I Quit Smoking!

This may come as a shock for anyone who knows me, but I quit smoking cannabis! (Don’t worry, I’m still eating edibles occasionally, just not every day). This was not an easy decision to make, but it was a necessary one.

I quit cigarettes over 3 years ago, but I never quite got rid of the wheezing in my lungs, especially when laying down to sleep. It was driving me crazy.

I recently had to quit cannabis for 2 weeks so I could have an endoscopy. It was really hard at first, since I use it for stress relief, anxiety, and to help me ignore the huge amount of pain I’m always in.

But i’m an overachiever, and we were also on a multi state road trip and I don’t like taking chances when traveling, so I actually ended up quitting smoking for almost a full month. In that month, the wheezing in my lungs went away almost completely.

In addition, my dreams came back full force. Heavy cannabis users don’t tend to remember our dreams, but all of a sudden I was remembering every bizarre dream, every day, vividly. It also felt like I was working through some very tough things in my dreams, and it occurred to me that by not dreaming or remembering my dreams for years, I might actually be harming my mental health in some way.

After my endoscopy was done, it took me a few days before I wanted to use cannabis again. I tried to smoke, and it HURT SO BAD. Not just my poor raw throat that wasn’t healed from the endoscopy and GERD, but also, it made me nauseous and it gave me a headache.

I switched to edibles, but then 2 weeks ago i tried to smoke again one night. Same problem. A bad headache, nausea, and my throat hurt really bad.

Last week, I tried again, and had the same results.

I don’t really LOVE eating edibles, for a few reasons. First, it’s hard to tell what a dose will do to me on any given day. After my month long break, even a 5mg edible fucked me up. And when we were in CO at high altitude, it fucked me up even more, uncomfortably so.

Before that, I was used to eating 50mg edibles and not even feeling it. So I have to re-learn my proper dose, and I don’t really have time to be lethargic or headachey during the day, so I have just been avoiding it most days.

But since I don’t want to interfere with my dreams and remembering them, I don’t love eating edibles at night either.

I have often been going 2-3 days without any thc at all. This is a HUGE contrast to what I’m used to. I have been using cannabis heavily since I was 14 years old. Multiple times per day.

While I had zero physical symptoms of withdrawal, I definitely experienced a lot of anxiety, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, increased PTSD symptoms, panic attacks, etc, in the first 2 weeks. Also, without the calming and happy effects of cannabis, my physical pain is much harder to ignore and is much more frustrating. But I just thought it was time for a change. And I’m glad I made this change so that I can finally not wheeze in my sleep, and also breathe easier and remember my dreams.

I don’t think I will feel the need to take “just one hit” again. My lungs love not inhaling anything, and it just feels healthier.