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How much is this going to suck? (alcohol withdrawal)

Alprazolam could be iv'ed as well.


Alright though, I'm gonna stop debating this. Hopefully someone else will chime in. :|
 
octoparrot said:
Also, do some research on the DT's (dellerium tremens) which are what your shaking is... your not the only one with a problem like this so im sure there;s abundant self-detox info that can SAFELY be conducted outside of a medical facility.

If you live alone, have a friend stay with you man....seriously. If something happens whats next?


Can a 24 year old experience DT's?
 
Mantis28h said:
Can a 24 year old experience DT's?


of course. it all depends on how much and for how long you've been drinking. i had a friend who was an alcoholic, he had DTs after quitting from one year of drinking all day every day. i think he was about 24 when it happened too.
 
phrozen said:
I don't think the half life is why. Its half life is similar to Ativan's, which is commonly used as an anticonvulsant. Especially IV Ativan in a hospital.

Has anyone seen House.. "he's seizing! IV Lorazepam, stat!"

IMO, quit the xannies and keep drinking.
 
phrozen said:
Alprazolam could be iv'ed as well.


Alright though, I'm gonna stop debating this. Hopefully someone else will chime in. :|


i thought there was a separate reason they didn't use it IV though, i know when people go to the hospital and are having a severe anxiety attack they are generally given IV lorazepam, not alprazolam.

anyway, i did a search and alrpazolam definitely has anticonvulsant properties. however, i couldn't find anything directly comparing it to other benzos in that regard though. anyway, i'm not trying to argue, i just want to know the answer because first of all it's very relevant to this guy's question and secondly i have access to both alprazolam and clonazepam and i always assumed both would work about equally well as anticonvulsants assuming that the alprazolam was re-administered quickly enough. if this is not the case, i'd like to know so i can save some clonazepam specifically to use as an anticonvulsant should the need arise.
 
cba said:
Has anyone seen House.. "he's seizing! IV Lorazepam, stat!"

IMO, quit the xannies and keep drinking.


why? that's horrible advice in my opinion. drinking 12-24 beers a day is way more harmful than taking 1.5 mg of xanax a day. drinking that much can kill you in a few years (plus it messes up your life a lot more too, driving, hangovers, blackouts, etc). xanax on the other hand, many people take their entire lives without it killing them. secondly, alcohol doesn't prevent seizures from benzo withdrawal even though benzos prevent seizures from alcohol withdrawal.
 
Why not just ask your doctor for a different benzo? Hell most doctors (smart ones anyway) would rather have you on a longer acting benzo such as clonazepam or diazepam. Or even go for lorazepam thats what they use during emergencies for seizures.
 
I have been through alcohol withdrawal a couple of times so hopefully I can answer a few of your questions.

First of all, your body is already adapted to the presence of the Xanax, so it won't be sufficient to make it an easy ride. Whether or not it will be efficient in stopping seizures, I'm not sure, but I wouldn't count on it, because, like I say, your body is already 'used' to you taking Xanax. Seizures, shaking, DTs occur because you are disrupting your brain's new equilibrium; in short your brain is used to the constant present of alcohol so there is no need for it to produce the chemicals or whatever it is which keeps your nervous system from reaching a state of overexcitation. The same goes for benzos. So take the drugs away and your nervous system disintegrates.

The standard method to deal with this is to replace alcohol with a long acting benzodiazepine. I think diazepam would be your preferred choice. The first day of withdrawal, you take enough to prevent extreme agitation, seizures and hallucinations, then you taper off.

If you have no way of getting any diazepam, perhaps you should seek medical help. It works better than Xanax; because of its long half life it's easy to taper off. However, as others have said, it might impair you against getting benzoss or other drugs in the future if you tell your doctor about this. It's your call. You will definitely need more benzos than you are currently using, otherwise it will be a very rough ride. One option is to tell your doctor you've lost your xanax, then at least you will have more. But then you will have the problem of finishing your script too early, so it's probably best (and safest) just to come clean.

