How to assess if I'm in Benzo danger?

[AceSlaterBTP]

SWIM's been using benzos off and on for a couple years. This past year, again, week on, week off, sometimes up to 3-4 mg kpin/day.

SWIM this past month however, has fell into a bunch of xanax, valium, and RC benzos, and have been taking it everyday for the last 4 weeks. SWIM's Tolerance has shot up to the point where 4-5 xanax may not even affect SWIM.

However, SWIM has never felt benzo WD's, and the only WD's he felt was hightened anxiety (by a tiny bit) but mostly inability to sleep for about a week. That was a month ago.

Now, any body with high benzo tolerances that were NOT dependent and could stop relatively easy and cold turkey with minimum discomfort?

 

[N0 W4RN1NG]

^^^Yeah after a month of taking the equivalent of 5mg Xanax a day, I have a feeling you will be experiencing benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms. I believe this is in the wrong sub-forum, and we don't use the term "SWIM" here.

Best of luck.

 

[Speed King]

This is BDD material, but I would run that by a doctor.

 

[Bearlove]

Never Cold Turkey from Benzos ! It can kill you. Taper (use less your next dose, less after that, less after that etc)

You say your using Xanax on a daily basis - what mg? If they are .5mg then maybe taper by using one pill less per day - if they are the 2mg bars then adjust accordingly.

 

[ayruss]

I hear Benzo WD's are something crucial to go through. Actually, I had a very close friend whom stopped taking his prescribed 1mg Kpin a day (been using 1mg-a-day for around 8-12 months) just a couple weeks ago and really struggled.

I really am not sure on how to relate dosage-per-day/consistency to dependency issues, but 4-5 Xanax (regardless of the mg) is just shy, if not there, of a fairly "big" dose to most. Therefore, I would advise you to do as 'Bearlove' did. Taper yourself off instead of just trying to kick the habit. See a M.D. if necessary.

 

[cashfl0w_d0nkey]

SWIM's been using benzos off and on for a couple years. This past year, again, week on, week off, sometimes up to 3-4 mg kpin/day.

SWIM this past month however, has fell into a bunch of xanax, valium, and RC benzos, and have been taking it everyday for the last 4 weeks. SWIM's Tolerance has shot up to the point where 4-5 xanax may not even affect SWIM.

However, SWIM has never felt benzo WD's, and the only WD's he felt was hightened anxiety (by a tiny bit) but mostly inability to sleep for about a week. That was a month ago.

Now, any body with high benzo tolerances that were NOT dependent and could stop relatively easy and cold turkey with minimum discomfort?

I was in your shoes a while ago. In hindsight, I can say that during the early stages of my benzo use, when I was binging on whatever benzos I could get my hands on, I wasn't truly addicted. The side effects at this point were mood swings and doing random dumb things when fucked up. The main reflection about this period of my life is that it was quite tumultuous. The benzos weren't helping, for sure. That said, I wasn't addicted. Eventually, this phase passed and I started preferring smaller doses, on which I could still be functional. It was around this time that I bought into the idea of using the benzos 'as intended' (or on a near-daily basis as I understood that to mean), which was ultimately my downfall.

My advice? Benzo addiction sucks bad. It can wreak havoc on your ability to deal with stress, and that effect can last for years. Stay far, far away from daily dosing. Also, keep in mind that the benzos with a shorter half-life (such as Xanax) are known to cause addiction in a much shorter period of time than whose with longer half-lifes (such as Valium and Klonopin).

 

[Guntluva]

Thanks for a very helpful reply cashfl0w_d0nkey

 

[spacejunk]

I'd seriously recommend seeking medical assistance.
I did a supervised diazepam taper, and experienced zero discomfort.
As opposed to an earlier incident, with RC benzos where i ended up having seizures and being hospitalised for some time.
Scariest thing i've ever experienced.
Be careful, benzos are scary.

