Yet another marijuana question.

September 15, 2006 10:59 AM

I like smoking pot, and it's often very useful when I'm working, in that it helps me to focus and brainstorm and problem-solve. But I recently cut it out of my daily routine, and for the most part I'm happy to be without it right now...but I do wish to have a little puff once a week. I miss the brainstorms! The problem is, now every time I do smoke, the whole next day I feel way unmotivated and unfocused. Someone suggested more-rigorous exercise the next morning might help, because it burns off the fat molecules...is that total crap? Help me keep the brainstorms without losing my luster the next day!

Some more detail: I've been deep in a long-term project, and was having regular (once a week) day-long crashes in morale. Therapist suggested that stopping pot (plus some anti-depressants) would stop the crashes...and it more or less did. Now, the only times I slip back on the edge of a crash is after I smoke. Maybe I need more structure to be able to recover quickly; maybe exercise really would be the difference? I already do a ten minute workout routine upon waking up each morning. Give me your thoughts!

posted by snortlebort to Health & Fitness (23 answers total)

Think of all the people in history who have brainstromed and problem solved with smoking pot. You don't need it to be creative. Perhaps start doing some mind exercises every day that have nothing to do with work, like crossword puzzles, or memory games. Watch Jeopardy. I don't know, just throwing things out there.
posted by poppo at 11:17 AM on September 15, 2006

Green tea. Lots of it. Cleans you out.
Fish is brain food.
No alcohol.
I'm sure poppo means without smoking pot.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:22 AM on September 15, 2006 [1 favorite]

Um, are you mixing drugs? Seems like the effects of drugs can explain all of your complaints.

Ten minutes is a pretty lame workout routine. I would definitely exercise more. It really helps with the circulation.
posted by shownomercy at 11:26 AM on September 15, 2006

Agree with green tea and excercises.

I started a gym few months ago and now I fill a little better. More active and better with my body.

I've also smoke pot but just weekends and not all weekends, and yes, the upcoming days I feel tired and frustrated.
Then I preffer to not do it in week days.
posted by Leech at 11:27 AM on September 15, 2006

poppo: surely "without"?
posted by Phred182 at 11:28 AM on September 15, 2006

yes, "without" thanks :)

although i'm sure there have been many great ideas "with" in the world as well. surely, the pet rock was conceived this way.
posted by poppo at 11:30 AM on September 15, 2006 [1 favorite]

If it's once a week, low-dose shrooms might be equivalent.
posted by daksya at 11:38 AM on September 15, 2006

Eat a good general diet.
Exercise.
Get enough sleep.
Read.
posted by rogue haggis landing at 11:41 AM on September 15, 2006

Antidepressants and just about any kind of recreational drug generally don't mix. So I would say that you're better off without pot for the moment anyway.

Another point here is that at sometimes at the beginning of a cycle of antidepressants, people experience a slightly flattened affect, which can seem to take off the edge of creative activity. You might try some non-chemical method to jumpstart the juices, e.g., mental exercises, mediation.
posted by La Cieca at 12:14 PM on September 15, 2006

You might be working on a bad assumption. I say this as someone who has never been been a prolific pot smoker and knows littl of brain chemistry, but consider this:

The brainstorms are not actually coming from the pot, they're coming from you. The pot just facilitates the thinking. Of course, everything happening in your brain comes from a mixture of chemical and electrical impulses. So if you expend a tremendous amount of mental resources, it seems natural that it's going to take at least a day to recover the chemicals you used to have that brainstorm.

What I thinking is this: the weed may be the mental equivalent of the pot of coffee that someone might drink before a big workout to push themselves harder. The day after an exceptionally strenuous workout, you're not going to feel up to another one because you need time to recover. You used up the ATP, glucose, etcetera and now you need to make more and you feel sluggish until it's replaced. The coffee didn't deplete you; it helped you get to the point where you were firing hard on all cylanders to make the gains and use up the resources.

Of course, you might find ways to temporarily overcome the fatigue, but you need to rest up eventually.
posted by Mayor Curley at 12:15 PM on September 15, 2006

Best answer: FWIW, I have nasty pot hangovers, including lack of motivation but also increased anxiety leading to full-blown panic attacks. While this remains a problem that these days precludes my pot-smoking althogether, working out the day after always seemed to help, and since I was trying to work out more anyway, was quite the boon because somehow it made for a really easy time-flying-by hour on the elliptical.

