I'm struggling with this now. Daily cannabis user for 15 year or so, started puking not long after I'd switched primarily to concentrates. I've landed in the ER several times, and been hospitalized a handful of times for dehydration. Usually once an episode starts, a cocktail of ativan, reglan, and pepcid is about the only thing that'll get me out of it.

I've tried to quit cannabis several times now, but usually break down after a week or so when the night sweats and nightmares set in. I've been able to mostly get things under control by avoiding all concentrates and daily doses of nortryptiline and protonix, but quitting entirely is turning out to be really hard for me.

Just a suggestion - have you tried tapering your dose down? It is usually easier to stop a strongly formed dependency by gradually reducing the dose, instead of just stopping altogether.

Reduce daily intake by X% every week. If a given step down ends up being too painful you just go back to the previous one for another week and then try a smaller step next time. Optimum X varies by drug but I’m sure there are recommendations specific for cannabis out there.

It sounds like you have the desire to make a change, with persistence and the right technique you can definitely make it happen.

I live in Canada where there is legal weed, and even some of the legal cannabis makes you sick because it’s grown with chemicals and not flushed or it’s contaminated with powdered mildew or other shit. And it’s able to pass what little QC there is, and it makes me sick.

So I buy from people that have been doing it for decades and smoke their own stuff as QC.

If it’s too strong smoke less, but clean cannabis is the solution for that.

I've found concentrates way too strong for me. I've had conversations with friends where we both say we miss the cheap weak stuff. I've actually moved to microdosing concentrates. Using a tiny amount, no more than the head of a toothpick, gives me more control over how strong it is.

The other thing you can do is switch to concentrates. This also makes it easier to quit because you know how much you're taking in so you can slowly taper down.

I agree. The cheap weak stuff needs to come back.

This is why I’ve avoided concentrates. I’ve tried (and enjoyed) them all, but I was already concerned that my tolerance to plain old weed was too high. I knew if I got too into wax and shatter, I’d end up chasing the dragon (or at least the weed version of that) and potentially worse (i.e. cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome).

Concentrates are something I treat myself to just a few times a year. Everything in moderation… including the occasional excess.

"but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can." ― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I've always liked that quote as I have seen it over and over again in people I know. Those that can use and moderate to just a recreational use vs committing to a full on daily use (addiction by most acceptable use) is very small. I love to partake when I have the time and lack of responsibilities requiring all of my faculties. But when I've tried the daily use and watched my capabilities diminish has shown me that I'm not fully functional with that daily use so I just keep it in the recreational realm. From my 100% unschooled medical perspective, those that think they are 100% with daily use are just lying to themselves.

Yeah. I wish that we determined who the actual "junkie" is on a case-by-case basis, not by the fact of consumption alone. I medicate for the same reasons mentally sick people do, but I actually have a physical brain damage and my limbic system might be the region affected along with many others. I am able to treat the mental issues, and the same medication happens to help with the incontinence I have. If I told anyone about it, they would consider me a junkie. I do not even get high from it, for fuck's sake. It makes me more neutral, otherwise I'm an emotional wreck, full of suicidal thoughts that I end up acting on eventually as I used to.

I go through intentional withdrawal every N months to reduce my tolerance. I tend to keep the dose as low as possible. Sometimes I fail, sometimes I do not. I might buy that box that has a lock with a timer on it or something. ^^

I do not consider myself a junkie just because I am dependent on it, similarly how people are not junkies for depending on beta-blockers. They need it, and I need it too. It just happens to be something some people tend to abuse. Well, I do not wish to suffer because of them. Again, I do not get high, I do not get any of those feelings that would make me crave it. Many people might, but many people do not have the same medical condition as I do, I guess.

As I said, I am not "100% with daily use". I sometimes fail at controlling the dose, because sometimes my issues are worse, but... I wish I did not have to depend on it. It fucking sucks. I do not want to depend on it, but I have tried every psychiatric medications there is during my years... None of them helped one bit. I had no idea that what I am taking would work either, I stumbled upon it by accident. Again, I wish I did not need this, but I am afraid I will die taking it unless they find a proper treatment or cure for what I have. But yeah... it sucks. I could talk about it more, like how I cannot even get out of bed and do my damn job without it and such, but welp.

Is it an amphetamine/upper?

No, that would make things worse for me.

I switched to shatter because it was much cheaper at the quantities I was doing. Then one day I was disgusted by the whole situation and went back to flower. I didn't like the idea of needing to use a blow torch to smoke shatter out of a crack pipe. Too many real life responsibilities and just getting too old for that.

