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Cognition Improving Benzos?

Eisbaer

Eisbaer

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 30, 2016
Messages
73
Are there any benzos out there which have cognition improving effects?
 
It's not a benzo (I want to emphasize that before I get deluged with "WAHHH THAT'S NOT A BENZO" comments), but Phenibut can have effects on the GABA receptors --specifically, it's an agonist of GABA b, whereas benzos are GABA a agonists (this is incredibly simplified, FYI). Both have similar anxiolytic effects, but phenibut has nootropic effects for some who take it and could be what you're looking for. Just do your research; Phenibut can be HORRID to withdraw from (just like benzos), and the dosage takes some trial-and-error to get right, but personally I get much more long-term anxiety relief and overall euphoria from Phenibut than benzos.
 
Phenibut is not considered to be primarily a GABAb agonist, it is a significant VDCC blocker like pregabaline. Also I don't think it is at all such a nootropic as people say, the relaxing effect can smoothe out some hangups in people which can create cognitive ease indirectly but that doesn't make it a real nootropic imo.

Benzo's currently in use don't really have cognition improving effects, because they have more or less agonism on IIRC the GABA alpha5 or 6 subtype which is pretty bad for memory and cognition. But if there would be a benzo that would be an agonist on alpha 1 and/or 2 but an antagonist on that alpha5, it would be expected to have memory / cognition improving effect! There may be a benzo like that, but I don't think it would be one currently available.
 
One substance that I can think of that has both cognition improving effects and desirable GABAergic activity is L-Theanine. It's nowhere near as potent as benzos, but improves cognitive ability rather than [sometimes permanently] negatively impact it as benzos do.
 
maybe alcohol in low doses? gets a good balance of GABA agonism and dopamine release. But honestly If your finding that your GABAergic use is negatively affecting your cognition I hate to be the one who says that tends to be the nature of the beast. Certainly no benzodiazapine is going to improve one's cognition. (unless maybe if your having a rather serious panic attack)
 
trumpet153 said:
maybe alcohol in low doses? gets a good balance of GABA agonism and dopamine release. But honestly If your finding that your GABAergic use is negatively affecting your cognition I hate to be the one who says that tends to be the nature of the beast. Certainly no benzodiazapine is going to improve one's cognition. (unless maybe if your having a rather serious panic attack)
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Alcohol prevents one from driving, and it's easily detectable. It's better staying away from widely known substances, and using the chemicals which no one is going to say "yeah, he's definitely been drinking."

Would there be chemicals which would not interact with benzodiazepines, yet also improves cognition? For example, a light psychedelic along with benzodiazepines?
 
Things that normally improve cognition, like standard stimulants, will help to combat the loss of cognition caused by sedatives. But these types of combinations have this habit of getting one in trouble sooner rather than later. By no means do I advise the use of stimulants to combat the negative effects of benzodiazapines. That is surely starting to look like risky, addictive behavior.
 
Benzos that improve cognition?

Benzos will destroy your cognition. If you want healthy and sharp cognitive abilities it's probably a good idea to stay far away from benzos.
 
Eisbaer said:
Are there any benzos out there which have cognition improving effects?
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There's a few benzos, can't recall the names of them at the moment, that are anti-cancerous, some of them hint at increasing anxiety which could potentially increase cognition, through some mechanism..

Cinazepam improves your sleep.
 
blue comet said:
Benzos that improve cognition?

Benzos will destroy your cognition. If you want healthy and sharp cognitive abilities it's probably a good idea to stay far away from benzos.
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Thank you for knowing what the fuck your talking about. Benzos have destroyed my cognition.
 
blue comet said:
I think a better question may be; which benzos affect cognition the least?

Personally, having tried the main four benzos (ativan, klonopin, valium, xanax), I would say maybe ativan. It used to give me good sedation without clouding my thought, or making me too groggy the next morning. But I've only taken that a handful of times. Xanax is probably the worst; destroys your cognition and leaves you hungover the next day.

