Quitting marijuana, social anxiety, and solutions...

[joshziman]

I've smoked marijuana for habitually for a couple years now. The use became abuse once the habit started to negatively affect my psychological health.

For me, it is definitely not a social lubricant. Over the past several months, I've become increasingly self-conscious while high. Of course, while high, I am more clumsy and gullible and my short-term memory is very affected. While taking notice of my imperfections and clumsy behavior, I slowly developed extreme paranoia and social anxiety during the drug experience, but now it has carried over to affect my sober behavior. I now have social anxiety when I'm NOT high and I can't stand it. I want to be the social, outgoing person I was before I developed this problem.

It took a long time to decide, "Wow, I really need to stop, it's extremely detrimental to my social and psychological well-being".

As a college student, I'm around the stuff all the time. I've become much better at saying "no" when being offered a bowl, but there are times when I give in. It's part of the habit, I enjoy "smoking" but I hate the effect of the drug. For obvious reasons, I don't want to just switch to tobacco, I've never been a cigarette smoker and I want to keep it that way.

Quiting psychological habits/dependencies don't work cold-turkey, so here's my plan.

I'm going to try substitute herbs. I just ordered St. Johns Wort and Passionflower. I'll receive the orders in a week or so and give updates on my progress.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

[sheffy4]

You are going to smoke those substitute herbs? I haven't heard of anyone using St. Johns Wort or Passion Flower as anything but a supplement or brewed as a tea. It sounds like they would be kind of disgusting.
It's hard, but I think you would be best not smoking anything at all. If you really don't just want to quit smoking all together, maybe you could try smoking flavored tobacco from a hookah. I've never tried it, but my friends were really into it for a while, and it's a very social activity.

[Dan.Linehan]

I was in the same spot in college joshziman. It never really stops being an issue. The sooner you quit the better.

You might want to try salvia for a legal alternative.

[wolverine]

I go to university (college) and I'm not 'around the stuff all the time'. Maybe it's not only you, but your friends, social group or perhaps even the college itself. Of course, you're the only one that can make the change, but maybe try to have an objective look at the situations you find yourself in, and who you're with, and see if you can choose to be in situations where you're not faced with the temptation.

One technique I've heard of, and that has worked for me with other things, is to imagine the most horrible, disgusting or frightening metaphor for the thing-to-be-quitted (in your case, marijuana), and then merge the two so that when you think/use/have anything to do with the real thing that you don't want to use/drink/eat/whatever anymore, you can only associate it with the negative image/metaphor. The example I remember best is someone associating raw white sugar with broken glass; he didn't want to eat sugar anymore after imagining it as broken glass ripping apart his insides! For me, I stopped drinking Coke cold turkey, just stopped. I simply saw it as a digusting, overly-sweet drink that left my mouth dry and sticky. Now, I can't stand it. This technique might be worth a try for you, if you can come up with a metaphor/image that is digusting/terrible/frightening for you personally.

Good luck!


Wolverine

[garentee]

I used to be in the restaurant business. Its everywhere. I smoked from the time I was 13-29 and I got really sick of the way I felt when high. It made my anxieties like a raging fire. One day I just stopped smoking and that was that. I have a lot of the same friends who are trying very hard to try and get me to start up again. I will not do it...unless one day I get the urge. Happily it has been almost twelve years since I quit. I still do not miss it. Just do it and do not give up trying to stay off of it. It is really the best thing you can do for your sanity. Think positive....G

[NickW]

garentee, congrats on your success! I admire your determination and will power. As someone who's kicked a bad habit or two myself, it can be tough. Was for me, anyway.

joshziman, just quit. Forget substitutes, forget trying to fool yourself. Don't send yourself a message that you're too wimpy, too weak, such a weenie that you can't quit a habit. Just say [blank] it. Feel the high of exercising your own strength, your own will. Feel what it's like to win, to triumph. Take control. Be a man, not a boy.

"You might want to try salvia for a legal alternative."
I assume you're not suggesting he start smoking Salvia divinorum.

