Withdrawl and sleep

Howdy.

Got a bit of a problem. I've been a marijuana smoker for about seven years now, with frequency of use steadily increasing until the past couple years where I basically smoked multiple times a day (anywhere from 2-6 bowls). I quit about three weeks ago - not by choice so much as inability to find a source. I also came home from college (graduated) about TWO weeks ago and had been smoking spice diamond occasionally to tide me over - since they've got synthetic cannabinoids in them it works well for that.

Unfortunately the local headshop has stopped carrying spice diamond and I can't have it shipped to my parents' house, and I don't have any money to spend on it besides. I figure tis a good opportunity to get my head a little clear anyway - perhaps even quit entirely. Don't get me wrong, I really, really REALLY like marijuana, but socially it turns me into a frightened retarded child zombie. I already have pretty severe social anxiety problems, and even beyond anxiety - I think I might have some kind of social learning disorder. The result is I have trouble getting jobs and am completely incapable of dating or even coming remotely close to acting in such a way that a girl might like me. But thats getting a little off topic.

Its been probably 1.5 weeks since I had spice diamond. The withdrawls are closing in on me. I have a reduced appetite. I have a vague sick feeling in my stomach - not like I'm going to throw up exactly, but more like my stomach is full of concrete or something. I feel emotions too intensely, and since I have social and particularly dating problems I'm sad or angry (mostly angry) much more often than I'm happy.

I can deal with all this. What I can't deal with is the inability to sleep. Its starting to drive me nuts. the lack of sleep that I'm quickly accumulating is having far more unpleasant effects than the withdrawl itself. Body aches. weird hallucinations. Anxiety. Blood pressure so high it sometimes feels like my veins are going to tear. The lack of sleep also seems to magnify all of the other problems that the withdrawl is already causing. The thing is I can tell I need the sleep, I feel tired and like I need to sleep, but when I lay down nothing happens.

I just lay there and stare at the back of my eyelids for hours. I did this the entire night a few nights ago, lying in bed for nine hours without a wink of sleep, and the next night I couldn't get to sleep until about 5 in the morning despite getting into bed at 1 - and I only slept about 5 hours. Tonight I felt pretty tired around 11 PM and thought I'd finally be able to get a good night of sleep but had no luck, and after that I started feeling more and more awake as the night went on. Its 2 am now and I'm feeling tired again but when I lay down nothing happens.

Anyone have any suggestions for dealing with this? I already exercise regularly by the way. This helps occasionally but the difference is very small. I eat relatively healthy foods. I'm about to drive to the convenience store and pick up some sleeping pills as a temporary solution, but I don't want to end up getting addicted to those in place of marijuana so I don't plan on using them more than a few days.

 

you had a sleeping problem to begin with mister... maybe you just have to get back on track, wake up earlier every day and don't do things like go on the computer at 1am where you'll feel tired but want to sit here and keep looking up things or doing whatever

 

Haha. Are you following me? Must be easy to track the smell since I don't shower and all. . .

Yeah, I've always had a problem with going to bed way too late but I could still get 8 hours of sleep no problem - it just meant waking up at like 3 pm or later.

 

you are 23

alchohol is your answer

puts you to sleep

dissolves social anxiety

gets you laid


but alchoholism sucks

so just wine or beer for you

and go out and have fun man, life is short

 

Hah.

Alcohol is not my answer but I appreciate you trying to help.

I seem to have a naturally high tolerance for alcohol's effects on the brain and a low tolerance for its effects on the digestive system. I also seem to have built that tolerance up even higher unusually fast despite not being a heavy drinker at all. I have to drink like at least half a bottle of 80 proof liquor to get a little drunk and a lot more to get "wasted", and despite not being all that intoxicated there's a good chance I will throw up and have horrible indigestion and just feel sick in general for the next two days.

And anyway alcohol has never been that much of a help for the social thing. I do notice a small difference but not enough that its going to come close to solving my problems.

 

well, i would say try naturals first. take some valerian (will stink up your sweat, but it works) before you try sleeping pills. maybe hit up a vitamin cottage and blend your own teas. hops, chamomile, and catnip are very relaxing in teas (hops tastes like ass though)
the celestial seasonings sleepytime extra (the valerian makes it extra!) knocks my butt out cold for hours. avoid caffeine, its not that great for you to begin with, and your body becomes dependent on it. drink water before coffee in the morning, or whenever you need a boost, you will drink less soda if you are mostly full of water.

try to eat healthier foods, maybe try some yoga, if nothing else it will reduce the aches by keeping you limber, and thats a bonus for a girlfriend too. oh, and drink more water.
try setting up a routine, like reading a book before bed. raz is right, computers are horrible for insomniacs.
hey, maybe pick up the book Insomnia by Stephen King, i always liked that one when i was having a tough time sleeping.

you will probably have to force yourself awake several times before you are on a comfortable schedule. try to make your sleeping space comfortable for you. my dad sleeps on the couch (because he is like a giant hot water bottle, my mom hates that, she wakes up every time he moves etc) but also because he basically got addicted to noise while he sleeps. he used to have one of those clocks that flips over and makes little 'click' noises. now he sleeps with the tv on, and you can walk through the room, but all the gods in heaven cant help you if you turn the tv off.
just try to identify what is keeping you awake.

