Marijuana withdrawal effects – What will my son feel?

My son just graduated college. He can’t get a job because of the economy (he has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a 3.7 GPA from Rutgers), but you probably would not guess that he is an ‘enthusiast’ of cannabis. He also would probably (unfortunately) not be able to get a job anyway because of his smoking pot. He’s been a “pot head” for a while now. My husband and I became aware how often he was smoking it. When we confronted him he said if he stops smoking now he feels uncomfortable and anxious. His doctor prescribed him a medication like Xanax called “Ativan.” What will that do? Will it help or will he feel better? Also are marijuana withdrawal effects that real? I never guessed they would even exist.

Effects of Commonly Used Drugs: Marijuana Withdrawal.org

Here is an excellent article on effects of some of the most commonly used drugs.  Here at marijuana withdrawal .org we hope to provide our readers with up to date information on marijuana withdrawal, marijuana withdrawal treatment, and marijuana withdrawal tips.

 

Drug abuse, involves the excessive and repeated use of a substance to escape reality to produce pleasure despite its destructive effects. The substances abused can be illegal drugs such as opium, cocaine, marijuana and their derivatives or legal substances used improperly, such as prescription drugs and inhalants like nail polish or gasoline.

 

Effects of Commonly Used Drugs:

 

· Marijuana: Believed to be the most commonly used illegal drug. Marijuana abuse has been linked to delinquent behavior, low achievement, and poor family relationships. However, there are drawbacks to extended use, including lung and respiratory problems caused by the smoke, learning and memory impairment, and infertility.

 

· Narcotic and Opioid Abuse: Narcotics side effects include vomiting, nausea, and sever itching. Withdrawing from narcotics is extremely unpleasant, with symptoms including muscle and joint pain, fever, chills, sweats, nausea, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.

 

In general, the more treatment received the greater the results. Drug and alcohol abusers who remain in treatment longer than 3 months typically have greater success than those who receive less treatment. Addicted individuals who undergo medically assisted drug or alcohol detox to minimize the discomfort of withdrawal symptoms but do not receive any further treatment, perform about the same in terms of their drug or alcohol use as those who are never treated at all.

 

· Depressants and Downer Abuse: Depressants, commonly known as opium, marijuana, cocaine, and their derivatives, are substances that slow down the central nervous system. Additionally, they may suffer from amnesia and delusions. Downers are highly addictive, and withdrawal is severe, with symptoms including cramps, nausea, and vomiting. When mixed with alcohol downers are lethal in high doses.

 

· Steroid Abuse: Steroid abuse causes blood pressure to skyrocket, decreases good cholesterol (HDL) while increasing bad cholesterol (LDL), triggers violent and aggressive behavior, results in severe acne, and brings growth to a halt in adolescents.

 

· Inhalant Abuse: Inhalants are chemicals, which cause intoxication when inhaled or sniffed. Highly huffing this comes with side effects including loss of consciousness, vomiting, nausea, delusions, and confusion. Prolonged inhalant abuse can also cause damage to the brain and other organs of the body. However, the biggest risk involved with inhalant use is death by overdose caused by sudden heart failure even in individuals who are young and healthy.

 

· Hallucinogen and Dissociative Drug Abuse: Hallucinogens and Dissociative drugs, also known as psychedelics, affect the user’s thought processes and sensory perceptions. Risks include a dangerous increase in body temperature, heart problems and liver damage.

 

· Stimulants and Upper Abuse: Stimulants, or uppers, are drugs which speed up the central nervous system. Stimulants abuse over time leads to symptoms such as hallucinations, paranoid thinking, anxiety, aggression, and sleep difficulties. Uppers overdose can result in heart failure, stroke, and death.

THC Detox: What is It? Marijuana Withdrawal .org

Here is another great article on THC. This chemical should not be taken for granted, as many users sem to neglect and/or believe its toxic effects.  Here at marijuana withdrawal .org we hope to provide our readers on up to date articles on marijuana withdrawal and marijuana withdrawal treatment and help.

 

Tertahydrocannabinol – this is what THC means. THC is the same substance found in marijuana. Marijuana is considered as a medicinal plant but it can be very addictive too. THC is marijuana’s active ingredient. Smokers retain this substance inside their system whenever they ingest, use, or smoke marijuana. It is the main substance that gives the plant its euphoric capabilities.

