Benzos how long does it take to get addicted to benzos?

[Bliss26]

Who the F gets addicted to benzos after less than a week at non-daily use???

 

[limonov]

Who the F gets addicted to benzos after less than a week at non-daily use???

People who consider 'Rebound Anxiety' to be 'Withdrawal'.

A Hangover is not Withdrawal, the DT are withdrawal- not being able to sleep well/being anxious for a week or so after stopping benzos for a few months is to be expected. It's not true withdrawal- take benzos for over 6-9 months you'll feel like shit for minimum a month or two.

I'm not tryng to downplay anything, but the addictiveness of benzos is incredibly overstated on this site. They ARE addictive, it just takes quite a long time- I'm taking minimum half a year.

I get the feeling that what a lot of people are experiencing is unbearable rebound anxiety (as it's worse than their baseline anxiety) resulting in a psychological dependency that leads to a physical dependency.

 

[pinpoint]

People who consider 'Rebound Anxiety' to be 'Withdrawal'.

A Hangover is not Withdrawal, the DT are withdrawal- not being able to sleep well/being anxious for a week or so after stopping benzos for a few months is to be expected. It's not true withdrawal- take benzos for over 6-9 months you'll feel like shit for minimum a month or two.

I'm not tryng to downplay anything, but the addictiveness of benzos is incredibly overstated on this site. They ARE addictive, it just takes quite a long time- I'm taking minimum half a year.

I get the feeling that what a lot of people are experiencing is unbearable rebound anxiety (as it's worse than their baseline anxiety) resulting in a psychological dependency that leads to a physical dependency.

So then, in your opinion, when does a hangover, or rebound anxiety cross over in to actual withdrawal syndrome?

I can't say I've had true benzo withdrawals whereas with opiates it's very obvious you are experiencing withdrawal.

 

[keeping]

its subjective, could be as little as three weeks of heavy daily use; to quote the great William S Burroughs (who is talking about heroin, but nonetheless),

“The question is frequently asked: Why does a man become a drug addict?
The answer is that he usually does not intend to become an addict. You don’t wake up one morning and decide to be a drug addict. It takes at least three months’ shooting twice a day to get any habit at all. And you don’t really know what junk sickness is until you have had several habits. It took me almost six months to get my first habit, and then the withdrawal symptoms were mild. I think it no exaggeration to say it takes about a year and several hundred injections to make an addict.
The questions, of course, could be asked: Why did you ever try narcotics? Why did you continue using it long enough to become an addict? You become a narcotics addict because you do not have strong motivations in the other direction. Junk wins by default. I tried it as a matter of curiosity. I drifted along taking shots when I could score. I ended up hooked. Most addicts I have talked to report a similar experience. They did not start using drugs for any reason they can remember. They just drifted along until they got hooked. If you have never been addicted, you can have no clear idea what it means to need junk with the addict’s special need. You don’t decide to be an addict. One morning you wake up sick and you’re an addict. "

 

[iDab420]

Very quickly! I did lorazepam for 2 weeks multiple doses a day and i dont remember shit from then, its like i fell of the planet. Afterwards i had some of the worst withdrawals ive experienced and i did not want to eat and i threw up everytime i took a sip of water. Still worth it tho.

 

[pbuilder]

Is say you start getting into big trouble with benzo addiction when you use 2mg Xanax / 20mg Valium or more every day for longer then a month .

 

[JimRaynor]

I was taken by surprise by my first benzo withdrawal. I had used benzos on and off for almost a full year without feeling any kind of withdrawal or addiciton. I seldom used several days in a row. And now and then took week long breaks in my usage.

Then there was this time when I got my hands on 50 x 1 mg Xanax pills. Two weeks later I suddenly noticed that I had run out. Without even realizing it had I taken the pills everyday.

At that time I didn't think it was such a big deal. But oh boy was I wrong. It was not even until day 2 or 3 when I had hallucinations that I realized it was benzo WD I was experiencing.

So it takes 2 weeks of continuous alprazolam use for me to get physically addicted to benzos. That is something that i wish I never would have had to find out.

 

[Opiatessuckk]

Subdetox.. I totally feel your pain man i had to kick an iv sub habit (long story) and heroin use in between and went to detox at a 28 day program. It seems that sub wd lasts so much longer and takes a lot more energy from you than other opiates. I bought kpins .5 mg about 20 off the street to kick the heroin habit i picked up after rehab cus i hated sub wd so much(2 weeks still wd) but basically what im saying is.. An opiate detox should be allowed the use of benzos because it helps soo much... Ativan not so much. Valium is the best because it has the longer half life. Anyways to answer your question, from experience the only symptom u might notice ( try not to think about it and u may not feel any wd) is elevated anxiety for a few days. My suggestion is u dont need benzos for wd even from subs after 2 weeks. I would stop at 2 weeks and u should be totally free from all drugs without the worry of dependency. Also remember dependency widely varies with drugs but 2 weeks.. I wouldnt sweat it. Good luck bud. Oh and im happily clean and sober now and i feel awesome so u can do it man.. Im such a bitch with wd and i still made it out

 

[speedballs_over]

I have to agree that for some people, some benzos do not lose efficacy after even after long term, daily use. I was actually able to reduce my benzo use from a prescribed 4-mg down to 2.0-mg clonazepam on my own over about a four month period about a year ago. I had to go back to 3.0-mg b/c of re-emergence of symptoms.