 

I've always had an abnormal sleep schedule. Most people are on like a 16 hour awake 8 hour sleep internal clock I guess, I'm more like 24 awake 10 asleep. I can almost always stay up 24 hours no prob. Other than when I was so utterly exhausted from football or basketball practice that my body collapsed into a coma, weed is the only thing that knocks me into a deep peaceful sleep. Usually sleeping pills make me drowsy but when I lay down my legs get tingly and I start to kick (I guess it's probably a certain type of sleeping med not sure how many varieties there are). It's like Restless Legs Syndrome but only from pills.

Oh Melatonin might help, it's what your body produces naturally when it gets dark to make you tired. It's next to the vitamins in almost any store I think.

 

Yep, I've been a chronic smoker for years too, and the sleep thing gets me if I stop too.

Thats the only "withdrawl" symptom I have from quitting weed though, and its just because I'm used to being high, and thus more tired and ready to fall asleep before bed.

I haven't quit smokin weed in a couple years, but what I used to do was just take some Tylenol PM for the first night of being sober, to help me sleep. After that first night (maybe 2 at the most), I could fall asleep just fine.

 

I didn't read all of that, so sorry if I say somthing already covered. You could just buy the spice online, and I'm sure theres probably a head shop around you that you haven't heard of. Like in my case, throughout most of highschool there was one headshop me and my friends knew of, it was this place called misfits or somthing like an hour away, but I later found out there was head shop stands in this HUGE ASS flea market like ten minutes away from me, one of the stands is about as big as a standard strip mall head shop.

If I get any withdraw effects they definitely don't last more than a week. And the most prominent effects are a moderate headache and irritability. But whenever I'm smoking allot I don't get much sleep, since I'll smoke all day, including like midnight. So when I stop I'll be kind of tired and normally sleep from midnight to almost noon.

 

I get terrible problems from withdrawal.. especially opiate but the ganga can do it too.
I get really tired but I can fall asleep no matter what I try to lay there for a fw hours to at least relax but then I get way to ansty and anxious. I also get a weird feeling in my muscles, especially my legs.
The dr prescribed me to 150mg of trazedon which sometimes knocks me out.. its a really strong tranquilizer type thing..but my tolerence is so high.
A bag or two of h always makes sleep time fun but that shit is also evil :x

 

OP...dude u gotta get your life on track right now.

if pot is contributing to these problems in your life, its really time to put down the pipe. i mean your 23 dude, and smoking pot everyday isnt going to help you get a girl or a job lol.

seriously tho man, my advice... pick a day to stop smoking. the day before, smoke like a lot of weed lol. for the next two weeks, eat healthy, work out, and do other activites that will distract you from smoking weed. it might take you more than two weeks but your going to stop feeling the withdrawal symptoms and start feeling good about living sober. this is when you start drinking and goin out to have a good time lol.

i know withdrawals suck dick, but you gotta get through it man, good luck

 

I took Valerian root for awhile - it definitely helped me get to sleep earlier while I was still smoking pot and staying up most of the night. When I take it while i'm not smoking it doesn't do a damn thing though, even when I take far more than the recommended dose.

I read "Insomnia" years ago. Not a huge SK fan but it was alright.

To the guy who suggested I buy spice online - I'm living with my parents. They are very conservative christian types. My mom cried when I got caught with pot back in high school and my dad yelled at me for hours and I was grounded for months, had my car taken away, etc. Legal or not, there's no way my parents are going to stand for having anything resembling drugs mailed to my house. And besides, I'm thinking about quitting anyway so it might not make much sense to keep getting spice, ya know?

DeadHead: as I said, its been probably about 3 weeks since I last smoked pot and about 1 and a half since I had spice, so in a way I already have stopped smoking, I just haven't made a definite decision that I want to quit completely. As I said I like weed a lot, especially for its effects on my creativity. I'm a bit of a musician and I tend to write much more interesting music and just have more ideas in general after I smoke a bowl, wheras I haven't been able to come up with a damn thing since I stopped smoking.

And yeah, the pot does magnify the social problems but it does not cause them, and the magnifying effect is only there while i'm high and maybe for a few hours afterward. I have always been incredibly shy and unable to really communicate with women or unfamiliar people, even in high school before I had ever smoked marijuana and most people were starting to date and form groups of friends made up of both sexes. I will admit that being high very often may have contributed to my not developing the skills a little, but I already had some severe problems before I ever smoked pot and for all of high school where smoking pot was a weekend thing and not a daily thing. I think the real source of the problem was high school, where I should have recognized the problem and started forcing myself to interact socially while my brain was still developing somewhat. Now I feel like everything is set in stone and no matter how much I force myself to try and do the social things I have problems with I don't seem to improve at all.