"When considered by mass alone, salvinorin A is the most potent naturally occurring psychoactive compound known."
Salvia divinorum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[thef0x]

Honestly,

I had to leave the country to quit. I am studying abroad and I've smoked very rarely.

When I did buy, just recently, I was alone, stoned in my room for 3 days, smoking all of it.

It was HORRIBLE. It made me very depressed, a terrible decision.

I will never buy pot again.

I smoked for 2 years every day.

No more.

So I had to move to a radically new environment and just say no which wasn't hard.

You need to figure out what the mentality of someone who doesn't smoke pot is and then emulate that.

And feel empowered with your decision! Congratulations on this big self-discovery.

Cheers.

[LoraleighV]

...but it's way worth it! I've been sober and off pot for over 10 years now and I can tell you life is so much better in this clear-headed state.

A couple of points:

Quit hanging with the group you do, it'll be easier to stop.

The social anxiety will lift after it's out of your system - which may take a while.

All my best to you!

[Barcs]

Marijuana is one of the easiest "drugs" to quit. I'm not saying it's simple, but much easier than things like caffeine, nicotine or other hard drugs that develope physical addictions. I quit it cold turkey, and after a few days I didn't have many urges at all. After a week I felt renewed. After the month I didn't even feel like doing it anymore. Eventually I started smoking again, but only in moderation. I think that is the key with marijuana, if you use it. I've never seen anyone who uses once or twice a week to get negative side effects or social anxiety. It's usually the ones that smoke everyday or multiple times a day. The people that almost rely on it to go about their daily lives.

[Jamie]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

The sooner you quit the better.

Absolutely agree. I smoked the stuff for several years in my early 20's, and it didn't do me any favours. I was a complete wreck in fact. I got all the paranoia, and social anxiety, big time.

When I stopped, I found I had a nicotine addiction, and started smoking regular cigurettes for a while too (yuuck).

Eventually I developed quite a healthy life style and did a lot of exercise (Tai Chi and soft Kung Fu, traditional Chinese health arts); I can honestly say, I felt way much better from the natural high of the exercise and just being well and healthy than I ever did from smoking dope.

I wish you the best of luck in dropping this habit man, am sure you'll look back in years to come and be very glad you did.

Good luck!

Jamie.

[Lauxa]

I have one friend who when pressed to smoke will just say that he gets paranoia really bad and so he finally realized that this is not a good drug for him.

I would say don't try to sub another smoking substance, it's just not the same and will keep the habit of smoking fresh and probably make it harder. Maybe go for another oral stimulus like breath mints.

And it would probably be good to diversify your social contacts, while maybe not dropping your old group altogether. See if you can get in with a sports-focused group that will encourage more healthy habits.

[Jamie]

Originally Posted by Lauxa

I have one friend who when pressed to smoke will just say that he gets paranoia really bad and so he finally realized that this is not a good drug for him.

I would say don't try to sub another smoking substance, it's just not the same and will keep the habit of smoking fresh and probably make it harder. Maybe go for another oral stimulus like breath mints.

And it would probably be good to diversify your social contacts, while maybe not dropping your old group altogether. See if you can get in with a sports-focused group that will encourage more healthy habits.

This is excellent advice, I think, and esp. getting in with a sports-focused group, the kind of people who are lilely to be health concious; it will rub off on you. Plus you get to do all that lovely exercise.

Which kind of exercise would you do? Running could be a good option, will make you feel naturally 'high', and it's the kind of high that will over flow in to your life, so you'll feel good, all the time. If you start recording your times, and make some kind of log, you'll be able to get some sense of improvement over time, which is great too.

[mercuryrising]

Originally Posted by Jamie

This is excellent advice, I think, and esp. getting in with a sports-focused group, the kind of people who are lilely to be health concious; it will rub off on you. Plus you get to do all that lovely exercise.

Which kind of exercise would you do? Running could be a good option, will make you feel naturally 'high', and it's the kind of high that will over flow in to your life, so you'll feel good, all the time. If you start recording your times, and make some kind of log, you'll be able to get some sense of improvement over time, which is great too.

