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Alcohol or Benzos?

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searchingforthesound

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 4, 2023
Messages
41
OK, really stupid thread and I know the correct answer is "neither."

But if somebody were holding a gun to your head and you had to choose between being addicted to alcohol or being addicted to benzos, which would you pick to give yourself the best chance of getting clean again 6-8 months in the future?

Really stupid premise, I know. Just feeling so lonely and isolated, and in need of anything that will help me connect with the people around me. The only viable option for meeting someone around here are the bars. I try to go to bars, deal with the judgement and eye rolls when I ask the bar tender for something non-alcoholic and it's usually only water. I know a couple of drinks, or a 10 mg valium would put me at ease to strike up and hold an conversation with one of the many pretty girls who are literally looking to meet someone like me. But this damn shell of mine doesn't want to let me come out. It sucks.

4 years without alcohol, and never really missed it. Was a heavy binge drinker for maybe 15 years before that. Dabbling in benzos is a recent thing, and hopefully stopped before dependence became an issue.

Sorry for the rant. My intention is to not use either, but for the first time in 4 years starting to wonder if the social benefits I'd get from getting some drinks at the bar would outweigh the shit I'll have to go through to try to stop again once this bout of loneliness/isolation passes. It's like people pick up on my lonely vibe and want nothing to do with me if I try to talk to them.

I'm reminded of the Doors song "people are strange." Every word of that song rings true to me right now.

End rant. Time for a soda water and being awkward at the bar after this long ass run I just went for
 
Alcohol. I am stuck on benzos, if I want off, my doctor said a year to 18 months. Before I got allergic to alcohol( Thank you God), the withdrawals were bad but only lasted 5 days.
Besides benzos can really help with withdrawals if you become an alky. Benzos,
you are kind of screwed. I had to switch from a short acting (lorazepam)Ativan to (diazepam)Valium
I am stuck on 3 x 10mg everyday. I could die if I stopped.
 
Guys who hang out at bars and don't drink and are not the designated driver are creepy. Using benzos and alcohol is a recipe for disaster. Depending on the bars where you live, having a couple of drinks and shooting pool and playing darts is a good way to meet people( bar people). Careful about DUI'S.
Also, don't look lonely or desperate, and find a bar you feel comfortable in and go only there and tip the bartender. Make yourself known at one place; one with chick's you would like to meet. Avoid dive bar's or places that are too hip.
 
Kava helps me relax at the end of the night and sleep well, but doesn't have any " social lubricant" qualities for me.

I kind of figured that alcohol would be the lesser of two evils, but I'm also kind of a surprise given that'll low dose of benzo makes me feel "normal."

So if someone does end up putting a gun to my head and I have to make that choice, it's alcohol all the way. I can usually drink in moderation for 3 weeks or so before it gets out of hand.

And it would never be bud light for a million reasons, but not because they made a special can for Dylan mulvay. I have better shit to worry about than the fact that trans people are starting to be tolerated and treated like actual people. I've never heard of a trans person commiting any kind of sexual violence or abuse, but hear about preachers, bubbas, etc. doing that shit ALL THE FUCKING TIME.
 
Jnowhere said:
Guys who hang out at bars and don't drink and are not the designated driver are creepy. Using benzos and alcohol is a recipe for disaster. Depending on the bars where you live, having a couple of drinks and shooting pool and playing darts is a good way to meet people( bar people). Careful about DUI'S.
Also, don't look lonely or desperate, and find a bar you feel comfortable in and go only there and tip the bartender. Make yourself known at one place; one with chick's you would like to meet. Avoid dive bar's or places that are too hip.
Click to expand...
This is all very solid advice. I used to love playing darts and pool but was too worried about the temptation to pick up alcohol again. The bars I like to go to have live music. Even those I avoided for a long time before I realized I could just enjoy the music and it wasn't weird to not drink alcohol.

Quality NA beer such as Athletic Brewing Co is becoming a lot more common, so it's somewhat less awkward.

But yeah, I'd typically go in to play pinball or meet up with a friend or whatever, order a (free) soda water with lime and tip the bartender 5 bucks.
 
Live music, I forgot about that. That is different. 5 bucks, you are a generous tipper. Also, sorry I didn't remember you use to be a....heavy drinker.
 
It is the passable tranny's and being drunk, that is the real danger. What benzos are we talking about?
 
Benzo's. Way eassier to taper. Tapering Alcohol is nearly impossible.

