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Weed during benzo withdrawal

SuperPump250

SuperPump250

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Nov 16, 2009
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Done some research online about this but can't seem to get enough info to help my decision.

Anyways, I am going through benzo withdrawal. I am in the very later stages and it no longer seems to affect my mood, I just have some small head pressure and bbrain zaps. I will also note that I never went through full on withdrawal, as I only took Klonopin 1-2 times a week for about a 1 year period.

My question is not as general as to should you do weed or not during benzo withdrawal, I am just wondering if weed will actually delay what changes are still going on in my brain? Like I said, when I smoke, it doesn't have a negative action on me in any way. Needless to say, smoking seems fine for me from what I can see. I just want to know though if it is prolonging my last bit of benzo recovery in any way.
 
I went through terrible high dose Xanax wd I'd say 12 mg or more for about 6 months and did a rapid detox over 2-3 weeks to avoid seizures but have smoked only high grade medical indica or indica hybrids everyday for years and probly always will. My point is that it made my wd almost painless with the benzos. Especially with the zaps. Get some quality bud or hash and even if you only take one hit you will find it to relieve many symptoms. I'd stay away from strains that make you anxious however including unhealthy mids and seedy buds as it is likely to have other compounds which may cause adverse undesirable effects. You can never go wrong in adding some good ol bud in your diet:)
 
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^ no SWIMming in here please, we don't use SWIM on BL. Please edit your post to the first person pronoun "I" starting it off.


OP, Have you smoked during benzo withdrawal at all? You say you are "at the late end of it." Also, Klonopin that infrequently probably isn't going to cause the hell that daily benzo takers can/will go through. For these reasons, I'd think smoking during withdrawal is fine, but it depends how you tend to get when you smoke. If you tend to get sort of anxious or paranoid after taking a large weed break, I can see that being an un-fun situation, but otherwise I've read a lot around BL about weed being a godsend for well, seemingly most withdrawals.
 
purple_cloud said:
OP, Have you smoked during benzo withdrawal at all? You say you are "at the late end of it." Also, Klonopin that infrequently probably isn't going to cause the hell that daily benzo takers can/will go through.
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Yes I have smoked actually numerous times without any problems. Everything seems fine when I smoke and I am not worried about bad interactions at all, because everything has been fine so far. I did take Klonopin only 1-2 times per week, so as you guessed my withdrawals are not as bad in comparison to somebody who would have taken Klonopin every day. I was not expecting any withdrawals as the general assumption online is you can take Kpin once a week and be safe, so let my situation be an example for those once a week benzo users who could be getting into trouble.

Back to the topic.

I just wanted to know if weed would delay/prolong benzo withdrawal at all?

Drinking alcohol works with the same part of the brain as benzos, and drinking delays your withdrawal. Weed does not slow this process down as it works on a different part of the brain than alcohol/benzos?
 
^ I left your thread open since I felt your situation was unique, I was just giving you my input into the situation. I didn't expect to get super sick the day after stopping 2 months of straight opiate use and some abuse too (i had hurt my back but it went a bit beyond that) so I hear what you're saying. I might not be a chemist but I believe weed does work in a different way within the brain, so I don't think smoking pot would prolong it physically really. Providing the anxiety and paranoia don't happen, I don't see much wrong with, especially since your mild one is probably beginning to pass by then, weed will help with the symptoms to some degree but not take away the brain tightness/etc so I don't really think unless you were aiming for off all drugs that pot use would interfere with your stopping benzos.
 
Well thanks, you know weed actually does give me anxiety/paranoia from time to time, but it has been like this since the first time I ever smoked. I take 1-2 hits when I'm just chilling out usually at home, was never a heavy or frequent smoker. Also here is a real good site that goes over drug interactions during benzo withdrawal if you or anybody wants to check it out.

Of course on here they do list Cannabis, but the author wrote this with the assumption people are going through full on withdrawal.

http://www.bcnc.org.uk/drugs.html
 
Weed really, really helped me, and I get anxiety from it sometimes too. Mine was after around 3-4 weeks of 0.5 - 1mg alprazolam per day, I stopped all at once and had withdrawal for about 4-5 weeks. Tolerance builds really fast with alprazolam so the addiction was actually pretty intense at that point. I would have the worst headache imaginable and smoking a bit would make it much more bearable. I would still feel a tiny bit uncomfortable, but it was much more bearable. I think it is very good for this purpose.
 
Smoking may help, it certainly was a savior for oxymorphone withdrawals. Smoking won't prolong your w/ds unless getting high sucks for you. If you like getting high, it pretty much works the same way.

