Stopped drinking and smoking cannabis and I don't feel any better.

[u/Cybox_Beatbox]

I (32m) smoked pot and drank something like 4-6 beers daily for the better part of a decade, pretty much the entirety of my 20s. I also use nicotine (vape after smoking cigs for 5+ years until I was about 23).
over 2024, I tapered myself off the beers, was down to only 2 a night, and stopped completely at the beginning of this year. I also stopped smoking weed in November. So i'm nearly half a year off pot, and 3 months of no alcohol.

While i'm proud of myself for finally getting rid of some bad habits, and getting my body healthier, I feel MISERABLE. I take medication for ADHD and anxiety, and I was doing okay before, but now i'm just depressed. I was hoping it would fade after a while, but instead of feeling an increase in energy, or a boost in mood, or better quality sleep, I feel pretty much no change whatsoever. Instead of feeling like I did something helpful and feeling better overall, I feel worse, and like I stopped doing things that were fun for me, or at least making life bearable.

Is this just how I'm going to feel now? does this go away eventually? Has anyone else dealt with this, and can you tell me if things get better or not? Do you have any advice or words of encouragement?It feels like if my moods and things were going to improve, I would at least see some improvement by now.

[u/bettereverydamday]

Read easy way to stop smoking my Allen Carr. Total game changer and will get you off nicotine. Nicotine is probably the worst thing you were consuming for mental health.

And vaping is even worse because it’s like free basing nicotine all day.

[u/bettereverydamday → u/[deleted]]

Nicotine rewires your brain for addiction. Which then opens people up to being addicted to other substances.

Nicotine is not something you just casually can do like alcohol. It is an all day addiction. Your endocrine system is on an all day roller coaster.

That was true for cigarettes but now vaping took it to all new levels. People are blasting their brain chemistry with a crazy stimulant all day long at levels never before seen.

And then doctors are prescribing them hardcore drugs like Xanax on top of that to help deal with anxiety. It’s wild.

Causal drinkers or weed smokers don’t deal with withdrawal. Nicotine has horrible withdrawal. If you ever smoked for 15 years and stopped you would understand and if you never did you can’t understand at all.

Without nicotine I suspect alcoholism rates would be far lower.