I've been smoking weed since i was 18, so about 15 years now. I love the feeling and its just so much fun. But now smoking wasn't like it used to be where me and my friends would get together and get high and just laugh and chill. Now its like something I need to do, like breathing. I need to stop now because I've realised I have gotten older and I have a son. I dont want my son to end up making the mistakes I'm making. But every time I try to quit I just get horrible headaches and i just cant.

A friend of mine is the same way. He would get horrible headaches and felt absolutely nauscious if he wasn't high. He couldn't get his life together so he joined the marines and of course he had to quit. He's a completely different person and because he found something that he really wanted and he was in a position where he needed to quit, then he stopped with no problem. Everyone is different however, but if your headaches are as bad as you say they are, then maybe you should gradually quit smoking so that your body can get used to not having all that THC and be able to balance itself out.

Yeah I think the most important part of recovery is really wanting to quit more than anything in the world. Without that motivation, you're just setting yourself up for relapses.

I would try rehab. I think thats your best option if your having such bad withdrawal symptoms.

I agree that you should try rehab. I wasn't able to kick my habit until I went to rehab and I tried dozens of times. It will only take 28 days out of your whole life and it will give you a chance to get over the headaches. They will also help you learn how to change your lifestyle and habits, so you can learn to live without weed, so your son can grow up with a clean parent.

I think your going to have to enter a rehabilitation center to help you out with withdrawals. If its head aches that your having then they are withdrawals. Your decision to quit is a very smart one and I think you should pull through with it. Sobriety is the best not just for you but everyone around you. Take the next step and call out for some help.

Yes, and those who don't know any better say marijuana cannot cause physical dependence and withdrawal. Obviously marijuana addiction can be as difficult to recover from as any other class of addictive drug. It will probably take 3 weeks or longer for you to get through the worst of the withdrawal symptoms. I know it sounds cheesy but just try getting through one day at a time, even one hour at a time, without using...drink lots of fluids and just don't pick up. The good news is that, unless you have some serious medical problems the withdrawal will not kill you. Hang in there. Jan W.

I think you should continue, deal with the headaches for a while and suck it up, they'll go away and they're not going to stay forever. But you could stay sober forever, and its good for your son.. That makes it all worth it.

I feel for you - I was a pothead growing up, and have continued off and on through the years, other than the 7 years I was sober. I have been struggling with alcohol since then, mostly, for the past - almost 11 years now, ugh. I've been to rehab twice in that period - once just for 8 days (insurance) and once for 2 months. I drank a week after I got out. I really want to stop, but I also still have this addictive thinking about pot. I just don't buy it anymore - when I have, I smoke it till it's gone. The last time I smoked was at a concert (Grateful Dead offshoot) in Jan. Before that, I think it was last May. I've stuck to "just" concert smoking, maybe a couple times a year. I have tickets for the same band in concert this coming Tues., and I've been really looking forward to getting high. So much so that I keep putting off stopping drinking, "knowing" I plan to get high. But reading this is making me think twice. Hang in there - you sound ready to stop - one day at a time..

I trully believe that as long as you have the will to quit then you will. All you have to do now is take it one step at a time. Talk to your doctor about your problem maybe he could help you out with the withdrawals without having to go into a treatment center. But it really will be worth it. Its just a small portion out of your whole like that your going to suffer and the rest of your life will be great. You'll look back and think that this was the smartest decision you've ever made. Trust me its worth it.