I think your advice is pretty good too. It's been a little over a year and half since I quit smoking pot. I just quit cold turkey and dealt with the hang-ups. Had to leave a lot of old friends behind. But if they had really been my friends, they would have understood. There really isn't any other way to quit than to just quit.

I've found that my addiction just moved into other things, mostly smoking cigarettes and eating badly. This week the company I work for goes completely smoke free, so I have to do something about that. I like your idea about getting high off of exercise. I'll have to give that a try. Maybe I'll get addicted to something positive for a change.

[SaberToothDream]

I know how difficult it can be to be surrounded by people smoking pot and to be conflicted by wanting to smoke and not wanting to smoke at the same time. I recently moved to California and the people I met just so happened to be big pot smokers. I’ve smoked pot occasionally in the past but nothing like this. I don’t know if it’s California weed in general or just what these kids get but it really messes me up. I hate hat hate how I feel on it. I over think everything and usually just end up not saying anything, I feel awkward, stupid, and all my other social anxieties are intensified. Eventually I realized I just have to say no to them when they offer. It sucks because they seem to really enjoy how they feel when they smoke and it feels like a waste to pass up a free drug. But it really makes no sense to do something that makes you feel awful and you know will make you feel awful. There’s just no need to subject yourself to that.

[blazer1]

I have not read all the responses but I can add my two cents in.

I have been a smoker also, and social anxiety is a problem not just for you and I but nearly all smokers. If you had any form of shyness or insecurity before you started smoking, the weed will exaggerate that - simply because weed introduces a lot of paranoia into your thinking.

The other thing which you may find is happening (because it happens to me) is that you will feel people are talking about you, trying to hinder you from progress (keeping you down) and other things revolving around you. On this note it can go both ways, people are unknowingly trying to stop others from progressing, it's natures way, the fittest survive, perhaps being high and paying attention to things around you has caused people like you and I to take notice of this human nature, where normal people don't even pick up on it.

The best thing to do is to ignore it.

Also, I feel you are not really that addicted to marijuana, because if you don't see the difference between some alternative herb and marijuana then it seems you are just starting out and smoking marijuana is something you use for social standing. Perhaps it makes you feel cool enough to hang out with people if you know you are a pot head.

In my opinion go cold turkey ... why bother smoking ciggarettes or other alternative herbs and wrecking your lungs when you don't get the 'high' off it? Just not worth it.


Anyway, peace.

Blazer1 from Sydney.

[Firefighter469]

Don't waste your money with those substitute herbs, they're expensive and have no effect besides hurting you and maybe giving you a lung infection or cancer.

Find some new friends. Start jogging, there's nothing better than an endorfin high!

[mopp]

Originally Posted by joshziman

I've smoked marijuana for habitually for a couple years now. The use became abuse once the habit started to negatively affect my psychological health.

For me, it is definitely not a social lubricant. Over the past several months, I've become increasingly self-conscious while high. Of course, while high, I am more clumsy and gullible and my short-term memory is very affected. While taking notice of my imperfections and clumsy behavior, I slowly developed extreme paranoia and social anxiety during the drug experience, but now it has carried over to affect my sober behavior. I now have social anxiety when I'm NOT high and I can't stand it. I want to be the social, outgoing person I was before I developed this problem.

It took a long time to decide, "Wow, I really need to stop, it's extremely detrimental to my social and psychological well-being".

As a college student, I'm around the stuff all the time. I've become much better at saying "no" when being offered a bowl, but there are times when I give in. It's part of the habit, I enjoy "smoking" but I hate the effect of the drug. For obvious reasons, I don't want to just switch to tobacco, I've never been a cigarette smoker and I want to keep it that way.

Originally Posted by blazer1

I have not read all the responses but I can add my two cents in.

I have been a smoker also, and social anxiety is a problem not just for you and I but nearly all smokers. If you had any form of shyness or insecurity before you started smoking, the weed will exaggerate that - simply because weed introduces a lot of paranoia into your thinking.

