GotTheTShirt
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2017
- Messages
- 2
A friend of mine is currently on a methadone program to help him come off much harder substances. However in order to deal with his social anxiety he finds that benzos in reasonable doses are just about the only way he can leave the house. The problem is that he is intermittently giving urine samples ( he sees his doctor roughly a month so knowing when a test is likely is quite predictable).
The issue is that his doctor stopped prescribing diazepam for him to help with the anxiety about a month or so ago. He said his doctor said that in the UK it is only really indicated or short term use and therefore he had to come off it. This means that he fails a urine test (positive for anything other than Methadone) he will likely be prohibited from driving and possibly be moved back to daily supervised methadone consumption (something that ruins his chances of starting work - no employer is going to be cool with you ambling in at 10am after you have waited for your daily dose). It would also be a real setback for him, he has been reducing and it's now on just under 50ml (1mg/ml) a day coming from a dose of almost 150ml about 18 months back.
Right now he has been buying some really cheap imported 10mg Diazipam for about 30/40p each. I have no reason to suspect that fake or anything and they seem to work well in terms of a balance between him being zombified and overly agitated; although I feel it be wise for him to cut down somewhat (maybe about half this dose, be it Diazipam, another Benzo or one of the Z drugs) .
Right now he takes around 40-60mg of Diazipam daily (30mg in the day/30mg at once for insomnia) and has been since his prescription was stopped.
From what I have read while occasional diazepam consumption leaves the body very quickly (days, a week at most) chronic use can take weeks even months before it is clear. He is young (27/80kg/medium build) and otherwise pretty healthy so hopefully that should expediate the process of eliminating the Diazipam.
Glancing at the results on doctors screen it is obviously just standard drugs panel (opiates/methadone/cocain/amphetamines/cannabis/benzodiazepenes). From what I have read the Z drugs (Zolpidem/Zopiclone) shouldn't show up.
However Zopiclone isn't cheap here (unlike diazepam and Xanax it isn't illegally produced therefore the market relies on people selling blister packs).
He can get Xanax for a similar price (with approximate dosage conversions taken into account) to the diazepam. I know that alprazolam has a much shorter half-life and therefore one would assume that its detectable metabolites remain in the body for less time. How much less I don't really know, but if we assume that his usage is a about equivalent to his diazipam usage is it still likely to show up in urine after several weeks?
From what he tells me taking of urine samples isn't watched; he is just told to go to the bathroom and fill up a pot of urine. His doctor isn't particularly careful about checking the temperature of the urine so he tells me as long as it is warm there isn't a problem.
This would mean that if he could occasionally make sure that everything was all clear he could get a good quantity of "clean" pee (all clear, minus the prescribed methadone and the non-prescribed Z drugs) in a jar and freeze it, then at each appointment taking a "clean" sample just in case he is asked for a test (he has never had any issues using frozen/reheated samples at his clinic before).
Obviously just trying to get Zopiclone for months would be very costly (ans it isn't always easy to come by). Right now he isn't in a position to stop sedative (GABA acting) medications for a month or two in order to get a clean sample to freeze. The basic question is if swithing to Xanax (while all this long lasting Diazipam is still there) and then moving to Zopiclone in the week or two before the potential tests.
He of course access to home urine tests so he can know where he is up to.
Any advice guys?
...been there, done that, got the T-shirt... now I can't wear a T-shirt...
The issue is that his doctor stopped prescribing diazepam for him to help with the anxiety about a month or so ago. He said his doctor said that in the UK it is only really indicated or short term use and therefore he had to come off it. This means that he fails a urine test (positive for anything other than Methadone) he will likely be prohibited from driving and possibly be moved back to daily supervised methadone consumption (something that ruins his chances of starting work - no employer is going to be cool with you ambling in at 10am after you have waited for your daily dose). It would also be a real setback for him, he has been reducing and it's now on just under 50ml (1mg/ml) a day coming from a dose of almost 150ml about 18 months back.
Right now he has been buying some really cheap imported 10mg Diazipam for about 30/40p each. I have no reason to suspect that fake or anything and they seem to work well in terms of a balance between him being zombified and overly agitated; although I feel it be wise for him to cut down somewhat (maybe about half this dose, be it Diazipam, another Benzo or one of the Z drugs) .
Right now he takes around 40-60mg of Diazipam daily (30mg in the day/30mg at once for insomnia) and has been since his prescription was stopped.
From what I have read while occasional diazepam consumption leaves the body very quickly (days, a week at most) chronic use can take weeks even months before it is clear. He is young (27/80kg/medium build) and otherwise pretty healthy so hopefully that should expediate the process of eliminating the Diazipam.
Glancing at the results on doctors screen it is obviously just standard drugs panel (opiates/methadone/cocain/amphetamines/cannabis/benzodiazepenes). From what I have read the Z drugs (Zolpidem/Zopiclone) shouldn't show up.
However Zopiclone isn't cheap here (unlike diazepam and Xanax it isn't illegally produced therefore the market relies on people selling blister packs).
He can get Xanax for a similar price (with approximate dosage conversions taken into account) to the diazepam. I know that alprazolam has a much shorter half-life and therefore one would assume that its detectable metabolites remain in the body for less time. How much less I don't really know, but if we assume that his usage is a about equivalent to his diazipam usage is it still likely to show up in urine after several weeks?
From what he tells me taking of urine samples isn't watched; he is just told to go to the bathroom and fill up a pot of urine. His doctor isn't particularly careful about checking the temperature of the urine so he tells me as long as it is warm there isn't a problem.
This would mean that if he could occasionally make sure that everything was all clear he could get a good quantity of "clean" pee (all clear, minus the prescribed methadone and the non-prescribed Z drugs) in a jar and freeze it, then at each appointment taking a "clean" sample just in case he is asked for a test (he has never had any issues using frozen/reheated samples at his clinic before).
Obviously just trying to get Zopiclone for months would be very costly (ans it isn't always easy to come by). Right now he isn't in a position to stop sedative (GABA acting) medications for a month or two in order to get a clean sample to freeze. The basic question is if swithing to Xanax (while all this long lasting Diazipam is still there) and then moving to Zopiclone in the week or two before the potential tests.
He of course access to home urine tests so he can know where he is up to.
Any advice guys?
...been there, done that, got the T-shirt... now I can't wear a T-shirt...