Also, the amount you say you take... well i doubt you really are going through any w/ds besides a desire to use them or nervousness over quitting entirely. 1-2 a week isn't much of a habit, so you shouldn't really need to be relying on another drug for getting off benzos... that said, if you like smoking bud, go for it, w/ds or not :p
 
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Have you tried some Valerian Root extract? I believe it also works on the GABA receptors?
 
valerian root sure does but certainly doesn't feel like a benzo. If smoking marijuana makes you feel fine then go ahead and do it; I dont think anything in marijuana will actually affect gaba and you didn't abuse benzos so if you're worried smoke indica strains as mentioned above. I find sativas make me anxious and paranoid badly during benzo withdrawal but YMMV; I've been smoking JWH-250 and as long as I don't over do it (tapering off benzos now) I won't panic or anything but if i smoke a strong sativa I'll be paranoid and feel too high. I've also smoked marijuana/jwh/others daily for 7 years with few breaks in between so I probably have a decent tolerance which I think plays a big role in causing anxiety. (less tolerance = more anxiety)
 
depends on the herb, like the fellah said , indica . sativa would cause my brain to sketch if i was out in public or something, i'd still sketch if i was at home, but at least id have my couch,

i'd take hash over weed if i was going thru benzo w/d's or feeling shitty cuz i woke up in the middle of the night and was on a taper schedule

hash has more of that mellow benzo like high for me anyway
 
IT couldnt hurt...
Im not sure on this but it seems like i read that weed has anti-convulsant properties
 
I have used cannabis throughout withdrawal from benzos, and it has been invaluable to me. In the early stages of withdrawal it helped me get to sleep, although I think it did make my anxiety worse at times -- its a trade-off. Now I'm 9 months out from stopping benzos, and I still have some symptoms! 8( Nowadays I mostly have muscular symptoms, such as spasms and fasciculations -- and I find that cannabis can ease those symptoms in low doses but it can also exacerbate them in high doses.

Cannabis should not prolong your benzo withdrawal, however alcohol certainly will (just FYI) -- I think I have prolonged my benzo withdrawal considerably due to the fact that I've been unable to stop drinking for more than about 3 weeks at a time.
 
SuperPump250 said:
Also here is a real good site that goes over drug interactions during benzo withdrawal if you or anybody wants to check it out.

Of course on here they do list Cannabis, but the author wrote this with the assumption people are going through full on withdrawal.

http://www.bcnc.org.uk/drugs.html
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That's a good link...and in the case of benzos, the "full on" withdrawal carries the higher risk of seizures than the dose you're coming off of. I think that's a big physical difference, since I doubt people who aren't daily users for an extended period of time would have that severe of a reaction.

Chainer said:
Also, the amount you say you take... well i doubt you really are going through any w/ds besides a desire to use them or nervousness over quitting entirely. 1-2 a week isn't much of a habit, so you shouldn't really need to be relying on another drug for getting off benzos... that said, if you like smoking bud, go for it, w/ds or not :p
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I agree with Chainer here, if you're the type of person who loves pot (even if you use it infrequently) go for it. I think we've all agreed that it won't prolong it, but it would be interesting to hear about people's experiences with cannabis during benzo w/d. I'm gonna tweak the title a bit, actually.
 
Cannabis isn't exactly known for being contraindicated with other drugs. I think it could help with withdrawal from any drug, especially benzos.
 
it makes some symptoms better, and other worst. i guess it's a personal choise
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine_withdrawal_syndrome

I've been going through some slightly bothering withdrawals myself lately, so have been doing a lot of research..

THC does inhibit GABA release, which would cause some withdrawal effects to possibly become more pronounced such as (what has seemed to be for me) more pronounced visual and/or auditory hallucinations, and more perceptual changes..

On the flip side, THC also inhibits glutamate release. Benzo. withdrawal causes a very large, excess amount of glutamate to be synthesized and released to compensate for the downregulation of GABA receptors and their transmission.. which is largely implicated in benzo withdrawal's symptoms, and also seems to correlate with a failure for many users to indefinitely break their addiction. Since THC can inhibit the excess glutamate release, this should in theory, relieve a majority of the physical symptoms such as spasms, twitches, shock sensations, oxidative stress, neurotoxicity, and soforth..

All in all, i would say cannabis is definitely worth the few extra side effects that you could potentially gain or heighten.
 
I was on 2mg Xanax/day for about 10 years. Occasionally Diazepam, Lorazepam and Temazepam. Started smoking weed daily in January 2010 and was able to quit Benzo's cold turkey (although that was not the intent).

Tom
 
Is anyone still looking at this? Does anyone know how to find some recent information on this topic? Thanks.
 
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