The other thing which you may find is happening (because it happens to me) is that you will feel people are talking about you, trying to hinder you from progress (keeping you down) and other things revolving around you. On this note it can go both ways, people are unknowingly trying to stop others from progressing, it's natures way, the fittest survive, perhaps being high and paying attention to things around you has caused people like you and I to take notice of this human nature, where normal people don't even pick up on it.





Blazer1 from Sydney.

I thought i was the only one with this problem, everyone else that i know who smokes seems to be just fine. They must just be stronger mentally?. Is this reversible if i stop smoking?

[sallytowns]

Maybe you should try visualizations to help your body wean itself from the marijuana? Here's a great tool: Vision Board. You can download a free first chapter there!

[Nooneimportant]

I found this thread through a Google search, so appologies for bumping it after 2 years!

I have smoked weed on and off (often having lots of roll up in a day and getting completely high, with a friend of mine) for about two years but I am now giving it up forever.

I believe I am suffering social anxiety from smoking weed too. It materialises by me screwing my face up when I speak to people outside my immediate family, particularly when I make eye contact.

I find it sooooooooooooooooo frustrating as I am normally a very confident person and like to chat to people and make people laugh, etc. The social anxiety completely changes me. I lose almost all my confidence and basically spend whole conversations with people mainly thinking "don't scre your face up, don't screw your face up..." to the point that I don't even give proper answers to questions and I don't think of funny things to say - I just give quick, obvious answers so that I can stop talking and concentrate on not looking weird when I screw my face up.

It's so awful. It really gets me down.

By screw my face up I mean that I lose control of my facial muscles. My face tightens and, when it gets really bad my lips tremble and my cheeks tighten. My sinuses in my nose even tighten sometimes.

I can tell that people notice it as they stop making eye contact with me and don't enjoy talking to me when I'm like this. Normally I'm quite popular in my office and with friends - able to make people laugh, etc - but when I'm like this I notice that people don't talk to me as much and always keep conversations brief.

The last weed I smoked was about a week and half ago (June the 22nd) and it is supposed to take about a month to clear out of your system, so I am hoping that it will be gone later on this month. If not, then I will need to go back to my GP and seek further help.

Weed can be great fun, but it is really, really, really not worth it if these are the effects that I suffer. My weed smoking partner doesn't get the same effects - just goes to show that everyone gets affected in different ways.

I've tried Googling my symptoms but this thread is the closes I could find. There is very little out there. Does anyone get my facial twitch type symptoms or has anyone got them in the past?

[james6]

You don't have to substitute cannabis with anything to stop. It has its own anti withdrawal symptom compounds.

Just stop and get yourself more comfortable with you. Its always good to take a rest from cannabis, its a sacred herb and should be respected as such. It will respect your right not to imbibe.

edit: The only thing you will notice, is the return of dream awareness, but that will subside and become usual within a few days.

[ginkgo]

People want to get high but there is a good way and a bad way. Some people get high with exercise but do not get the bad effects that you do. Herbs are good for health but you can also learn from that music group, The Beatles. They took lots of drugs so what herbal herb did they use.

They learned that people in India were getting extremely high without drugs so they became students of the Maharishi Mahesh Majababar Ramakrshnan Pujanand Ji Mahesh Yogi. He taught them raja yoga. Hatha yoga are the postures. Raja means king so it is the king of yoga-- meditation.

Here are quotes from this site on being extremely happy.

Wikipedia says, under Yoga Philosophy, "In all branches of yoga, the ultimate goal is the attainment of an eternal state of perfect consciousness."

They say yoga is this complete stillness
In which one enters the unitive state,
Never to become separate again.
If one is not established in this state,
The sense of unity will come and go.

The Self cannot be known by anyone
Who desists not from unrighteous ways,
Controls not his senses, stills not his mind,
And practices not meditation.

In this society no value is placed on being extremely happy. There is no list of the happiest people but there is list of the richest, the best dressed, the best looking etc.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by james6

You don't have to substitute cannabis with anything to stop.