My advice is be very active. A long bike ride, hike or workout, and drink a lot of H2O.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:24 PM on September 15, 2006

Man, that's why I had to quit smoking pot. I never noticed the hangovers because I only smoked it now and then when I was already drunk. But then the handful of times I smoked without drinking, I'd feel just horrible the next day. So terribly sad and depressed and worthless and tired. My friends never understood or had the same thing. Getting high was kind of fun, but nothing was worth how I felt the next day. So I had to quit, not that I ever did it that much to start with. Might also be related to the onset of depression now that I look back on the timing.

Interestingly, I had the exact opposite in terms of focus. I couldn't hold the most basic thoughts in my head.

Could it be time to consider quitting altogether? I swear, that feeling just isn't worth it. Maybe your brain chem has changed and that's just what you're going to get each time now.
posted by kookoobirdz at 12:35 PM on September 15, 2006

Another option that people haven't suggested....

Find some better pot!

Pot has multiple active ingredients, not just THC. If the stuff you're getting is relatively low in thc and higher in the other junk, you get the fuzzy headed buzz, increased munchies and much more burn out.

Also, how do you smoke it? Try an unfiltered joint for maximum THC vs tar ratio. Helpful for your health and wallet.
posted by utsutsu at 12:41 PM on September 15, 2006

Best answer: Don't smoke close to when you're going to sleep, let yourself sober up a bit.
posted by dripdripdrop at 12:59 PM on September 15, 2006

What utsutsu said. Some weed leaves me feeling really tired, other weed makes me feel energetic.

And I'll go one further and recommend a vaporizer. It's less damaging to your airway, and I find it tends to produce a slightly different effect, often more head-buzz-ish and energetic.
posted by ludwig_van at 1:24 PM on September 15, 2006

/agree utsutso. Avoid the homegrown, stick to the chronic. Smoke a small quantity on an empty stomach. Use fruit juice to compensate for the drop in blood sugar. Engage in high intensity aerobic exercise (biking, swimming, running) before eating or sleeping. This minimizes the hangover the next day, though it is still present in the sense that I am not operating at 100%. Caffeine the next day helps me focus, and I find that I can actually perform exceptionally well on narrowly defined tasks. Improvising, and my ability to interface with people is definitely impaired. Oddly, in the couple of days following the hangover I experience a surge of ebullience that is akin to a high in itself.

Always follow the advice of Gallagher: "Don't smoke dope when you're already stoned. You don't get any higher, you just get lower on dope.".
posted by Manjusri at 2:43 PM on September 15, 2006

Try wake-and-baking, or at least smoking around lunch time.

That way, you'll have eight hours or more of non-wasted recovery time before you go to bed, in the afternoon and early evening.

This will be the non-creative period that you spoke of. You're simply taking care of it a day in advance.

You'll go to bed with a clear head, sleep more soundly, and feel refreshed the next day.
posted by Gordion Knott at 3:19 PM on September 15, 2006

Exercise has made me feel better than I have in years. I'm talking running 1-3 miles every few days, then some situps and pushups. Nothing extraordinary or hardcore. I've been doing this for a year now and feel great.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 4:33 PM on September 15, 2006

I backup the exercise bit and use pot to enhance your creative juices, while you are feeling that way. Not sure what to say about some dr who told you to stop smoking and then take anti depressants that just sounds...odd but I am not a dr. Anyway, just exercise and it will all fall into line and then you will enjoy the chronic again without the hangover.
posted by evilelvis at 8:27 PM on September 15, 2006

back when i used to smoke, for the first few years, i used to feel inspired or more mindful when i was high ... time passed and i started to feel more stupid and uninspired

i think reactions to pot vary greatly, but that is the short history of mine ... when i quit, after a month, i felt a lot smarter

i think you should stop smoking altogether and see what your reaction to that is ... give it at least a month ... (and your anti-depressants need time to kick in, too)

i think you can have brainstorms without pot ... a lot of people do ... unfortunately, a lot of people feel crappy and depressed without pot, too, so ...

you probably won't know for sure unless you put it down for awhile and then try it again
posted by pyramid termite at 10:21 PM on September 15, 2006

I can't comment on anything else, but it definitely doesn't have anything to do with burning off fat-soluble THC.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 11:23 AM on September 16, 2006

Exercise releasing endorphins which will make you feel better. Has nothing to do with burning off fat. Iced water and coffee also helps.
posted by lemur at 3:54 PM on September 16, 2006

ahem, based on what I have HEARD from FRIENDS, pot fasts are never a bad idea. Go a few months clean, save up your money, lose a few pounds, amaze yourself with how much stuff you get done. I think it defuzzes the head. I think too much consecutive pot-smoking can cause mega-doldrums and give you diminishing 'returns.' So if you give yourself a little detox and then return you might find that your brainstorms are better and your hangovers not as bad.
posted by clairezulkey at 8:16 AM on September 18, 2006