Originally Answered: How long until I feel better after quit smoking weed?
I was a daily smoker from age 20 to 27. I smoked on average 10 grams of marijuana a week. Medium grade stuff mostly. I made 3 serious attempts to quit. The 3rd time I was successful.
My withdrawal symptoms and time to recover :
Inability to fall asleep or stay asleep throughout the night- 5 weeks until i could sleep normally again. I used sleeping pills from week 2 to 4.
Loss of apetite- 3 weeks to full recovery, also started lifting weights in week 3 which helped stimulate my appetite.
Irritability and short temper- first 2 weeks were the worst. By week 5 i felt totally normal again.
Severely decreased attention span-4 weeks until i could read a chapter of a book without being distracted.
Phlegm and coughing – 2 weeks.
Lethargy – 2 weeks.
Cravings- 4 weeks to totally get over.
Stay strong in your attempt to quit and don’t fall into the cycle of relapse. Keep your reasons for quitting fresh in your mind and don’t listen to the uninformed opinions of the weed fanboys who insist it is harmless and non addictive. 2 months after quitting you will realise in how many ways weed affected your life that you didn’t even realize. I am now much more outgoing, socially confident, enegetic, stronger and have a lot more money in the bank.
Best of luck to you!
Update: since this is on 420 upvotes almost 2 years later. Here is an update. I am still clean. I still think about weed now and then and still get a feeling of wanting to smoke but it is not a strong “craving.” i can easily brush it aside.
One symptom i didn’t mention here was one that is not so tangible but very important.
It is the ability to enjoy things without being high.
This can be anything like watching a movie, going to the beach, spending time with family. After quitting weed things just dont seem as enjoyable. I was high for over 7 years during all these activities and never really experienced them with a clear head. This took a while to correct completely. Maybe 8 months, but it’s hard to put an exact time period to it as it was a slow transition.
I am currently in the best relationship of my life, just launched my second business and am in great shape physically. I feel like if i never quit weed i would still be alone on the couch right now half-way through a party size bag of Doritos while watching Super Troopers for the 45th time. Just going through life like a half assed zombie. Quit now. It’s never too late.
WHAT TO DO ?
Dealing with this very boredom is how you will start a whole new adventure in your life.
When you are used to smoking weed for all of your recreational needs, you stop being good at curing your boredom without it. You’re suddenly not used to having to actually put effort into activities to occupy your body and mind, because you simply smoked to take care of this.
Boredom is a normal thing that people feel. As much as it sucks to deal with right now (especially since you are also having to relearn many other things at the same time), this boredom is actually helpful.
You may not be able to find anything to do for the first few hours, or even days, but what will end up happening is, you will suddenly find yourself doing an activity to keep yourself busy, without realizing.
Basically, you’re going to be so bored, that your body will start to do things somewhat on its own in order to keep itself busy.
Don’t even worry about having fun yet. It will take a while for your brain to rewire what “fun” means without weed, this is just a given in the process.
Curing your boredom doesn’t always have to be something that is fun. You could be doing something mindlessly while feeling as if you’re having absolutely no fun at all. But just keep at it, you’re chipping away at the boredom and giving your brain precious time to adapt to your new life. It won’t leave you in the dust, it will come back to you.
I jumped from so many different activities the first time I stopped smoking weed for any length of time. I scrolled down my Facebook feed, I played a video game, I stopped and stared at something in my room. Sometimes not even spending 60 seconds on each one.
Slowly, you are going to get better at curing this boredom. Your activities will go from staring into space and scrolling down pages, to busting out that old guitar you’ve always wanted to learn to play, or writing a bit of a story here and there.
Before you know it, you will be making full songs and writing a book series. Your life will be so fulfilling, and you will have so much fun and feel so capable of anything.
But it just takes time, and you can’t rush the process. If it feels like you’re wasting your life just staring at the wall right now, just keep doing whatever is the easiest thing to pass the time, and eventually your ambition will come back.
When your ambition comes back, then you’re going to have a LOT of fun, and you’ll never be bored because you have so many things you need to do, and want to do.
The best part about it is seeing what your new life will be. Chances are you’re going to thrust yourself into a whole new world. You don’t worry too much about how you got there or what’s next, all you know is that you’re not bored.