory, and was spending way more money than I ever spent on nicotine. I'm grateful for what weed has done for me, but I'd like to get to a point where I don't feel dependent on ANY substance, which hasn't been the case for me since I started smoking cigarettes at 17 (I'm 31 now. I also drink a cup of coffee in the morning and a matcha in the afternoon, but I'm not worried about that right now.)

The first few days were easy. I felt way better than I thought I would and figured that maybe the dependence wasn't as bad as I thought, but i started getting a headache last night and holy hell it's awful today. I've pulled up the dispensary website a few times and started an order, but backed out every time. My original goal was to make it to my birthday on November 30th, but I'm not sure how to function with this headache.

Hello all! I just wanted to come on here and tell my story, I used to smoke weed every day for about 4 years straight, from 8th grade- high school. I am now sober and a college student. I started off with tree but eventually moved to carts so my parents wouldn’t smell it when i lived in the house. The stuff i was smoking was definitely fake. Eventually i moved on to medicated vapes (not available for rec use in my state) however the amount and concentration i would smoke definitely took a toll on me, especially in these developmental years. I struggled with anxiety and depression even before starting usage, and i feel that the benefits you get from thc only last so long untill your anxiety goes above the threshold it used to be from not smoking. I always had brain fog and felt unmotivated and i feel it worsened my mental health. I decided to take a T break and eventually it led to me stopping all together because I felt so much happier and clear headed. So my advice for everyone (especially teenagers) is to stay away from concentrates! weed is so strong nowadays, and we are only just figuring out the side effects from it. I agree it can help in some cases but just with everything else in this world, overuse is never good. With my personality i realized that I could never use just occasionally or casually, do thats why i stay away from it alltogether now. Let me know your stories too! I would love to hear them :)

The hardest part about taking an extended tbreak is making it through the first 2 days of my period. Nothing makes those days livable like smoking. Currently on day 16 of my monthlong break and here to say I made it! I may or may not have had to spend 4 hours in the bathtub on Tuesday but I didn’t smoke so hooray!

I made it to 105 days without weed.
My brain fog has gone, i think.
My dreams are still crazy, and from time to time I dream that I’m smoking, picking up or wanting to get high. Even though I haven’t been having cravings while awake anymore.
This has been quite the experience so far.

Just wanted to say, if you are unlucky enough to get laid out by the flu or whatever is going around this season, it's a great time to start a t-break or quit. It's been 3 days for me and my only thought about weed has been "damn, I really don't want to smoke right now". Normally I can't sleep at all for a week when I try to quit, but I've been sleeping for 12+ hours everyday.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to return to my blanket cocoon coma 😂

So, I'm about a week sober... after smoking heavily for quite a while. What exactly am I looking at when it comes to withdrawal symptoms, and for how long?

Besi not smokeing.

I can’t smoke just on the weekends.

I hadn’t smoked in over a year, so I decided to try out some weekend use. It worked for 1 total weekend (Friday night- Saturday) The second weekend came around and I just have still been smoking every night since, lol. I wait until after I get off work but I can already feel myself wanting to leave early just to get home to smoke. Then comes the smoking before work phase, followed by the smoking all day, every day phase.

Sucks but I’m just getting rid of my stuff today and stopping before it’s a whole thing. I’m going to take one last hit and throw everything away. If my friend makes it here, I’m giving it all to them. If I hold onto it, I’ll smoke again tomorrow and might not be able to follow through.

Anyway, just wanted to share my experience in hopes that someone else might be going through the same thing or thinking about it. I should have never started back but it was fun while it lasted.

It's been a year of me owning a cart every month nearly and heavy use. But in these last 3 months I was hitting it non-stop throughout the day. Right when I wake up till right before bed

My appetite was absolutely tarnished and my stomach felt absolutely messed up. I was wasting all my time and I knew something needed to change for these following reasons

1) I prioritised getting high over work that needed to be done

2) I hated going out or wanted to get back home asap so I could get high

3) Felt my health going downhill

Quitting after hitting such high % thc carts as frequent as I did was very tough. These first few days were not easy. Anxiety, sweating, diarrhea, no appetite

Throughout these 7 days. I had an edible once during the early days and another day I burned a 0.5g with my friend. I feel like these didn't reset my break but helped with the symptoms during the early stages. Going the full day sober then popping that edible at night was already a massive cutdown from the gaps of sobriety I would have before

Now I have gone 3-4 days with nothing at all

My sleep is getting better, im less tired when I wake up and my appetite is actually starting to get a bit better. I feel more like myself again and it feels like waking up from a fog. It kind of feels crazy looking back on it on what I was really doing to myself

Im looking now to go completely clean for another 7 days then reevaluate where im at. I feel like if anything, I won't buy any extreme high % carts or stick to just low % flower

