@dalpat077 Yeah man congrats. Been reading your posts and have gained respect. Your advice over the last year has been spot on with alprazolam. Actally same to
@emkee_reinvented. Actually same to just about everyone in the thread.
Wow. Those are nice words. Thanks.
You mean to say that my periodic rants and raves in CEPS can be forgiven and overlooked (to a degree) in lieu of my benzodiazepine harm reduction advice?
I wonder what a doctor would do if someone said they take 100 mgs of alprazolam a day.
Therein lies the danger in this case I would imagine. For better or for worse: the OP is taking legit Alprazolam it would seem (were that not the case I probably would have laughed this one off i.e. if we were talking about fake Xanax bars, for instance, I'd have questioned the dosage). Point being: if for some reason this little operation that the OP has got going is found out and they stop dispensing: he is then in a world of shit. And if that happens: then it's to the street to buy fakes. And we know what the dangers of that course of action could be.
As for a legit doctor finding out: good question. Really good question actually. Would they be sympathetic to the problem and help with tapering? I really don't know. Here in South Africa: I cannot see any legit GP prescribing the equivalent of, say, 3 000mg of Alprazolam per month. If they did that: best case scenario one of the dispensing pharmacies would raise a red flag for sure to the Medical Control Council. The max. we get here are 1mg tablets and the biggest bottle is 100 tablets. So you're talking about, say, 30 x 100 1mg bottles for a month. I don't see that happening. That's almost like bulk buying!
I could be wrong: but I don't see a GP taking this on (not here anyway). Probably be referred to a rehab. clinic or something. And that comes with a whole bunch of its own shit. Not least of which is the cost from what I gather. From what I've seen around here: rehab. clinics are a luxury (go figure).
And then of course and also based on personal experience: I question as to just how much GP's know about these things. I still have, and always will have, much respect for my (now retired) GP. I know he meant no harm in simply increasing my dosage back in the day. I just don't think he knew of the long term ramifications. And unless you're dealing with somebody like a psychiatrist and who specializes in these types of medications: I put it to you that there are better informed people right here when it comes to benzodiazepines than your average GP. Speaking for myself: for damn sure I know more about them than my (now retired) GP.
Matter of fact and just came to think of it: I remember clearly the day I ran out (when on 12mg). Started feeling odd, was a Saturday morning, my GP wasn't available, so my girlfriend got a hold of her GP that day and explained the situation (the little that we'd manage to learn in a few hours, that Saturday morning, from The Ashton Manual anyway). What does her GP do? Didn't want to get involved, said she didn't know enough about benzodiazepines, and dispensed some or the other arbitrary calming type of medication to supposedly tide me over until the Monday morning. I cannot even remember the name now but do remember that it was something like the equivalent of 0.25mg of Alprazolam x 1 tablet (as it turned out). Basically went from 12mg Alprazolam to 0.25mg of "whatever" in an instant and had to hold out until Monday morning. Now THAT wasn't pleasant by any stretch of the imagination. Filled my prescription that Monday morning and immediately started tapering as described (never even mentioned it to my GP i.e. to this day he doesn't know what happened). But from there it was pretty much smooth sailing to be honest. I think the most frightening part was not knowing what the fuck was going on or had happened i.e. as noted up until that day I had no idea about these things.
Of course: they became a source of fascination for me in spite of all of the above. I think I've read just about everything I can on them and watched just about every documentary known to man on them. There's just something about their action and their potency etc. that has, since then, always fascinated me. But that's just me of course!
I must just add: I don't think they're evil pharma. as some say. For damn sure they have their place. Personal opinion is that issues caused by benzodiazepines are more medical professional related than benzodiazepines themselves. Here a 6 month repeat of these things is nothing. In some other countries and unless under special circumstances: the most you'll get is a 7 or 14 day prescription and not repeatable without a consultation. Same with z-drugs (Zopiclone and Zolpidem). And 6 months is ample time to end up with a physical dependence and which will result in withdrawal.
Irony of all of this: legit Alprazolam is one of the cheapest medications on the market (here anyway). And of course because I've not been taking my full prescriptions for the last year but have continued filling them: I now have more Alprazolam in the cupboard left over than some pharmacies stock at a given time! And they ain't worth shit!

Murphy and that damn law of his!
That is why I think it is important to follow some of the other threads where people tapered themselves lower and then went. Then when they got lower they ended up going to a doctor. But please no CT on this one. BL is a great resource for some of these success stories. I have seen even painless tapers reported from some people. (one can only hope I guess)
Best advice above and I'm obviously in agreement. Just now the OP goes to a GP, GP says not a fuck, doesn't know what they're doing, flags the OP somehow, and then there's shit coming for sure. And as I noted above: maybe the OP gets referred to a rehab. clinic or something and that comes with its own shit.
Listen up. When it comes to simply walking away from shit I'm just lucky it would seem. Certainly no hero. But if nothing else: I've managed to come out the other side unscathed (although some will argue that my brain is indeed fucked!

) (needless to say I don't agree!

). But I've been through benzodiazepine withdrawal and tapering (and even fucking around with it now, just for the hell of it, as noted). And walking away from Cocaine, after about two decades, did that too (but that, as I've noted too many times, was simply as a result of my getting pissed off with being ripped off toward the end). Two totally different things though. I still consider Cocaine a habit more than an addiction. Benzodiazepines the opposite. The psychological withdrawal from Cocaine far worse than physical withdrawal from benzodiazepines (in my opinion anyway). It's no secret around these parts that I still fly the Cocaine flag and this 2 decades later! Benzodiazepines: once you've kicked them they're not something you really hanker after or think about really. Alcohol? Never had a physical addiction either. Psychological: probably i.e. I miss those days of getting totally fucked for three days on end every few weeks or so and just basically fucking around with my music and shit. Physically now? No thanks! Give me a benzodiazepine or Cocaine hangover any day of the week over an alcohol hangover!
