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Opioids alprazolam addicition..

And in that whole last week or more where I went with absolutely NO benzo's of any type, I didn't feel very bad WD symptoms at all.

Are you serious?

What I would give to have your genetic benzo-resistence.... not so I could take benzos, but so I could STOP.

It took time, and it happened in a strangely non-linear way, but I'm in a position now where I can taper down to just 10mg of diazepam a day and be OK... but if there's a sudden disruption to the supply, I'm FUCKED. The withdrawals I get now are so insane that I doubt many people would believe me if I described them.

Ages ago, I started to stupidly dabble with benzos on and off for around 6 months and experienced what I considered to be pretty awful rebound anxiety and insomnia. Gradually, without even really noticing, I was taking them every day. Several times I tapered down and successfully stopped - only to start up again a month or two later.

Now it's been nearly three years of daily benzo use. I take the minimum amount needed to keep the horror away, but like I said, even when I get down to really low doses that don't feel like they're doing much if I miss a day or two all hell breaks loose.

Benzo withdrawals get worse and worse the longer you take them. The duration of use seems to be far more indicative of the severity of withdrawals than the amount taken.

You're lucky you got off so lightly. Try and taper down and get off while you've still got that resilience.
 
yeah man, I was surprised as well. I was sure that there was going to be worse WDs, but what ever I can't complain.


The problem for me is that Alprazolam may be one of my very favorite pharmaceuticals. The effects I get from it are so great. I honestly think THC + Alprazolam is THE BEST HIGH.
 
Even taking 2mg a day for a week i'd feel like SHIT once stopping.

Prepare to feel hell on earth , or seizure. Good luck, next time don't be an idiot with dosing (sorry harsh but true.. coming from an addict him self )
 
lol people here make benzo withdrawal way OTT here. U have to be taking A LOT for months even years to get severe withdrawal. I never have any probs coming off say 50-60 mgs diazepam/clobazam rx'd daily for months in a row.

guess everyones different.

Really woulnd't mind some now, but I've asked for my script to be filled twice now early and got a no from 2 diff pharmacists and so I wait.
 
U have to be taking A LOT for months even years to get severe withdrawal.

NO!

guess everyones different.

YES!

I agree that you need to take benzos (not a lot, even a therapeutic amount will do it) for several months to become really physically dependent, but I wouldn't want anyone to read this and think "oh, so it's not that bad, I can keep taking my <whatever amount of whatever benzo> and I'll be right because it's only been a month or so.

Maybe I'm a feeble, weak-minded freak with terrible genes but I got BAD rebound anxiety even after short and modest binges. And a benzo hangover can be unpleasant, benzo rebound anxiety can be VERY unpleasant, but you do not want to get yourself into the position whereby you are totally and utterly dependent on benzos, and a sudden disruption to supply becomes a bona fide medical emergency.

Really, I wouldn't want anyone to take benzos lightly. Sure, people are different in their response, but if you can take benzos for weeks or months and then just stop and be fine, consider yourself lucky - but don't think it'll always be like that. Shit can change very quickly. That's what I mean in my previous post about how my journey into full blown benzo dependence was a strange and non-linear experience.

If there's anyone else on the board who's taken benzos daily for three years or more, and then abruptly had to stop then I'm sure they'll tell you there's nothing over the top about the horror of acute benzo WDs. They are worse than anything you can conjure up.

I'm not into fear mongering, I just am shocked by the experiences I've had with benzos and withdrawal. This is from someone who has cold turkeyed from heroin and other other opiates and made it through to sobriety without ANY helpers. That was hell, but severe benzo WDs are so much worse than that. The only word for it is: diabolical.

Stay safe.

EDIT:
What's that?!
 
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I've had pretty bad benzodiazepine withdrawal from stopping alrprazolam taking only about 1.5 mg a week for a month or two but then I was on clonazepam for seven months which was stopped abruptly; I barely remember any discomfort, though my psychiatrist did ask if I was anxious during the purported withdrawal stage. Yeah yeah I get that it was probably due to the longer half-life.
 
