Carbamazepine, the Sobering Compound?

[Xeromatosis]

Carbamazepine aka Tegrotol induces CYP450 enzyme expression--this being the enzyme responsible for metabolizing most modern day drugs, of particular note many benzodiazepines are thusly metabolized. While any drug metabolized by this enzyme group will see a decrease in duration of action and subjective effect benzodiazepines so affected are noteworthy for the simple reason that Carbemazepine is FDA approved as an anti-convulsant and / or anti-seizure medication meaning that as it gets the benzo out of your system it also prevents the drastic reduction of one's seizure threshold as you would see with a simple antagonist administration. This would make it slower then I.V.Flumazenil as is the current standard but much safer since there would be a much lower risk of seizures.

This taken into account, a non-life-threatening but still unintended, and therefore rather inconvenient, overdose of benzodiazepines could potentially be treated rather safely with an oral dose of Carbamazepine. Suppose you had to deal with something unexpected requiring your sober attention, such as driving, work, or family that you had not anticipated prior to your one-too-many benzo adventure that i, at least, am all too familiar with: Carbamazepine could be your answer. It could also serve as a safeguard for inexperienced colleagues who are not quite familair with their limits, though i suppose that now sounds hypocritical following my previous statement.

The main problem i could foresee with this concept is that carbamazepine potentiates several GABA receptor protein subunits making this an issue of pharmacokinetics which could get rather complicated seeing as carbamazepine itself is metabolized by the enzyme it induces.

Has anyone read anything about an application for carbamazepine of this kind? I'd appreciate any comments, corrections, or contributions especially on the pharmacokinetic issues.

 

[The Dr]

I'm on carbamazepine and love it. I did think about it in this aspect on my own without reading. I don't take it for seizures but for Bipolar disorder. That drug can treat like everything, it's amazing.. but actually kinda scary.

 

[som3dankbudz]

I'm not so sure that carbamazepine could be useful in sobering up, due to said gaba protein potentiation, and that it wouldn't just jet all the benzos out your system, esp in chronic users, but it could help i suppose. Where it's useful as said is in benzo detox, as it helps body metabolize excess residual benzo's lingering, and at the same time leveling out that dangerous very lowered seizure threshold experienced by so many, me included during benzo w/d! it's an old school anti-convulsant, and up until this thread, I never seen info on BL regarding it.

P.S. The Dr; I'm curious, ive never heard anything remotely good about carbamazepine, my own experience with it is bias as i was heavily in benzo w/d as well as being pumped with other powerful detox drugs. Can you please elaborate more on it's effectiveness in bipolar, and treating "everything"? Looking for purely subjective experience, as well as any scientific claims/sources for carbam and bipolar disorder.

 

[tweex]

I've been on it. Didn't experience any side effects except once when I thought I was developing SJS. Quit klonopin cold turkey while on it actually, and didn't experience withdrawl.

Oxcarbazepine is overall safer though.

 

[som3dankbudz]

wow tweex thats really interesting... does it help with benzo PAWS? bc ive been struggling for about 9 months with these frustrating irrational emotions and panic attacks, sweaty palms etc... i have an old script from a forced benzo detox a couple yearrs back... Please let me know this is a huge help!

 

[tweex]

Well, I didn't get PAWS (or any symptoms) quitting k-pin cold turkey, but was only on 3mg/day.

Propranolol was a far better drug than clonazepam for panic attacks and physical anxiety. K-pin just dulls your mind enough you don't really think about being anxious, but does nothing for the physical side.

 

[pofacedhoe]

Well, I didn't get PAWS (or any symptoms) quitting k-pin cold turkey, but was only on 3mg/day.

Propranolol was a far better drug than clonazepam for panic attacks and physical anxiety. K-pin just dulls your mind enough you don't really think about being anxious, but does nothing for the physical side.

how long were you taking the k-pins prior to cold turkey?

 

[tweex]

About 4 months.

 

[bloodshed344]

Don't draw any conclusions from that. I took klonopins for over a year and a half and stopped cold turkey with no symptoms. Easier than stopping weed (Mentally).

 

[tweex]

Don't draw any conclusions from that. I took klonopins for over a year and a half and stopped cold turkey with no symptoms. Easier than stopping weed.

Far fewer people develop a physical dependence to cannabis than benzos.

 

[bloodshed344]

Far fewer people develop a physical dependence to cannabis than benzos.

I didn't develop a physical dependence to either. Almost every time I post someone infers something wrong from my post. I do not know how this happens.

EDIT: Well I suppose you didn't really mean that outright but the implication is there.

 

[ebola?]

It should at least be noted that your experience was atypical though...

ebola

 

[Dresden]

I was on Tegretol (carbamazepine) 15 years ago in college and I bought a half gram of some good cocaine. The tegretol made the cocaine last 24 hours! I don't know why this was so, but it was.

 

[Jesusgreen]

I was on Tegretol (carbamazepine) 15 years ago in college and I bought a half gram of some good cocaine. The tegretol made the cocaine last 24 hours! I don't know why this was so, but it was.

I tried Carbamazepine recently and a couple of days later consumed Codeine. Normally lasts 4-6 hours for me, but this time the Codeine was still going 14 hours later when I eventually decided to go to sleep as it was late. I then consumed it again the next day and experienced the same thing.

The only other thing that really changed was that I also took Olanzapine then, but I don't think that was to blame. I've seen a lot of speculation from people that Carbamazepine + Codeine would lead to the drug being eliminated far too quick and be a waste, however CYP450 is responsible for converting Codeine to Morphine, but as far as I know not for breaking down Morphine, and with Morphine's longer half life maybe this is what caused such an extended duration? Morphine containing Poppy seed tea lasts a similar duration for me.

You'd think that if that were the case then Codeine would last a lot longer as is, but maybe this helps in the sense that only a small portion of Codeine is converted to Morphine, and a CYP450 inducer increases this amount to a more significant figure.

Just speculation, any thoughts?

 

[abdnlad]

hi just thought i would write in my experience with tegretol 3x 400mg, I have seen my friends all get habits with gear8( but I could just have a bender on it and no side effects, never did realise it was tegretol that was the magic bullet. The big downside is no matter how much tramadol I take it does not really work and I find it's the same with mst and sevredol, but with the years on mst + sevredol I now feel a shake or two when I decide to go cold turkey (saving up my meds for a weekend bender), As for being more alert this does happen but I just put this down to a rush of adrenaline, because you go quickly back to dope again once out of danger e.g walking home at night and coppers stop and quiz me, it's like getting a whiter all those years ago I have to take a couple of deep breaths chat to them as straight as I can and wait for them to f-off then I am back to dopy me walking home

 

[abdnlad]

Hi one other thing I gave my friends a spare strip 14 tabs This was there first time with meds other than a smoke of weed 8((3 each) + 1 extra for my two good friends, They only had a smoke of weed but they slept where they sat in the living room floor watching nothing tv through the night for a whole weekend only moving for the toilet, 1 of my friends who had a extra tab managed to go home early Friday night, he was working dayshift that weekend and his mum could not awaken him from his bed, the only way he kept his job was his mum called A&E on the Monday some mum could have been dead