Hi all. I feel the urge to chime in with my etizolam experience - namely side effects. If this has already been discussed, my apologies. I've been not-so-active for a few months.
I started taking eitzolam in the fall of last year. After about 2 months of near-daily use, I started developing IBS/Crohn's symptoms. These included: daily watery poo accompanied by severe stomach and lower-intestinal pain, weakness, fatigue, and weight-loss (obviously). The most prominent symptom was daily stomach/lower intestinal pain. It was a colicky pain with stomach distension. It started off as a few-times-a-week thing, then an every-day thing. The only variable that changed during that time was my consumption of etizolam.
I first attributed it to stress, or perhaps a newly-developed food allergy (as I'm in my 20's, when many food allergies develop). The realization that the etiz was causing my symptoms was when I decided to cut back, for fear of going through benzo-withdrawal (I was up to 4-5 mg daily) and tapered off the stuff. My then-boyfriend had some left, and I would occasionally take 0.5 or 1 mg on nights I couldn't sleep. Any evening that I took etizolam, the following mornings were greeted by the return of my IBS-like symptoms.
I am guessing it has something to do with the thieno-group or perhaps a filling/binding agent present in etiz manufactured from India that is not used in the US. Regardless, if you start experiencing these symptoms I suggest stopping the etizolam. After months of these symptoms, thinking it was one food allergy or another, I was gaunt, week, had sunken-in eyes, and was in terrible pain for the better part of my mornings.
I would also be very interested in knowing if anyone has experienced, or heard of someone else experiencing, this side-effect.