-
The Dark Side 💕 Welcome Guest 💕
Posting Rules Bluelight Rules Notable Threads Urgent Hotlines Bereavement Mindfulness Suicide Support Anger Management -
TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android
Benzo addiction - Cold turkey
- Thread starter Opioten
- Start date
That Old Broad
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2010
- Messages
- 4
If I were you.....
and wanted to take benzos for fun I'd pick something a lot shorter-acting than Valium. Its half-life is the longest of all, 200 hours (1/2 of what you took is still in your body 9 days later) and I would bet that at 20mg/week, addiction is a fair possibility. Xanax is much more potent, I know people who like to get buzzed on it & it's the only thing I know of that can cure a hangover but I have no idea what its half-life is.
There's a gazillion different kinds of benzos with all different half-lives, so I'd look at a comparison chart and pick whatever leaves your system the fastest and even then I wouldn't take it more than every 10 days - 2 weeks. They're weird drugs and they're sneaky. By themselves they're some of the safest drugs around - it's not easy to overdose on benzos - but they're completely unpredictable combined with alcohol. In other words, just because you had a blast and survived last Saturday doesn't mean your odds of survival will be exactly the same if you take the exact same amount of stuff under the exact same conditions next Saturday. Toxicity levels of most everything are consistent within each person, but a person's benzo/alcohol tox level appears to change whenever it feels like it. So when you get into even the lowest double-digit dosages (of Valium, I mean, I'm not familiar with much else) and 12-packs of beer, you really are playing Russian roulette.
Yet you can safely take 100 mg of Valium all at once if you take nothing else. I don't know why you'd want to, 'cause all you'll do is stumble around buzzed for half an hour, pass out, sleep for 3 days and wake up bewildered but none the worse for wear and if that's your idea of fun, who am i to argue - but I do know a guy who passed out in his car with his shoulder in a weird position and had to have his arm amputated 'cause he didn't move for three days and it died. True story, so when you take your last stumble be sure it's into bed.
A half milligram of Xanax and a beer probably won't hurt you (never bothered me a bit, I did it for years), but I wouldn't push it and do 5mg and a 6-pack.
Have a nice time,
That Old Broad
and wanted to take benzos for fun I'd pick something a lot shorter-acting than Valium. Its half-life is the longest of all, 200 hours (1/2 of what you took is still in your body 9 days later) and I would bet that at 20mg/week, addiction is a fair possibility. Xanax is much more potent, I know people who like to get buzzed on it & it's the only thing I know of that can cure a hangover but I have no idea what its half-life is.
There's a gazillion different kinds of benzos with all different half-lives, so I'd look at a comparison chart and pick whatever leaves your system the fastest and even then I wouldn't take it more than every 10 days - 2 weeks. They're weird drugs and they're sneaky. By themselves they're some of the safest drugs around - it's not easy to overdose on benzos - but they're completely unpredictable combined with alcohol. In other words, just because you had a blast and survived last Saturday doesn't mean your odds of survival will be exactly the same if you take the exact same amount of stuff under the exact same conditions next Saturday. Toxicity levels of most everything are consistent within each person, but a person's benzo/alcohol tox level appears to change whenever it feels like it. So when you get into even the lowest double-digit dosages (of Valium, I mean, I'm not familiar with much else) and 12-packs of beer, you really are playing Russian roulette.
Yet you can safely take 100 mg of Valium all at once if you take nothing else. I don't know why you'd want to, 'cause all you'll do is stumble around buzzed for half an hour, pass out, sleep for 3 days and wake up bewildered but none the worse for wear and if that's your idea of fun, who am i to argue - but I do know a guy who passed out in his car with his shoulder in a weird position and had to have his arm amputated 'cause he didn't move for three days and it died. True story, so when you take your last stumble be sure it's into bed.
A half milligram of Xanax and a beer probably won't hurt you (never bothered me a bit, I did it for years), but I wouldn't push it and do 5mg and a 6-pack.
Have a nice time,
That Old Broad
swmo
Bluelighter
valium and straight wild turkey took this guy i used to know and i even told him earlier not to be pounding whiskey with any benzo. another woman i knew worked the party he was at and said he was poundin turkey all night. his gf and paramedics got him awake and he refused ambulance service later that night. next morning when i saw an ambulance there, i just knew he was gone...
TINK
Bluelighter
You can die from benzo withdrawls..... it can cause seizures.
I just got off 2 mg a day of xanax, it took me about a month to taper off. What helped me the most was magnesium supplements and Phenergan.
The magnesium supplementation has really helped my anxiety. I no longer have to take the xanax and I am not having those crazy thoughts that just don't seem to go away. It has really helped quiet my mind.
I also have depression, migraines, hypothyroidism, auto-immune disorder and fibromyalgia, and the supplement has helped with sleep and muscle aches.
Please be careful when stopping any medication cold turkey. Being addicted can be dangerous but stopping the drug can be even more dangerous. Be an informed consumer and become empowered with knowledge. I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful doctor. Good luck!
I just got off 2 mg a day of xanax, it took me about a month to taper off. What helped me the most was magnesium supplements and Phenergan.
The magnesium supplementation has really helped my anxiety. I no longer have to take the xanax and I am not having those crazy thoughts that just don't seem to go away. It has really helped quiet my mind.
I also have depression, migraines, hypothyroidism, auto-immune disorder and fibromyalgia, and the supplement has helped with sleep and muscle aches.
Please be careful when stopping any medication cold turkey. Being addicted can be dangerous but stopping the drug can be even more dangerous. Be an informed consumer and become empowered with knowledge. I am fortunate enough to have a wonderful doctor. Good luck!
HippieChick
Bluelighter
^ very true.. im bipolar and addicted to benzos and opiates
I'm on Zyprexa and a few others for bipolar, a klonpin taper to get off benzos (I'm half way through it :D ) and suboxone for opiate maintenance. I know most likely i will be on the bipolar meds my whole life, i have anxiety but have found an alternative to benzos to deal with it so i can come off those, but i also feel i will need suboxone or some type of opiate for the rest of my life as it seems to help tremendously with bipolar *for me*.. having addictions and mental health issues together sucks, but i haven't killed myself yet
I was diagnosed with bipolar about 8 years ago ... went to a few 'group' meetings ... was given (well not given but prescribed) Lamictal for awhile. But while I was in the volutary rehab place, I met lots of 'contacts'. And being the addict that I am - I went to the 'fake' Dr. who was writting me scripts for valium ... same reason I was in rehab to begin with. So recently after smoking some wanna-be weed, like K2 diamond something, I freak out. All those years of holding back traumas came back to me like a flood that I could not block out - I became unable to cope with anything. My husband came home from work and I went into a counseling place and he asked me some questions and seems to think I was miss-diagnosed all those years ago and seems to think I have borderline personality disorder. I'm not exactly sure what my point is, but it seems I remember reading somewhere that 70% of people with mental illnesses have problems with drugs/alcohol. I go in for my 'intake' Thurs. Jan. 6th. Looking forward to being comfortable in my own skin and not being so mad all the time. It gets really old.
TINK
Bluelighter
^^^^ good luck!
I am so happy to be finally comfortable in my own skin. It really does feel good. I wish that you will be able to feel that experience soon.
IMO getting the help is the biggest step - at least for me. Once I resolved that I needed help the rest came easily.
I am so happy to be finally comfortable in my own skin. It really does feel good. I wish that you will be able to feel that experience soon.
IMO getting the help is the biggest step - at least for me. Once I resolved that I needed help the rest came easily.