u/jellofish25

Hey y’all! I got a Mirena in 2019 when I was 16, and I still have it now at 23. My IUD made my period go away within 4 months of getting it, and up until this point I’ve only had occasional spotting and bleeding (like less than once or twice every six months). Now, for the first time since I’ve gotten it, I’ve started having a consistent period again.
I was originally told the Mirena only lasted 5 years, but when I went to try and change it last year they told me it had actually been approved for 8, so I decided to just keep it. My worry is that it is wearing off, and this is why my period is returning.
My partner and I use condoms, but it’s really important to me to have a birth control working for me as well. Does anyone have any thoughts or advice? Would it be smart to go ahead and get it changed? Let me know what you think!

Hey y’all! I’ve been using this thread so much and I’m loving the community found here, so I thought I’d give my updates! Here’s a link to my original post with context about when and why I quit!

https://www.reddit.com/r/QuittingWeed/s/2S6YDtBfX8

Alrighty, week two. I’m going to use the thorn/rose/rosebud analogy!

Thorns:
This is when the mental stuff is getting more tough. Every day feels like a roller coaster. I’m very emotional and irritable. I find myself being very very negative, and getting caught up in negative thought spirals.
My brain fog is feeling super heavy this week, heavier than it did when I first quit. It’s almost like I’m feeling kind of high without smoking? Which is super annoying. I’ve got headaches almost all the time, and lots of tension in my body.
Sleep has been a little difficult, and my mind feels hyperactive. It’s almost like I’m aware of everything all the time now? And I’m not used to that. My days feel longer, and time feels like it’s moving more slowly.

Roses:
On the other side of the coin, my days are slower! I’m noticing more! And I feel much more present. I’m allowing myself to live slowly. What I’ve really noticed is that I’ve spent so much time running from myself, and not just with weed. I’ve used alcohol in this way previously, and even recently with quitting weed I found myself using social media to “numb out.” I’ve since decided to delete my social media. I’ve gotta stop running.
Every day DOES GET BETTER. The wins feel small but they are there! My joy has slowly started to return. I’m starting to feel happiness again, which I’ve really really missed. It’s not 100%, but it’s more than zero, which I’m thankful for.
I’ve been working out more, and investing my time into things that I prayed to have the time for so long. It feels good to be fully present for my life again.

Rosebuds:
I’m looking forward to growing my workout and exercise journey. I highly recommend doing fun things! I used to think working out meant lifting weights and cardio only, but in this journey I’ve used climbing and swimming. Just get your body moving!
I’m really excited to be more and more present in my life. I’ve lost a lot of relationships through this, I won’t lie, but it’s because they weren’t meant to stick around. I feel like I’m really actually giving myself a chance now, a chance to fully experience life and take the opportunities in front of me!

My biggest words of advice so far: feel it. You’re feeling bad shit probably because you didn’t let yourself feel any of it for so long. Cry cry cry! I’ve cried so damn much I didn’t know someone could, but every time I let it out, it LET IT GO!
Get out of your head though! Go out, get out of your self even when it feels tough. Do it scared, do it anxious, do it sad or cranky or whatever. We’re not running from these things anymore y’all, the pain and discomfort is a part of life, and I’m gonna sit with it until it reveals the answers I’ve been running from. Every time I made myself do something (going to the movies, seeing some friends, climbing or exercising or whatever) I never regretted sticking it through and I always felt better on the other side. You’re building trust with yourself again.

Sending all of the love to everyone here, honestly this thread is seriously what keeps me sane some days. It’s tough, but we’ve got it!

Can’t wait to be back with the one month update!!! :)

I keep seeing this come up on the thread, and I’m curious. I’m just over two weeks clean and I’m trying to navigate and manage this the best that I can. So if someone could give me a very detailed explanation, or recounts of their experiences with it, I’d be very appreciative.

Hey there! I’m going to repeat a lot of what is already on here, but talking about things helps.

