Benzos Alprazolam Tolerance Skyrocketing - Advice?

[cwake18]

Hi all,

So I have been on 1.5mg of klonopin prescribed for 7 months now and it really hasn't made my tolerance high at all. Then about a month ago I started obtaining alprazolam (Xanax) on a frequent basis. I keep my intake on a schedule so I'm not just bingeing on xannies all day. I started taking 1.5mg or 2mg of alprazolam at night before bed along with the 1.5mg klonopin I take before bed and it was totally relaxing. That was when I had 2mg alprazolam tabs and now I'm using 1mg alp tabs so I'm having to take about 3mg to produce the same effect. And trust me I know this is normal I've been messing around with benzos (and opiates) long enough to understand how quickly tolerance can build up.

But now all of a sudden, I can take 4. 6, even 8mg and nothing happens! It's quite odd. I took 6mg yesterday because I had some extras and the day off and I didn't feel that usual Xanax feel that we take these for, as if my tolerance had gone up overnight. But then last night before bed I took 2mg of klonopin and 4x1mg alprazolam and I felt the normal feeling. It could be that I've switched the tabs I was taking but I had been taking Pfizer-made "XANAX 1.0" purple tabs from a foreign hookup and they work REALLY well but the American Purepac R031 blue circles I bought off a friend had almost no effect. I know no one can explain why my body acts the way it does, but I figured some other people have maybe experienced this. I may stop taking it for a couple weeks and just take the kpins to let my alp tolerance dwindle down a bit.

The issue basically is that 2mg at night worked for weeks then the very next day it's taking 4mg+ for the same effect, which hasn't happened to me in the past when I've been prescribed or taken Xans. It could be that I have been using 3 different brands of alprazolam tabs, but I doubt it. Anyway:

All comments are appreciated, thanks for reading.


-CW

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Taper and quit while you still can somewhat comfortably.

 

[DickTate]

^I second this! It only gets worse.

Although I am no expert on Benzodiazepines I could imagine it has something to do with the shorter half-life of Alprazolam compared to that of Clonazepam.
Can anyone back this up?
Also the recreational effects diminish over time but the therapeutical remain.

 

[Pagey]

Myeah it's a little odd that one night you felt nothing with 8mg and the next you got what you wanted with 4 - unless one of those weren't actually xanax, I dunno - but regardless you should take a good long break from them, since as you've seen benzo tolerance builds ridiculously quickly and they're not fun to get off of. I recommend you do a quick taper and stick to the klonopins.

 

[liftedgift]

You should be feeling 6mg of xanax even with 7 months of benzo use. Sometimes with benzos, I would take so many that I would feel "sober" in a way. I didn't feel like I was on anything until the next day when I would try to remember and be like yeah I was messed up. Benzos are weird.

 

[cwake18]

You should be feeling 6mg of xanax even with 7 months of benzo use. Sometimes with benzos, I would take so many that I would feel "sober" in a way. I didn't feel like I was on anything until the next day when I would try to remember and be like yeah I was messed up. Benzos are weird.

I have had this happen so many times. When I used to pop a lot of benzos a few years ago I would take so many then feel nothing and be like what the hell? Then the next day I would have memory issues and pretty much couldn't remember any of what I had done the day before lol. I'd take so much I'd just feel sober then give up and in the morning I'd have bad amnesia.

Advice taken. I will be taking a 2-4 week break from the Xans and just take my kpins as prescribed. Thanks all!

 

[Jktm]

I've experienced this as well. 2mg used to knock me flat on my ass no matter what; couldn't stay awake. Now it takes 8-10mg + other shit for me to "feel" anything, but 2-4mg will still help with anxiety. If you're a cigarette smoker you have to dose higher as well because of the huge increase in clearance. And yes, I too have had the overnight tolerance thing. Same with diazepam; first time I took it (a Teva blue 10) I couldn't stay awake, but then after using it 5 or 6 times, it got to where I could take 40-50mg to get high and within a month or two of starting to use it frequently, I was taking 100mg at a time.

I would advise you to taper - NOT STOP COLD TURKEY IF YOU'VE BEEN USING FOR MORE THAN 3 WEEKS - and wait a minimum of 6 months to expect a diminished tolerance. With me, it doesn't matter how long I wait; my tolerance never drops. Guess it's because of medical/psych problems.

Wish I could help you more.

 

[LOGan1314]

You should be feeling 6mg of xanax even with 7 months of benzo use. Sometimes with benzos, I would take so many that I would feel "sober" in a way. I didn't feel like I was on anything until the next day when I would try to remember and be like yeah I was messed up. Benzos are weird.

hHAhahah exactly!

