Marijuana withdrawal symptoms... are they really that severe...?

[Allyo]

A close friend of mine recently stopped smoking marijuana after smoking pretty regularly for 4 years. He told me that he wanted to do more with his life. I feel really happy for him, although him smoking marijuana was never an important issue in our friendship. Nor did it affect my opinion of him since he is a good person, is studying a master's degree, and has a lot of ambitions in his life.

 

However, I have noticed that his behavior has changed a lot. About two weeks have passed by since he quit. According to him, the first few days were tough, but now he is perfectly fine. I see him irritated, tired, with bags under his eyes... although he claims he is sleeping just fine. He broke up with his girlfriend out of the blue when things were supposedly going fine - his girlfriend is also a good friend of mine.. He behaves completely distant with her and I, which I'm sure is tough for her but also hurts me since I consider him one of my best friends. I'm worried that he no longer is the person that I knew... but at the same time, he was already a marijuana addict from the day I met him.

 

I don't know if I should be worried, or what I can do to help. Has anyone gone through a similar situation with a loved one or a friend? I have heard that marijuana withdrawal symptoms aren't as severe as withdrawal symptoms from other drugs, and according to him he is "just fine"... Is there a day when he will snap out of this? Or is this the real him, and I just got to know the pot addict version that was completely different..?

[waveseer]

Some people believe it helps them cope, so when they stop they are irritable because they believe they can't cope as well. They are right in the sense that it makes everything not matter as much so there's not much reason to get upset about anything. Now he's getting upset because he has ceased to "take the edge off" all of his life situations.

[Pinnsvini]

Someone in my family smokes it and upon stopping his temper is absolutely atrocious, he's fairly surly as it is but withdrawl makes him unbearable. Everything is taken personally, everything annoys him, and it's vile to be under the same roof as him. I've heard he also apparently suffers nightmares as a result. So your friend probably just doesn't want to admit he's struggling with this; it sounds very much like he is suffering withdrawl.

[IGlareOften]

I can't say I agree. I've heard many many studies that say pot is non-addictive. From a purely psychological stand point....pot has a calming effect. It's a downer and tends to make people feel relaxed and calm. It releases chemicals in your brain that make you feel like everything is pretty chill.

 

Chances are, he's not going to be the person you met...because you met the guy on pot. You've grown accustomed to a person who feel really calm about everything..due to the pot. The first person was right..he's probably having a hard time coping because he';s been coping for four years with pot. Him breaking up with his gf isn't SO out of the blue. If he viewed life one way on pot..doesn't mean he'll view it the same off of pot. Chances are he didn't find her as appealing as before.

 

It's just a big change....he may not be the person you are accustomed to...you may need to get to know him all over again

[pinecone]

There are no withdrawal symptoms. The addiction from marijuana is purely a psychological dependency on the tranqulizing feelings it brings. Like braking any dependency, it can be challenging, and so you may become irritable, low, or anxious, but it's worth recongising that these feelings are exacerbated by marijuana, and so going back to it will not help, or medicate the problem. To break the habit you need to find another method of coping to replace the drug.

[catfeeder]

I don't think anyone can predict the specific affects on someone else's body when attempting to adjust to a substantive change, regardless of whether it's THC, sugar, nicotine, coffee or heroin. Nobody knows whether the irritability and sudden choices come from physical changes, or whether he's going through a dramatic overhaul that prompted him to quit both the drug and the relationship.

 

No matter how you slice it, a breakup on top of a physical change are quite a stressful combo plate for anyone to handle. I'd observe whether he normalizes over time, and if not, you can decide from there exactly how invested you'll wish to remain in this friendship. A bully is a bully, regardless of what he opts to put in his body.

[shuttlefish]

Sometimes heavy pot use is a sign of something else that is wrong mentally. Like the person is self medicating and they suffer from some other kind of mental "disorder" or disturbance. For example, social anxiety or depression or borderline personality disorder or childhood abuse memories or something like that.

There has to be a reason why someone gets high on a daily basis...at that point its not just for the buzz anymore - it's something deeper at work.

 

The problem with getting straight is that the person still has to deal with his demons or personality issues that got him doing drugs in the first place. Of course that comes up right away.

 

Not dissing your friend, but just offering some possible clues as to his behavior.

[dragon lady]

It can be quite severe. My ex used to smoke weed frequently and when he stopped he couldn't sleep for 2 weeks, had body cramps, threw up everything he ate and was extremely anxious.

 

It was no different to the withdrawal symptoms I had from stopping benzodiazepines, which are one of the most difficult drug types to give up.

 

Give him a few weeks and he should start to get better.

[Allyo]

Thanks for the replies. Whoooops, I didn't really mean to get into the discussion of what is and isn't a drug... but I feel like from my personal experience the regular marijuana smokers I have known do have some level of addiction - as in a craving to continue smoking and feeling like they need to have it to keep functioning.

 

My friend has mentioned to me some issues from the past... with his mom, and when he was young he was super nerdy and couldn't attract girls... He commented to me that he had gone to a psychologist to discuss those issues. If he is stopping smoking I figure that means he wants to move on, fix those issues, and find another kind of coping mechanism.

 

Maybe the best thing I could do is wait it out and be supportive...?

[catfeeder]

Yes and no. It's not 'helpful' to be supportive toward any degree of mistreatment of others that he recounts or you observe--especially if it's directed at you. Otherwise blind support does the guy no favors, as the kindest thing people can do for him right now is to demo the limits the world will tolerate from him. From there, he can make a choice to straighten up and fly right, or to alienate everyone he cares about. That's dealing 'straight' with an addict--or no addict.

 

Fingers crossed for you, and my best.

[Allyo]

Yes and no. It's not 'helpful' to be supportive toward any degree of mistreatment of others that he recounts or you observe--especially if it's directed at you. Otherwise blind support does the guy no favors, as the kindest thing people can do for him right now is to demo the limits the world will tolerate from him. From there, he can make a choice to straighten up and fly right, or to alienate everyone he cares about. That's dealing 'straight' with an addict--or no addict.

 

Fingers crossed for you, and my best.

 

Thank you, this is good advice. And it comes at the right time too... I was just talking to him this afternoon, but he completely pissed me off! He was just being rude... I don't even know what I did to deserve that. I guess he needs to realize that that kind of behavior isn't acceptable with me. I deserve better...

[ProtestTheHero]

Speaking from my experience, the experience of people I know, and almost everything I've read, there are no physical withdrawal symptoms. They are manifested by the person. When something is habitual and has become your designated relax time and a decent portion of your time was saved for a certain activity and that is removed, people can become irritated. It's like a psychological placebo effect, but it should not be making you throw up, hurt, or anything like that unless you were using to deal with chemo or something.

 

So yeah...there might be some psychological stuff there. Maybe in his attempt to start over he dumped his girl because she represented his old life. Who knows.