In high school just had my small group of male friends who were also for the most part socially dysfunctional. Nowadays I feel kinda like everyone else has advanced socially, and expects me to have done the same. But I never learned, and since I don't know how to interact socially like a normal person nobody is interested in talking to me and giving me the opportunity to learn.

And I don't blame them. Why would you spend your time trying to talk to somebody who won't barely respond and seems to have a ten-word vocabulary whenever you talk to them? What I need is somebody (a girl in particular) who is willing to endure many, many hours of awkwardness and boredom with somebody who doesn't seem very likeable because of their inability to engage in conversation. That person does not exist, and it would be very selfish for me to expect anyone to do that for me.

Also, this is not the first time I've gone without pot for more than a few days. For most of the last school year I have been at college but my regular dealers have gotten kinda sketchy and weed became damn near impossible to find. This meant I would get a bag, smoke it over a few days, then not be able to get another for 2-3 weeks. So its not like this is the first time i've endured with withdrawls, in fact I had a pretty regular cycle of withdrawl - smoke - withdrawl - smoke going on during the school year.

I'm glad nobody came in here and tried to tell me that weed isn't addictive and it must be my imagination or something. I know thats a popular belief among pot smokers, especially the younger ones. If I was perusing the forum five years ago and saw someobdy else posting this message I probably would have responded with something like "Haha weed isn't addictive you fool! Any withdrawl is in your imagination."

I also realize that pot addiction is a walk in the park compared to a lot of other drug addictions. Maybe I should just stop being a baby and accept a couple months of feeling shitty.

 

holy shit, i think you need to dose some acid man.

your looking attain creativity,

your acid trip could help you avoid smoking pot.....

 

well, i accept that pot is menatally addictive, but the physical withdrawls arre usually a result of something pot did for you, like putting you to sleep. once you geet off it your circadian rhythms are like "wtf?" and you have to retrain them.

and i just have to say, i am socially awkward. i would rather chat on forums that talk to people in person because i never manage to get to say all i want to when im with our friends. they never let me share a complete thought, and i hate being interrupted. the internet is a boon for anyone who is socially awkward (IMO) if they know how to use it. some people cheat and run away with fake people, i help people, and learn new things.
i the internet

 

I'm quitting too man, I think July 23 will be my final day smoking. I'm quitting to see how good I can do in school without pot and actually apply myself to my full limit. If I pull off a 4.0 then I'll prob quit pot entirely. I found out college is to important to fuck up. If I try my hardest in college and get somewhere in life, then I see marijuana as a huge profit for me in the future as it's semi-legal.

I can't wait for the weird dreams. I had multiple dreams a night when I last stopped smoking. Just run or walk at night, do push-ups/sit-ups, then just drink a glass of water and try to pass out. A few nights of this and you will be passing out every night, easily

 

if youu wanna go natural valerian-melatonin and l-tryptophan work pretty well for sleep if you wanna go chemical trazadone works wonders also elevil--atavan--valium xanax and klonopin work wonders for sleep temazapam dalmane---ive had chronic insomnia for years------might of been coke or speed related but whatever now i use meds and 7-8hrs of sleep a night is a great help keeping me sane--any psych doc will prescribe something short term for you---dont want to get dependent or youll get rebound in sonmia---nelatonin really worked and l -tryptophan reallyy worked b4 i got into meds--melatonin is natural and l-tryptophan comes from turkey+warm milk and a hot bath--im beyond all that now but ur just getting started and that should work for u now--if it gets really bad atavan works wonders but its addicting---but sleep is important and just posting what worked for me a chronic insomniac not actually recommend the meds as you have to be really careful with them---never tried but lunesta and ambien have good reps for sleep as well

 

Oh lord. I'm not taking acid again. I've done it twice - the first time was great but I didn't trip very hard. The second was, for the most part, the worst fucking experience of my life. I'm pretty sure it was badly made and impure acid but just the same I don't know if I can take that drug and enjoy it anymore.

I'm much more of a shroom person. Which I am hopefully about to get an 8th of here in a couple days. Still, the creativity help from shrooms isn't gonna last more than a few days and I'm not trying to start tripping on mushrooms (or anything else) regularly.

 

Depends a lot what you're still putting in your bod and your mind. Stuff that excites you and gets you hyper is loading you up with wakeup chemicals whether you do it during the day or before bed: sugar, junk food, violent video and games, not enough peaceful and natural vibes and mellow folk, city life and pollution, stress.

 

thats fucking gross.