You could substitute cannabis with cannabalism. They sound similar since one is a good substitute for the other. Instead of consuming herbs, you consume dead people.

[powskiing]

I feel the very same effects as you do. You feel as though, the personality in you has been sucked out. I hate being in social situations, communicating with people, even being in public is hard to take in at times. I feel as though people will take notice to me, and talk about me, make fun of me. I just feel very self concious and have a very low self esteem now. I've basically become a depressed loner, I dont really keep in touch with friends anymore, and they seem to have giving up on me too. I noticed that even while hanging out with alot of my best friends that I have known for years, I get so nervous, and cant keep, or start a solid conversation. And their is always long awkward silences which I cannot stand, because I start thinking of what they may be thinking about me. Im always very worried about what I do and how I look when talking to someone like involentary movements in the face or eyes. I feel like people notice these types of things about me. I know I shouldn't care, but Im helpless and cant control the way my mind thinks. I have stopped smoking a few times for vacations but ended up suffering severe stomach cramps, sleepless nights, and constant fatigue. Went to dominican for a week and felt like dying the whole time, could barely eat a meal, until i returned and got high. same happened during the olympics when i went to van for a week and a half. Worst way to spend trips. Personally I feel like my quality of life has spiralled into the ground, being depressed every day, feeling worthless, having suicidal thoughts almost daily, and everyday i feel like i have to drag myself out of bed. I feel so bad for my parents, they give me everything and love me no matter what, and Im so selfish, and continue to destroy myself. If i dont quit soon, and get my mental self in order, I feel like life will be not worth living. pwease help me!
I apoligize for how everything is all rambled about and may not make sense. I was in the moment and was just typing everything I felt and thought of to explain myself. Payce!

[Phil Watson]

This thread is synchronicity for me. I have a lot of these issues when I'm high, particularly the social anxiety and not having anything to say. I like the idea of smoking, but I don't enjoy the effects at all anymore. It's so hard to quit though because when I think about smoking it sounds so fun, and it's hard to get myself to grasp how it's going to make me feel when I'm actually high, while I'm still sober. After reading through this thread though, I'm definitely quitting. Hopefully.

[bloodworksinc]

How can one solve one's troubles/problems/issues high when you cannot solve the same problems sober?

If it's a problem eradicate it. If it's not stop whining and enjoy the simple joys of life. We should be grateful for the sensation rather than the choice.

You are the one.

[fellow traveler]

Originally Posted by joshziman

I've smoked marijuana for habitually for a couple years now. The use became abuse once the habit started to negatively affect my psychological health.

For me, it is definitely not a social lubricant. Over the past several months, I've become increasingly self-conscious while high. Of course, while high, I am more clumsy and gullible and my short-term memory is very affected. While taking notice of my imperfections and clumsy behavior, I slowly developed extreme paranoia and social anxiety during the drug experience, but now it has carried over to affect my sober behavior. I now have social anxiety when I'm NOT high and I can't stand it. I want to be the social, outgoing person I was before I developed this problem.

It took a long time to decide, "Wow, I really need to stop, it's extremely detrimental to my social and psychological well-being".

As a college student, I'm around the stuff all the time. I've become much better at saying "no" when being offered a bowl, but there are times when I give in. It's part of the habit, I enjoy "smoking" but I hate the effect of the drug. For obvious reasons, I don't want to just switch to tobacco, I've never been a cigarette smoker and I want to keep it that way.

Quiting psychological habits/dependencies don't work cold-turkey, so here's my plan.

I'm going to try substitute herbs. I just ordered St. Johns Wort and Passionflower. I'll receive the orders in a week or so and give updates on my progress.

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

I went through this with pot and an assortment of recreational drugs during my freshman and sophmore years of high school back in the early 70's. .... It was an extremely dark period of my life and was very dangerous in fact because two of my comrades wound up dead from drugs. ... I can still remember being at the funeral for one of them and watching his mother in the arms of supporters, barely able to walk up the center aisle of the church because she was just a mess with grief over the loss of her son.