I’m 23, just graduated college, and I’m quitting weed. I smoked for the first time at 13, but I wouldn’t say I started consistently using until 16 or 17. I would say my heavy used started about two years ago. Heavy use for me means upwards of smoking half a gram to two grams a day. In my recent life, it got to the point where I was literally smoking all day, and when I wasn’t smoking I was waiting to get home so that I could.

Now let’s get to why I quit. Back in October I took six grams of mushrooms (I know, way too much) and obviously had one of the wildest trips of my life. I don’t necessary believe in “bad trips”, but this could definitely be defined as one. For about two months following this I would have random moments where I genuinely would feel high on mushrooms again, sometimes even when I was completely sober. Weed began to also sometimes make me feel like I was on mushrooms again (I know, it sounds a little crazy) this is my lived experience.

My partner and I both struggle with mental health stuff, they struggle with bipolar and manic depression, I struggle with anxiety and OCD. Both of us were heavy weed users, it was honestly one of the first things we bonded over. However, about three months ago after sustaining and injury, and using weed to cope, my partner had a mental breakdown, and it became very apparent that weed was affecting their mental state. They are now two months clean from weed and alcohol, and they are an excellent support system for me currently. I have continued to smoke until recently.

Now me. Last week it was a normal night, I decided to smoke and try to relax. I smoked, and next thing I knew I was having one of the worst breakdowns of my life. It was a total intrusive thought spiral that I couldn’t stop, and completely paralyzing anxiety attack. I was vomiting, uncontrollably shaking, clenching my muscles… there was a very real moment where I considered going to a facility. Now to be fair, weed was not the only contributor to this. I had come off of a weekend with one of the worst hangovers of my life, was struggling to sleep the past few days, and recently went off of a low-dose SSRI (I’m happy with this choice and I am not interested in advice on SSRIS or other medications). As I mentioned I also just graduated with two degrees, and this past semester was the most difficult and stressful of my entire academic career. Either way, everything just seemed to come together for the perfect storm for me.

This breakdown has brought on a total change for me. I am tired of altering my mind, and feeling dependent on substances just so survive. It’s kind of easy for me to quit, given that weed is now associated with negative emotions for me, and honestly I believe if I tried to smoke it would throw me into another panic spiral. I’m excited about quitting, I’ve been through the sobriety process before with other vices. But I am still struggling.

So, I’m about a week clean, and here is what’s going on. I CANNOT EAT!! each day it gets a little better, but I am truly surviving on gogurts and gogo squeezes. I can get myself to eat one small meal a day, but I’ve got to go slow. I essentially have no hunger cues, I’ve only started to feel hunger slightly again in the past few days. I’m someone who actually struggled a bit with binge eating, so the total lack of food noise in my mind and body has been jarring. The night sweats have also started rearing their head, I can’t tell if this is a withdrawal symptom or if it’s because my blood sugar is dropping because of the lack of food I’m eating. Sleep is definitely not easy, taking Valerian root most nights and it helps.

The biggest withdrawal symptoms are the mental ones for me. I just feel sad. It’s also hard knowing how to cope with my anxiety now that I don’t have weed. I’ve got a therapist, and I’ve been using radical acceptance and meditation. It’s just tough.

My body and mind hurt. I feel like I notice every little pain and inconvenience right now and it just fucking sucks. I know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Having a partner who is a few months ahead of me is helpful, they remind me that I’ve just got to wait it out, and I’ll see the results soon. It’s just hard y’all. I feel like I’m meeting a new version of myself, one that is the most authentic version of me ever, but who is also still a stranger to me.

Anyway, I’m not necessarily looking for advice, I’ve got an amazing support system around me, the tools I need to get through, and I know I’ll be okay. But I’m definitely open to advice! But also I think I just wanted to air my grievances a bit. There’s a lot of amazing advice in this subreddit, and I’ve already taken to much of what I’ve read and implemented it into my life. My next goal is to start exercising to cope, and to also invest back into my personal daily care as this has fallen by the wayside. All thoughts are welcome, and we’ve got this everyone!!!