 

[crazycatman]

Tapering and quitting is the best solution. After you've been clean for a few months, you should be able to take it occasionally without getting addicted again and without your tolerance increasing.

 

[cwake18]

So I'm just really worried you guys. This snowballed faster than any other drug I've used in my life. I'm on methadone maintenance and have been for 4 months now, totally clean of dope and Not abusing my methadone. I've been on klonopin for 7 months. 2 months was 1mg a day, never abused, then 1.5 a day for a month, switched docs, 2mg klon for 2 months and now back to 0.5mg 3x a day for the next 6 months she said. I had I friend from out of state that told me to try Xanax with my methadone because it was the best thing ever (I know, fucking retarded of me) so I found a connect online that I could send western union too and he'd mail me the Xanny bars or footballs and I kept it to 4mg a day (2 bars a day) MAX. This was jan 15 when I got the first 8 bars and I made 3 small orders after that then my last order was 50 footballs for a price I couldn't refuse lets say.

So basically I got those feb 23rd and since I started dealing with 1mg tabs instead of 2's I guess my thinking changed and it became hard for me to schedule when and how many I was going to take per day. I even had it all put into an excel spreadsheet and it worked well until I got the 1mg tabs and my tolerance quadrupled overnight and I just freaked out I guess. So now I've got 2 1mg tabs left and am gonna just stick to my clonazepam from now on. It will keep me from withdrawal, and I was only taking 2-4mg a day of Xanax for 6 weeks anyway. I'm not trying to be naïve about this, trust me, I've been through heroin addiction, but this Xanax shit just took hold of me so damn quickly. I have had horrible anxiety forever and it just feels so good to have that instant relief. Anyway. I'll be taking a month off these alprazolams for sure.

It just scared me. I started becoming a zombie, forgetting everything, etc. and that's not me. Any other advice is great. I know never to quit cold turkey but I've gotten off prescribed (for 5mos) Xanax before in 6 days using a phenobarbital method at a detox I went to. As someone said, it just CREEPED up on me and I was like wtffff I went from taking 3mg a day of Xanax to 10-14mg a day. Unnacceptable. I really appreciate all the help guys , I mean it. If you have anything else to add, go ahead.


Thanks,
CW

 

[cwake18]

I am a slave to the anyzays, addicition creeps up on you very quickly

I hate them but love them all the same, little white tri scored cunts

Dude. Seriously. Snuck up on me like I was sleeping or something. Tri scored cunts indeed mate.

 

[tricomb]

Really you had no idea this could happen?

No offense but people should really do more research before deciding its cool to order Xanax online and take 4-6mg as a regular thing on top of your clonazepam. I hate to say what did you expect, so ill just say that your experiencing a very typical reaction to adding in an extremely potent much more rapid acting benzodiazepine every day.... It's emiminated much faster than clonazepam so it is in and out of your system in less than a day (dose dependent).

Benzodiazepines are a much worst beast than ANY opioids. Heroin, fentanyl, methadone withdrawals, none of them got SHIT on benzo WD.

Please be more careful in the future. Your already taking a decent dose of benzodiazepines, why add in more? Surely this all began because your friend raved about mixing methadone with alprazolam (a absololutely shitty, semi conscious, non euphoric, extremely dangerous/lethal combination.)

Mixing CNS depressants on top of your methadone can kill you. Just like that.

I wish you the best in the future. Please educate yourself more about what you put into your body and how it works. As you can see, there are consequences.

 

[cwake18]

Really you had no idea this could happen?

No offense but people should really do more research before deciding its cool to order Xanax online and take 4-6mg as a regular thing on top of your clonazepam. I hate to say what did you expect, so ill just say that your experiencing a very typical reaction to adding in an extremely potent much more rapid acting benzodiazepine every day.... It's emiminated much faster than clonazepam so it is in and out of your system in less than a day (dose dependent).

Benzodiazepines are a much worst beast than ANY opioids. Heroin, fentanyl, methadone withdrawals, none of them got SHIT on benzo WD.

Please be more careful in the future. Your already taking a decent dose of benzodiazepines, why add in more? Surely this all began because your friend raved about mixing methadone with alprazolam (a absololutely shitty, semi conscious, non euphoric, extremely dangerous/lethal combination.)

Mixing CNS depressants on top of your methadone can kill you. Just like that.

I wish you the best in the future. Please educate yourself more about what you put into your body and how it works. As you can see, there are consequences.