 

[Seimboz]

I love benzos! So does my mother my mom usually does 3mg a day won't taper off and will just stop for a week or two at a time with no w/d or anything. I will take up to 4mg to 6mg of Xanax at a time daily for 2 to 4 weeks a time and on ocassion I will just take 1mg a day for the last 2 or three days(not always) and the only thing that happens to me is a ton of anxiety but without Xanax I already get crazy anxiety so I just deal with it. I know People who have gotten seriously bad and hospitalized without tapering off but I guess I'm lucky

 

[Muzda Jonxx]

SWIM's been using benzos off and on for a couple years. This past year, again, week on, week off, sometimes up to 3-4 mg kpin/day.

SWIM this past month however, has fell into a bunch of xanax, valium, and RC benzos, and have been taking it everyday for the last 4 weeks. SWIM's Tolerance has shot up to the point where 4-5 xanax may not even affect SWIM.

However, SWIM has never felt benzo WD's, and the only WD's he felt was hightened anxiety (by a tiny bit) but mostly inability to sleep for about a week. That was a month ago.

Now, any body with high benzo tolerances that were NOT dependent and could stop relatively easy and cold turkey with minimum discomfort?

Lordy! I had the most epic of withdrawal when I got up to 5mg+ xannys a day for about a month. I really do wish you luck, wd is different for everyone. I attempted a cold turkey from Xanax, but gave that idea up about 4 hours later when it felt like my teeth were rotating in their sockets. LITERALLY the most horrible feeling I have ever, ever felt.

I wouldn't recommend a CT from hard benzos like that, because the risk of seizure is very real. Try halving your dose and see what occurs. If that's ok, halve it again and keep going until it's too much to bear.

If halving what you're on now is too much to bear, prepare yourself for the longest, most horrible protracted withdrawal of your life. Actually, prepare yourself anyway, because it sounds to me like you're in dangerous waters already. Let's hope I'm wrong.

It took me like 2 years to properly get over the withdrawal from benzos. I had a heavy habit for 3 months, then sloooooooooooowly tapered from that over another year or so. It then took at least a year of daily panic attacks and generalised anxiety disorder before I began to feel even vaguely like myself. That being said, I slogged through it, went to work and whatnot and lived some semblance of an existence. I was petrified of being on my own. For 6 months, I only got 2 hours sleep a night if I was lucky. It very nearly sent me completely mad (madder than I already am). To this day I cannot nap during the day, or I get viciously stabbed awake by a massive wave of anxiety. That being said, for every year that passes with no benzos, I'm that much more my own self. It's just a painfully long road, and there's no avoiding it. I'm also an opiate addict, but they're just child's candy compared to what benzos did to me.

My advice if wd does set in is to ditch the short-acting benzos and switch over to valium solely. The halflife of that is huge, so withdrawal is much easier. I don't want to seem a harbinger of doom, but really - nothing, nothing at ALL even touches the sides compared to benzo WD, both physically and mentally. It is pure, pure hell in a handbasket. Sort this out NOW!

 

[Napdmd]

Going through benzo withdrawal myself. This turned me psychotic and suicidal for a long time and I am still struggling. If you are not having withdrawals then stay away from it. If you are having withdrawals, taper slowly. I had a lot of bad drug reactions and withdrawals before, but benzodiazepine withdrawal is something else. Psychotic hell.

 

[MalkMe]

Strange, I have never experienced withdrawals from any Benzo.

I'm prescribed Valium, and have been for years. Once in a while I just go off them..... For a reason. I really don't need them every day. I go through spells of high anxiety and panic attacks, etc. during these times, I take about 18mgs to 24mgs per day (6-8 three times daily).

that will last 3 weeks to 3 months..... Average is about a month and a half I will be heavy on them, them boom stop taking them for several months. I do this bc I need to build up a stock for my bad times.

Anyway, you would think I would go thru withdrawals but nope, not a bit, ever.

