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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

To be addicted, or not to be addicted (benzos)

d3Xo-fan

d3Xo-fan

Bluelighter
Joined
May 6, 2007
Messages
231
Location
In my head
Hi,

First let's me make a few things clear: I go many days with absolutely none of the drug in me and I don't feel any w/d's whatsoever. I think this is because I am prescribed 0.25mg a day, but instead I take 0.5mg monday, 0.5mg wednesday, and 0.75mg friday.

The one and only benzo I take is triazolam which has a very short half life. Does what I told you about my doses and my frequency of use, which is every other day (except weekends where I stay off of them completely) mean that I probably don't have a tolerance? Or at least a teeny tiny one? Or what about the fact that I can go weeks (and probably longer, just haven't tried) without them and not feel bad? Does this mean I am in no way physically addicted to benzos? If you can have a body with no benzos in it whatsoever and still feel fine, no withdrawal symptoms, no excessive nerve activity, nothing ... that has got to mean you have no tolerance at all, right?

I'm asking because my doc told me it could take months after cessation of benzos before the w/d's began, but he also said that was only the case with the longer acting benzos, which is why I pointed out several times I'm on the ultra short half-life benzo triazolam.
 
Tolerance = it takes more of the drug to achieve the same effects it used to take a smaller amount to achieve.
addiction = using a drug despite negative effects on life, relationships, etc, excessive/obsessive drug seeking behavior despite negative effects on your life or others
dependence = you experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking the drug

If you can go a week with absolutely zero without feeling any withdrawal symptoms, you are probably not physically dependent on the drug .
Your concern and posting this question tells me that you are becoming concerned about your use of the drug, which may indicate at least a psychological dependency/preoccupation with the drug
when w/d's begin depends on the halflife of the particular drug used .
 
^Good post :)

It depends on the benzo and your individual tolerance, dosage and frequency of use. Some benzos can cause WD a lot quicker than a few months with daily use. Temazepam, alprazolam, lorazepam and clonazepam come to mind. If you're using lower doses, the risk is lower. It is really hard to tell, but I have been prescribed lorazepam 1mg/day for the past 12-15 months and have been able to take breaks from daily usage. However, that is with keeping dosages low. I have recently noticed rebound anxiety (the reason I'm scripted lorazepam in the first place) if I take 1mg a day for 2-3 days and then stop taking it for a day.

As mentioned before, there is a difference between dependance, addiction and tolerance, but there is also overlap. I like this thread, and hopefully some other people can talk about their experiences and give you a better picture of the situation.

How long have you been prescribed triazolam for?
 
nsauce said:
addiction = using a drug despite negative effects on life, relationships, etc, excessive/obsessive drug seeking behavior despite negative effects on your life or others
dependence = you experience withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking the drug
Click to expand...

Anyone need any advice on how to successfully manage either of the above please don't hesitate to drop me a PM ;) I seem fekin great at both simultaneously mostly without any real effort, I recently started yet another Diaz taper after reaching a daily usage level I'm to ashamed to post.

I very interested in the comments made by your doctor concerning you getting WDs months after cessation, I can't see how thats going to happen surely once the GABA receptors have returned to a normal state, if indeed in this case there ever was an abnormal one, given the low usage what exactly is going to happen to trigger WDs??

I'm not claiming to know what I'm talking about just asking our more learned friends
 
^^^

I have no experiance with opiates but I see that comment being made many times and it isnt the same for me, or opiate WDs are a fekin breeze.

I'm in the middle of my third benzo taper I was taking well over 100Mgs of Diaz daily sometimes as much as 200, over 2 month period what I'd call a knockoput dose, as in a dose that would leave me unable to stay awake rose from about 25-30Mgs to 60-70Mgs and I've been here with diaz before.

The taper isnt what I'd call fun but I'm willing to bet comming off of a nasty 2 month H binge would be a dam sight worse
 
Alex000 said:
You could still have tolerance without being addicted/dependent.
Click to expand...

Absolutly if you take anything like a Benzo regularly you are bound to get some level of tolernace, just think about alcohol
 
Trust me on the fact that you can, and will have withdrawals, addiction and dependency in conjunction with triazolam usage.

