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BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic
Are benzos just alcohol in pill form?
- Thread starter Jungo871
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Neuroborean
Bluelight Crew
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it's totally real
I didn't experience it myself but I've seen my gf taking too much while having hard times and she goes completely nuts, not just disinhibition, completely crazy.
Aggresive and non-sensical.
femaletrouble
Bluelighter
I prefer benzos over alcohol! I've never been a big drinker 5 pints an I feel drunkish. But any more and I'm throwing up. If I could get smashed on diazepam every day without getting into big trouble with addiction an withdrawals then to me that would be a no brainer
ChemicallyEnhanced
Bluelighter
No; they're similar but definitely not the same. They cause the sedation/anxiolysis etc in the same way but they don't have the intoxicant-type properties of alcohol.
They don't fuck up your body anywhere near as much. They are just as addictive though and, as with alcohol (and barbiturates), sudden withdrawal is classed as a medical emergency and can be fatal.
They don't fuck up your body anywhere near as much. They are just as addictive though and, as with alcohol (and barbiturates), sudden withdrawal is classed as a medical emergency and can be fatal.
Xorkoth
Bluelight Crew
No, benzos are substantially different from alcohol. Alcohol is a very promiscuous molecule, it hits many receptor types including GABA-A, dopamine, NMDA, and it is also a ligand of voltage-gated ion channels. In contrast, benzos are pretty much focused exclusively on GABA-A, so they're much cleaner in their effects, and also much less recreational. But they will cover for each other, ie, if dependent on alcohol, benzos will prevent withdrawal. Interestingly, the opposite is less true. Alcohol will help with benzo withdrawals, but it won't work nearly as well as benzos do for alcohol withdrawal.
Alcohol feels far more euphoric, and is far more intoxicating, than benzos are. Benzos are much better at masking anxiety than alcohol is. Benzos produce amnesia more easily, and are relatively non-toxic (except with long-term abuse, and during withdrawal). Benzos also last much longer than alcohol does, even the short acting ones (and some of them last 10 times as long, or more). Alcohol is much more acutely damaging drug, it's extremely toxic, moreso than almost any other drug.
Benzos are much different than simply being alcohol in pill form. An alcoholic is likely going to be disappointed by benzos. With alcohol, there is a dopamine rush and a heavy intoxication. benzos are subtle... people usually feel far less intoxicated than they actually are. The first time I tried benzos, I was like uh, am I even feeling anything? This is IT? Why do people obsess about these things? I took 3mg of xanax, a pretty heavy dose. The next day, though, I couldn't remember the last half of the night. t was a huge disappointment, Nowadays, I just use benzos to help me sleep when I have insomnia, and to come down from drugs or occasionally to take the edge off of stimulants. Benzos are amazing for those purposes, but as recreational drugs, not so much. Alcohol is much more pleasurable recreational drug.
Alcohol feels far more euphoric, and is far more intoxicating, than benzos are. Benzos are much better at masking anxiety than alcohol is. Benzos produce amnesia more easily, and are relatively non-toxic (except with long-term abuse, and during withdrawal). Benzos also last much longer than alcohol does, even the short acting ones (and some of them last 10 times as long, or more). Alcohol is much more acutely damaging drug, it's extremely toxic, moreso than almost any other drug.
Benzos are much different than simply being alcohol in pill form. An alcoholic is likely going to be disappointed by benzos. With alcohol, there is a dopamine rush and a heavy intoxication. benzos are subtle... people usually feel far less intoxicated than they actually are. The first time I tried benzos, I was like uh, am I even feeling anything? This is IT? Why do people obsess about these things? I took 3mg of xanax, a pretty heavy dose. The next day, though, I couldn't remember the last half of the night. t was a huge disappointment, Nowadays, I just use benzos to help me sleep when I have insomnia, and to come down from drugs or occasionally to take the edge off of stimulants. Benzos are amazing for those purposes, but as recreational drugs, not so much. Alcohol is much more pleasurable recreational drug.
The only exception for this is Temazepam, people were injecting them, watch drug rule on YouTube, people getting murdered over a benzo, it's mad. I still find alcohol more recreational, benzos are good to chill and give you a false sense of sobriety esp the hypnotic benzos. This reply was very informative and explained my question in great detail. My conclusion is they are similar but very different drugs
The essential answer to this questions is, yes. It's a little more complicated than that, but they're basically analogous in their effects. Be aware, this doesn't apply to the secondary physiological effects on the body resulting from the metabolism of Alcohol. Benzodiazepines do not cause damage to the liver and various other organs of the body in the same way that Alcohol does, but Benzodiazepines have negative side effects of their own to be aware of anyway.
Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
One of the easiest ways to identify that alcohol and benzodiazepines act differently in the body is that flumazenil, a GabaA receptor antagonist, that antagonizes the effects of benzodiazepines and acts as an antidote to benzodiazepine overdose and intoxication, does not work for ethanol intoxication at the same dose.