Marijuana is legal in some areas. In fact, many groups and individuals believe that marijuana is just as harmful as tobacco and alcohol – and both of them are legal. Given this fact, the government somehow fails to hear the pleas of concerned citizens to fully ban the cultivation and use of such plant. In certain places, marijuana can be grown freely. It can be cultivated inside one’s backyard both for medicinal uses and ornamental purposes.

The effect of THC in a person can be very derogatory. For starters, it can negatively affect one’s memory retention. THC can reduce your ability to learn as the substance interferes with your brain’s functions. And if taken in dangerous amounts, THC can bring about delirium, confusion, and anxiety. THC is usually absorbed into the person’s liver and fatty tissues. And it stays there for an extended period of time. The traces of THC can be detected in one’s urine. This is the reason why drug tests involve urinalysis.

Only detox can successfully remove THC from your body. The procedure may be long and tedious for those who are deeply addicted to marijuana or have been using it for a long period of time. What’s more, THC should be carefully removed from the body. Abrupt removal may cause withdrawal symptoms that are just as dangerous. The withdrawal symptoms can even be fatal to some people.

THC detox can only be carried out inside accredited rehabilitation centers or health centers. Health experts are tasked to diagnose the patient admitted in their ward. They need to determine the extent and the projected amount of THC present inside the person for the right procedures to be carried out. This is a very crucial step, because the wrong assessment may lead to the development of the withdrawal symptoms.

If you are not using marijuana regularly but would like to cleanse your body of the possible remnants of the substance, you can try to use THC detox pills that can be bought at special health stores. However, these pills are not supposed to be taken without the guidance of a doctor. Whether or not you’re addicted to marijuana, you are could suffer from withdrawal symptoms if you are not careful. And this is the hardest part in a detoxification process.

THC detox can be very challenging. THC is a toxin of the nerves. It damages the brain’s cells and works similar to a virus. These are the reason why taking this harmful substance out of the body is very important. If you keep it inside you longer, you might suffer severe health consequences in the future. Pursue THC detox and come clean

Marijuana Withdrawal make you feel weak ?

Hi , im 18 and iv’e smoked marijuana for about 7 months now daily and iv just decided to quite after taking a trip to florida and feeling the withdrawal. i decided better stop now b4 the withdrawal gets worse. i feel really down and moody all the time , my muscles feel weaker than normal , and kinda shakey when i lift things or for various movments. i’m tired through peroids of the day then feel normal. i use travel pills to help me sleep which work well. and somtimes i get constipated . i was wondering if anyone else felt these, mainly the weak tired feeling . plus i wanna go to the doctors to get a checkup which will involve a blood test and prob a urine test . do u think they will detect the THC after a week or 2 of not using it. and if they do would they care? thanks

Effects Of Cannabis Addiction: Marijuana Withdrawal .org

Here is another good article on cannabis addiction.  Smokers must realize there will be effects on the body, and some of these may be detrimental. Here at marijuana withdrawal .org we hope to provide you with up to date articles on marijuana withdrawal symptoms and tips for getting help.  Enjoy the article

 

Cannabis is a plant that we commonly call marijuana, ganja in herbal form or hashish in resinous form. It has been commonly used way back prehistoric times. However, its use became prevalent in the 20th century when cannabis was utilized for religious, spiritual, medicinal and even recreational purposes. It was then that its possession, use or sale was prohibited. To date, the use of cannabis for drug use or cannabis addiction remains illegal all throughout the most parts of the world.

Psychologically, cannabis is already a recognized addictive drug. Cannabis addiction occurs when one’s mental and physical state are prominently altered due to its consumption. Although in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), there is no cannabis withdrawal syndrome, evidences show that cannabis addiction induces similar withdrawal symptoms to other drug addiction.

But unlike tobacco, cannabis addiction has not shown to cause lung cancer, chronic pulmonary disease or emphysema. It does not also cause birth defects to expectant mothers who are hooked to cannabis. Basically, cannabis addiction is less hazardous than addiction to tobacco, prescription drugs or alcohol.