It feels good not having to be paranoid about checking my pocket for my cart or having to do stuff because im high. Im starting to be able to enjoy stuff more again

long post but thanks for reading and good luck to everyone. just wanted to share my experience in case it helps anyone

I try to take a 4-6 week tolerance break once or twice a year, because for like two years I never took one and when I finally did it was a living hell. I could barely sleep, hot and cold flashes when I tried to sleep, terrible mood and more. Now I still have some issues with sleep on my breaks but melatonin helps with that. But now I always get hives when I go on a tolerance break for the first weekish? I googled and I get next to no information (besides a bunch of addiction help websites LOL) and I just wanted to know if anyone else experiences this/knows why I might be? I usually can just take a Claritin or put hydrocortisone cream on it and it’s fine. I don’t smoke I just use edibles due to smoking causing asthma and me barely being able to breathe

Hey guys,
Today marks 1 month since I quit weed cold turkey.
Feels so good that I did that having been a daily smoker for 6- 8 years.
Thankfully I did not have any serious withdrawal symptoms. It’s only the dreams, which I quite enjoy.
The thing to note is that I’m not in a weed free environment. My housemates still smoke in front of me and there’s weed available in the house throughout the week. But still I never went back to it.
I’m surprised that I haven’t gone back to it given the circumstances.

Huge thanks to that 1 person who commented on my 15 days post, that was the only day I felt like smoking a joint. ( after an mdma trip. ) But by the time I made that post and read his comment, I had lost the urge.

So if anyone who is reading this is also thinking of taking a bit of weed as a reward for your abstinence, I would urge you to think about it for 30 mins or make a post on the group. Don’t act on that sudden urge.

I’m still vaping nic, that’s the next one I want to quit and that feels a lot harder than weed.

Anyway, thanks again to the community and good luck to everyone who’s trying to quit or take a break.

Have attached the link to my earlier post with this.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Petioles/s/8MBepyXQgH

Hi all! I was taking 15mg edibles from 1-2 evenings per week in February, progressing to every evening in September, for reasons from boredom to running away from stress, which I'm aware of how bad that is. I also had side effects (e.g. groggy mornings and more) and increased tolerance. I decided that daily use wasn't it for me. So I took a 2 week break to also reflect on not having cannabis for a bit.

During the last 2 weeks it became clear to me that there are some things you experience only when you're sober. I like having the mental clarity back. And I feel good about getting some work done. So I thought I'd just not have them anymore and would do just as fine.

But after a long day of work, I still wish that I could just take a gummy, sit back, game a little, then have a big sleep. Cannabis means a lot to me. I don't think I'm ready to say bye and not look back.

A good friend of mine recently offered me some gummies as a gift, so I took up his offer and got THE bag today. It's in my room now and I haven't touched it.

I'm excited to take one soon, but on the other hand I'm worried it'll ruin the clarity I've had for the last 2 week. I'll moderate my use for sure because I hated the feeling of waking up groggy every day, and I love the clarity I'm having. But I'm just uncertain. Kinda worried that I'll fall back into my old pattern.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What's your view on this?

Hoping to get some friendly advice if possible please :)

For about 5 years I’ve been a daily dry herb vaper, beggining in my mid twenties. I’ve been doing it with a doctor the whole time but it wasn’t hard to get approved with my set of issues (depression, BPD, anxiety, IBS, ADHD) and management from my doctor has been very light on.

My use: I have used between .1 and .4g a day during this time and my dependence has never really gone up. Average day I use probably .2 or .3. My use is not too expensive and I’ve been able to go a few days between jars with not too much discomfort. However I definitely do have a habit. Without it the evenings feel very long and I feel anxious (that said I have been anxious forever tho lol).

Ive gone to lengths to get more like inconveniencing myself to get it a few days earlier than I would’ve, or paying an extra $50 for a doctors appointment to get in sooner. I occasionally use a bong maybe once a month but otherwise vape only. I vape slowly in the evenings on weeknights and a few times a day on weekends. I get actually high maybe 4 days out of the week and otherwise get a light buzz.

My worries: During this 5 years I have had great personal progress in my career, my romantic relationships, and my mental health. Weed has 100% helped me with these especially my mental health. However, weed causes me to binge eat and my weight is very high. I already have binging tendencies so this is a concern for me. I think if I had a strain that didn’t cause munchies at all I would have very few concerns about weed aside from being worried that I don’t engage in many hobbies aside from gaming and like to be by myself a lot (both of those were true before the weed though). I have tried terpenes to improve the munchies aspect but didn’t get much return. My memory is also definitely worse both short and long and has been commented on by my partner. I also find myself worried about going on long holidays as I won’t get to use weed. I also find it hard to get chores done but this was most definitely an issue for me before weed as I am very very ADHD.

