What is the worst drug to have withdrawals from?

[the_void]

I vote GABA-B agonist eg GHB and baclofen. Just as bad as benzodiazepines , but at least with benzos doctors know about the physical dependence - with this stuff many don’t know what to do

This story is one of drug horror stories that stuck with me, early on doctors didn’t know the protocol (baclofen) for GHB withdrawal, and will Hollingsworth starts seeing shadow people , thinks he’s the son of god and the article ends with him committing suicide by setting himself on fire

National Drug Prevention Alliance & PPP » A Broken Mind

Baclofen has been used for treatment for alcoholism, when they run out of it people have ended up so out they can’t explain what it is they’re withdrawing from in ER, they given midazolam and it doesn’t help much

(I have UTFSE didn’t come up with anything . If this board is more for intermittent crises please redirect the thread elsewhere)

 

[deficiT]

TDS =====> DC; Since you're comparing the experience of different drug withdrawals I thought it'd be more suited for Drug Culture

 

[jhjhsdi]

In my personal experience, benzos.
The only thing that really helped me through my taper was being on ketamine 24/7.
I had mild opiate withdrawal before, nothing heavy, CT from a 400mg a day tramadol habit that lasted a few months - it was a drop in the ocean compared to my benzo one.
I was coming off of a mix of real and RC benzos - equivalent to at least 400mg diazepam/20mg xanax a day the taper took a long time, few months, can't l remember exactly now, it was around 2014/15 i think, defo before I went to rehab for ket in 2016...

 

[deficiT]

Physically for me the worst was heroin/fentanyl. The withdrawal just hits so hard and so fast, that stuff was so short acting that you were just constantly battling through on the edge of withdrawal. Suboxone and kratom barely touched it.

Mentally I've had a harder struggle getting off benzos due to the rebound anxiety, but luckily for me, Suboxone seemed to do the trick to help me get through the worst of it. Might sound counterintuitive but the Suboxone just helped alleviate my stress levels when getting off of benzos.

 

[sewerslide.666mg]

for me it was benzo and alcohol withdrawal with a concussion at the same time it was my own personal hell
i couldn't desipher dreams from reality
audio hallucinate for weeks it took over a month to feel normal, ive mentioned it i few times on BL

 

[the_void]

for me it was benzo and alcohol withdrawal with a concussion at the same time it was my own personal hell
i couldn't desipher dreams from reality
audio hallucinate for weeks it took over a month to feel normal, ive mentioned it i few times on BL

Yeah that sound pretty unpleasant

 

[yubacity]

Only withdrawn from heroin and pregabalin hard as that is the worse is over in a week but with benzos going through it for months or methadone fuck that i go mad

 

[the_void]

Hm. Hm, hm, hm.
The most dangerous withdrawal I experienced was from etizolam (result: seizures, ER, 8-month diazepam taper).

But the most unpleasant withdrawal came from phenibut, of all things. Worse than opioids, worse than etizolam, worse than any meth comedown. Why?
Simply because it induced the most truly horrendous RLS I have ever experienced. W/d symptoms from other drugs are often worse in some respects, and can involve a lot of RLS (whew, alcohol detox, bad time), but nothing drove me more absolutely out of my gourd batshit fucking insane than two solid weeks of crippling RLS. No sleep apart from uncontrolled napping in 30min intervals whenever my body forced itself off; every night spent pacing or hiking, constant audio hallucinations and visual disturbances. Inexplicably (to me, at least), it was substantially worse than any of the benzos I've been dependent on. Granted, I used phenibut in horrifying doses with horrifying frequency, but... man, nothing touches it, for me.

The most difficult withdrawal was [insert benzo here]; at least with opioids I feel better at some point (methadone notwithstanding), the benzo PAWS pretty much ruined an entire year of my life. The anxiety... couldn't hold down a job, familial relationships frayed. Physique went to tarts because I felt like I couldn't leave the house, and would get resurgent RLS if I over-exerted myself or ate certain foods (sugar: bad for PAWS)

Dude I couldn’t agree with you more . GHB, baclofen, phenibut, those GABAB withdrawal are way worse than benzo withdrawal

 

[ChinaGroove]

Personaly I say Opiates. Dialudid wd comes on fast and it can be viscious. It cuts through you like a buzz saw. I never really withdrew off of like Heroin or Opana tho because I almost always had a very reliable connect for the Dilaudid while the other two were a little more hit or miss at times.
As for Methadone I've never gone without long enough to feel it's full on wrath (thank god and knock on wood). I have withdrawn from Bupe tho. It's the most depressing, achey, drawn out wd of the ones I've felt really hard.
Other than that, pwd was a BITCH. I never ever want to go thru that again. Oh my god. Normal human function is impossible for two hours during that crap.
That's my experience. But from what I've heard Alcohol and Benzo wd is worse. They can cause seizures and even psychosis like symptoms apparently. Sounds evil.

 

[MDPV_Psychosis]

High dose Tianeptine withdrawal, say like after taking 3g per day or more for an extended period of time, is the worst wds I've experienced. Very intense physical, mental and emotional wds. The existential dread / hopelessness / depression is off the charts. Turmoil of the worst caliber.

For what it's worth, though, I not been through any gaba like wd, so no exp with benzo wd for example. Have had numerous wd from all sorts of opioids and have also had to stop some pretty heavy and long term stimulant habits as well.

