Benzos The Benzodiazepine MEGA THREAD - Direct Benzo Questions Here

[Pegasus]

Ive had an odd experience, yesterday whilst with a nasty hangover i took 40mg of valium over the day felt great, no anxiety and the hangover dissappeared, ended up going to bed at my usual time (2/3am atm) fell asleep easy , but woke up 4 hours later, and almost felt like a panic attack was coming on, was shakey as hell and my heart was pounding, had to take 20mg more valium to calm me down and got back to sleep for another 2 hours, but still today i feel uneasy for some reason.

With valium lasting so long im not sure how this could happen i wasnt planning on taking anymore for a while as i never want to be dependent on them again (was hell to come off), so ive got 60mg of diazepam in my system but still feel uneasy/anxious, weird. Maybe i just need to get out and do something to take my mind off it all.

You have to remember that benzos are notorious for causing rebound anxiety, and this can occur well before the drugs with long half-lifes are eliminated from the system. More importantly however (IMO), benzos are known to cause paradoxical reactions, often exacerbating depression and thus increasing anxiety. A good portrait of this effect is the incidence of suicide in benzo users.

My advice is to be careful with your mental state... You don't want to have to discover just how fragile it can be. Using benzos regularly, especially in large doses, definitely can and often does have serious negative impacts on mental health.

 

[bignbrown]

i figured that out last year when i was on them daily for 9-10 months :/, was just shocked that i only got 4 hours sleep from valium and woke up with rebound anxiety, ive been fine the rest of the day though.

I know half life and duration of actual effect is different, the diazepam effects seem to wear off after a few hours, then its metoblites just linger but they are not potent enough to cause any effect really, just stop withdrawal kicking in as fast.

Oh well, im glad ive got my usage under control, locked the rest up for another time.

 

[waketheeffup]

You don't "have to" taper off of Xanax, especially if you don't abuse it.

i dont take xanax, i take lorazepam, and have only done so for about 8 weeks. I had to taper off of it because the day i just had no desire to/forgot to take it i went to get food and as i was walking to my car i started to feel dizzy to the point where i could hardly walk, my head hurt, i started to panic and basically got into fight or flight mode like a wounded dog or something. Never felt like that before. Thats a low dose with a relatively low time on the drug

(i was only on 1.5mg a day TOTAL, minus a few occasions where i had panic attacks or wanted to come down from drugs and took a LITTLE more (never exceeding 3mg a day, EVER, and 3mg days were literally the days i took LSD or E, so, a handful of times at most)

 

[waketheeffup]

^ It may not be too fast now, it's when you get to the really low doses that you feel the drop in dosage more.

I just went from 1mg to .5mg, and that is halving the dose at this point. It's not too bad though, I find 3 weeks to be ideal at this point, and dropping by .5 once you get to 2mgs.

I did start to sweat a lot today, and I am not sure if it is from the lower dose of valium, or if I am legit sick. Anyone else experience sweating, along with loss of appetite from lowered dose of benzos?

sweating and constant headaches here and im on .5 lorazepam in AM and before bed stage of taper at the moment (which was my first lowering of doseage)

 

[waketheeffup]

basically if you take benzos on an "as needed" basis (ie when you have a panic attack or anxiety attack) and that "as needed" basis remains ONCE IN AWHILE you'll probably never have WD symptoms, but if you take it daily for more than 4 weeks (sometimes as short as one week according to the warnings on the Rx itself) you can experience WD.

Taper is always recommended with daily dosers, as by the 5th day of cold turkey you can experience seizure and/or death. If you taper off, you experience relatively no side effects or toned down versions of the side effects

For me, i get mildly anxious, a little down, my head hurts, sometimes sweaty, and i get a little irritable. If i take my before bed dose earlier than a little before bed, i cant fall asleep. Mild symptoms thank god

 

[Cyc]

So after almost 2yrs of taking ~1mg of valium a day, I came off it last week. I'm 12 days without diazepam and I notice little difference. I doubt I will take them any more, except as needed.

 

[Pegasus]

^1mg? Typo, or are you exceptionally sensitive? (I'm really curious)

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Ive had an odd experience, yesterday whilst with a nasty hangover i took 40mg of valium over the day felt great, no anxiety and the hangover dissappeared, ended up going to bed at my usual time (2/3am atm) fell asleep easy , but woke up 4 hours later, and almost felt like a panic attack was coming on, was shakey as hell and my heart was pounding, had to take 20mg more valium to calm me down and got back to sleep for another 2 hours, but still today i feel uneasy for some reason.

With valium lasting so long im not sure how this could happen i wasnt planning on taking anymore for a while as i never want to be dependent on them again (was hell to come off), so ive got 60mg of diazepam in my system but still feel uneasy/anxious, weird. Maybe i just need to get out and do something to take my mind off it all.

40mg is a large dosage. How long were you drinking for? Just the one night? Or a long time?

 

[bignbrown]

40mg is a large dosage. How long were you drinking for? Just the one night? Or a long time?

40mg = 2mg clonaz or xanax, with some tolerance thats not really a large dose, valium is pretty weak ime.