Different users may experience different effects in cannabis addiction. Factors such as the dose, its potency, its chemical composition or its method of consumption are what elicit different levels of high in cannabis addiction. Long-term effects include, a feeling of euphoria, intense relaxation, laughter and giggle fits, increased appreciation for music, and either a feeling of intense pleasure or anxiety.

Forgetfulness, laziness, distorted perception, rambling, troubled concentration, inability of motor coordination, increased heart rate, spiritual talking and paranoia are some of the short-term effects of cannabis addiction. It is also shown to manifest its ill effects on the hippocampus (the part of the brain linked with learning and memory), thereby causing short-term memory impairment. Cannabis addiction has also been associated to other mental illnesses, from psychotic episodes to clinical schizophrenia.

Nevertheless, there is always a way out of cannabis addiction. The steps may be simple yet hard and requires extreme sense of commitment and dedication to move out of this addiction. Be willing to feel whatever painful feelings and take part in being responsible for them. Instead of avoiding them with your addiction, face them. Be conscious that you want to know what it causing your pain. Discover the thoughts and actions causing your pain. It should just come from within. Perseverance, will and devotion is all that it takes.

What withdrawal symptoms did you have from quitting marijuana?

I tried quitting a million different times, and I believe my symptoms got me to go smoke again. I sometimes got suicidal or extremely depressed. I couldn’t tell if that’s really how the world is or is it just me because I’ve been smoking for so long I forgot how it feels to be sober.

Quitting Pot – the Nasty 4 Letter Word That is Stopping You

There are many things that seem keep you from quitting pot: Social reasons, stress, lack of a plan and so forth but hiding behind these excuses hides a nasty little devil that we either do not recognize or we do but try to hide him all the same; it is a dirty 4 letter word starting with ‘F’

That’s right … it is FEAR (what did you think I was talking about?)

We all like to think we can do what we want but there are obstacles in our way that stop us when the reality is that fear plays a much larger part in it that we will care to admit and if you have a been a long time smoker of marijuana it only intensifies because the alternative seems to much further away.

Most fear is quite subconscious however and usually shows its influences in the form of procrastination “I will quit: next week … after my birthday … when I finish this last bag of weed” etc or more overtly as an imagined obstacle “I can’t quit yet I will: lose my friends … suffer terrible withdrawals … lose my creativity.” etc. In the end though we realize what must be done it just seems to hard right?

This is not isolated to quitting marijuana addiction though or even any other addiction but can be applied to so many things in life whenever we need to embark on something new, a change of lifestyle or a new project or anything that we can not control the outcome.

The key is to not let it stop you from doing the things you know you have to do!

Here are a few main ways fear infects you and stops you quitting the bad habits that are holding you back and remember that courage is facing fear and doing what needs to be done despite of it, it is not the absence of fear itself!

Fear of Failure

Innumerable psychological studies have shown that the fear of failure is the main obstacle to personal success. This is linked closely to self-esteem in that we so closely link any task to our own self worth and so rather than risk possible humiliation we never even try … and if we do try and we do fail it negatively reinforces it all over again.

So how do we get over this fear of failure and all the negative self worth baggage that comes along with it?

Admit to yourself that you are afraid of failure to quit smoking pot.
Understand that if you stumble and fail, give in for just one smoke etc that it is not the end .. just something to learn from.
Relish the learning experience, and reject the illusion of humiliation, this can seem hard but once it becomes an ingrained habit it is a tool you can use for everything in life.

Fear of Success

Why the heck should anyone fear success?? If you want to quit smoking marijuana then why would we be afraid of being able to do it? This can be a tricky concept and is one of the hardest to puzzle out but basically it is because we are afraid of change and the new challenges that come with change that drive this, instead of thinking about positives we subconsciously associate success with all the problems that might come with it rather than the positives it will bring.

Success can also inject a few things into life that seem scary and can be overwhelming: Will your friends be hateful of your choice? Will you no longer be able to feel a high? How will you combat stress now? Any of these feel familiar?

