Benzos I've had PAWS for over two years, which drugs can I do?

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So I abused clonazolam, alprazolam and etizolam mainly for two years. Had a few half arsed attempts at abstinence which lasted a week or two a most before I finally did a rapid taper with diclazepam. Got the expected acute withdrawal, but the parasthesia and fasciculations remained. I quit everything and went clean living for two years, no drugs, no alcohol, no supplements, and a very strict almost obsessive diet that avoided aggrivating my PAWS symptoms. After two years I caved and went on amitryptaline which pretty much cleared up my unpleasant nerve sensations.
I have essentially came to the conclusion that some of the nerves in my peripheral nervous system became so used to being sedated that their baseline threshold for excitability was lowered and when I tapered off they remained hyperexcitable for some reason. I don't have any psychological symptoms of PAWS, I had some in acute withdrawal but they disipated afterwards.
I will never drink alcohol again, I drink heineken zeros now no problem but I can't even tolerate 0.5% abv. I reintroduced cannabis with no adverse effects and it helped a little with some other sports related injury pain so I kept using it. I gave kratom a try with no issue but then when I tried codeine it aggrivated my PAWS. I tried ketamine it was fine maybe some slight weirdness of nerves on the comedown which could be accounted for by the rebound glutamate. Did some dxm and dph which was mostly fine two with some weirdness on comedown same as the ketamine.
I have essentially barred myself from doing any stimulants other than extended release caffeine (newcaff), and no sedatives either. I think most opoids would aggrivate my PAWS considering I couldn't tolerate codeine even in small doses, but for some reason kratom was fine. I want more kratom but my country has banned it and I saw a seizure in the news of 2 kg which the idiots evaluated to be worth 60k in street value, so I might go for the alternative like Mytrogyna Javinica and Hirsuta. I am open to most dissasosiatives and psychedics.
Is there anyone out there that has had a similar experience and can tell me which substances they have been able to tolerate? Better yet is there anything that you have found beneficial for your PAWS?

 

[polarthedog]

Kava kava, Andy black seed oil

 

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Kava kava, Andy black seed oil

Do you take these every day? How long have you had PAWS for?

 

[Snafu in the Void]

I have essentially came to the conclusion that some of the nerves in my peripheral nervous system became so used to being sedated that their baseline threshold for excitability was lowered and when I tapered off they remained hyperexcitable for some reason.

It's completely possible. It's also completely possible that it's in your head and you're psyching yourself out.

any major/long term benzo use can semi-permanently alter our brains to be much more sensitive

I will never drink alcohol again, I drink heineken zeros now no problem but I can't even tolerate 0.5% abv. I reintroduced cannabis with no adverse effects and it helped a little with some other sports related injury pain so I kept using it. I gave kratom a try with no issue but then when I tried codeine it aggrivated my PAWS. I tried ketamine it was fine maybe some slight weirdness of nerves on the comedown which could be accounted for by the rebound glutamate. Did some dxm and dph which was mostly fine two with some weirdness on comedown same as the ketamine.
I have essentially barred myself from doing any stimulants other than extended release caffeine (newcaff), and no sedatives either. I think most opoids would aggrivate my PAWS considering I couldn't tolerate codeine even in small doses, but for some reason kratom was fine. I want more kratom but my country has banned it and I saw a seizure in the news of 2 kg which the idiots evaluated to be worth 60k in street value, so I might go for the alternative like Mytrogyna Javinica and Hirsuta. I am open to most dissasosiatives and psychedics.
Is there anyone out there that has had a similar experience and can tell me which substances they have been able to tolerate? Better yet is there anything that you have found beneficial for your PAWS?

first, what do you mean by PAWS? are you saying codeine gave you anxiety? what benzo PAWS are you having?

when you say PAWS, what do you mean in terms of symptoms?

also, just how much benzos did you use? are we talking 2mg of xanax per day for 2 years? or 20mg?

then we can give you the best info

I've abused my own fair share of benzos over 20 years, my brain is still very sensitive, so I can relate

 

[quarter_feature]

It's completely possible. It's also completely possible that it's in your head and you're psyching yourself out.

