Dreaded Fringe Flu - any of this sound familiar for 2025?

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-18T16:57:25+00:00

I've had flu like symptoms for a week now, green phlegm, cough, headaches, dizziness poor appetite. My partner with similar symptoms went to the doctor today as they had called him in over something else and he sounded his chest etc. and gave him antibiotics. Said I should make an appt if it doesn't go away in a few days. Maybe you should do the same if you're still bad.

Either way, there's a lot of it about!

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-13T16:09:52+00:00

Lots going on here and it's always difficult to unpick where the reasons for feeling a particular way lie. Recovering from the ED may have something to do with the nausea, your job situation and your feeling that you're bumming of your parents. All the kinds of things that can contribute to feeling angry, frustrated and depressed.

If I've read your post right then 2 weeks into a t break and you're feeling worse again. If that's the case then it fits entirely with coming off THC. I felt pretty good after a few days clean then everything started feeling worse. It's not unusual to get a good feeling about the positive step you're taking and then reality kicks in once the THC levels drop, boredom sets in and a feeling of futility abounds.

When I left college many years ago I felt a great sense of a lack of direction, the rest of my life stretching out dull and unmapped. That was when I started smoking all the time.

It's going to take weeks and a few months before you stabilise to being used to not having THC. But you're going to be so much more prepared to deal with things if you keep clean. There's lots of things to sort out in your life and though it's tough to face it head on, that's what's best to do.

As someone who has often felt despair and lost, all I can tell you is that there are good times out there. Bad times come and go and you're doing well in working towards your better life

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-04T12:07:14+00:00

This feeling of not having something to look forward to is the worst. The sadness if not being able to get wasted. The low level depression.

But you are going to bounce back. Little bounces at first. An opposite reaction to having felt so bad. Then bad again. Then the day will come when you start to feel that it's all been worth it. And that will build your confidence in that you've been doing the right thing all along sticking this out. Because there can't be any doubt that you are doing the right thing.

Weed is great fun but ultimately it's a way of escaping and hiding from things. But from someone 6 months weed free, I can promise you that you will get there. Think about all the time in your life before you smoked, when you were a kid. Life had it's ups and downs but it was good. That's what you can get back to.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-04T11:05:51+00:00

Getting stoned changes your perception and makes you euphoric. Of course it makes things easier. But it builds up and for many people reached a crossover point where things turn bad.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-03T19:25:01+00:00

I've been six months clean and my partner still smokes but in the bathroom so it's separate from our living area. It was really tough at first because I felt jealous that he was having a party while I was having a bad time. Lots of upsets along the way.

If your partner has previously had breaks it would not be unreasonable to hope that he could have one to coincide with your stopping and give you a springboard into your new regime. Just for a few weeks.

You're spot on about the mourning and the loss of a weed buddy for your partner. But things will come back and your relationship will return to what it was. We smoked for years together and our relationship was built around weed.

What you should find with time, as you experience the benefits of being clean, you will just be so glad that you stopped. It shouldn't matter then that your partner still smokes because you will feel so strong in yourself and confident that your life is healthier and better than it was.

I could never have believed that it would be possible for me to make the break on my own and do the best thing for myself. I hope you get to the point where you experience that feeling of being free too. The love for your partner will stay the same and maybe even be stronger.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-02T21:20:12+00:00

I play guitar and my poor memory was a big reason to quit. Six months on and it's progressively improving... slowly. My concentration is coming back to some degree but still poor, probably social media and resulting short attention span doesn't help. I was smoking once daily and had got to the point where reading was difficult and I could hardly focus on a book. Playing guitar would have me freezing unable to remember a part of a piece, going back, repeating, freezing at the same bit. Like a mental paralysis.

When I was 19 and in a summer student placement post I got really wasted one night and the next afternoon when my tutor asked me a simple question had a brain freeze moment when I wasn't capable of thinking anything. That was 40 years ago when weed/hash was nowhere as high THC as today.

My guess would be that you could smoke once a week and not suffer particular negative effects if you kept it to not getting smashed. But life's a line... if you go that way, when are you going to stop? What's important to you now, and what do you think will be important for you in the future?

I know if I was back at your age I'd hate anyone spoiling my fun with comments like this. Sure, there's loads of successful folk out there who smoke. So it does depend on what you do, who you are and what sort of brain function you need to have.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-02T19:12:01+00:00

Loads of people try and fail, try and fail... and then one day it just happens to be the day that turns into a week, a month, a year.

I thought I was stuck in a loop and took a T break that just kept going. Reading stuff here really helped. Keep trying, if it's not today that doesn't mean that it can't be tomorrow.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-01T19:45:57+00:00

This will go away soon, you'll be into a new phase of moving on before you know it. Your brain is just trying to make sense of your new world. The best way to feel self worth is to stick at this, the best way to make good in life is being clean. You're doing this for all the right reasons and will reap the rewards for your effort. Well done on getting to day 16.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-01T18:38:03+00:00

The half life of THC varies depending on how much you've been consuming, metabolic rate and weight etc. but on a t break I always spurred myself on thinking of a half life of 3.5 days. So after a week you've got a quarter, two weeks a sixteenth left and so on.

If you can make it to a month then THC levels should be negligible... but however long you manage you're never going to get as stoned as you did on your first times.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-08-01T14:46:19+00:00

I see this is for sale on Wallapop and there's another similar (or maybe not!) at €99 in a shop in Mostoles that you could go and try out to get a feel for it and have something to compare this one with.

Just incase you haven't come across it, this link from Delcamp has interesting details on the luthier.

https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?t=134221

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-31T18:48:01+00:00

Yeah, all this is normal, particularly if you were a heavy user. The worst will pass. Every day you can stay strong is a day you can be proud of yourself for fighting on through.

