Marijuana Withdrawal Symptoms – Please Describe?
Question by Erica: Marijuana Withdrawal Symptoms – Please Describe?
Someone I love very much has been “addicted” to marijuana for over fifteen years. Their use consisted of daily hits before work, at lunch, immediately after work, several times before bed, and again in the middle of their night. They pretty much were high 75% of the day and haven’t gone a day without using marijuana since they began fifteen years ago.
As of five days ago, he stopped, cold turkey. He has talked for a few months now of trying to get clean, and happened to run out of weed last weekend and just went for it.
Now, he is like a completely different person. He is hiberbative, extremely quiet, doesn’t pay attention, gets annoyed very quickly, and doesn’t eat. He is acting very cold. I feel like we haven’t spoken more than a few sentences in the past five days, and normally we communicate for hours on end daily with ease. I am trying not to take it personally, but he won’t talk with me about it.
I have two questions:
1. What kind of symptoms have you had after long term use of marijuana and when did you feel back to normal?
2. Did your feelings for the people you’ve known for years change after you quit?
Best answer:
Answer by Metalplanttag
You may want to read this document http://www.kap.samhsa.gov/products/brochures/pdfs/bmdc.pdf which I have reproduced a small amount below.
“Studies have demonstrated that tolerance and withdrawal develop with daily use of large doses of marijuana or THC (Haney et al. 1999a; Jones and Benowitz 1976; Kouri and Pope 2000). About 15 percent of people who acknowledge moderate-to-heavy use reported a withdrawal syndrome with symptoms of nervousness, sleep disturbance, and appetite change (Wiesbeck et al. 1996).
Many adults who are marijuana dependent report affective (i.e., mood) symptoms and craving during periods of abstinence when they present for treatment (Budney et al. 1999). The contribution of physical dependence to chronic marijuana use is not yet clear, but the existence of a dependence syndrome is fairly certain. An Epidemiological Catchment Area study conducted in Baltimore found that 6 percent of people who used marijuana met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) (American Psychiatric Association 1994), criteria for dependence and 7 percent met DSM-IV criteria for substance abuse (Rosenberg and Anthony 2001). Coffey and colleagues (2002) found that persons who use marijuana more than once a week are at significant risk for dependence. In the 1990s, the number of people who sought treatment for marijuana dependence more than doubled (Budney et al. 2001). Therefore, a large group of adults who smoke marijuana is dependent and may need and benefit from treatment.”
· The greatest risk of harm from cannabis use is in young people and those who are pregnant or have serious mental illness
· A tenth of cannabis users develop dependence, with three quarters of them experiencing withdrawal symptoms on cessation
· Most dependent users have concurrent dependence on tobacco, which increases the health risks and worsens outcomes for cannabis treatment
http://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c1571.full
Marijuana abuse accounts for up to 20 percent of admissions into drug treatment programs.
According to Budney et al., the withdrawal syndrome associated with cannabis use is similar to that for tobacco but of lesser magnitude than withdrawal from other drugs like opiates or alcohol.
Cannabis Withdrawal from the American Psychiatric Association:
A. Cessation of cannabis use that has been heavy and prolonged
B. 3 or more of the following develop within several days after Criterion A
1. Irritability, anger or aggression
2. Nervousness or anxiety
3. Sleep difficulty (insomnia)
4. Decreased appetite or weight loss
5. Restlessness
6. Depressed mood
7. Physical symptoms causing significant discomfort: must report at least one of the following: stomach pain, shakiness/tremors, sweating, fever, chills, headache
C. The symptoms in Criterion B cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning
D. The symptoms are not due to a general medical condition and are not better accounted for by another disorder
First, direct comparisons of cannabis withdrawal with tobacco withdrawal have consistently found that the magnitude and time course of the cannabis withdrawal effects appear comparable to the well-established tobacco withdrawal syndrome. Second, cannabis users report using cannabis to “relieve withdrawal symptoms” suggesting that withdrawal might contribute to ongoing abuse of cannabis. Third, a substantial proportion of adults and adolescents in treatment for cannabis dependence acknowledge moderate to severe withdrawal symptoms, and some complain that they make cessation more difficult. In fact, cannabis users report having relapsed to cannabis use or initiating use of other drugs (e.g. tranquilizers) to provide relief from cannabis withdrawal symptoms. Last, persons living with cannabis users observe significant withdrawal effects suggesting that such symptoms are disruptive to daily living.
Thus, cue-elicited craving for marijuana activates the reward neurocircuitry associated with the neuropathology of addiction, and the magnitude of activation of these structures is associated with severity of cannabis-related problems. These findings may inform the development of treatment strategies for cannabis dependence. – http://www.pnas.org/content/106/31/13016.abstract?sid=ca43e649-7ac1-4b18-94ac-ac62e23b6cea
In the study, habitual pot users who were asked to abstain for two weeks experienced irritability, sleep difficulties and other symptoms that affected their ability to work and their relationships with other people… it is generally accepted now that the drug can cause addiction and withdrawal – http://news.yahoo.com/marijuana-withdrawal-real-study-says-210426347.html
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