any major/long term benzo use can semi-permanently alter our brains to be much more sensitive



first, what do you mean by PAWS? are you saying codeine gave you anxiety? what benzo PAWS are you having?

when you say PAWS, what do you mean in terms of symptoms?

also, just how much benzos did you use? are we talking 2mg of xanax per day for 2 years? or 20mg?

then we can give you the best info

I've abused my own fair share of benzos over 20 years, my brain is still very sensitive, so I can relate

When I talk about my PAWS I mean my two symptoms of parasthesia and fasciculation. When I say codeine aggrivated my PAWS I mean that it intensified my parasthesia (nerve pain/ fuckery). I was diagnosed with benzo post acute withdrawal syndrome by a psychiatrist initially when I presented to my doctor 4 weeks after discontinuing benzos and I still was experiencing withdrawal which was parasthesia and fasciculations. He felt that they could be a somatoform related thing brought on by the benzo withdrawal so he treated it as such with SSRI etc. But the parasthesia never went away it would range from subtle irritatiating sensations crawling up the back my head but when it was aggrivated it would be painful.

Went to a neurologist who thought it might be benign fasciculation syndrome initially with maybe some migraine. Got a second opinion for a Professor of Psychiatry in Baltimore university who disagreed with the neurologist and said that I did have benzodiazepine post acute withdrawal syndrome. After I got this second opinion I went back to my general doctor and said I didn't care what it was but that I wanted relief from the insessent nerve sensations. She suggested amitryptaline, gabapentin, or pregablin. I picked amitryptaline.

At the height of my benzo use I was using maybe 1.5 to 2 miligrams of clonazolam a day, but it would be a mix of things. So like 4-6mg etizolam with 1 mg of clonazolam mixed with some beers. All in all the dosages weren't relatively extreme but my use escalated steadily over time from once a week up to everyday. But I could feel towards the end this occipital headache, when I would skip days without benzos the back of my head would hurt really bad. In acute withdrawal this pain turned into burning and then after two weeks became the annoying irritating nerve sensations that I have had from that day onwards.

I am not looking for a cure here. Just looking for some stuff I can recreationally fuck around with once in a blue moon that my somewhat faulty nervous system could tolerate

 

[thelung]

I'm in a similar position and I'm re-discovering the joys of being a pot head!

 

[cdin]

similar position here -- decarbed amanita muscaria contains muscimol, which is a GABA-A agonist (the only one known, turns out, the rest are PAMs) --- I can use it for a day or two, get awesome relaxy feels sorts similar to alcohol, and if anything feel better coming off. I have run it longer and it does have it's own withdrawal after the 5 day mark, but in one off evenings it's fine, and really fun imo. but ya, kava, black seed, weed. Avoid ketamine at all costs.

 

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similar position here -- decarbed amanita muscaria contains muscimol, which is a GABA-A agonist (the only one known, turns out, the rest are PAMs) --- I can use it for a day or two, get awesome relaxy feels sorts similar to alcohol, and if anything feel better coming off. I have run it longer and it does have it's own withdrawal after the 5 day mark, but in one off evenings it's fine, and really fun imo. but ya, kava, black seed, weed. Avoid ketamine at all costs.

Any reason you view ketamine so dangerously? What about other dissasociatives? Wanted to explore dxm more and some others like mxe etc. Is it because the rebound glutamate after the nmda antagonism wears off?

I'll look into the muscimol aminita muscaria is legal to buy in my country

 

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Yea I'm so relieved to be able to enjoy cannabis again, two years was a long ass t break

I'm in a similar position and I'm re-discovering the joys of being a pot head!

 

[quarter_feature]

Do you guys think salvia divinorum would be okay? It works on the kappa opoid receptor rather than through the NMDA receptors

What about something like LSD or mushrooms? I know they bind to certain serotonin receptors but I have read that they can have a lot of indirect action on AMPA receptors. I don't know if this has any implication for benzo kindled folk

 

[cdin]

Any reason you view ketamine so dangerously? What about other dissasociatives? Wanted to explore dxm more and some others like mxe etc. Is it because the rebound glutamate after the nmda antagonism wears off?

