anxiety or not?

[karlos768]

Hey every one,

I am on day two of quiting cigarettes after smoking for 6/7 years ish and also marajuana. As you may have already read in a previous thread, when i was 15 i suffered from a psychotic episode, due to my excessive consumption of the substance, i soon recovered about 3/4 weeks later, some of the symtoms were.... intense anxiety, extreme panick attacks, " on more than one ocassion i actually felt like my body was sort of turning acidic inside ( think of that knot you get in stomach when you run out in front of a bus, if of course ur silly enough to do such things, then times that feeling by 1000. It may sound stupid but i felt like i was dying, i no what ur thinking but... how the f#@k does he know what it feels like to die, but i imagine that is the closet feeling.

Anyways, there were a handfull of other horrifying experiences, but im sure you guys dont wanna an essay. So after being able to leave the house without the worry of i dunno falling of the face of the world, or whatever i was subconciously so scarred about, i returned to work, after seeing a my gp who said "oh... stop smoking it" ( huh, no **** sherlock! ). I quit for 18months, in this time i surfed the net to find out what exactly was wrong with me, turns out it was as mentioned above it was psychosis. Now i have sort of always had varying degrees of depression, dont get me wrong i do have happy times usually involving marajuana and lager. lol, but on a more serious note, my biological dad had manic depression at the age of 19 which then turned to regular depression (he's cool now thanks to wonders of prozac and his new girlfriend "she is hot". lol.

anyways getting to the point i feel very proud of myself for going 1 day without the cigs or ganja and it will motivate me to keep it up, but its just i feel very on edge and every so often i get a feeling in my stomach, similar but not as intense, as the one i spoke of earlier (bus incident) also im having a problem gettin to sleep e.g im in england and its 02:16am, i have alot more clarity but i feel very lost and spritual, like i dont know what should i do with my life now. i know what i want out of life in my head and have plans to do them, more exercise, more meditation, detoxes, improving my nutrition " uknow the usual" but i cant get a grip on these emotions and am sort of worried that i may have depression or anxiety or both if possible. im sort of hoping its just a short term dopamine deficcency, something im used to being so sensitive yet addicted to thc. but this time it feels deper, scarier, is it all these extreme changes im currently implimenting or what?

So if there anybody out their who knows allot about psychology or c.b.t or a counseller or i suppose anyone who has quit dope or anybody that has an idea as to wat im going through (help)

[laur_454]

Hey Karlos:

I've never had a huge problem with marijuana. I could take it or leave it (I've generally been leaving it lately). I have however encountered several other substances in the past and just addictive behaviours in general (with people, situations, money, and etc...) If I were you, I'd check out "Overcoming Addictions" by Deepak Chopra. If anything, the book sheds some positive light on the nature of the 'addict.' As far as your nervous stomach and your uneasy feelings, I'd venture to say thats more nicotine withdrawl then marijuana withdrawl. From what I've heard (and as a reformed pot smoker) its my understanding that marijuana isn't really phsyiologically addictive -- its more of a habitual thing. If I didn't have any pot to smoke, it wasn't really a big deal. Now, as a former smoker, I can also attest to the fact that quitting smoking was an extremely nerve wrecking process. I'm definitely not condoning marijuana. It makes you lazy and hungry -- not cool. But I do think its more the habitual aspect thats difficult to overcome, rather then physical withdrawl. So, this may sound difficult, but if you're used to smoking at a certain time every day, perhaps replace that with a more positive behavior (i.e. one of the habits you mentioned you'd like to take up -- meditaiton, exercise, and etc... or even get a wheatgrass shot when you would have normally been getting high -- its just a different kind of high!!) I'm not a counselor, but I have studied psychology and addiction somewhat (both in books and from experience!!). You could also try Narcotics Anonymous. Or maybe a holistic physician? I hope some of this helps and I hope you're feeling a little less on edge today

[thethinkingboy]

I was and suppose I still am a serial addict. I went from grass to narcotics to designer drugs to prescription drugs and alchohol together. When I was having serious anxiety, the doctors were so fast to get out that prescription pad and now I am basically dependent on klonopin and/or alcohol to get through those attacks here and there. You could go the presicription drug route but my advice is to tough it out as cleanly and as best you can. Drink a ton of water, do a lot of aerobic excercise and get a good sweat going to flush that crap out of your body (30-45 minutes each time). This will also metabolize excess adrenaline in your blood stream to reduce your overall anxiety and possibly avoid those panic attacks, not to mention, cause an increase in seratonin production so your mood will improve.

[karlos768]

Thanks for the advice guys, i was begining to wonder if anyone would reply theres seems to be a bit of predujice against potheads on this site. thanks again.