I have taken virtually every benzodiazepine and been scripted fairly unfathomable amounts. If you play with fire, you get burnt. Benzo's are the pharmaceutical equivalent of a raging bonfire...

I recommend a Lyrica + clonazepam taper for anyone heavily addicted on benzodiazepines. That was the combination that cleaned me up from 12mg xanax, 120mg valium and 2mg rohypnol daily. I had a few seizures before I added in the lyrica.

Avoid benzo dependence at all costs.
 
I take maybe 2mg of xanax a day maximum, my doc gives me about as many 30mg refills as I like.

I'm at the point drinking a decent amount every night and taking ~1.5-2mg of xanax will get me where i need to be, it's been this way for a while, and I haven't seen myself wanting to increase the dosage. It just seems to be what I do. Depends on who you are and how you can handle it.

Obviously, I'm going to have to taper my use and I can't maintain this forever. This is how it is with benzos. But I truly do have anxiety, and a history of panic attacks.
 
Taking Triazolam every other day most likely isnt going to cause physical dependence as it is short acting. And physical wds from such a short acting benzo would manifest very quickly so the fact that you can go days w/o is a good sign. Although you may not become physically dependent, you will still gain a tolerance to the fx at that frequency of use. Be careful with it though, once every other day can easily turn into everyday and benzo addiction is possibly the most unpleasant experience i have ever had, and i was only dependent on them for a (relatively) short period
 
ATM, fan

I want to apologize first that I haven't read all the replies, however, I do have quite a bit of familiarity with benzo's although I have taken benzo's off and on over the years for anxiety and sleep, I have never had any kind of physical addiction to them, but I have had a slight psychological addiction where as I always had to keep them with me even if I never took them, it was sort of like a safety blanket, I would have an anxiety attack if I didnt have them pills with me, but if I had them with me I woulnt have any problems. As for a physical addiction, I have been in multiple rehabs due to my Alcoholism over the years and undoubtedly there would be a few people that were there for benzo addictions, and I can remember many people who had been abusing or just using high doses of xanax as prescribed by their Dr had resulted in long term withdraw symptoms anywhere from a few days after quitting to as long as a few months from quitting and this can even occur after tapering down first. Benzo's can be a real bitch to get off of, but it really depends on the size of the dose and the duration of use, as you would expect, the longer and higher the dose your taking the longer it will take to taper and even after the taper you can still have w/d symptoms some what mild but w/d's none the less for up to a couple months. Just so I wasn't crazy before I posted this I googled it as well and there are a number of sites that talk about it. I know of one lady who actually had been clean from Benzo's for almost 3 moths and she had a major panic attack that sent her to the hospital as she thought she was having a heart attack, and the Dr apparently knew her having been on high doses of xanax for a long time and his first question to her was how long ago had she stopped using xanax and when she explain almost 3 moths ago he described to her what he called a phantom w/d symptom from the xanax but I doubt that a real medical term however this is quoted right from the wiki - Benzodiazepine_withdrawal_syndrome
Withdrawal symptoms may persist for weeks or months after cessation of benzodiazepines. In a smaller subset of patients withdrawal symptoms may continue at a sub acute level for many months or even a year or more.
Click to expand...

So fan if you can avoid getting yourself addicted it's definitely in your best interest, as (not trying to scare you here) Benzo, Alcohol, and barbiturates are some of the worst to come down off of as their withdraw symptoms can lead to things like seizures which can result in death, from that perspective they are the worst drugs to get an addiction to and attempt to detox from on your own. Luckily if I read the dosage you were on your max dose was 3 .25mg's or .75mgs per dose. Which isn't that bad, I just wouldnt mess around with the benzo's other then what they are needed for. That wiki also notes that you should never force someone to taper from benzo's because of the psychological withdraw effects. Just be safe! :) Sorry like I said I didn't read all the replies so I hope I didn't take this thread to far off topic.
 
Tripman said:
Trust me on the fact that you can, and will have withdrawals, addiction and dependency in conjunction with triazolam usage.

