Thankfully the barbiturates and four separate benzos (plus fent) were OP's previous habit, trabamab.
You may have a taper plan, OP, but make sure it's the correct one, and you follow it.
And Lorne is a knowledgeable guy, but those are question marks after his name, not MD or Pharm.D. Very-long acting drugs were the norm in my day, not lorazepam, but I'll admit my days ended a while ago.
Benzo tapers, while going through acute alcohol withdrawal, is not going to be easy. We have so many threads of people trying to quit their benzos--the ones from their doctors can be a year long. When you are wide awake sweating and hearing things, too shaky to hold your water glass, the temptation to dip into your stockpile is going to be pretty damn big, for one thing.
And I say in solidarity, not judgment, that there are little indicators that you are less than honest or upfront with either just us or also yourself. Bad signs if you want to attempt this thing. But if you've got a support group at home willing to put up with you retching for a few days and refilling your dilute gatorade with Emergen-C powder multivitamin they dissolved in it, who can successfully hide your pills, and found your stashes, and hid all other downers in the house, go for it. I'll root for you.
There is a chance for a relatively cheap, or even free, inpatient deal. Some counties, at least in California, have Medicaid or state-funded detox programs that are really just washout dorms while you wait for halfway house placement (sober living is your destination, bud). You will need to make an appointment, on your own with your own doctor, to get your taper written and prescribed by an MD, and the detox center will dispense them to you Nurse Ratched-style.
You might get a half-assed AA meeting once a day, otherwise you pace and chain smoke for like two weeks.
But it's half the time of rehab, and possibly free if you qualify.
I was too lazy to check if he had Clonazepam, which he does; low dose clono is better unless he is the 5-10>% that have more severe side effects or paradoxical reactions
And lorazepam has A LONGER DURATION THAN VALIUM, I have posted multiple sources to that effect!
Of course if you take 40-50mg per day, it will build up( and after a few days, it is an intermediate acting benzodiazepine) however extremely lipophillic drugs that are 98% protein bound and rapidly redistributed into adipose tissue and even organs like the heart, will BEVER HAVE A VERY LONG DURATION OF ACTION; it just isn't the way it works; I know more about this than any ER md you run into, unless your in New Jersey and run into Dr. House
Even nordazepam has a medium-long duration of action that is dose dependent; they give it to you 3-4 times per diem in detox for a reason; of course in higher doses it can last 7-12 hours, in low doses more like 4-8hrs, with chronic use secondary effects can linger
AND the reason I said to QUICKLY transition to Valium is because it will be more effective after multiple doses, and more importantly, the dosages are low; after a brief transition, 5-10mg 34x per day will be plenty, then bid, then cut to 2.5-5mg, eventually at a sub therapeutic dose like 1.25-2.5 you can jump or go to an ND and get a script for low dose Valium
With a heavy habit, Clonazepam would be better; it is a more effective anticonvulsant and it holds longer than any common benzo, because it has a binding affinity comparable to buprenorphine and very low lipophillicity and water solubility, it gradually enters the CNS, yet slowly leaves
Times have changed, Scrofula, and most doctors don't know a damn thing about pharmacology and certainly not the true aspects of addiction; they do what they were taught and drive nice cars; of course I know nothing of open heart surgery, yet I don't attempt it... get the difference?
Read about these things Scrofula, or leave it to me; I do not mean that in rudeness I respect you, you have already taught me things and are almost always right/on the level, and you are hilarious
I am fucked up, yet people with MD's claimed my IQ made me one of the smartest people in the world; more recently they use it against me, saying that they can't be sure if I am manipulating them, and have wasted my potential, blah
Anyway sorry for rant, however this is one of the few things I am good at, and can be confident of
And I maintained that professional intervention was needed, even though it is often fucking useless, at least he would(should) be safe and supervised and given medications to prevent the complications we know all too well; of course he has more than enough meds, and frankly he could better than a 72 hour stay, and he does not want a 28 day stay
Your still awesome Scrofula, don't take this personally it is not it is about outdated notions on things as concrete as Tylenol being hepatoxic
z of gin got me drunk.