Another safe way to detox is to taper off the alcohol itself. You could try having three beers less each day. This is hard to do, however; it requires a lot of willpower. If you start having hallucinations, then you know you're in trouble and you can call the ambulance, and in the meantime have a couple of shots/beers.

Good luck
 
paranoid android said:
Why not just ask your doctor for a different benzo? Hell most doctors (smart ones anyway) would rather have you on a longer acting benzo such as clonazepam or diazepam. Or even go for lorazepam thats what they use during emergencies for seizures.


that's what i think he should do, but i also think he should ask for a dosage increase because i don't know if having a benzo tolerance means that you need to take more to prevent alcohol withdrawal related seizures, but it makes sense that it would. if he asks his doctor to both switch benzos AND increase the dose, the doctor might want to see him or at least be more suspicious of his motives.

it's a lot easier to call your doctor and say "this xanax isn't working as well anymore, would it be possible for you to increase the dose a bit and see if that works"? but if you ask to switch benzos and increase the dose the doctor will probably say "why don't you see how you react to the new benzo first before increasing the dose".
 
This has turned into a benzo discussion, huh? The only thing i can say about IV Lorazepam is it is very thick and must be mixed prior to IV'ing....thats really it...in MA it's protocol to use either Valium or Ativan for SZ and ROA is IM/IV/SC/IO

To the OP: Have a friend available and ready to call 911 incase something happens. Safety first.
 
Um, isn't possible to die from ETOH withdrawals??? I would seek medical attention or ask your doctor.
 
alcohol with drawl can be pretty bad, my 73 year old grandpa almost died from it. Now he has to stay in a nursing home for while cause he cant walk but he is slowly gaining his strength back.(he is 73 though why he got so bad)
 
If you are going to WD from alcohol and a benzo (not clear, are you already taking the benzo and want to stop from that as well, or have you been prescribed the benzo for withdrawal), you need to be under medical attention.
The risk of seizures is strongly present in your condition and your dosage of Xanax would need to be greatly increased to raise your seizure threshold. Xanax is not the ideal drug for this situation anyway, something more along the lines of librium, heck even phenytoin (dilantin) IV might work.

Seizures are a medical emergency due to risk of respiratory complications and heart arrythmia is common during alcohol withdrawl. You absolutely need to be honest with your MD to get the appropriate care and this will get you thru this experience with as little damage/pain as possible.

Octoparrot: Antabuse, btw, is a drug that makes you quite sick when taken with alcohol and is not meant to be taken with benzo's.

And again BL'rs: When somebody posts about a topic you haven't the slightest clue about don't 1) derail the topic and get a boner for which benzo got you most high and you can confirm it cuz you saw it on house and 2) don't post a single fucking thing if you are making this shit up as you go.
The consistnecy of IV ativan isn't anybodies problem here.
 
Have you considered just tapering off your alcohol usage instead of going cold turkey? I'd imagine this would be a lot easier on your body, mentally it might be a bit more difficult though.
 
The thing about tapering (for an alcoholic) is that after you have a few drinks, you catch a buzz and say to yourself "hey why not one more" a few hours later all your alcohol is gone and you think "well I'll start to taper tomorrow..."

honestly if i was in your situation i'd probably end up just becoming a benzo addict.

I think a 5 day detox would be the easiest way to go. I know most bluelighters aren't fans of rehabs but it's really not that bad. IMO 5 day detoxes are basically the easiest way to deal with the psychical and mental aspects of withdrawals. They'll give you whatever drugs they can to make you feel decent. And since you're confined to the detox facility it makes it nearly impossible to walk down the street and pick up a bottle of beer which IME kills some of the mental aspects of withdrawal (even if it's only for 5 days).

and if you tell the detox you've been taking xanax they probably won't make you go cold turkey from the xanax and alcohol at the same time. So this way you can stay on the benzos without abusing them and hopefully get off the alcohol.

detoxes aren't that bad, it's like a 5 day vacation where you have groups, smoke cigarettes, watch tv and eat hospital food all the while joking and bullshitting with other fuck-ups. It's boring but it is stress free and nice to get away from your routine. it's worth a shot if you seriously want to quit.
 