 

[Muzda Jonxx]

Wow! You lucky sod. I've taken pregabalin and gabapentin constantly at high doses for up to 8 months at a time, stopped cold Turkey and suffered no ill effect, so I guess there's a few lucky people when it comes to GABA drugs. Benzos annihilated me worse than anything else, and I've rattled off the lot at one point or the other.

 

[kinkyjohn]

Wow! You lucky sod. I've taken pregabalin and gabapentin constantly at high doses for up to 8 months at a time, stopped cold Turkey and suffered no ill effect, so I guess there's a few lucky people when it comes to GABA drugs. Benzos annihilated me worse than anything else, and I've rattled off the lot at one point or the other.

That might actually be a useful anecdotal to me, been looking for a new downer as benzos make me scream in fear and I thought gabapentin was basically at heart just a benzo. I'm also now so allergic to H it takes me 3 days to get over the athsma it causes and it's resistant to conventional drugs plus I'm due a long drug break .. and without H I'm not sure how I'll transition. You might think H is a bit "hardcore, " for transitioning off my stim habit, but that's why I'm less surprised than you to see this old withdrawal chestnut pop up again. For some people nothing even compares to benzo withdrawal. I really feel for the mental and physical pain of people going through that - it's immensely personal and I agree - lucky ***** to anybody that can just stop. For me cold turkey off a weekend valium habit (30-40mg post stims once a week) felt like being packed in a crate with polystyrene while people scrapped their nails down chalk boards for about 3 months. I was wondering why I used to feel so bad by Thursday for ages.

It's all immensely personal of course. Heroin withdrawal for me was a mild desire to smoke H and what felt like the mild beginnings of a cold that never got there. And to put it in perspective that was after a year of daily use cos I was off stims (no IV tho). I might have kindled the benzos a bit - but still - one was hell, the other better than the withdrawal from TV. Probably explains the allergy tbh.

I obviously know plenty of people the other way around (heroin = hell to withdraw .. benzos = kiddy candy). I'm intrigued as benzos, gaba, opiates .. they all mess with systems that aren't the same but do similar things. In my experience people at extremes like me often find that the drug that doesn't bother them withdrawal wise is very mild for them .. actually I prefer H for that reason. I can function on it fine, keep my shit together and the sleep is so much better than that black out .. set your kitchen on fire and shit the bed thing benzos has got going on. I can shit the bed on 2mg Xanax ... and I can smoke almost an entire g of not particularly shit H (it all seems shit after a while) off the bat with nothing but natural tolerance and just have a nice snooze. And I can do that every day for a month and then stop (the cost helps .. but really - I'm not that bothered). The thought of doing benzos daily however .. fills me with utter terror.

One final disclaimer as always - my experience with H although a documented phenomena in pain control is at the very extreme end. Given it's high bio-availability when injected and given you can get addicted to injecting saline it's worth being wary of. Also .. it's image as the most "evil," drug whilst one the most utterly absurd and persistent pieces of hysteria I've ever seen (from an age that brought you women being as clever as men ... reefers not being dangerous ... and better red than dead .... sheesh!) does create very significant and real risks to it's purity .. your freedom .. your well being .. and the like. That said - it's very hard to overdose accidentally by smoking (and probably even intentionally) - and that's basically 100% if you don't get a new bag and do a massive crap load in one go then find out it was actually fent! Best reason to stay off opiates though .. is they are the best pain control known to man, and one day you may REALLY need that. Unlike most medical practicioners I don't agree your better off in pain than a junky .... so I'm sure I'll just have to BURN for my sins. Stay safe .. and freedom to all.

 

[VaPPiano]

It don't seem to me to be a problem quieting cold turkey!
Of corse it will give you some discomfort but i don't think it would be unmanageable!

But take it with a doctor! Switch to Diazepam according to Ashton's equivalent chart and start tapping down with like 5mg in the beginning and in the end 2mg (We have those pills here!). It should work grate!!

Namaste