My experience....I messed around with klonopin (cant remember the dose) for 2 months, and then xanax for another 2 months (6-8 mg/day)........The withdrawl experience I endured from the Xanax was BY FAR the worst I have ever gone thru, compared to extreme alcohol withdrawl, vicodin withdrawl (I took about 30 10/325 norcos A DAY for 2 years, and suboxone (12mg per day for EIGHT YEARS). The alcohol withdrawl was moderate, the vicodin pretty bad, the suboxone worse and longer lasting, but the Xanax was a hell all its own. I actually checked myself into the hospital 2 days in because I was afraid I was going to die. The short half-life of Xanax makes it the crack of prescription drugs. You take it, and 4 hours later you need more.

In my experience, the real key to making it though any withdrawl is knowing where the bottom is and knowing how bad you will feel when you get there. With my opiate experience, I had a handle on the duration of the withdrawl, what to expect, and a solid knowledge of how bad it would be once I got there. With the Xanax, however, I just had no clue where the bottom would be and what it would be like. That's the worst part.

But, to each his own. But remember, as far as I know, opiate withdrawl can't really kill you, but alcohol and Benzo withdrawl sure as hell can.
 
In my experience, the real key to making it though any withdrawl is knowing where the bottom is and knowing how bad you will feel when you get there.

That can be a very nasty journey of discovery with benzo WD. Especially long-acting ones, and ESPECIALLY clonazepam and phenazepam. Aside from being horrific, the withdrawal experience does not follow a neat curve like opiate withdrawals - it's more like an elevator which plunges you down, down again, down a few more depths into hell - and then one day you go up two levels and think the worst is over. The next day it's down even further than before.

This can and will go on for months, yo-yoing up an down, feeling clearer one day and feeling hopeful, then feel lobotomized the next day. It drives you mad, because you just think it's never going to end, and just when you've seen a glimpse of light and think the end is near, it disappears again.

Like countless others, I'd read all about these horrors before I ever touched a benzo and I still wound up completely dependent. You just can't put into words the experience of severe benzo withdrawal.
 
Yeah you have a serious problem with Xanax.. You seem to be obsessed with it. You've made about 5-10 threads about it. Good luck.
 
i used 4-6mg for about 5 weeks straight and had a scary 'episode' different than any opiate withdrawals I ever suffered through. It was the only time I really felt suicidal..

200mg... in a week, yes you will feel it. Benzo withdrawals...well they are the king of withdrawals. The most severe opiate withdrawals can NOT come close to touching benzodiapine withdrawal. In terms of life or death, we all know benzo withdrawals can be fatal, but that feeling you get...there is just nothing like it. Last time I was in benzo withdrawal I was borderline calling 911 like 20 times in a 6 hour period because I kept feeling like iw as so close to having a grand map seizure.

You saved one bar to taper with?

I have absolutely no desire to use benzos.. after a short honeymoon period you get barely any high..and considering how severe withdrawals CAN AND WILL BE, its a pointless drug IMO. Its great for a single comedown off stims or something.

As a drug of choice? no.

Show me anyone who has been on benzodiapines over a year and is willing to quit. They just don't exist... the physical dependancy is so serious benzos create more lifers than any other drug in my opinion.

I would rather withdraw from a decade of heroin use every day all day straight use before withdrawing from 6 months of heavy benzo use
 
Well my problem is there is no other feeling like an great 'praz "high"! Some people claim to not like or even feel the effects from benzos, or even see them as recreational.Thats just crazy to me, I'm in love with benzo's, and i can't help it.

And I agree W/D's are horrid .... I hate it , every day after work I run to my room and dose just a couple mg, if that, only to ease my self and feel just regular. Im also sometimes dosing small amounts in the AM to help with work... its getting bad. And night is when the real fun usually is .

ugggh fucken alprazolam powder... i regret ever trying it out. Thats for sure.
 