We could debate all day if it was w/d or re-emergence, I'm going with re-emergence, b/c the symptoms were the exact symptoms that I was put on clonazepam to assist with about a decade ago. For example, I had no insomnia on lowering dose, though had very intense but specific symptoms of my anxiety all of which came back and no new ones were noted.

I regret ever allowing my physicians to prescribe me benzos long term, scoring them mystify for years b/f that, and for swalloing every one of them. SSRIs/even newer versions (SNRIs/SSRIs) still at my age (mid-40s) cause me as many problems, if not more, then b/f I ever saw a therapist, GP physician or dope dealer for help with my anxiety. So I refuse to take those. I want off all dependency forming substances ASAP (likely a couple of years min.) I won't take GABA drugs (lyrica, gabapentin), I do not drink... So I have a few things not going against me.

I do believe clonazepam, if maybe the one of the many, is a benzo that does not lose its anti-anxiety (GAD / Agoriphobia) properties over even long periods of time (10 years).

I really want to get completely off benzos, but genuinely I am scared to hell to go through the pain everyone describes. It's sounds so much worse than my original disorders (which I still present with at enough intensity to be prescribed a small clonazepam dose or Xanax prn, i.e. a new psych would very likely agree I "need it".)

I'm a fucking mess without them, having tapered and gotten through PAWs once in this ten years (2007), only to go back on b/c my life was severely impacted by the agoraphobia and GAD- but no other symptoms people describe as PAWs, just my original issues.

I believe I can get off them now or never b/c I've done years of CBT while on clonazepam, and if that therapy worked, as I feel it has, then I should be able to handle my new baseline anxiety issues much better than when I began self-medicating.

Anyway... My fears are very real, the OP is in a great position to not become like myself. So, listen time the above. Consider my predicament vs. what you were prescribed for and spread the news, benzos are boring, dangerous acutely when combined with other depressants and chronically alone.

If I had a god, I'd be praying every day to ease my taper fears, and to guard my mind against what hopefully isn't inevitable insanity. OP you have very, very little of any of this too worry about, I sort of hijacked your thread with my personal b.s.

Talk to your doc if you're concerned, you could taper a quick bit, probably not a bad idea unless you've ever enjoyed the benzo beyond that it treated your diagnosed disorder - if you felt "good, too good, really", fucking RUN!

 

[tricomb]

Yeah for me, alprazolam has not lost it's efficicacy for anxiety, PTSD, or Panic disorder and I've taken it for more than 10 years. I'm not dependent on it anymore thank god (I'm dependent on clonazepam but I only take it so I don't go into WD, 2-3mg a day, it don't notice it benefiting any of my symptoms though), but I do take alprazolam PRN, like when I have to fly.

 

[downlow25]

Here is the answer I have learned from medical papers... It takes a minimum of 4 weeks of daily use at 2mg a day to have a 50% chance of being addicted. Normally it takes 6-8 weeks of DAILY use at 2mg to get a 90% chance. At lower doses it may take a week or two longer. 70% of people may become addicted to Benzo's, while 30% have an immunity to it, my father is one of them, he stopped cold turkey after 2 years of 1-2mg Lorazepam with no issues at all. Before he used to take 10 Diazepam at one dose every day for a long peroid of time, again he walked away without issue. That being said, the 70% (majority) who become addicted face the WORST addiction known to man, some say worse than cold turkey high dose Methadone, which can cause seizures that may cause death, opiate withdrawal like symptoms, and extreme depression which may lead to suicide. The prognosis is bad, as it takes a minimum of 2 months up to 18 months to get back to your old self. Quitting them cold turkey can cause death in some circumstances. Doctors are ethically bound (doesn't mean much to doc's nowadays and they may reject your pleas for help) not to cut you off, and must provide a taper using longer half-life benzos, which is almost always Diazepam (Valium), but Clonazpem also has a long half life and is more enjoyable, so doc's may allow Clonaz, but most will only allow Valium. They will find the equivalent dose (which I don't know how they are going to do as every medical site with benzo equivalence has different values, some say 5mg Valium is 0.5 Clonaz/Alpraz [Xanax], while others will say 10MG Valium is 0.5. Then some will say that 0.5 Clonaz is 1 Alpraz (which is BS, they are the same value) and so on, every conversion table is off from the others.