There was an article this past week in the nytimes about this where a young woman was experiencing this. The diagnosis was "Cannabis hyperemesis." The article is here if you are interested:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/well/mind/teens-thc-canna...

See also:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21665-cannabi...

I would not have been able to quit without the antacids. I think it is a mistake to take them continuously though. They are supposed to be taken two weeks on, two weeks off. Don't try to quit the weed until you start on the two weeks on cycle, then take them continuously while you get over the weed. Take all the hot baths you need.

Why are you still smoking concentrates? Switch back to flower. Then slowly get flower with lower thc percentages. I have never been addicted to anything so its hard for me to relate so I dont want to cast negativity your way but friend if something is hospitalizing you go see an addiction specialist yesterday. Replace the addiction with something else that makes you feel good, start running or going to the gym. Good Luck!

>Why are you still smoking concentrates?

If you read their comment a little closer, you will see that they do not.

>I have never been addicted to anything so its hard for me to relate

If you have no experience, why are you giving advice?

Because I can? Its an open forum... Sorry if I offended you :)

OP here on a different throwaway (because I already killed the session from yesterday). To be honest, I had to step away because of your comment.

It is incredibly frustrating that every single time I've shared the situation in, some jerk chimes in with their preconceptions, often without even reading the information put in front of them.

For instance my last trip to the E.R was the first in a few months. During triage the nurse confirms their existing records that Droperidol is the only medication I'm known to have a negative reaction to -- something that is documented, because multiple times in the same E.R, Droperidol has caused every muscle in my body to go twitchy. My chart indicates the Ativan/Reglan/Pepcid cocktail consistently works. P.A. comes into the room, first thing he asks is why I'm still smoking cannabis. He follows that up with orders for fluids and... Droperidol. Tells me he doesn't want to go the Ativan route because it can be habit forming and I'm already an addict. I spend the next couple hours twitching in addition to puking, until shift change, when the doctor who took over finally hit me with the right set of meds.

And yes, I've been trying to get the mental health assistance I need. Unfortunately it is spectacularly difficult to find help unless you're either rich or destitute.

Friend if my relatively harmless comment is triggering you to the point you are deleting accounts you should really not be participating in discussion forums on the internet. I hope you remove yourself from situations that upset you and focus on getting well. All the best and I actually really mean this as 1 human to another; I'm sorry you are going through what you are going through and I sincerely hope you get better.

Your attitude is disappointing. I hope you aren't like this away from a keyboard.

Do hot showers make you feel better? Might be CHS https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabinoid_hyperemesis_synd...

And this is good to legalize?

Maybe I am off, but when drawing from my 25 years of consumption and trying most of variants - outdoor, indoor, low potency, extreme dutch ones and everything in between, local hash in morocco, india and nepal, homemade milk, cookies, vaping and oil vaping; eating and oil vaping are most potent to me, joint least potent and I avoid them if possible.

I don't like eating due to very long ramp up and it last for too long for casual evening, it may be great summer weekend festival item.

What I want to say - even most potent oil vapes regardless of sativa/indica/cbd mix, it was just about dosage. 1 hit was a pleasant light trip, 2 was a nice strong one, 3 really strong but manageable for simple stuff. I once had 6 draws while walking in village & forest - I really went far away form this reality, hypnotizing street lights, dancing on empty streets. Couldn't trust myself which normally never ever happens on weed. It ended up OK somehow but oh boy beware.

If one doesn't have any self control, it may cause issue - till it hits you fully (which is cca 5 mins with vape oil, unlike ie joint/pipe which is almost immediate), you may have already taken too much. But that would be the problem with hard alcohol too, there its more like 30 mins and we all have seen enough shitfaced folks in our lives who took too many shots too fast.

So education, explanation - potency, indica/sativa mixing, literally learning consumption of cannabis and products. Its not complex but it ain't primitive linear alcohol 'high' (or more like low) regardless of type of drink.

I still consider oil vapes the best product for me, chirurgically precise amount of high, very convenient, and very reproducible once you are familiar with given strain.

> But that would be the problem with hard alcohol too, there its more like 30 mins and we all have seen enough shitfaced folks in our lives who took too many shots too fast.

Yeah, but at least their body will jolt them into stopping. The absolute worst vommiting I had in my life was thanks to alcohol. Often after a night of getting wasted I don't want to touch alcohol again for a while.