And like most other human qualites, nature & nurture intersect in intimate ways to produce our phenotype!

Rich

I quit smoking just over 6 weeks ago.

The first 2 weeks wasn’t overly difficult as my fiancé and I were just about to head on an overseas holiday and we were excited after 12 months of almost 7 day a week work. My sleeping was okay and I was physically exhausted.

2 days before our holiday, and 2 weeks into quitting, we found out we were both likely to lose our jobs due to our employee going into receivership. We stand to lose $160k a year in combined income after bleeding for this company.

The stress from this uncertainty started to make it difficult for me to sleep. My partner has never smoked with me in 5 years. We arrived overseas in a warm tropical climate which helped me swet out the crap and I worked out in the resort gym every day for over 2 weeks.

The cravings were none existent, however we had a tsunami evacuation and I suffered my first panic attack. I became terrified I was going to die. We had a few thunderstorms during the trip and I became too frightened to walk outside, petrified I was going to get struck by lightening.

I started falling asleep later and later and getting more adjitated, waking up tired and irritable. Once again, I had no craving to smoke as I promised myself to quit and get healthy as I am about to get married.

Apon arriving home I suffered a massive panic attack when getting off the plane. I was rushed to hospital with what I thought was a heart attack. Dizzyness, chest pains, pins and needles in my left arm e.t.c. This was 3 weeks ago. I was cleared of all major heart concerns.

In the last 3 weeks I have had terrible insomnia, pain in my joints, sensitivity to light, headaches and night terrors. I was lucky to sleep 2 ours a night making it impossible to go back to work. Once I would fall asleep I would dream of all the things I was dealing with 13 years ago just before I started smoking pot. I am happily engaged and my lady is a superstar.

I am feeling depressed, tired and reclusive. If I drive my car, my eyes start to hurt and feel really heavy. My dreams are like LSD flashbacks. I am irritable and snappy. I was prescribed sleeping pills which I took for a week and they had little impact on me sleeping. I am trying to avoid codine for my tension headaches and light sensitivity as the entire point of quitting pot is to rid myself of dependency.

It’s 2 am and I am wide awake, though my eyes are heavy. The last 3 nights I have had between 5-6 hours sleep which is great, but it’s all been interrupted with me waking from dreams. During this last 2 weeks I have also quit caffeine due to the insomnia which I assume must play some part in the headaches and irritability.

Anyone who claims there are no withdrawals from pot is either extremely lucky, ignorant or smoked natural bush weed in small doses. I have no cravings to smoke again as I have never been a heavy tobacco smoker. It’s only the sleep I crave which makes me even contemplate calling a mate to pick up a joint. But my will power is stronger this time. I have a family history of heart disease so I need to stop inhaling smoke into my lungs and increasing my heart rate.

I wish all of you who have made the decision to quit the best of luck in getting through this tough time. It’s obvious to me that if you resort to smoking to suppress something that as soon as you quit, even decades later, the issue with jump back at you. I will let everyone know my progress over the next few months. I have lost about 6-7 kgs in the past 6 weeks.

If I didn’t have then support of my wonderful partner, I don’t know how I would have been able to face these moods swings and especially the insomnia and anxiety.

I never smoked bongs, but I have always smoked super strong hydro. Considering I am just over 6 foot and I am 100kgs, I consider myself a light weight as I get stoned very easily. Some nights I would only smoke half a small joint and that would be enough to get the edge off a stressful day.

prior to starting smoking at 23 I was very anti pot smoking. I have always had trouble sleeping as my 3 year old sister died of cancer when I was 8 years old. This triggered intense vivid dreaming. I was a reasonably well balanced teen and young adult, doing well at school, sport, music and was very social.

Just before I turned 23 my grand mother died and we were very close. I then broke up with my first love after being together 4 years. Over night I went from a punk rock loving kid, to playing Elliot smith wallowing in self pity and depression. I cut ties with basically all my mates who weren’t muso

A friend of mine was laid off and paying $630.00 per month for COBRA coverage and very high co-pays not to mention that a lot of the care she is receiving still is not covered.

Some of my co-workers are paying upwards of $275.00 per month for them and one child which is only THEIR portion of their premium for a company sponsored health insurance plan, not to mention co-pays, a $900.00 deductible per year and co-pays for drugs.

It seems to me that the insurance companies are making out like a bandit – BIG-TIME.

I say we pay our physicians, nurses and other health care personnel every penny of what they are worth and what they are asking. Look what they do for us when we are in need! What would we do without them? Do we ever thin about that?

I say we hire more investigators to spot and prosecute the FRAUD which by the way is rampid in this country with very few investigators.

I say we start an insurance reform and look at that industry also and see just what is going on behind those doors for once – like the lovely banking industry in this country….HMMMMM – What a concept Obama……

Also, Schedule I only means that the substance is not considered legitimate for medical use by the DEA. This is a far cry from the clame that schedule I drugs “have no medicinal use.” Ibogaine is considered a legitimate treatment for opioid dependence in many countries including Mexico and Canada, but is schedule I in the U.S.

Unfortunately, the U.S. is still in the dark ages when it comes to psychedelic medicines.