Ive had slight problems with drink the past year but thats slightly more under control now (still my hangovers consist of major rebound anxiety and shakes etc even after large breaks), and have had previous benzo addiction for 9-10 months last year (with taper), i guess my gaba receptors are just f**ked

 

[Captain.Heroin]

That would be my assessment of the situation, yes.

You could do another mini-taper off of the 40mg dosage by going 20mg, 10mg, 5mg, 2mg, etc. - if you need to.

My GABA receptors are in a bit better state as I can use benzos in a large dosage and feel normal afterwards, albeit a bit messed up.

The only time I have done this was not my own will but due to surgery though.

 

[hellomotto]

i have been taking ativan for several months, recently i switched to a longer lasting benzo. Kpins make me irritated and i get mean....Xanax IR usually makes me feel full of life (3-4mg). Today i switched to the Xanax XR, i think if you are all trying to void the XR part...then you shouldnt get XR...lol. BUT- Parachute (Crush up a pill, seperate a single tissue or Toilet paper [less paper to swallow] and just fold up the crushed pill). The XR will always be a little weaker. however parachuting seems to just make you feel it a bit quicker...NOT stronger... Also new technology in some of the new pills do have that "gelling" effect. It will prevent the effects of snorting pills. This is my insight. Ill let you know how it effects me after i experiment a lil more with it.

The price for 60 Xanax 1mg XR is 172.50 in MA, insurance can bring it down to around 10.00.
The price for 60 Ativan 1mg is 57.15 in MA, insurance can bring it down to around 10.00.
The price for 30 Kpin 1mg is 29.65 in MA, insurance can bring it down to around 15.00.

*prices are what i personally had to pay. insurance varies.

 

[gomorrah]

parachute, the best.

 

[bignbrown]

i took 40mg tonight with alot of white GFJ, barely any effect.

i have 60mg to last me a week til a docs appointment where im hoping to get a lyrica script, just im worried as hell im gonna start withdrawing in the week.

If i go and they chuck another ssri or some shit at me, i will kill myself walking right out the doctors surgery.

 

[Peels]

I had a script of 30 0.5 mg Xanax XR. Swallowing them seemed to have little effect on me, even in doses such as 2.0 mg (no noticeable "high" or even relaxation). Chewing these causes them to gel up and get caught in between my teeth, prolonging the disgusting Xanax taste, and also seems to do nothing to break the time release. Of course, snorting any benzo is always a waste (low BA nasally). I never did try parachuting, but it would seem that 'chuting is the way to go for these pills.

 

[Mudvayne]

so i have a tolerance related question..
i've been taking benzos on and off for about 4 years now, never been dependent
the first (and lowest dose i've ever taken) was 4 mgs of xanax
now, throughout the years my tolerance has raised to about 12 mgs of xanax to catch a buzz without a blackout, or 20+ mg clonaz and 160+ mg diazepam just to get a buzz

now, even if i go 2-6 months between dosing (when i dose i dose 3/4 days a week untill i run out and stop my binge) my tolerance seems to have never dropped

from what i've read on here even 4 mgs is a decent tolerance.. do you think my tolerance is so fucked considering that's the lowest dose that's ever entered my body causing it to obviously become rapidly more tolerance to the benzos?
will i ever be able to enjoy 4 mgs of xanax or a smaller dose of clonaz/diazepam again and be able to even get relief and maybe be able to catch any sort of buzz?

 

[TheLostBoys]

Ive tried Valium, Xanax & Ativan & I prefer Ativan. Thank goodness I dont like benzos as much as others do. The most ive ever taken them was every day for 1 week & then I stopped w/o any effect. Never liked them that much to keep doing them. They are great for anxiety tho but just take them once in a long while or when I wanna put a twist in my Norco dose.

 

[crystalserenity]

Guess ill chime in here. I quit using opiates w/sub mnt.about 2 months ago. I have for years used temazepam at night to sleep as I am a severe insomniac. I also actually take imiprimine (trycyclic) at night to help w/sleep as well. This has worked well but now I am coming to rely on ativan to help w/ the severe anxiety I have been experiencing w/subs during the day. Not to mention the depression. I'm not really asking a question, just puttin it in writing that I need to chill. Will work on it. Thanx for listening...CS

 

[poppyplanet]

I like certain benzos better than others. If I'm having a panic attack, xanax usually does the trick and then some. I've been on klonopin for a few years now, and although I do like it and it does work, it's starting to make me a miserable person when I'm on it.

 

[mrflowers00]

grapefruit juice does help the benzos work stonger but i don't think it's worth drinking the fowl stuff

 

[BananasAndOranges]

I agree with above poster. Grapefruit juice will make you FEEL more sedated really if anything. nothing else. I DONT think its always a fresh organic grapefruit either. shit dole juice works. the ruby red. I took gf juice from real grapefruits white and red when I started methadone to help and it did work but its not much of a different in effects in terms of benzo conservation. if you feel like shit get yo self to a doctor. i myself am fed up and am very confused. Why is diazepam making my appetite feel gross. I think i must be allergic. it happened towards the end of my diazepam script a year ago then I went to klonopin and that was a nightmare. Xanax is the only Benzo that will not mess up my appetite and let me eat. I seriously almost got sick earlier just tasting the drool diazepam after effects. FUCK THAT SHIT!!!! then again it could just be my methadone taper . I keep sweating. ughhhhh