Sleep and Alprazolam advice needed

[cowboyjim]

Hi,

I have sleeping issues for many many years. Tried everything from running (which did help partially at the time) meditation, sleep hygiene and regularity. The brain is alsways racing and much has to do with work/ worries / relationship things etc etc..life

No coffee anymore for a loong loong timeand only certain teas during daytime....compounts included: Melatonine 3mg, Diphenhydramine 50 mg, HTP5 combined with GABA. Ashwaganda, Magnesium/ Calcium/Potassium. Tried Phenibut but not really sure to use this for sleep and with the luring addiction to the alprazolan]m i wonder it it could do the trick at this specific time (1 mg pd)

I tried sleep deprivation, which means like going to bed very late in the hope that would induce affective sleepiness.

In the last like 10 years i had never has constand result, untill i started to use Alprazolam.

Started with 0.5 /5 days per week. Now im using it every day and i feel im getting used to the amount and lie awake a little longer then like a few weeks before. SO started this week to double the dose to 1mg and this worked much better again,like before.

SO tolerance has set in. Oh i have started using this about 4 mnds back, only for sleeping.

Not sure how to handle this situation and hope someone can point me in a good direction medication wise. Im thinking of cycling with valium and then taper. Or just really cycly month alpra and then a month valium again.

I even thought of taking a week sickleave so i could bring the tolerance down and in doing so could keep using the Alprazolam.
I cant handle not sleeping and having to face people (collegues) the next day, i am very weak with a lack of sleep, even a few hours short and i feel like a zombi all day. So for this factor alove the alprazolam is great .. only the tolerance..

Im using these meds off prescription since my doctor wil not give to me and i dont wanto to go that road, yet that is. cycling ideas/ tips and other suggestons welcome.

I dont drink or use weed , no sigarettes or anything else

Any other suggestions very welcome, thanks a lot already guys

Jimmy

 

[Lil'LinaptkSix]

Hello, Jim. Nice to meet ya.
Can we clarify: What is the ultimate goal of this? To be done with benzos for good or to keep tolerance down?
And the phenibut: Is "1mg" 1 gram? Personally I went from daily moderate doses of benzos and replaced them with low dose phen (1/2-1 gram every couple days) and/or kratom.

Edit: I still use benz and opi recreationally and sometimes get caught in the trap... good to know what can help one out of a bind.

 

[DoctorMolecule]

Have you given prescription non benzos a try?

 

[cowboyjim]

Hi PtahTek, the goal for the moment is to keep the tolerance level down from the Alprazolam. I just dont want the level to build up so that i in six months would need a 2mg bar to put me to sleep so now it is the time for me to take some kind of action but dont want to stop completely no.
The idea for Phenibut was 1 gram yes but i have been reading under the 200mg just before sleep showed effective so perhaps i try this first. I usually use it like once a week in the morning if i expect a stressful day (750mg).

In my weekends i take Tramadol 100-200 off and on so.. well i had 20 tabs 100mg still lying around and am on it again since a few weeks ,weekends only .. think about 8 left after yesterday and will not re-order, with the seizure thing and all they are not that harmless to me anymore.

I looked into Ambien to cycle with but the amount of stories of people sleepwalking or doing other crazy stuff while half asleep.

I never heard about prescription non-benzos, will look into this also. Well any other ideas are welcome, thanks guys.

Jim

 

[Keif' Richards]

Hey Cowboyjim! Please allow me to give you a belated welcome to the forums I'm genuinely sorry to hear that you're struggling with this problem. I have a very close friend and also a relative that are experiencing similar issues i.e. Benzodiazepine tolerance/dependence. These drugs are soooo effective. In the Pharma-Nightmare we find ourselves in here in the Western World, it's not common to find a drug that you know on a factual basis, is going to do what the doc said it would. Stimulants/Opioids/Benzodiazepines, have most folks saying: "I don't know, it just works for me, you know?".

The pitfall with Benzodiazepines is dependence/tolerance/withdrawal. Just like Opioids, they work great until they stop working. Dose is escalated and then the escalated dose is no longer effective. Eventually, you are left with a potentially more severe issue than you originally started with. My grandmother shakes in the morning before she takes her 1mg Alprazolam. 4 years ago, she was taking .25mg in the evening and she often claimed she thought it was a little bit too strong (lifetime teetotaler). Take this story to heart OP, because with Benzodiazepines, this is not the exception, this is the rule. If my grandmother actually "knew" what Xanax was, she wouldn't have touched it with a ten-foot pole and for this reason, I will one day be forced to do to her General Practitioner what Longshanks did to William Wallace; midgets and all.

Here is an abstract regarding the guidelines for prescription of Benzodiazepines. This is pretty much seen as "law" among responsible prescribers. It's my belief that prescribers who violate these guidelines knowingly. How could they not know? I'm an English teacher and I've understood the dangers of Benzodiazepine misuse since before I could drive. Unfortunately in the States we live in a society in which medicine is a business akin to buying a car. That sinister effectiveness tends to produce return business for prescribers who are in turn rewarded in various ways by the medical/Pharm establishment at large and the wheel keeps spinning.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7525193

Basically OP, this situation is best addressed as soon as humanly possible. Continuing usage of this escalated dosage is only going to lead to diminished efficacy and increased tolerance. For your own sake, you need to start figuring this out today. Every night you use this higher dosage is digging you a deeper hole. The good news is that you don't necessarily have to foresake Benzodiazepines permanently, but you cannot use them every day for this purpose. It simply will not work out for you. It typically doesn't work out for anyone.

If you are interested, I would encourage you to either post back or send me a private message and we can start to discuss a rational titration schedule that won't lead to extreme discomfort or lifetime dependency. In other words, you must learn to use your drugs in a more strategic fashion, otherwise you will lose their positive benefit permanently and most likely end up like my Grandmother, who I am sad to say is a fucking shell of her former self.

What experience do you have with alternative sleep-aids? Melatonin? Clonidine? Sedative Antihistamines? Cannabis?

 

[cowboyjim]

Keif' Richards, thanks for the welcome but especially your knowledgable words. I am interested in your advice a lot and take your offer to continue this by PM Will msg asap