On zoloft, just quit weed after 7 years. Could use some insight.

[jofrruco14]

Hey i'm 24 and about a month ago had my very first panic attack. I managed to stay above all this even through the loss of my dad at age 15 and i can't think of anything that would trigger one. After a week on ativan i smoked weed and had a terrible reaction (was also on oxycodone for kidney stones and advil pm, a combination that i now know can be REALLY bad.) Anyways, after that night i stopped smoking after smoking several times/day for about 6 or 7 years so its hard for me to pinpoint what is causing/helping my symptoms. It's been a month after starting zoloft (3 weeks clean&sober) and off ativan, which i didnt really like. I've been having a really difficult time getting to sleep (still taking advil pm) and when i get to sleep i have really vivid dreams/nightmares. While i was smoking, i had no problem getting to sleep and dreams weren't an issue with me. I also just feel lazy and have been having brain fog and generally just feel high and out of it. Ive heard that it should only take 3-4 weeks for zoloft to build up in your system, so what do you think!? Am i going crazy? i feel like just stopping the zoloft and going back to smoking weed because it helps w sleeping and my creativity (jazz musician) and i could use some encouragement/guidance. Thanks in advance!

[madchains]

It's been a while since you posted so im not sure if you'll see this but with regards to the dreams it's very normal to be having vivid dreams after giving up weed. I noticed that whenever I was smoking I basically never had any dreams (at least that I could remember) but anytime I stopped for a few days or a week or so I'd start having really vivid dreams, some that would wake me up in the middle of the night, though this should subside over time.

Personally Im in a situation where I've just given up for good, it's been 3 weeks and Im having incredibly bad anxiety, loss of appetite, and ocd relating to a different issue. I really want to know if other people have experienced heightened anxiety and mood swings after giving up weed.

[Cuchculan]

People have this great false idea that weed calms you down. It doesn't. It make you paranoid. It is a mug's game. Not wroth going near. A lot of new members we get end up here after trying some weed. It is not all it is made out to be. People look at Bob Marley. Probably the biggest ever weed smoker that lived. He was never a calm chilled out person. May have looked that way in pictures. That was what they wanted you to see. He was paranoid about everything. It only leads to more trouble than it is worth. Best stopping it. Try and get your life back on track again. It may take a while to get fully out of your system. Because like medication you can reach a tolerance level with weed. You need more after a while smoking it to get the same buzz when you first began smoking it. A lot of people then don't get any buzz from it at all. What do they do? They decide to try a stronger form of drug. Never worth it. Quit while you have the chance. A few bad weeks won't kill you. Come the end of it all you will be much better for coming off of the stuff.

[laura124]

I don't use cannabis and never have but I know that it does have psychological withdrawal.  You probably use weed to help with the OCD, anxiety, maybe mood swings-- so going cold turkey is going to expose you to all those feelings again.  The marijuana numbs all those feelings.  In order to release that psychological dependency I think you'll need to face those feelings in therapy and find other coping mechanisms to deal with them.  Every person is different regarding severity of anxiety symptoms so you and your doctor or therapist should try to custom fit what is best for you.

I'm not against medicinal marijuana.  It's a plant that God put on this earth and is not processed.  Obviously, not everything God put on this earth is good for you--eating a poisonous mushroom or berry could kill you.  Marijuana does have some positive medicinal attributes though.  And you can't overdose on it and it can't kill you. BUT I'm convinced that unless you have severe pain caused by a disorder or cancer (physical disorder) it is not a good choice for medicine.  As far as mental disorders go, I think it just masks your feelings even further, preventing healing.