TLDR version; look up the Huberman Lab podcast episode interviewing DR Anna Lembke. It's available on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
The key thing to remember about using an addiction to feel better/cope is that it's an incredibly deceptive mechanism. That's because it actually does help one mentally feel better at first (before becoming addicted) with its spikes in dopamine. However as one transitions into addiction the brain adjusts. It lowers it's baseline dopamine levels and lowers how much it spikes. Once you are addicted is when it truly entirely stops making you feel better overall. And one needs the addictive substance to simply feel "normal" which is actually worse than b fore addicted. Once addicted you feel "better" in the moment only because you've relieved yourself from the negative feelings of withdrawal. Most people who struggle mentally so report feeling better overall mentally after about one month after quitting their addiction. When quitting any addiction it's important to remember YOU WILL FEEL EVEN WORSE BEFORE YOU FEEL BETTER. I know it's tough but try to remember that feeling even worse at first means you're on the right path, so it's a good sign. Try to stay strong and if one relapses know that is normal and you can quit again. So try to not beat yourself up for a relapse as that makes things worse. For most addictions the even worse feeling/extra low drop in baseline dopamine lasts for two weeks before the brain STARTS to level it out again. On average about a month after quitting the brain has re-leveled it's baseline dopamine from that one addiction.
Thanks for making this thread @Hecubaa. "Real" addicts, feel free to laugh at me.
I have long struggled with three drugs: caffeine, nicotine, and weed. I'm trying to go "Mormon mode" and get 100% off all drugs. I think, and I might be wrong, that my brain will heal if I do this.
I'm off weed now. Trazodone gets me to sleep. I've weaned down to just one strong coffee when I wake up. Used to have 2-3. Still not totally adjusted, I'm likely to get a headache late in the day.
I'm trying to do today without nicotine. I only use a few of the little 2mg pouches so it shouldn't be that hard. I think the mini-withdrawal every few hours fuels my rumination.
/blog
Has anyone else improved their mental health by reducing/quitting minor drugs?
All addictions will cause negative mental health effects. Even if it's a behavioral addiction without any drugs, hard or soft.
I have improved my mental health by quitting minor drug use, I think. There's so many factors in ones life who really knows. However, after quitting weed and going through the initial stage of feeling worse I do feel better. Not good, I have depression regardless, but most definitely better! I'm not crying anymore or being nearly as negative towards myself. I'm five weeks out from quitting weed.
I see you're off weed now. Congratulations! Though I'll add this next paragraph for others in a similar boat. I quit weed after learning it drastically reduces REM sleep. I know how important sleep is to all aspects of health including mental health.
I think quitting weed first is a good idea. For two reasons. One, while there are withdrawals and yes it is tough (real tough) to stop there seems to be minimal craving. Two, I learned from 'healthygamer gg" on YouTube (check him out!) that weed makes all other addictions more addictive. So I feel quitting that first may help with quitting the rest. For me for example, while I do still consume porn, after quitting weed I consume porn MUCH less often and MUCH shorter duration and only still images as opposed to videos.
Congrats on weening yourself down to 2 mg nicotine pouches! I've done that route before and relapsed ugh. Today is my first day without smoking again using 8mg pouches. I intend to win down as you are. I actually did quit nicotine for a month before quitting weed and stupidly thought I could treat myself to a single cigar. No bueno. Must always remain vigilant!
Three weeks into my nicotine quit on one weekend I quit weed, caffeine, and porn all at the same time. Terrible idea! Five days into that I broke down TERRIBLY into uncontrollable crying! I went into my local community mental health clinic who does walk in intake sessions with a therapist. They told me that no good therapist would recommend quitting multiple addictions. So then I intentionally/mindfully reintroduced caffeine and slipped back into tobacco and much less porn consumption.
So now still without weed (6 weeks now woohoo!) I'm using my caffeine, nicotine, and porn. Since caffeine is probably the least harmful I'm saving it for last, as a crutch to lean on while quitting the other two. On average it takes a brain one month to recover from an addiction. So it is important to leave a month gap minimum between quitting different addictions. Maybe more, like 6-8 weeks sounds better to me honestly. To give one self time to get used to being recovered from one addiction before tackling the next one.
My plan/goal is to ween off of nicotine, yet again. I wish they made 1 mg pouches for this! But even the gum or lozenges market and approved for quitting don't go lower than 2 mg. Ugh. But wait this literally just popped into my head. After adjusting to the 2 mg pouches I could buy 2 mg gum and cut it in half! Thanks for your post Hecubba! Had I not read and engaged I may not have thought of that.
I would highly recommend to anyone here to look up an episode of the Huberman Lab podcast where he interviews Dr Anna Lembke. Lots of insightful information there. She is head of Stanford Addictions Centers and wrote the book Dopamine Nation and also a Dopamine Nation Workbook. Just a search on YouTube for '"Andrew Huberman Anna Lembke" would pull that podcast right up. Or any podcast app.