It took me about 6months of frequent use of Xanax before I ever had withdrawal and it was very minor but then after taking 3mgs everyday for 4years I found out about the hell of benzo withdrawal. I withdrew from that and about 80mgs of methadone a day at the same time and I can't believe I made it through without killing myself. I could never even come close to describing the level of pure physiological and psychological torture. I even thought I was at work for a few days when I was really in my living room constructing couch and pillow buildings. My girl had to keep taking the barb-Q lighter because I thought it was my welder and I kept trying to torch the steel beams that were in reality the highly flammable pillows and curtains. On top of these delusions I was fully aware that I was withdrawing from Xanax.

I couldn't imagine hell being worse and if you think just taking long acting benzos will save you from the withdrawal then you are lucky so far or soon to be in for a hell of a surprise. Klonopin wasn't as intense but it lasted a very long time.
 
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aint no relief if feelin on xanax see whats thats thats whats me when i havent even begun to expereanse the full effex of what i would call total and ultimate fear.

I aint tryin to deal with such anxiety. I did 1mg of ativan for 5 years to go to sleep,and occasion panic attax with mayebe a couple, but it ended up taken me a good 6 months just to not feelin terrorfied of things like armageddon, death, and isolation.

benzo make me feel beautiful and bring me social anxiety and daily stress to what a NORMAL person shud feel is why I liked them, but the withdraw was aint not worth the terror.
(-_-)
 
Quick Sliding Taper

I would reccomend if you have been using any *SHORT-HALF-LIFE* benzo for more than 2 weeks (14 days) you *MIGHT* get withdrawals, of course you would get rebound symptoms. Anything longer and a short taper with a long-acting BZD such as Chlorodiazepoxide (Librium) or Diazepam (Valium). Sometimes Clonazepam (Rivotril), Flurazepam (Dalmane) or Nitrazepam (Alodorm) can suffice.

Switch to relative dose via the Ashton manual. The equivalency chart is only for getting off/detox, not for actual benzo strenghts (vs) etc etc.

So;

Switch to relative dose of Diazepam or Chlorodiazepoxide
Start at the dose you are stable on, and try to divide into Morning dose and mid-evening dose. The aim is to establish a slow decline of blood level, just like a graph going down. Diazepam stays in the body for 8 days (250hrs) thats with all its metabolites added. So it can take between 7-14days to start feeling withdrawals RE; taper or cold turkey.

Stabilise and you can do a *UK NHS PRISON DETOX* for 2 weeks alprazolam. Basically reduce by 5mg of Diazepam (VALIUM) a day, its very rapid and only suitable for benzo addiction of 2-4 weeks use. Usually its 40mg Diazepam (VALIUM) to 0.

__________________________________

Once you finish this taper, wait 4-7 days whilst avoiding anything that triggers withdrawals/worsens (Cannabinoids, stimulants, tramadol, cigarettes (lower levels in blood). If WD/s start, re-start but using a better taper given by someone else. Im in the UK btw.

All the best
 
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you'll be fine. maybe a couple sleepless nights, maybe go through a bit more cigarettes or weed or alcohol than normal but it's not as major as doctors suggest. i white knuckled it when i moved to another town and the doctors refused to renew my prescription and that was after several months of use.
 
Somehow I used to take mass amounts of benzos and never "withdrew" from them when I put them down for a long time. If it was such a horrible sickness, I feel I would remember it? Since going on benzo binges and being on them long-term, I put them down and now just use them for rare stim comedowns, to stop a bad mushroom trip, or just to sleep/stop anxiety/deal with asshats at work. I can't imagine the hell everyone talks about. I hope you manage alright, OP.
 
I took .5 mg of Xanax for 6 months, actually 1 mg towards the end, and I was fully prepared for hellish withdrawals but got lucky and only had some insomnia for about a week. Of course, I realize that my dose was pretty low.
 
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