Here are some tips to fight back against this type of fear:

Change comes no matter what happens, quit or keep smoking change will come so why not quit and face the change with a clear head and a fuller wallet?
Babe Ruth held the home run record and the strikeout record simultaneously. Keep swinging for the fences.
The positives that you get from quitting pot are not just the fact you will not be smoking and all that comes with that but it is the drive and determination and life lessons you will gain from the journey too.

Fear of Social Rejection

This can be a part of a fear of success but seems to have a special place for many people looking to quit smoking weed. Often your entire circle of friends may be smokers and the fear of them rejecting your choices can lead to you feeling like they are rejecting you as a person not just your life decision.

So, how do we avoid our fear of social rejection? Some do not do anything and do not even try but this is going to leave you unfulfilled and scared to do anything for yourself, so instead these tips may help you get over this fear.

Remember, you’ll never please everyone. Some people may be supportive and some will never be … who do you want to be your friends anyway?
Your life choices are your own, not theirs and it does not reflect on their choices either, if you let them know that and do not judge them then they have no right to judge you.

Fear of Risk

Like a fear of success this is a fear of the unknown, it is however more focused on being ’safe’. No one ever got anywhere in life by not taking some risks and the same is true of stopping marijuana use because safety is about the status quo and not moving out of your comfort zone where everything seems controllable compared to the alternative.

Our brains actually are geared this way too which makes it doubly hard to beat this fear as we are hard wired to embrace consistency and familiarity. However better things are only there for those who seek the unfamiliar. Try to remember these things in your goals.

What is the worst that could happen? Will quitting pot really be that hard or difficult?
Risk-taking breeds self-confidence. Each step you take, each day you abstain from smoking will give you the energy to take the next step, face the next day until you conquer the fear completely
Do not over think it! Just do it!

If these tips are helpful to you click here to sign up for the quit marijuana newsletter and check out the downloadable resources available from the Marijuana Addiction Treatment page

Tips on How to Quit Smoking Weed & Stop Living Life in a Haze

While the debate over marijuana, legality, health benefits and negatives rages on there are many people who are in strife who care little for all these arguments because they are addicted to weed and what the masses decided about the drug matters little when your own personal life is falling apart due to addiction which is a separate point completely to all the others. If you are one of these people and are looking for tips on how to quit smoking weed then first I encourage you to shut out all of the pro and anti marijuana campaigners because your struggle is a personal one not just with marijuana but with a psychological addiction which only has tenuous links to the particular thing you are addicted to.

This does not mean that there are not specific things you need to know about marijuana in this but it all must center around your personal struggle and not all the side bullshit that goes on to do with pot. To quickly summarize what you may need to know about cannabis is this:

Marijuana is not physically addictive like other drugs that have chemicals in them that you can become dependant on, while you can suffer from withdrawal symptoms such as insomnia, vivid dreams, irritability, mild nausea and so forth by scientific measures pot is not a drug you can be physically dependant on. Addiction is a mental disease that makes you believe you need something whether it be a drug or a behavior like gambling or sex. With Marijuana the mixed messages about the drug confuse people on what is addiction and what is dependence, if you are struggling to quit smoking weed you are addicted. To confuse matters more many people who are dependant on a drug like heroin are also psychologically addicted in a double whammy that is terrible. This leads to a perception that pot is the same when it should be treated quite differently.

What this boils down to is that you CAN quit smoking weed but only if you treat this as a personal addiction that you can overcome by changing yourself and not blaming the drug first and foremost. This is not to lessen the deep pain, anxiety and helplessness that may come from living with an addiction at all nor is it to trivialize the task of climbing out of this pit of despair either as the demons of the mind are the cruelest and most punishing of all. These tips on how to quit smoking weed are just a way to set a framework you can use to realign the way you think which aids in the all important aspect of willpower which is the only real way to move beyond an addictive habit.

Quitting Smoking Pot is a Choice

Sounds obvious doesn’t it? However by choice what I mean is a carefully considered choice, a choice based on the knowledge of the benefits of quitting weed and the negatives of continuing to smoking pot. This is not a whim, a quickly drawn line in the sand or a spontaneous vow based on anger or fear or a whole host of emotions that have led to your initial acceptance that smoking marijuana is becoming hurtful to you. Choice is saying “I choose not to smoke pot” rather than saying “I love pot but I need to quit”. This may sound like a whole lot of useless semantics to many however it is a proven psychological technique that the WAY we say things and the WAY we think of things effects the outcomes because language dictates more than a simple meaning but a whole host of other desires, excuses, fears and connotations when structured poorly. So make a choice to quit smoking weed and make it an informed choice.