Yes, please at least let the doctor know what you are doing. Alchohol and benzo withdrawal are horrendous and can be deadly. Please either do a medical detox or at least tell your General Practitioner and tell him what your doing so he can advise you.
 
alcohol almost killed me

All this advice about the use of benzos to ease the pain of the detox is not good. I am glad you are recognizing your problem early and want to stop. I wasn't so lucky....

I am 28 and was a heavy drinker since I was around 20. I started experiencing some problems when I was 27 that I should have read as warning signs to slow down, such as: shakes, decreased appetite, stomach cramps, cold sweats. I never really got hangovers, but I was having those problems on and off for about a year. One day I got very sick, ccnstant puking, and the most incredible intense stomach pain I have ever experienced. I went to the emergency room that night, and by this time I could hardly stay conscious from the pain. The doctor gave me 2mg of dilaudid; that did nothing, he gave me 2 more, nothing, 2 more, nothing, 2 more, nothing.(I have a very high tolerance for pain and drugs) finally he gave me ativan and I passed out. The doctors didn't know what was wrong at first, they suspected an ulcer or kidney stones, they even told my mother that I would probably be discharged. Then the CAT scan results came in.... Necrotized Pancreatitis!! The chief of surgery told my mother that this was the worst case they had ever seen.

*For those of you unfamiliar with the Pancreas, it produces digestive enzymes and hormones, as well as insulin. Pancreatitis produces toxic enzymes that attack major organs like the liver and kidneys eventually causing complete organ failure.
Over 80% of Pancreatitis is alcohol related.*

Now here is the icing on the cake... Aside from the pancreatitis, I began to detox off alcohol! This presented a serious problem for the doctors, because my fever went to 105.7, and started to have seizures. I fell into a coma, my stomach was triple its normal size, and I was dying fast. My family was told that unless I was operated on I would die in less than 72 hours, and because of the severity of the condition coupled with the fever they said my chances of survival were around 10%. Due to such negative odds no doctor was willing to operate; my mother then went to the hospital administrator and pleaded for my life basically and begged them to operate. Finally one surgeon agreed to operate..Dr. IYER.. I'll never forget that name. With the odds at less than 10% he saved my life.

Two months later I woke up from the coma with no idea what happened, the last thing I remembered was being in the ER screaming at the doctor for more pain meds. All my family from all over the country were in the room; I had a beard. (That freaked me out the most) I couldn't talk because they had to put a trach tube in my throat; I tried writing on a pad but nothing made sense because I had to regain my motor functions; I lost over 60 pounds; My hair fell out because of all the antibiotics; and obviously I was in severe pain because of the surgery obviously.

Its been six months since I'm home from the hospital(I was like a celebrity there "The miracle kid) and now I feel like I'm starting my life all over again. I have to completely change careers,(I was a consultant to new restaurants designing beverage programs and training bartenders; I created original cocktail recipes for moet hennessy's marketing firm.

I know it was a long story, but to anyone out there that is a heavy drinker and mixes pills every once and a while, eventually it will catch up to you. When you start feeling things changing with your body DO NOT IGNORE the symptoms!!!
I kept blowing it off and it almost killed me.

I've been around the block with just about everything and am more than willing to help anyone out in any way I can with advice or just an opinion.

"Either get busy living or get busy dying"
 
^ That reminds me of what happened to myself around Halloween last year. My doctor later told me that I she wouldn't have bet $10 dollars that I would have lived and even if I did, I would be on dialysis and get a liver transplant. I overdosed and went a few minutes without oxygen to my body, I was in cardiac and respiratory arrest by the time I got into the hospital. I remember waking up just like you described from the coma, except it was only for two days and trying to talk but I had that tube down my throat and I had to write on a dry erase board. The first thing I asked was if I was dying and when my family read it, they just started to cry hysterically. I'm only 18 by the way. There is a lot more to that story, I just don't feel like typing it all out, nor thinking about it. I think about it all the fucking time though and that was just over 8 months ago.
 
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