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Struggling to Sleep After Quitting a 25+ Year Weed Habit

By April 24, 2023One Comment

It has been a month and almost a week that I stopped smoking weed. This after 25+ years of smoking … I don’t know, maybe around a half-quarter a day (3.5 grams) and due to the pandemic in the last two years even more. I’d say Bob Marley had nothing on me.

In the first week I had 3-4 nightmares a night — nasty ones. Now I am down to 3-4 nightmares a week but the vivid dreaming happens every night. The main issue now is that I can’t fall asleep. For example I went to bed tonight just before 9 o’clock. I read about an hour then, twisted and turned for about half an hour or so, gave up on sleep and here I am.

I also wake up at night sweating for no reason (it is not hot where I am sleeping) and I can’t go back to sleep. My sleep happens in bits and pieces now: one to two hours, or three hours, and then I am up and can’t go back to bed for 1 to 2 hours.

I read a few articles saying that after a couple of weeks, or 3 weeks, the sleep improves. It didn’t, other than having fewer nightmares. That should be cleared-up with people. I had no idea that weed does this to the body/mind, but this just made me more determined not to smoke again. So, the struggle continues.

I do physical activity, always have, but this just makes my body tired while my mind is flying — when I am supposed to be falling asleep.

At this point, I may have to give melatonin a try in a week or two if I am still struggling, but I read up on the side effects and I am not inclined to jump into it. I do not want to replace one drug with another.

Anyway, hope this helps others! I am a pretty stubborn creature and will not go back to smoking. I quit cold turkey, had no problems with that. Sleep has been the only issue and maybe I am a little edgy but not sure if that’s because of crappy sleeping and/or my dopamine levels are going nuts. That’s about it.

All the best to everyone!

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Weedless.org is a free, web-based resource and community created by a team of healthcare professionals and researchers. We distill the facts about marijuana use and its effects into practical guidance for interested persons or for those who are thinking about or struggling to quit weed. Finding reliable, easy to understand information about marijuana should never be a struggle—that is why our core mission is to provide the most up to date information about marijuana use, abuse, addiction, and withdrawal. While we seek to empower individuals to have control over their use, we are not “anti-weed” and we support efforts to legalize adult marijuana use and study.

One Comment

  • Kenneth says:

    Keep going you are doing a great job! I am three days weedless and struggling with sleep and appetite, in fact I am doing neither. But the fact this is happening is making me determined for the first time ever not to smoke

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