I was given librium in a detox setting and seemed to have decent cognition on that.
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Klonipon works best for me without making me groggy.
 
blue comet said:
I think a better question may be; which benzos affect cognition the least?

Personally, having tried the main four benzos (ativan, klonopin, valium, xanax), I would say maybe ativan. It used to give me good sedation without clouding my thought, or making me too groggy the next morning. But I've only taken that a handful of times. Xanax is probably the worst; destroys your cognition and leaves you hungover the next day.

I was given librium in a detox setting and seemed to have decent cognition on that.
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I noticed that most cognitive improving chems are stimulants, so I wondered if there are any cognitive improving chems from stimulants' opposite class. The issue with stimulants, are that they: increase blood pressure, speed up the heart (and thus can cause heart problems.)

But would there be any cognitive improving chems from Lysergamides, Tryptamines, or Benzofurans, which do not interact with benzodiazepines?

And does anyone have any experience with the cognitive effects of etizolam or clonazolam?
 
I'm a total benzo pig and have used them pro re nata regularly for anxiety management for nearly 20 years. Despite doing a decent trainspotters job of ticking off the majority of benzos in wide therapeutic use and most of the RC / NPS grade bzd derivatives - clonazepam has always been my overall favourite and has probably been the one I have used most over this period.

However, while I cannot say that any of my bzd use has in any way improved my cognition in the slightest - I can sight occasions where there are clear indications of the damage they have done / can do. The 2 instances when I suffered benzo - rage (a well recognised paradoxical effect of benzodiazepines characterized by aggression due the drugs disinhibiting natures) were both while under the influence of heavy doses of Roche Rivotril / Klonopin (2 - 6mg on both occasions - I cannot remember exactly surprise surprise) about 10 years ago, with the second incident resulting in a permanent and prominent scar on my head. Whether this is a particular feature of the insidious potency of clonazepam, or whether it was down to the fact that I was using more clonazepam than any other benzodiazepine at the time and that these behaviours may have been displayed anyway under the equivalent euipotency of a similar drug, is for researchers to debate.

I have continued to use these drugs on occasion, and at high doses, since without further incident. This is, I hope at least in part due to the insight these experiences gave me but I am also conscious of the fact that it only may take the wrong set of circumstances while I am under the influence of a benzodiazepine for this sort of reaction to occur again in the future.
 
Ativan and librium are sometimes used because they have a lower recreational and sedative effect compared to a strong hypnotic benzo like tamazepam or a shorrt acting one like Xanax. I found Ativan had the least negative effects on my cognition. Long term high dose benzo addiction can cause serious problems in terms of cognition. Many experience lasting effects after getting off the drugs years later.
 
It's all driven by context.

If someone has extreme anxiety, their cognition might be significantly improved if they take a reasonable dose of a benzodiazepine before giving a speech.

By the same token, many people who don't have ADHD or narcolepsy, find their cognition hampered when they take classical stimulants, until tolerance develops.
 
Alpha5 agonism is considered to be the main culprit for memory / cognition issues, but even CL-218,872 which is selective for alpha1 has amnestic effects accompanying hypnotic effects. Some of the Z-drugs are also kinda selective in this respect but can obviously be terrible on the cogs.

This would be among the very few benzos that is actually considered nootropic:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Α5IA

The α5 subtype is expressed predominantly in the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved with learning and memory, and activation of this subtype is thought to be largely responsible for producing the cognitive side effects displayed by many benzodiazepine and nonbenzodiazepine drugs, such as amnesia and difficulties with learning and memory. This led researchers to conclude that a drug acting as an inverse agonist at this subtype should have the opposite effect and enhance learning and memory
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But this benzo isn't "out there" really. Clearly they still have a way to go to tackle things like amnestic / ataxic or dependency liability properties and isolate the beneficial qualities of these sedatives in novel pharms.
It also is not a benzodiazepine, but I guess a non-benzodiazepine like the Z-drugs. Which is a terrible term in my opinion, I don't understand why they wouldn't go with something like benzodiazepinoid / benzoid similar to opioids etc.
 
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