And because Alcohol effect's so many things beside GABA-a, benzo's only cover the GABA-a so you still feel like shit.
Alcohol is also more 'euphoric/ recreational' and easy available.
 
searchingforthesound said:
Kava helps me relax at the end of the night and sleep well, but doesn't have any " social lubricant" qualities for me.

I kind of figured that alcohol would be the lesser of two evils, but I'm also kind of a surprise given that'll low dose of benzo makes me feel "normal."

So if someone does end up putting a gun to my head and I have to make that choice, it's alcohol all the way. I can usually drink in moderation for 3 weeks or so before it gets out of hand.

And it would never be bud light for a million reasons, but not because they made a special can for Dylan mulvay. I have better shit to worry about than the fact that trans people are starting to be tolerated and treated like actual people. I've never heard of a trans person commiting any kind of sexual violence or abuse, but hear about preachers, bubbas, etc. doing that shit ALL THE FUCKING TIME.
Click to expand...

www.independent.co.uk

Transgender woman jailed for rape sent to male prison

Lexi-Rose Crawford was jailed for nine years for one count of rape and one of assault by penetration
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
 
emkee_reinvented said:
Benzo's. Way eassier to taper. Tapering Alcohol is nearly impossible.

And because Alcohol effect's so many things beside GABA-a, benzo's only cover the GABA-a so you still feel like shit.
Alcohol is also more 'euphoric/ recreational' and easy available.
Click to expand...
Yeah, agree with alcohol being impossible to taper (for me). "I'm not going to get belligerent drunk, just have a couple" rarely worked for me.

Any time I had to quit alcohol, all I had to do was make it 3 days CT and it became EASY with no withdrawals (I wasn't a steady all day drinker). But making it those 3 days was nearly impossible. Took years of trying and failing until I made it
 
emkee_reinvented said:
Benzo's. Way eassier to taper. Tapering Alcohol is nearly impossible.

And because Alcohol effect's so many things beside GABA-a, benzo's only cover the GABA-a so you still feel like shit.
Alcohol is also more 'euphoric/ recreational' and easy available.
Click to expand...
5 day max withdrawals and benzos and opiods can make it almost painless.
My doc told me 1 to 1 1/2 years to get off the benzos I've been on for nearly 7 years.
I got hospitalized for a couple of weeks, years ago and within hours I was sober( minus the morphine and lorazepam.) I abused alcohol for 21 years. Benzos are nightmare to get off, of. If I quit, I probably die.
 
searchingforthesound said:
Yeah, agree with alcohol being impossible to taper (for me). "I'm not going to get belligerent drunk, just have a couple" rarely worked for me.

Any time I had to quit alcohol, all I had to do was make it 3 days CT and it became EASY with no withdrawals (I wasn't a steady all day drinker). But making it those 3 days was nearly impossible. Took years of trying and failing until I made it
Click to expand...
Having a judge tell you not to drink helps, but you didn't risk dying. Actually my problem was more physical than mental, prior to crossing the drinking all day line, the psychological factor was tough, I admit.
You got belligerent when you drank also, I blacked out then the trouble could occasionally start
 
Jnowhere said:
It is the passable tranny's and being drunk, that is the real danger. What benzos are we talking about?
Click to expand...
I think the very real threat of lethal violence is more than enough to prevent most of not all trans women from trying to trick a guy into sex. So I ain't worried about that. Maybe it's different in Thailand or something, but the 2 times I met a remotely "passable" trans, they made it a point to be up front about it so as to not waste my time or theirs.

But valium would be my benzo of choice. It is euphoric for me, clears my mind of the garbage so I can think straight. Xanax or Ativan just makes me messy or sleepy or black out. Never tried clonopin.
 
Jnowhere said:
Having a judge tell you not to drink helps, but you didn't risk dying. Actually my problem was more physical than mental, prior to crossing the drinking all day line, the psychological factor was tough, I admit.
You got belligerent when you drank also, I blacked out then the trouble could occasionally start
Click to expand...
Oh yes, you've got your happy drunks, and then you've got your drunks like me and you. One feels good, two feels better, three is great, then it keeps going until some kind of minor perceived or imagined offense puts me in full out fight mode. People who know me now that didn't know me back then just can't imagine me ever being violent. But it was a near nightly occurrence.

And yup, a DUI wasn't even enough to make me stop drinking behind the wheel. Took another year and some other "rock bottom" shit before I wizened up
 
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