I have taken virtually every benzodiazepine and been scripted fairly unfathomable amounts. If you play with fire, you get burnt. Benzo's are the pharmaceutical equivalent of a raging bonfire...


Sure if you abuse the stuff its a very dangerous place to go but in this case I can't see the usage is anywhere near close to abuse

I recommend a Lyrica + clonazepam taper for anyone heavily addicted on benzodiazepines. That was the combination that cleaned me up from 12mg xanax, 120mg valium and 2mg rohypnol daily. I had a few seizures before I added in the lyrica.

Avoid benzo dependence at all costs.
Click to expand...

Please guys read the OPs post and lets not make him feel like he's in trouble when he really isn't, his dosage is low and he doesn't even use a short acting benzo on a daily basis.

I'm with nsause on this one there may be some physiological dependence but as for him suffering seizures or some kind or some of the other more severe withdrawal symptoms you can get from real benzo abuse I can't see he is in any danger of these at all, I mean the guy goes a week without feeling ill.

Having said that I would never under estimate physiological dependence and if the OP feels really anxious about the situation this needs to be addressed.

(Painenduser owe you mail but alls good)
 
^^ I definitely agree, sorry I kind went off topic on my post but I wanted it to be clear of the dangers of getting a tolerance since tolerance leads to higher dosing and higher dosing well you know the drill and with benzo's this is easy to do, I would agree that the dose is low and its doubtful he's going to have any physical w/ds and if anything like I was saying sometimes the psychological addiction can be a simple as mine where I didn't even have to take them, but as long as I had them with me like a baby blanket, as long as they were there I was fine, forget to take them with me when I left the house, I would go into an instant anxiety attack.

Any way, yes I don't see anything in OP's post that would give me any thought of him having any physical dependence and with such low doses, and the fact that he can keep on the same schedule, not having to increase his dosage or taking more frequently, its doubtful even of a psychological addiction, but that type of addiction with the way he is taking them would be really hard to prove. I think OP's just fine :)

(Excellent atm!)
 
Hey guys, thank you so much for all your replies, you definitely answered my question and made me a wiser man :) I'm glad you don't think I'm in danger of being addicted, and I will definitely watch my intake of this drug. I have a new question though: how is it possible to have a tolerance to a drug (e.g. triazolam) without being addicted to it? Brain chemistry wise...

Edit: I have been on triazolam for a few months, and before that I was on alprazolam, clonazepam and nitrazepam (not at the same time), each of those for a few months also.
 
Triazolam is Halcion - which , if I remember correctly, got a bad rap fairly early in it's distribution after a man supposedly murdered his wife while under the influence of the drug. I think it was taken off the market temporarily, then re-issued with the dosages reduced. I haven't tried to google this information, but I seem to remember this happening. So I think Halcion got a bad rap early on because of this, and haven't even heard of anyone being prescribed it in many years . .
 
how is it possible to have a tolerance to a drug (e.g. triazolam) without being addicted to it?
Click to expand...
Tolerance is having to take a larger amount of drug for it to be effective, than the amount that was initially effective. There is not NECESSARILY or correlation between having to take a larger amount to achieve an effective dose, and dangerous drug taking/drug seeking behavior in spite of negative effects on your life and/or the lives of others. I'm certain they would often go hand in hand, but theoretically it would not be a necessity .

heres the Halcion murder case : http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...9_1_halcion-found-innocent-safe-and-effective
 
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I didn't say he had a problem, just letting you know guys.

I was just promoting the harm of benzo abuse to give him some food for thought to stop him heading anywhere near where I went with benzodiazepines. :\
 
Tripman said:
I didn't say he had a problem, just letting you know guys.

I was just promoting the harm of benzo abuse to give him some food for thought to stop him heading anywhere near where I went with benzodiazepines. :\
Click to expand...

I know that Trip, just didn't want they guy to get the wrong impression realize your intentions where good, many of us on here have abused the shit out of benzos so know what a nightmare situation you can suddenly find yourself in from what seemed like such a benign substance.

love your phrase "I was just promoting the harm of benzo abuse" =D
 
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