Of course man. Everything you said absolutely makes sense. I'm an addict. I do stupid shit. Not that it covers for my actions but it just got a little out of control too quickly. I have a job and extra cash and an online supplier that I can order Xanax through so amazingly cheaply and get 2 days later, it became a daily thing of just 1-2mg extra then it was 5-10mg extra. Just stupid actions from a dumb addict. I'm lucky I have my kpin RX to "fall back on" but I don't really want to be taking these xannies for a while. It's the same things as heroin. It feels so good at the time but you're taking a loan out on your body basically and when you have to pay it back, it's fucking horrible. Indeed methadone plus Xanax is a death combo. Today I passed out and don't know honestly how I woke up. I have been taking the xannies on the side (my second favorite drug of choice, behind opioids), but I'm putting them down for a month or a few so I can recover. You're exactly right. I knew what could happen. But I had never gone through any kind of benzo withdrawal before because last time I was on Xanax I was prescribed it and managed to not run out early. Anyway, thread closed. Thanks for all the input.

 

[laCster]

do you smoke ciggs/tobacco, or drink caffeine by any chance?

quit while you can, benzo withdrawal has to be one of the worst experiences a person can encounter! id rather sit in prison for years on end then deal with severe benzo withdrawal!

 

[cwake18]

do you smoke ciggs/tobacco, or drink caffeine by any chance?

quit while you can, benzo withdrawal has to be one of the worst experiences a person can encounter! id rather sit in prison for years on end then deal with severe benzo withdrawal!

Yeah, actually. I smoke cigs and drink plenty of Mtn dew. Mainly cuz I'm so tired all the time and have to drink it before work. Why may I ask? And yeah, Im gonna quit. It's not worth it. Luckily I had somewhere to turn for opiate maintenance when I was addicted to heroin but they don't have any kind of "benzodiazepine maintenance" programs unless you have a really super nice and understanding doctor that's willing to work with you.

 

[laCster]

Smoking cigs almost completely negates a benzo buzz. Ahh where is tricomd when you need him? He has a bunch of info on smoking decreasing benzos. Caffeine also antagonizes benzo effects for mist people

 

[bdomihizayka]

Switch to an equivalent dose in Valium and taper and quit. You're in for the motherfucking wrath of benzo withdrawal. Don't even bother counting the days. Benzo withdrawal is anything but linear. Just take it a second at a time. It's going to be THE hardest thing you've ever done in your life. Taper slow with the Valium to make it as comfortable as possible. Good luck!!

 

[Jktm]

I think I could explain it decently laCster...

Inhalation of combusted hydrocarbons from cigarette smoking induces your CYP3A4 enzyeme (the enzyme in your liver that breaks down most benzos), so the clearance of benzodiazepines is increased 2-fold.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

Any benzodiazepine will cause skyrocketing of tolerance due to the way chronic benzodiazepine administration will cause elimination of the benzodiazepine (BZD) site.

This is what the GABA-A receptor sub-units should look like.

After you are dependent on benzodiazepines long enough, the sub-units alpha 1 and gamma 2 dissociate from each other, which destroys the benzodiazepine site.

This is primarily what causes a skyrocketing tolerance to benzodiazepines, and can happen with any/all benzodiazepines, not just alprazolam.

 

[cwake18]

Thanks for all the info guys. And also, I don't need a warning on the "danger" of mixing benzodiazepines with methadone. There are people in the other drugs forum asking how to inject certain things and plenty of other things that puts lives at risk JUST as much.

I only smoke 2-4 cigarettes a day and am planning on quitting altogether, which I've done cold turkey twice in myt life. Also, this wasnt really supposed to be a "omg I have to detox off benzos what do I do?!?!11" thread. My doctor and I already successfully recently decreased by daily dose by 25% from 2mg daily to 1.5mg daily. Methadone and clonazepam and alprazolam are also (to my knowledge) CYP3A4 inhibitors and even when I was smoking heavily, my benzo/opioids were felt the same. Thanks for the diagram, I find it interesting. Also, I'm out of Xanax now and was just taking it short term recreationally.

A couple years ago I was prescribed 4mg Xanax daily for 6 months and detoxed using only phenobarbital at a detox facility in 6 days with no trouble at all, while being fully comfortable. I understand the danger of benzos which is why I don't ask my doctor to put me on 2mg 3x a day for my anxiety like others do. I take my clonazepam once daily, at bedtime, and never experience any withdrawal symptoms. During this 6 week period I have been taking Xanax, I ran out for 8 days and had NO trouble or discomfort whatsoever.

I agree benzos are band-aids and nothing to fuck with. I'll be cutting back my smoking to zero, eventually my clonazepam to zero, and I won't be buying any more Xanax pills. Anyway, point taken and advice appreciated. The dead horse has been beaten. Thread done.


-cw