I became sixteen at the end of my sophmore year and was very very fortunate to have been sent away to a young men's wilderness survival camp in Canada that summer. ... The experience took me far away from drugs and my social circle back home. Most importantly however the experience put me in touch with my inner core and my inner strength, which I had never really connected with previously in my young life up to that point. ..... I also had my first and extremely important 'spiritual experience' during that venture which sparked within me a desire to understand and pursue the mystery of Life.

When I returned home from the wilderness weeks later, ... I was a changed person in many ways and I no longer had any desire to do drugs. .. I tried to spend time with my social group, .. and I did even try getting high once or twice, but I was finally vividly aware of how very negatively pot effected me and I stopped smoking out of a complete loss of any desire to do that to myself any longer. .... I tried to be with my friends and just not get high with them, .. but of course that simply did not work either and eventually I just stopped spending time with them at all.

My experience in the wilderness had greatly strengthened my physical and mental body. After I returned home I found myself very drawn to working with my body and different forms of exercise to build my strength and endurance because of how good it made me feel. .... I realize now that I was really going through a significant period of detoxing both physically and mentally for some time, .. and without my knowing it at the time, the exercise very much helped with that. Of course exercise helped me to feel stronger and better within myself and it gave me positive goals to focus on and work towards with myself. It also very much helped to give me the grounding that I needed to balance my very strong mental body.

I wound up having basically zero social life for about a year during my junior year of high school and around the beginning of my senior year I began to make new friends with a lot of the kids in my school who were in a healthier state of self esteem. ... Not long after I returned from the wilderness, someone I knew gave me a dog who became a very close companion of mine and helped me a great deal to make the transition to a healthier and stronger me. .... Among many other things, he was my very enthusiastic exercise running companion for many years. ... He was a 'true friend'.

After my first summer experience at the wilderness camp, .. that winter the director of the camp offered me a job for the following summer and I began working there every summer for the following ten years. ... That was truly a god send and played an incredibly valuable role in my life over many years. My dog accompanied me in the wilderness each year as well.

I know there are folks out there who enjoy smoking pot and they don't seem to experience it as having any negative impact in their lives at all. Many even revere it and regard it as a positive in their lives. ... For me, ..removing pot from my life was one of the best things that I ever did. ... It never did anything positive for me and only seemed to seduce me down into a hole of apathy, disowned depression and low self esteem. ...... Someone I used to know described it once as a 'necromancer'. ... That always seemed appropriate to me.

Joshziman --
I do very much wish you great success in your struggle to free yourself from it. Your life will be much better for it.

[GhostGoat]

I've been smoking cannabis regularly for over 30 years, and I'm trying to cut down too. I really prefer to smoke it when I'm by myself...when I'm with friends or with someone I'm in a relationship with, I prefer not to be high. It is such a regular 'thing' with some of my friends though that its the first thing we do when we get together.

Basically, I guess I don't like being at home by myself when I'm not stoned. I live alone, and when I have pot (which is most of the time) I light up as soon as I get home from work. A bad habit, it has hindered me more than it has helped me through the years.

I think that if you just use it moderately, and don't overdo it, it can be really helpful when playing music or doing art (especially when you have to stay up all night due to a deadline). It can energize you and give you a fresh perspective. When I was younger, it would even increase my focus and concentration at times (now it has the opposite effect, unfortunately).

I ran out of pot about a week ago, and don't plan on buying anymore for a while. I think its good to take a break from it every so often. I wish I could keep it on hand, and just save it for the weekend evenings when I am socializing with friends, or watching a movie, or playing guitar. It takes a lot of discipline for me to do that though, more than I seem to have.

[GhostGoat]

Originally Posted by Dan.Linehan

I was in the same spot in college joshziman. It never really stops being an issue. The sooner you quit the better.

You might want to try salvia for a legal alternative.

Do not try salvia. It is a far more dangerous drug than weed. I know a fellow who has had a lot of experience with LSD, mushrooms, peyote, & mescaline and he couldn't handle salvia.