This quite clearly indicates that even at the Gaba receptor alcohol and benzodiazepines act differently and in different locations.
This quite clearly indicates that even at the Gaba receptor alcohol and benzodiazepines act differently and in different locations.
Nas47
Road-Weary Traveler
Alc react on much more receptors,than benzos.It's a "dirty"drug in that sence
SpiralusSancti
Bluelighter
Someone knows what benzo goes with meat and what with fish?
xtcgrrrl
Bluelight Crew
Knowing this now makes a lot of things I did in the past make sense in retrospect…I always assumed I had a hot temper that cooled with time and age. However, it might’ve been a little of this, as well. I’m fairly level-headed these days
Neuroborean
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Do you have BPD diagnosed as well?
excuse me if you said it anywhere else... my adhd memory is just.. a very bad and superselective one...
I think in her case was a mix of BPD dissociative states and benzos, but I think I could recognize the difference/aspects of each one...
benzos make people behave like idiots/insane people (they are not) if they go overboard with them
xtcgrrrl
Bluelight Crew
I was diagnosed with BPD at one time, a diagnosis I disagreed with. But then, I was also diagnosed with bipolar type II, ADHD, general anxiety disorder, seasonal affective disorder, major depressive disorder, substance abuse disorder, panic disorder, cPTSD, and I cycled through several different eating disorders as well…only a few of these diagnoses I feel were accurate, mostly I was just given a fuckload of medication. Which is why I loathe Big Pharma, but I digress….
Labels, labels. Does it really even matter?! At this point in time I’m more stable than ever and not on a single psychiatric medication
Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
Agreed. The last shrink I went to 5 years ago diagnosed me with all sorts of shit, some of which I never agreed with (maybe I'm just not good at describing symptoms). At one point I was taking 9 (!!) different medications simultaneously. They didn't really help much, and with all their side effects they just made me feel worse.I was diagnosed with BPD at one time, a diagnosis I disagreed with. But then, I was also diagnosed with bipolar type II, ADHD, general anxiety disorder, seasonal affective disorder, major depressive disorder, substance abuse disorder, panic disorder, cPTSD, and I cycled through several different eating disorders as well…only a few of these diagnoses I feel were accurate, mostly I was just given a fuckload of medication. Which is why I loathe Big Pharma, but I digress….
Labels, labels. Does it really even matter?! At this point in time I’m more stable than ever and not on a single psychiatric medication
I moved across country and stopped taking the meds and felt a lot better. I'd rather just live with my brain instead of trying to "fix" it with a bunch of chemicals that just make me feel bleh.
There's been way too much of a shift in psychiatry in the last 25 years to diagnose and label every tiny little thing. 25 years ago a lot of these diagnoses didn't even exist... if you were different, you weren't X or Y or Z with X features... you were just UNIQUE, because we all are unique.
That shrink had me on olanzapine, lithium, oxcarbazepine, sertraline, propranolol, hydrochlorothiazide, eszopiclone, adderall and librium... all at the same time. It ended up making me a zombie and gave me narcoleptic like symptoms which got me fired from my job.
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foodcrisis
Bluelighter
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benzos never give me the spins like alcohol. like if i take one pill or five or more, i just pass out. i don't really withdraw from benzos either. i find on benzos i can get a full night sleep if i use them to pass out. i wake up feeling refreshed, unless i really over do taking them... with alcohol i get the spins if i over do it, and even if i don't over do it and just use it to relax and fall asleep, i'll only be asleep for a few hours. i used to do this while working some jobs, i'd drink alcohol before bed to get into a heavy sleep and then wake up after a couple hours to feel like there is more time in the day. this always catches up with me... i've never gotten headaches from withdrawing from benzos either, but with alcohol my body just wants more and more and i get headaches if i don't get it. i don't drink or do benzos anymore. i never really had that strong of a benzo addiction either. i always seemed to be using them between other drugs, which kept my body from getting too dependant. i could probably use benzos non stop for a long period and i bet i'd get headaches. for the most part though, my body just starts craving alcohol a lot quicker it seems, maybe cause it's euphoric and benzos aren't really to me all i do is fall asleep.
Even if we agreed about some diagnoses/conditions, they commonly require arbitrary amount of arbitrary symptoms from arbitrary class A and then arbitrary amount from arbitrary class B
Some journalist or sort of wrote that psychiatry is like playing golf in fog
I am convinced I have distinctive, fundamental conditions but I feel utter disappointment when checking ICD-10 or DSM-V for them
Some journalist or sort of wrote that psychiatry is like playing golf in fog
I am convinced I have distinctive, fundamental conditions but I feel utter disappointment when checking ICD-10 or DSM-V for them