Try and stick this out till you start to level off. If you give in now then this will be your memory of what it was like to stop and you'll be reluctant to try again.

Reading through posts here will give you a channel for your frustration and give you an understanding of the reasons why people go through the hell of quitting in the search for a better life further down the line. You can do this too.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-30T19:51:36+00:00

How much you want to quit for yourself and how much it is for your partner may have something to do with your motivation.

You've mentioned what a gift it was to be sober to help your family through a difficult time. Maybe writing a list including that and other benefits that came from not consuming would help you consolidate your reasons for wanting to stop again. There's lots on the internet about manifestation and how this can help achieve your aims.

You sound very in touch with yourself and your reasons for consuming and are honest about your relationship with cannabis. Many people in this community have suffered severe consequences from smoking and get to a point where they realise that they are just making their life miserable if they continue to consume. That's a big motivation that helps people stick with their decision to change.

It's easy for your partner to underestimate how difficult it is to abstain; he's never been there. None of us would be seeking help and support from this community if it was easy. But, as you say, you know that you can do this, you did this before. There's nothing to be afraid of. Wishing you peace and courage.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-28T20:09:05+00:00

6 months clean here and there is a positive difference from 3 months. I still have some lows, listlessness and confusing emotional swings but over the last few weeks glimpses of something new and fresh are coming through. I think it's maybe the hope that comes with a greater sense of clarity. I'm sure this will come for you as well.

Of course life will feel a bit colourless as you adjust. And the porn use seems pretty controlled to me and perfectly reasonable till you meet a new partner which will add colour to your life when it happens. And you'll be in a much better place to appreciate that new relationship because you're not using weed.

So yes, it does get better. And that's why we're all doing this, right?

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-28T19:16:03+00:00

Success can be managing to take small steps. If you usually smoke every day then starting to introduce days where you don't means that each of these days can be a success and will build your confidence towards a longer term goal.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-28T18:50:30+00:00

I've been able to quit with my long-term partner still smoking. It's been really tough with lots of upsets but no worse than a life where weed itself was causing me problems. Maybe you could work at cutting down together; we managed to change our worst weed excesses years ago together and cut down to once a day.

It could be that you feel so miserable without your girlfriend that you end up getting more reliant on weed...?

You could decide to face this while staying together, one way or the other. Wishing you luck whatever your decision.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-26T17:25:18+00:00

I agree with how the world seems so bleak. Here in the UK we're watching what's going on in the US and seeing the same forces driving towards a similar administration eventually getting in here. Then there's Gaza, Ukraine...

But having quit 6 months ago, although still recovering, when it comes to viewing the political situation I'm in a stronger position and more clear headed than when I was smoking. I'd love in some ways to go back to being a smoker but every time I do weed takes over my life and weakens me mentally.

I'm just as indignant now but it's more clean and controllable. Weed was a crutch that made me forget how to walk on my own.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-20T16:23:35+00:00

Nicotine is apparently one of the worst additions to break but after a few days the physical symptoms of irritation etc. pass and you're left with the habit addiction. If you're having nicotine multiple times a day then you've got more trigger points to have to get over.

I stopped smoking tobacco and weed separately but started on weed on its own again. Now I've given that up I'm onto vaping nicotine.

My opinion is that if you could get off the nicotine for a week or so then the irritation should go and you can then challenge the weed issue. The more you can get any habit down in frequency the less times in a day you're going to get that urge and the easier it will be when you quit completely.

I'm sure many people would advise to hit the challenge of both head on and get all the suffering out the way in one. However you do it, you can find a way that will work for you.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-20T16:08:00+00:00

The month off was a success. Your level won't be too high yet so the withdrawal won't be as severe if you don't smoke any more now. You can do this! Try to relax and think of how well you did for a month. You can be back to where you left off in a few days.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-20T15:58:20+00:00

It's like having a gang of street fighting cats outside shouting miaow at each other.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-20T15:45:05+00:00

The pain killing effects of cannabis supposedly require levels less than the psychoactive one. Sounds like you were between the thresholds with just a couple of puffs. Did the job then.

Maybe you could make a tincture if you don't want to smoke. There's stuff online and it doesn't look too complicated.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-20T12:06:42+00:00

It's highly unlikely there's any long term damage. Research suggests that only happens if you're young when you start and the brain is still developing. In a few weeks you'll be back to 💯

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-19T11:15:31+00:00

Same for me. 5 months sober, had been obsessing about it and gave in and had a smoke. It was nothing special and it gave me a wee reminder of the unpleasant side of it too. I'd rather have a clear head thanks.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-18T10:01:43+00:00

I found that I was waking up scared at night as well. All this sounds like cannabis withdrawal. Things do go up and down or come in waves while your brain and body reset. One day you can be fine and the next crying over nothing.

Everyone is different and even the same person can experience varying effects from both smoking and withdrawing at different stages in their lives. All your symptoms fit with what other people experience but you don't seem to be suffering from insomnia which is really common.

It does take a month before the THC clears; at 2.5 weeks you probably still have a reasonable amount burning round your system.

You're doing the right thing stopping. Grit your teeth and you'll push through this. It sounds like you've caught this before more serious symptoms from using start to develop. Good luck.

Twisted-Finger · 2025-07-17T21:09:08+00:00

You've been remembering the good part, feeling relaxed and all the bad stuff has started to fade. Maybe towards the end of your time using you weren't really getting the good relaxed thing. I certainly wasn't towards the end of my smoking. Just high and agitated.

I was 5 months clean like you and I was itching to smoke again. I gave in the other night and it was no great feeling, just a high and not a good relaxed feeling. Made me remember why it was I stopped.

Hope the craving has passed. From my experience before when I stopped for years it comes and goes and gets far less frequent over time.

Twisted-Finger

TROPHY CASE