Action Vs Reaction

The writer Rita Mae Brown once said “A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually. One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.” and this should be a quote written down and emblazoned in your memory because this is not only good advice for life but also in the case of addiction. How often do you take action to smoke a bowl compared to as a reaction? How often is the ritual of smoking pot coming from a reaction to something: A bad day, a fight with your partner, an inconsolable sadness or rage. How often does it come from a seeming NEED to get high and zone out, a compulsion brought on my troubles or by habit compared to perhaps what it was like early on when it was exciting and fun. Those that tally up way more on the reaction scale may find the reason behind the need for their addiction from the troubles that beset them and realize that the drug is just an escape and the problems behind it are what really needs to be solved. Some may find it easier to work on the reason behind the need first and others may take heart that a deeper understanding of your personal demons can give you the strength to quit smoking weed which will allow you to face those challenges with a clearer head and more success. This is action, control of your own life rather than a reaction to compulsion and external influences which is reaction and as the quote said makes you a slave to it and to marijuana in turn.

Plan

As you may have guessed I am a fan of the written word and the practical application of words on paper may be paramount here. The choice to actively seek a solution to your problems and a change in your life to quit smoking pot will propel you forward but how to do this comes down to planning, goals and motivation. The catch 22 of this is that when you are an addict sticking with a plan and keeping motivation and goals can be difficult and a single bad day can feel mix up all of this in your head and suddenly a single smoke does not seem so evil, then another and suddenly a week has gone before you realize it and the self loathing sets in. STOP! That is the direction you do not want to take and you know it! This is where ink can be a help if not your salvation because a psychological addiction is something in your mind, if you keep all your plans in your mind it is bounds to be influences by the negative thoughts that will plague you so why would you want the pure and good new ideas being corrupted there. My advice is to write things down, write down all the bad things about smoking pot, write down all the good things that will come from being weed free, write down you plan of attack whether it be quitting cold turkey or gradually limiting your smoking down to none at all. Write it down and keep it because those words do not change no matter how much your demands mess with your mind your pledge taken at your most insightful and enlightened point will always be there to set you back on the track you know you want to be on.

Persistence Outweighs Performance

Some people may have an easy time when quitting a marijuana habit but others may not, there are so many variables in this mix it is impossible to predict but there is one truth to it and that is that the end outcome of being free of your addiction is worth more than any failures you have along the way. Most people who try to quit any addictive behavior do not do so on their first try, nor their second and many more beyond that often. This is disheartening and depressing but it does not need to be if you do not want it to be. Every time you fall, every time you give in, every time you blunder on your goal to giving up weed you learn something new about yourself and about the world and each of those experiences is ammunition for the next fight. Victory goes to those who persist and learn and adapt and survive so when you call your performance on quitting into question remember it is not how easy it is, it is if you make it in the end and if you maintain the drive despite the pitfalls that will ensure your success.

For more tips on how to quit smoking weed from a guy who has kicked the habit himself and knows what it takes click below.
Marijuana Addiction Treatment

What is the Most Addictive Drug?

This is a question that people often ask but is actually a very difficult one to answer. Addiction is not just one single and simple process, it is a complex process that has both physical and psychological aspects. Nevertheless despite this complexity two attempts have been made to determine the most addictive drug. Independently Dr. Jack E. Henningfield of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Dr. Neal L. Benowitz of the University of California at San Francisco, ranked six psychoactive substances, nicotine, heroin, cocaine, alcohol, caffeine and marijuana, on the five criteria they felt were most important in addiction.

 

The first of these criteria was withdrawal. This is defined as the severity of withdrawal symptoms produced by stopping the use of the drug. Both researchers rated alcohol as having the most severe withdrawal symptoms, for example hallucinations and convulsions, and the fact that withdrawal from alcohol is the only one of the included drugs that is potentially fatal.