The BEST thing to do, is to STOP taking them immediately if your under 14 weeks (make sure you have some in reserve in case you get "dope sick"). If you have taken them longer you can try and see if your the lucky 30%, look up the half-life your Benzo and wait till it is done + 3 days, if you skate through that you are out and should stop forever, and never take them again, just because you are the lucky 30% doesn't mean that at some other point you won't join the 70%. Always keep some in case you get ill, try and wait as long as possible before taking your emergency dose. If you begin to shake violently, have extreme depression, massive anxiety and possibly seizures you should take your usual dose +50% to get unsick, seek a doctor, explain your dilemma and get a Clonaz Taper, don't settle for Valium unless your doc won't budge. Make sure you have a few of your old Benzo's left over in the likely event doc gives you a dose that isn't sufficient, then tell him about it and have him raise your dose (he has to ethically if you still get sick). Doctors that don't play ball on this are liable for lawsuits, they are morally required to help Benzo withdrawal, one of only a small handful they are, the other being Barbiturates which are no longer sold outside of Fiorinols.

 

[DETROIT*edm*JUNKIE]

benzo withdrawal sucks dude. iv had h withdrawals and iv had benzo withdrawals.. try coming off a 20mg of etizolam and 10mg of clonazloam a day habit.... You will divulge into a living nightmare for the next several months. Dope withdrawals is your just sick as fuck for a few days than ur good. Living nightmare is 100000x worse than feeling sick as fuck for a few days.. trust me. ditch benzos while u still can. they have me stuck.

 

[DETROIT*edm*JUNKIE]

Do not listen to anybody telling you to quit cold turkey, you need something like phenobarbital to help you taper slowly. Go to a rehab facility if you cant taper on your own.

 

[pamelacorey]

I was taken off of my xanax after 18 years. I reinstated them after a year I lost my memory everything I am getting it back but being off of them 1 year really caused damage. I am 56 years old and in a nursing home no help with reinstalled. Need help

 

[pamelacorey]

They did it cold turkey without my knowledge

 

[I B Profane]

Interesting question. I suppose people can become somewhat psychologically addicted after trying it even a few times, if they suffer from anxiety and are prone to addictive behaviors.

With regards to physical addiction, I'd say it takes about 2 months of every day use to become physically dependent...the dosage is a big factor here too, of course.

 

[Mracid]

The only way I can feel benzodiazepines is by using from 120 to 250mg of oxazepam/flurazepam as they are nearly euqidosed compounds and that is true since the beginning even tho I think I have a mild tolerance. Sure the Flurazepam has a LONG half life, 5 days but I get them for the month and got rid of them after a week or two since I get 30 30mg a month. And I get only 30 15mg oxazepam a month so I get rid of them more quickly.(I dont mix both since the day I get my flurazepam I have no oxazepam left and the opposite also true)
Back to my benzo use. Never used more than 3 days in a row and only use it on 1/4th of the days in a month.

The reason I have so low oxazepam is that I am tappering them down since my psych doesnt want me on the only thing that worked and wants to try his own way of curing my anxiety (yay for swiching from pedopsychiatry to psychiatry).He counts on antidepressant which to me is unbareable. I told him how they turn me into a dangerous person with hard time controling impusive violent behaviour while I am a negociator normally, I also told Him it was increasing my muscle spasms and general discomfort along with killing my apetite and causing digestive problems. When I told him about impulsive violence he said and I quote, if you did not do anything then its all in your head. Crazy dude.

 

[tightlywound]

you know, its funny that ive never seen any medical data confirming how long it takes to become physically addicted to something. all i can tell you is what i learned from reading burroughs:

it takes 1 month of using heroin everyday to become addicted. i apply this to benzos as well. i think 1 month of daily use is a fair figure.

just saying I was physically dependent on heroin after 4 days of daily use. brain chemistry/drug quality thing I guess. but it shocks me that for some people it takes a month.

 

[IMtrying]

no, I didnt read all through this but I will mention something about taking benzos daily.

if you take a somewhat smaller dose of benzos, and always around the same time, ONCE A DAY, you can stay away from becoming addicted.

I am scripted Xanax once a day at 1MG for bed; it usually helps and I have taken it monthly for the past 3-6 months. I would only take .5 to 1MG at night for bed. eventually, I ended up giving up on the Xanny and went a different way; at first I thought I'd have a bit of a withdrawal but knew it wouldnt be too bad since it was such a small dosage. well. consider the half life is basically nothing for a Xanax I ended up having no WD's whatsoever and moved on with ease.

but yes, benzo withdrawal can be tough because in the past I had a bad benzo habit and had seizures during my WD's. this is when I would take Xanny 3-4x's a day and take anywhere from 1-3MG at a time. the WD's were hell and ended up in a hospital.

 

[SergeKolpa]

Peeps, apologies when I heard benzos I thought benzine e.g. petrol etc. Phew that was embracing

I heard you can addicted after about 3 - 5 usages. But once you are addicted to benzine (not benzos) it will be a really hard addiction. I grew up in a neighborhood where benzine (not benzo) addicts started as early as 10 years old and would not grow, cause they got really addicted

However I hope this mistake demonstrates that there is a degree of confusion about benzos