Marijuana Addiction & Recovery Support Group
This community is dedicated to those looking to overcome their addiction to marijuana, a drug produced from parts of the cannabis plant. Join the group to find support among people who are also looking to cease their habit of smoking marijuana, share your experience, and get advice. It's not easy to kick the habit, but together we can.
Hi. Im new here and would like some insight from former heavy marijuana users on the brains ability to regain memory and cognitive function after quitting marijuana use. I have recently quit using marijuana this past November after having smoked it on and off for about a year. At times my usage was very heavy (high quality weed, 4-6 bowls a day, weeks without days off). In the past two months of being completely sober from marijuana I havent noticed any improvement in my memory or cognitive function, if anything it has been getting worse. I believe Im over the initial with drawl like symptoms of insomnia, decreased appetite and very vivid dreams however I still have been noticing many lasting effects. My ability to remember even the simplest things is gone and my long term memories are very vague and also difficult to remember. My ability to concentrate is almost nonexistent. It is hard for me to even carry on conversations because I have a hard to finding the words to respond and quite often forget what the conversation was about it the first place. The only way I can describe it is brain fog. I have also developed mild depression and anxiety.
All of these symptoms are extremely disconcerting to me because before I used marijuana I was very intelligent. I recently graduated from a competitive university with a degree in biology with hopes of entering the healthcare field. Now with my decreased cognitive function I am afraid that I will have to work the rest of my life at a mindless, low paying job because of the damage I have inflicted on my brain. If anyone could give me some firsthand experience where they have had significant mental recovery after sustained marijuana abstinence I would really appreciate it. I dont know how Im going to survive if I have to live in this constant state of brain fog.
All of these symptoms are extremely disconcerting to me because before I used marijuana I was very intelligent. I recently graduated from a competitive university with a degree in biology with hopes of entering the healthcare field. Now with my decreased cognitive function I am afraid that I will have to work the rest of my life at a mindless, low paying job because of the damage I have inflicted on my brain. If anyone could give me some firsthand experience where they have had significant mental recovery after sustained marijuana abstinence I would really appreciate it. I dont know how Im going to survive if I have to live in this constant state of brain fog.
At first pot was amazing for me. After smoking once, I wouldn't feel depressed for 2 to 3 weeks afterwards. i felt almost "normal" or rather, who I was growing up, before my teenage years; witty, thoughtful, diligent.
Pot is what turned my college career around after it took a nose dive after finally being affected from the never ending, always escalating social drama I always seemed to get wrapped up in (even though i was introverted, walked with my head down and avoided people as much as possible).
Back then like age 18-19 (26 now), of course I had the regular high where sometimes I was silly, clingy/very physical, or in a state where I was constantly thinking, but positively and creatively. I was convinced once I grew up, my well of imagination must have simply dried up, I had no creative ideas anymore, and my stories and poetry made me feel ill or just straight up bored. So after my college career was saved due to my newly rediscovered focus and energy brought on by smoking, I decided to continue past college.
Oh boy... I wish I hadn't. I see things popping out the floor, or flying through the air (these things aren't there). I can't shake this sudden intense sense of impending doom. Like that was the opposite of why I wanted to smoke. On top of that, I noticed smoking seemed to affect my spinal cord somehow? I feel a slight tingling (that doesn't go away) in the center of my back. I recently got a back tattoo in the past few months and its my first one (so I was paranoid, just because I'm me). I thought maybe I was having some complications with it but after some really awkward positioning with a small mirror and a regular bathroom mirror and awkwardly trying to feel on my back, I was able to pinpoint where the tingling was vs where my tattoo is and ruled out any connection between the two. Even though it was very short lived it felt kinda good when I was puffing the bowl and my back felt like it "lit up" I have no clue how to describe it but it was cool in that one moment and never again.
There came a night I was having a tough time falling asleep, and sometimes I smoke to sleep since I get the most restful sleep after smoking which btw, I struggled with sleeping soundly through the night, with pot, I actually could sleep 7+ hours consecutively, sometimes a few nights in a row if I was lucky.
But I digress, back to the high, in between freaking out about my nonexistent heart attack, my back was tingling more. That tingling kept me up, once again, pot was doing the opposite of what I wanted, and with that being the second time I experienced that urgent sense of doom I decided in that moment I was going to quit, check back in with myself in a month to see how I feel.
I noticed when I was able to exercise and smoke ( a few months prior to the bad highs so not too long ago), I never encountered my current highs I experience. This is a shot in the dark but if I had to guess since THC is stored in fat cells, and I've stopped going to the gym and I've recently gained weight, maybe its accumulating and still affecting my body. But like I said, I'm going to check back in a month to see how I feel. My goal is to exercise 14 days between then and now and see how my back feels, and how the mental fog is. I didn't bother explaining it btw because mine is exactly the same as everyone else's except I'm worried about wasting just a regular ol' bachelor degree :P