 

[ions]

Heroin

 

[trogere]

I vote GABA-B agonist eg GHB and baclofen. Just as bad as benzodiazepines , but at least with benzos doctors know about the physical dependence - with this stuff many don’t know what to do

This story is one of drug horror stories that stuck with me, early on doctors didn’t know the protocol (baclofen) for GHB withdrawal, and will Hollingsworth starts seeing shadow people , thinks he’s the son of god and the article ends with him committing suicide by setting himself on fire

National Drug Prevention Alliance & PPP » A Broken Mind

Baclofen has been used for treatment for alcoholism, when they run out of it people have ended up so out they can’t explain what it is they’re withdrawing from in ER, they given midazolam and it doesn’t help much

(I have UTFSE didn’t come up with anything . If this board is more for intermittent crises please redirect the thread elsewhere)

I never thought things could go so crazy with GHB. I took a few doses in my early twenties and I never understood all the hype. Now, I understand a bit more about some older people around me who were heavy in GHB, meth and ket.

 

[kinkyjohn]

Massive high dose fentanyl binges (I recommend cruising the insane buzzes from OD's offset with meth). I've experienced levels of pain that break the formation of meaning from stimulus as all stimulus is some form of pain. It also involves constant wretching and you'd likely die without an IV. Bupe quiet literally saved my life as you can switch onto it .. don't wait for the withdrawal to start as precipitated withdrawal is the tourist version as it doesn't last long enough for the dehydration to get to you or for your mind to go. It's nowhere near as unpleasant as the withdrawal at 12 hours.

Though the most likely you'll encounter from sane drug use is benzos ... though it varies a lot by person. I've taken 8-10mg of xanax for 6 months and stopped cold .. with no withdrawal. That said .. I had one from 4 months of valium. Some people get them real easy though .. I guess the opiate and benzo systems overlap in functionality .. and it depend how your configured.

I say benzos as though opiates are worse at their peak they just don't persist the same way and you generally get back to normal fast (literally 2 weeks from my crazy fentanyl WDs). It's hard to be certain though as I've never had a bad benzo WD and a lot of benzo WDs are from legal use (the real bad ones are probably from recreational users .. but I'm not certain). Junkies are people that usually start fucked so withdrawl is over when they're back to feeling shit. It's likely not the same for those who acquired their habit legally.

 

[4meSM]

Yeah, drugs that modulate GABA are some of the only (possibly *the* only? Someone fact check me if wrong) drugs that can and do kill people in withdrawal. Others make you want to die, but generally don't actually kill you.

If we're talking about somewhat recreational drugs then yeah I think it's mostly gabaergics that have life-threatening WD.
Actually I think any drug that either enhances the gabaergic system OR decreases neuronal excitability could be dangerous to quit cold turkey.
This is also the case with gabapentinoids which don't really modulate GABA (and if they do it's in a very indirect way). They instead bind to a specific subunit of calcium chanels.
Those kinds of drugs should never be stopped cold turkey once you have a decent habit because seizures are a very real possibility, plus the sudden spike in brain activity/excitability actually kills neurons (in other words, the WD causes brain damage).

Opioid WD can kill you but it's very rare, you would have to be in pretty poor health and/or severely dehydrated.

There are other very dangerous WDs though, for example coming off high doses of glucocorticoids (things like dexamethasone and prednisone) is thought to be extremely dangerous, a proper taper is always mandatory after like ~1-2 weeks of continuous use AFAIK.
I believe the same could be said for most types of heart medication, even stuff like beta blockers could cause a significant spike in blood pressure.

 

[AutoTripper]

In my personal experience, benzos.
The only thing that really helped me through my taper was being on ketamine 24/7.
I had mild opiate withdrawal before, nothing heavy, CT from a 400mg a day tramadol habit that lasted a few months - it was a drop in the ocean compared to my benzo one.
I was coming off of a mix of real and RC benzos - equivalent to at least 400mg diazepam/20mg xanax a day the taper took a long time, few months, can't l remember exactly now, it was around 2014/15 i think, defo before I went to rehab for ket in 2016...

I am in quite the ditch here myself. Us8ng Etizolam 10-15 mg's per day. Bit I have just about kept it capped there for now, consciously, I could easily have allowed it to continue to rise.

So it's only equiv to 100-150 mg's Diazepam per day (our universal marker lol).

My aim would be to get down to 8 mg's max per day, keep it there, as soon as comfortable enough, gradually taper down.

Maybe 0.5 or 1 mg per week. If I committed, stuck, with discipline, I would hooe to be able to endure the taper but could not take any prescribed meds due to allergies, only pure etizolam powder.

Cannabis and kava would be my only allies there.

Im not at that stage just yet. I need first to believe this world will actually be worth living in, to gather that drive and keep focus.

Currently it just isn't for myself. Just passing the days atm.

 

[Shelbel69]

Benzos for me

 

[jhjhsdi]

@AutoTripper yeah my addiction really ramped up once I got hold of etizolams mainly etizest, at one point I was eating a whole box of 50 most days.

Dropping by 0.5mg a week should be fine for you.

 

[oxyfen]

Opiates, really gives you suicidal thoughts.

 

[ChinaGroove]

Yeah, drugs that modulate GABA are some of the only (possibly *the* only? Someone fact check me if wrong) drugs that can and do kill people in withdrawal. Others make you want to die, but generally don't actually kill you.

I will add that pwd was probably the most dangerous wd I have been through. Evacuating all of my bodily fluids so quickly and the constant spasming. I was rapidly dehyderating. I honestly thought about going to the er but thank god it was mostly over after two hours and I could hold down water.

 

[MsDiz]

I thought tramadol was the worst until I stopped a 2 year pregabalin/gabapentin combo.

Stopping prednisone wasn’t fun but definitely easier than what I thought I was in for.

I’ve stopped fentanyl, morphine etc that I’ve been on in hospital for my condition and found them ok, a good taper plan is key plus obviously I was still staying on an opioid, obviously a lot less potent one though.