 

The second criterion is reinforcement, that is the drug’s tendency to induce users to take it again and again. This is influenced by the feelings that taking the drug brings, that is whether it is a pleasurable high or not, obviously if the feelings are negative there will be little incentive to repeat the experience. Again both researchers were in agreement and rated cocaine as the most reinforcing.

 

The third criterion was tolerance, this is defined as the user’s need to have ever-increasing doses to get the same effect. For the first time the researchers disagree with Henningfield rating heroin first and Benowitz rating cocaine.

 

The fourth criterion is dependence. This is defined as the difficulty in quitting, or staying off the drug, usually measured by the number of users who eventually become dependent. For many dependence is viewed as the hallmark of addiction and how ‘addiction’ is usually measured by the medical profession. For this criterion both researchers are again in agreement as they rate nicotine highest for dependence. For the other drugs they both rated them in the same order that is highest for dependence, nicotine, then heroin, cocaine, alcohol, caffeine and last marijuana.

 

The final criterion is intoxication. This is the degree of intoxication produced by the drug in typical use. Again the researchers are in agreement and rate alcohol as the most intoxicating of the drugs.

 

Given the complexity of the addictive process it is not surprising that there is not a clear ‘winner’ in all criteria. What some may find surprising is that for both researchers caffeine ranked higher than marijuana on a number of the criteria and indeed Berowitz rates caffeine higher than marijuana for dependence.

 

These results have been quoted many times by many researchers, commentators and reporters. They are usually interpreted as nicotine, or tobacco smoking, being named the most addictive substance purely on the definition of the difficulty in refraining. What the results do show is that addiction is a complex and multi-facetted activity and that it is impossible to reduce it to a simple metric.

Effects on Student Workers Who Take Marijuana: Marijuana Withdrawal .org

Here is an interesting article on some of the effects that marijuana has had on students and workers. Here at marijuana withdrawal we hope to provide you with up-to-date research on some of the effects of marijuana.  There are numerous treatment options if you are struggling from marijuana withdrawal symptons along with its associated side effects. enjoy the article from contributing authors.

 

Students who smoke marijuana get lower grades and are less likely to graduate from high school, compared with their nonsmoking peers. A study of 129 college students found that, among those who smoked the drug at least 27 of the 30 days prior to being surveyed, critical skills related to attention, memory, and learning were significantly impaired, even after the students had not taken the drug for at least 24 hours.

These “heavy” marijuana abusers had more trouble sustaining and shifting their attention and in registering, organizing, and using information than did the study participants who had abused marijuana no more than 3 of the previous 30 days. As a result, someone who smokes marijuana every day may be functioning at a reduced intellectual level all of the time.

More recently, the same researchers showed that the ability of a group of long-term heavy marijuana abusers to recall words from a list remained impaired for a week after quitting, but returned to normal within 4 weeks. Thus, some cognitive abilities may be restored in individuals who quit smoking marijuana, even after long-term heavy use.

Workers who smoke marijuana are more likely than their coworkers to have problems on the job. Several studies associate workers’ marijuana smoking with increased absences, tardiness, accidents, workers’ compensation claims, and job turnover.

A study among postal workers found that employees who tested positive for marijuana on a pre-employment urine drug test had 55 percent more industrial accidents, 85 percent more injuries, and a 75-percent increase in absenteeism compared with those who tested negative for marijuana use. In another study, heavy marijuana abusers reported that the drug impaired several important measures of life achievement including cognitive abilities, career status, social life, and physical and mental health.

Research has shown that some babies born to women who abused marijuana during their pregnancies display altered responses to visual stimuli, increased tremulousness, and a high-pitched cry, which may indicate neurological problems in development.

During the preschool years, marijuana-exposed children have been observed to perform tasks involving sustained attention and memory more poorly than non-exposed children do. In the school years, these children are more likely to exhibit deficits in problem-solving skills, memory, and the ability to remain attentive. Long-term marijuana abuse can lead to addiction for some people. That is, they abuse the drug compulsively even though it interferes with family, school, work, and recreational activities. Drug craving and withdrawal symptoms can make it hard for long-term marijuana smokers to stop abusing the drug. People trying to quit report irritability, sleeplessness, and anxiety. They also display increased aggression on psychological tests, peaking approximately one week after the last use of the drug.

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