Benzo & Cigarettes??

[Herbal~Jah]

So if I take too much alprazolam (or any benzo for that matter) one night and wake up the next morning feeling kinda 'groggy', i call it the xanax hangover.. And if I smoke one or two cigarettes in the morning it makes the "benzo hangover" go away to a noticeable effect, and it wakes me up a lot and clears the next morning 'benzo fog' in my brain (Those Monster Rehab drinks work good).. So there's defiantly something to cigarettes making xanax clear out faster or lessen its effects. I never noticed until I researched it and found a few articles saying cigarettes actually reduce alprazolam (XaNaX) in the blood by up to 50%!! (it was in some science of medicine journal).. So my questions, do other benzo's act the same way? Like klonopin, ativan, valium, Temazepam, etc) or is just xanax?


PS - I know when I take benzos the night before and wake up the next morning with an "benzo (usually xanax) hangover) I'll always grab a Monster Rehab Drink and smoke a cig and it clears the morning benzo grogginess right away.. But I only have to do this if I take too many benzo's.. which isn't often.

 

[Mass08]

Are you sure it's not the fact that your consuming two different stimulants? (Nicotine and Caffeine)

 

[blight12]

^^ This

 

[alovesupreme]

as above, but do note that cigarette smoking will speed elimination of many benzodiazepines from the body and can reduce the strength of effects. it doesn't stop me from smoking em, though...

 

[Swimmingdancer]

I never noticed until I researched it and found a few articles saying cigarettes actually reduce alprazolam (XaNaX) in the blood by up to 50%!! (it was in some science of medicine journal)

Do you have links for these? I can not find much on the topic. I would be very interested to read them.

Are you sure it's not the fact that your consuming two different stimulants? (Nicotine and Caffeine)

^This. I would think that would be a much larger factor.

do note that cigarette smoking will speed elimination of many benzodiazepines from the body

Can you help me find any studies on this? This is news to me. All I have been able to find so far is vague statements like "Cigarette smoking may decrease the effectiveness of diazepam or alprazolam". Is this true for all benzos? And what is the mechanism behind it? Any evidence that smoking actually speeds elimination or decreases blood levels? And is it just being a smoker in general, or actually something that happens when you smoke a cigarette?

I found this study:

Ten otherwise healthy cigarette smokers (mean, 31 cigarettes per day), and ten nonsmoking control volunteers matched for age, weight, and sex received single intravenous doses of diazepam (5 to 10 mg), midazolam (5 mg), and lorazepam (2 mg) on three separate occasions. Kinetics of each benzodiazepine were determined from multiple serum concentrations measured after each dose. In non-smoking vs smoking subjects, there was no significant difference in mean clearance of diazepam, midazolam, or lorazepam. Thus, differences in pharmacokinetics are unlikely to account for altered sensitivity to benzodiazepines that may occur in cigarette smokers.

And this study:

Seven subjects were smokers, and five were nonsmokers. Each subject took a single oral dose of 0.8 mg of alprazolam, and blood samples were collected up to 48 hours postdose. Psychomotor function was assessed at times of blood samplings using the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and UKU Side Effect Rating Scale. Plasma alprazolam concentrations were measured by a high-performance liquid chromatography assay. Although the mean elimination half-life was shorter in the smoker group (10.2-16 hrs) than in the nonsmoker group 17.3- 22.7 hrs) other pharmacokinetic parameters did not differ significantly between the two groups. Psychomotor function parameters did not differ significantly between the nonsmoker and smoker groups. The present study thus suggests that extensive cigarette smoking does not have a major impact on the metabolism of alprazolam in humans.

 

[Engage]

I've read somewhere, can't find the link right now, that nicotine lessens the effects of (at least) Clonazepam by something like 30%.
If memory serves. Will keep searching for that link....

 

[alovesupreme]

i'll have to look for a source on that assertion but i recall the premise being that smoking enhances enzymatic activity responsible for metabolism of benzodiazepines.

 

[Engage]

Yeah, pretty much what i read as well.
Tagamet, increases many things though...
May want to look into that.