I'll look into the muscimol aminita muscaria is legal to buy in my country

All nmda antagonists. The method of action is stopping glutamate release, hence no activation of nmda channels. Just like downregulation of gaba will make ur situation worse, so will upregulation of glutamate sites. I had to learn this the hard way coming off benzos and abusing nmdas —- makes you feel waaaay better when they cut the glut, but the rebound and subsequent nueronal changes utterly fuck you if you abuse it/let it. I had a nasty month after that where I had to have roomies open pill bottles for me I was shaking so badly.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Do you guys think salvia divinorum would be okay? It works on the kappa opoid receptor rather than through the NMDA receptors

I do not recommend it.

I and most people find it to be incredibly dysphoric and overall just a horrible experience every single time. Veryyy weird drug, and very intense. There are some who like it out there... but I have no idea why.

Such a chaotic experience

 

[Fire&Water]

, And black seed oil

Ive seen this reply alot lately ...
Im sure youre aware, but it needs to be kalonji seed (oil) there are some black seed oils sold just to part people with their hard earned $$

Ask for it by name

 

[polarthedog]

Ive seen this reply alot lately ...
Im sure youre aware, but it needs to be kalonji seed (oil) there are some black seed oils sold just to part people with their hard earned $$

Ask for it by name

I was not aware, I'll look into it though, thanks

 

[quarter_feature]

All nmda antagonists. The method of action is stopping glutamate release, hence no activation of nmda channels. Just like downregulation of gaba will make ur situation worse, so will upregulation of glutamate sites. I had to learn this the hard way coming off benzos and abusing nmdas —- makes you feel waaaay better when they cut the glut, but the rebound and subsequent nueronal changes utterly fuck you if you abuse it/let it. I had a nasty month after that where I had to have roomies open pill bottles for me I was shaking so badly.

Have you been able to do any psychedelics since your benzo issie? I remember I did a small dose of mushrooms early in my paws and found it overwhelming which before benzos I would have been able to tolerate bigger doses with ease. Haven't tried them for nearly 2 years now

 

[quarter_feature]

Ive seen this reply alot lately ...
Im sure youre aware, but it needs to be kalonji seed (oil) there are some black seed oils sold just to part people with their hard earned $$

Ask for it by name

Is this supposed to be a supplement or is there any psychoactive effects?

 

[cdin]

Have you been able to do any psychedelics since your benzo issie? I remember I did a small dose of mushrooms early in my paws and found it overwhelming which before benzos I would have been able to tolerate bigger doses with ease. Haven't tried them for nearly 2 years now

Micro dose psilo has been super helpful (2 years out) and I’m starting to feel good enough I’m considering a 120mg mdma dose - if anyone could weight in whether that’s a good idea I’d appreciate. L produces so much glutamate activity im
Still scurt. I’d say I’m about 90% better at this point

 

[Fire&Water]

Is this supposed to be a supplement or is there any psychoactive effects?

... mostly sold as a supplement, yeah
but used for opiate / opioid withdrawal for noticable benefits

Ive seen black seed oil for sale in form of basil, sesame etc ... reason for the caution

 

[quarter_feature]

Micro dose psilo has been super helpful (2 years out) and I’m starting to feel good enough I’m considering a 120mg mdma dose - if anyone could weight in whether that’s a good idea I’d appreciate. L produces so much glutamate activity im
Still scurt. I’d say I’m about 90% better at this point

Do you mean LSD has too much glutamate activity? Have you been able to tolerate ordinary psilocybin doses or only microdoses? Does anyone know of any low glutamate psychedelics?

 

[cdin]

Yes. Hence the jittery stimulation that resolved with ethanol. I have not yet ventured to full doses of anything tho I just got off opes, propranolol etc. and am doing so much better. I’ll be giving a full mdma dose a go soon, I’ll report back. Mushrooms in general have been the most forgiving. A quarter hit of l fucks my life up atm but I eagerly await being healed enough to eat it again. I’ll bet ayahuasca would be very healing as well.