Benzos Any benzo addicts that have gone through etizolam withdrawal?

[RobotRipping]

My vendor is out of stock for at least 2-3 weeks and that's if things go well, if they don't, he may never have it again. Before this, i have been taking etizolam since December at varying doses. Lately i've been super stressed and said fuck it and upped my daily dose from 9-10mg, to 12mg and even sometimes 15mg/day. I know this is insanely stupid.

Now i have about 200mg left and will be performing a rapid taper. I can get by fine at 9mg/day so that drop shouldn't hurt much and i could probably handle 6mg/day without going insane. So at this rate, i have about ~35-40 days to get to a reasonable dose and either perform a taper on lorazepam or diazepam. Right now, no Dr will taper me properly from a dose this high.

My question is, how much will this hurt in comparison to diazepam/phenazepam/clonazepam/alprazolam withdrawals? I once did a week without etizolam and it wasn't too bad but i felt myself start to go pretty crazy with derealization and depersonalization, and my dependency wasn't near as strong then as it is now. I will likely end up getting more etizolam anyway but my doses are absurd and no matter what, i know i need to taper because this etizolam train won't run forever (wish it would). So in either case, i must drop my doses to reasonable levels.

Anyone ever go through a full etizolam withdrawal? how long did it last? what doses? how long have u been taking it? how long did PAWS last and how long was your taper if you did one?

i know the acute withdrawal is less intense than say a nasty alprazolam habit but would it be on par with lorazepam or easier/worse? I have 60mg of lorazepam after i taper the etizolam if needed and i'm sure it will be and can certainly get a Dr to taper me at that point, i'm just wondering what i may face if i am dose dropping by 20% or more per week. My biggest concern is not a grand mal seizure or something, it's the psychosis i get thrown into as i have school/work to handle.

I have a history of benzo abuse/use that has cycled on and off for years. Doses always being extremely high, though this time around i may have taken it a bit higher. I've had full on withdrawals numerous times (i think at least 4 or 5) and have done tapers (1 full taper that took a few months), so i'm no stranger to the horrific nature of benzo withdrawals but i also know that etizolam is different than the benzo class, not just in its effects but also its withdrawal.

I forgot to mention that from october-december, i was at 8-12mg of clonazepam per day, which is what initially fucked me over for tolerance when i started etizolam. I'm not sure how much that will play a factor in my tapering/withdrawal symptoms. Previous to that, i would take 1-2mg of lorazepam or 10-20mg diazepam as needed, usually a few times a week but i was an opiate addict then, this all happened after 1.5 years or so clean of benzo use.

TL;DR: I'm about to be cut off from etizolam, my dose is 12mg/day (have been using etizolam for about 6 months) and i have 200mg or so to taper with, how bad is it going to be compared to a benzo withdrawal at similar doses?

thanks for reading.

 

[crazycatman]

Been in your situation a few times, always first went to something like 6 for a week and then decreased by 1 every week (maybe by 0.5 when you get to 2-3). Never had any real problems other than a bit of insomnia. But if you start getting bad symptoms (like feeling you're about to get a seizure), go to the doc and do a real diazepam taper.

 

[RobotRipping]

thanks i was hoping to hear that. When i tapered with diazepam off a heavy benzo habit, i couldn't do shit for months and had tons of psychological issues for months after that. I've only taken 4.5mg today so far and my day is over in about 4 hours and it's not been too bad. Thank fuck etizolam is more forgiving, when i used to drop my diazepam doses, i would hurt badly for a week at least.

 

[timsul999]

double post

 

[timsul999]

good luck man, I can't imagine what benzo wds are like.

 

[RobotRipping]

^they redefine horrifying but etizolam seems far more forgiving, at least i hope. I have an order coming in anyway, but still have to taper down to 4-5mg a day, that would be reasonable at least or even 3mg/day.

 

[timsul999]

i'm just curious, what do you try to manage with benzos? have you just tried weed? I mean, its tough to see someone continually fucking themselves by returning to them again & again and taking larger & larger doses when they stop working, all while trying to balance school and work. if I were you i'd be fucking miserable. have you considered you know... stopping once and for all? or at least finding some alternative?