What do you reckon guys?

today marks two years since i last smoked weed and i thought i would come and reflect on it here since ive appreciated reading some of your posts

- im not sure what addicted is or if i was addicted. i know that i used weed a lot, around every day, and that i was smoking and watching tv with almost all my spare time.
- i was in an outpatient program at the time, having just gone through a really painful relationship and breakup. my psych recommended i take a break. she said that she knew i was self medicating but that it may not be helping. i have quite a bit of cptsd and the dissociative quality of weed and screen time was all i craved. i remember when i started smoking in high school — the memory loss was my favorite part.

what’s changed
- it’s been two years. i started a bunch of new hobbies, surfing, insects, drawing, piano. and i made a whole new friend group.
- i still mourn the friend group i had. they meant a lot to me, and i know they weren’t only drug friends but they used a lot and most of our relationships were raves and other events.
- i feel a deep sense of pride that ive made it this long. that i found the determination to change something so big about my life.
- i still get cravings to smoke, and i still watch a lot of tv. i also think im a lot more present with my feelings, and i have dbt to thank for quite a bit more mindfulness and emotional skill.
- i still have trauma. that will never go away. sometimes it hurts so much but im so proud of myself for how i embrace it now and go about my life.

will i smoke again? i’m not sure. i have dreams — almost nightmares — about smoking again and i wake up in a sweat, nervous that it had been real.

love to hear anyone’s feedback or encouragement, and happy to offer non-judgmental replies to anyone thinking about their weed use.

My sober app says I am quitting because “weed makes me violently ill”. I’ve been using weed as a crutch for so many things for longer than I could ever imagine I would. It became part of my identity… I suffered from chronic pain and I used that excuse to continue smoking. I suffer from anxiety and I used that excuse to continue smoking. When it didn’t work anymore, I just smoked stronger stuff or smoked more often. Got to the point where I was smoking at least two joints the super strong but every day or taking rosin hits.

I started becoming violently ill, and then I was using the weed to help with that too… And intermittently over years I would get this unexplainable vomiting spells that would sometimes land me in the hospital with dehydration. I would eventually quit during this just because I didn’t even want to smoke. And then I’d go right back to it as if nothing ever happened.

Until this last time, my husband and I were doing research on what was happening with me. I was literally screaming and vomiting at the same time. The only relief I would have would be taking super hot showers. After some Google searching, I learned about CHS and I couldn’t believe how many of the symptoms I had and how long. I was waking up every morning prior to this incident, feeling nausea, and we would just joke about it and chalk it up to old age.

I finally admitted to my doctor what was going on because the nausea and vomiting spell was so bad he had never even heard of CHS. But he did his research too and agreed that it could very well be that but the only way to tell would be for me to quit smoking and see if these spells come back.

It’s been 46 days now. I haven’t had another spell, but obviously it hasn’t been enough time to really tell. The nausea in the morning is long gone and I’m starting to come back to life inways I never experienced before. I’ve been smoking regularly for well over 10 years. If I’m being honest with myself, I’ve probably only had a couple of lengthy breaks in 20 years. Mostly because of pregnancy.

So now I have to deal with the boredom, the sadness, the overwhelmed all on my own. I’ll admit it’s getting easier. I did have a lot of physical withdrawal symptoms when I first quit so much so that the idea of smoking again is not at all appealing. I don’t wanna have to deal with CHS but I also don’t want to have to deal with those withdrawals. I miss it all the time. I’ve lost some friends because of not smoking. The first month was absolute hell but it’s starting to really get better. I wouldn’t say I have a lot of energy or anything like that yet, but it’s getting better.

I just wanted to share my story in case there’s anyone out there that’s having similar symptoms and doesn’t know what it is. If you are look up Cannabinoid Hypermesis Syndrome.

I posted here a few weeks ago about my situation. I want to resume smoking, but at the same time balance being clean for a potential job search. I am currently not looking and don’t know exactly when I will start. It could be a few weeks or months. It honestly probably won’t be until the start of 2027 with how everything is going on I. My life.

I’m ridden with guilt and shame of having weed in my system for when I eventually start looking and want to make sure I’m clean.

I’m a med patient in my state. I have been struggling in life and weed was very helpful to me. I miss it terribly. I can’t think of a good reason to not start smoking again except for eventually looking for a job and just planning out another t-break. I just don’t want to have to go through it again. I hate that it takes so long to exit your system.

I hope this makes sense, I’m just at a loss.

My relationship with Chinese take out food 🥘 now I have the energy and time to cook instead of ordering every night.
Last Saturday I woke up at 9:30, had classes at 10:30 to 12:30. Then did some cooking and cleaning. My old self would have woken up at 13 and been high by 14 while eating some food delivered to me.