The "will" thing is tricky, I've found. Have you ever heard the statement, "Trying to just 'stop' is like trying to hold in diarrhea"? Sorry if that sounds gross, but I GOT that. Will has nothing to do with it. It's surrender - and that's where I've had the problem. Everyone who knows me well says, "You've never surrendered." And I get that, too. Sort of. I just don't know if I know what "surrender" looks like, feels like. But then, the times I have truly from my heart asked for help, I do believe that I surrendered - so I sort of do know what that means. I'm just having a hard time duplicating those circumstances - they just sort of "happened," in my past. And it was brutal. Does that make sense to you? That's one way rehab is helpful. It breaks the habit in that you just - stop. (And you don't die, believe it or not! In fact you feel so much better - you forgot you could feel that good...) The trouble is, it's not a real-world situation, and when you get out, you're - bam! - back in the real world, and that's the tough part. You have to deal with all the real-life crap you didn't while you were away - your job - if you're lucky enough to still have one, or looking for one if not, and your creditors, and legal stuff, if you have that. It's a cruel deal. I've been to rehab a bunch of times, and every single time I have left feeling so strong and optimistic - but then the real world hits, and I freak! It took me taking a year out of my life to just focus on recovery to get the 7 years sober I did have. - I don't know what the answer is. Some people walk into A.A. off the bricks - or Marijuana Anonymous, which they have now, too - and they're able to stop and stay stopped. Others need a higher level of treatment. One thing to remember though is that if you even are just willing - as opposed to having the will - just be willing - to walk into any anonymous meeting or counselor's office, you're so far ahead of the vast majority of addicts, and your chance of making it  jumps astronomically.

I understand where you're coming from.  Some people aren't as strong willed as others, but if there is a strong enough desire, then that can be just as powerful.  Once you have that, another hard thing to do is find a treatment that works for you.

I'm actually loaded with will. Despite growing up in extremely challenging circumstance with a raging alcoholic dad and then drinking and using myself to escape, I graduated cum laude from a tough academic high school, where I also played sports year round, edited the school newspaper, studied three instruments, served on social service and yearbook committees, worked 35 hours a week at a waitressing job - and had a serious boyfriend. I went to an Ivy League school on a scholarship - and continued to party, but still graduated with a high B average, played sports and worked on the newspaper and various committees. Despite the fact that I continued to drink and smoke, I managed to go to a top grad school and get my master's degree, and built a solid career. Also in there I quit smoking; developed a dependence on prescription drugs after a serious back injury playing sports; kicked that, and kept pushing, till I just flat-out crashed out - a couple of times. I went to rehab a bunch of times, worked my ass off at my recovery - no one ever said I didn't work hard enough or have enough will - and built my career back up again. I've had numerous sobriety stints over the past 20 years, the longest being 7 years, but I still hang in there, and still have a job - though I'd like much more. But whatever, I'll never give up.

Are you an addict, Cowboy? Have you been there, and back? And back there, and back again?

soxfan said:

I'm actually loaded with will. Despite growing up in extremely challenging circumstance with a raging alcoholic dad and then drinking and using myself to escape, I graduated cum laude from a tough academic high school, where I also played sports year round, edited the school newspaper, studied three instruments, served on social service and yearbook committees, worked 35 hours a week at a waitressing job - and had a serious boyfriend. I went to an Ivy League school on a scholarship - and continued to party, but still graduated with a high B average, played sports and worked on the newspaper and various committees. Despite the fact that I continued to drink and smoke, I managed to go to a top grad school and get my master's degree, and built a solid career. Also in there I quit smoking; developed a dependence on prescription drugs after a serious back injury playing sports; kicked that, and kept pushing, till I just flat-out crashed out - a couple of times. I went to rehab a bunch of times, worked my ass off at my recovery - no one ever said I didn't work hard enough or have enough will - and built my career back up again. I've had numerous sobriety stints over the past 20 years, the longest being 7 years, but I still hang in there, and still have a job - though I'd like much more. But whatever, I'll never give up.

Are you an addict, Cowboy? Have you been there, and back? And back there, and back again?

If you didn't have those years of sobriety, your life right now would probably be much different though right? You got really lucky that drugs didn't play with your mind. You stayed extremely inteleginent and kept all your priorities first. But my sister didn't have all that. School was never her thing and drugs totally took over. She lost her job when she went to work under the influence. She got caught with possesion by the cops and had to spend some time in jail. It took all that to push her to quit, and she started wanting to. She knew she needed to quit from before but never had the will. Once she did she went straight for it.