 

[-Guido-]

^they redefine horrifying but etizolam seems far more forgiving, at least i hope. I have an order coming in anyway, but still have to taper down to 4-5mg a day, that would be reasonable at least or even 3mg/day.

It isn't. It's just like any other benzo withdrawal. Might even be a bit worse due to the fact it has active metabolites.

 

[RobotRipping]

i'm just curious, what do you try to manage with benzos? have you just tried weed? I mean, its tough to see someone continually fucking themselves by returning to them again & again and taking larger & larger doses when they stop working, all while trying to balance school and work. if I were you i'd be fucking miserable. have you considered you know... stopping once and for all? or at least finding some alternative?

That's a good question, though etizolam isn't a benzo. I smoke cannabis every day and have for years and it doesn't help with anxiety or sleep for me, if i take too big of a hit i get hit with massive anxiety. I can't actually smoke cannabis anymore without an anxiolytic. I used to smoke constantly and that got me through university but after fucking with benzos and opiates, cannabis isn't the same anymore.

I think i'm a lifer on gaba-a or b agonists. I have severe anxiety/panic disorder and i've only made it worse by abusing benzos. Very stupid thing to do but now i'm stuck with the results. If i don't have etizolam or benzos in my body, my derealization and depersonalization along with panic attacks and anxiety are enough to give me a very limited quality of life compared to being on etizolam.

The doses don't have to climb infinitely, eventually you get no more effect from a high dose than you will a lower one, at least with etizolam. Studies have also shown that the efficacy of benzos can last either indefinitely or for a very long time so long as you don't abuse them. Etizolam has never stopped working for me, i don't get high from it or anything but it works, all the other major benzos still work. Nevertheless i know sometime i may have to stop once and for all, but now isn't the time, i need stability for the next few years, so i'll get my doses low and maintain my functionality and quality of life and once my life is better, then i can probably come off them if my brain hasn't been permanently fucked already.

I'm looking into alternatives. I definitely have ADD, just waiting for my diagnosis and the theory is that i have anxiety/panic because of an overflow of stimuli to my brain, which is unable to properly filter out what's important and what's not. At which point i can't focus, become confused and then enter the cycle of panic. This may not be my answer either but i do find dexedrine in particular to relieve my anxiety for some reason.

Last year i was completely free of benzos and felt insane all the time, i went through therapy, which did help but didn't solve anything. I then turned to opiates which didn't really help with anxiety just made me content and that didn't work out. So i changed my life completely, went back to school and started on etizolam. If you compare my life now to a year ago, the results are astonishing, so that in itself, is why i continue this cycle, quality of life and functionality.

@guido: do you have any sources? or is this drawn from personal experience?

the studies i've found have shown in rats that dependency is less and the withdrawal is less (than lorazepam), and related withdrawal issues are less. I know that doesn't apply to humans necessarily, but given the anecdotal evidence (on the internet), and the fact that i can drop my dose from 12mg to 9mg/day with no issues whatsoever, shows that there is at least a bit of difference.

sorry that was long winded but it's tough to explain in few words. I look at it like an being an opiate addict on maintenance drugs, there are a lot of similarities, i'd prefer to be on diazepam backed by a Dr. but given my medical history, it's just not an option at this point.

i'm also a drug addict, no question about that , ideally i'd be on 60mg dexedrine, 30mg diazepam and 20-30 mg methadone per day but that's just me My addiction transcends rationality, being aware of that is messed up. TBH if i had to do it over again, i'd still make the same decisions, because it got me to where i am today, which is still a mess but is infinitely more hopeful in the future compared to how i was before i ever got into benzos/opiates.

when all is said and done and my life is over, i want to be one of those people who became successful while being a drug addict the whole time and without anyone even knowing. That's a strange goal to set, but maybe it would give hope to other struggling addicts out there, that they can still make it in life despite their afflictions.

 

[crazycatman]

Never been addicted to proper benzos, but did a few month or so long binges (month binge (250-350 pills probably) + few weeks taper) of etizolam and it was never as bad as people describe benzo wds. Now I may be just lucky or it may infact be more forgiving. Tolerance drops a month or two after.

Easiest one was when I replaced it with GHB for a few months for sleep (used at most 2x per day which wasn't enough to get addicted) and then just stopped the G. Shame G isn't legal, puts all the GABA drugs to shame.