Benzos Benzo tolerance?

[Benergy]

Hi,

I'm curious about benzodiazapine tolerance. Why do some benzos cause tolerance faster than others? Is it to do with their half-life? Their strength? Where can i find out more about which benzos produce tolerance the most rapidly, which don't, and how to best avoid tolerance?

Are there any recreational drugs that people don't develop a tolerance to?

Thank you

 

[mr. red]

The fast acting benzos like alprazolam and lorazepam cause tolerance faster than others, because their "high" is shorter and more intense, including the onset. The shorter the half-life, the more intense the effects and the greater the addictive and abusive potentials.

 

[CrackAndScrabble]

Use the search bar and search for The Benzo megathread and you can compare half lives of the different benzos.

The best way to avoid tolerance though is do a small amount every couple weeks. Don't make it a habit. Benzos are rough hill to go up.

 

[yb62338]

The speed at which tolerance develops to benzos has to do with their onset, duration, and strength. As stated above, Alprazolam causes quite rapid development of tolerance.

There is going to be some variation in the level of tolerance produced by each benzo, but you should note that benzos as a class are known for producing tolerance. This, along with their tendency to cause physical dependency, is why they are usually prescribed as a short term treatment.

You can best avoid tolerance by not using regularly and especially not on consecutive days.

Tolerance is the body's physiological adaptation to the presence of a drug in the body. You should be grateful the body adapts so marvelously, it's how the normal person is able to recover from the new strain of the flu every year
But seriously, most drugs do produce tolerance, especially the ones more closely related to addiction.

Pot and LSD don't produce lasting tolerance like other drugs do. LSD does produce tolerance if used on consecutive days.

 

[adder]

The speed at which tolerance develops to benzos has to do with their onset, duration, and strength. As stated above, Alprazolam causes quite rapid development of tolerance.

Right and it's half-life is 6 to 12 hrs. The very similar is reported for oxazepam (4 to 15 hrs). Anyhow, the latter doesn't cause rapid tolerance rise and physical dependence. "Strength" at benzodiazepine receptors plays a very big role, it would seem then.

Of course, it's not impossible to get addicted to oxazepam but it definitely takes more time with regular use to get addicted than in case of alprazolam and lorazepam (of course statistically because not everyone is going to enjoy alprazolam or lorazepam). I'm not talking about psychological addiction, tetrazepam hardly does anything but relaxes muscles and people still get addicted to it due to its anxiolytic action.

 

[GeisterxFahrer]

I have been on Benzo maintinence for 6 years now. So as expected I have developed a massive tolerance and will seize with out them. Im currently 5mg valium 3x daily (dont know why) to go along with my 2mg xanax twice a day. which as expected is losing its efficacy. my panic disorder has developed into agoraphic tendencies and massive paranoia about people. i get LS attacks just leaving my bed room. but Xanax is the only one that worked that ive been on. So I am going to ask her for Xanax xr bid to replace the long acting dizapem that does nothing, or to let me take 3mg of xanax tid prn. cuz one just does not cut it anymore. but i am getting better in other areas, im finally seeing a CBT AND a clinical psychologist for testing. so ya but back to the original Question. benzos affect (as mentioned about) neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Also there is new research which is suggesting that benzos and Dopamine have something to do with eachother as well as the reward system. And click this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine_dependence

 

[dhopeless]

^Bluelight is much superior to drugs-forum. And would it be possible that a benzo could be produced to only activate alpha 2 or alpha 3? Then you might not have memory loss and over sedation. I'm sure different benzos hit different receptors, but what about <i>certain</i> receptors?

 

[opiatekrzy]

my experience being on klonopin 1mg AM, 1mg in evening hasnt caused any tolerance problems or less effectiveness, i bet a lot has to do with long half life and not re dosing so much.

 

[NoArtFlav]

valium seems like a good choice for general anxiety. and taken with ativan it seems like most tolerance came from some benzos and not others.kpins seemed useless fast. switching to Z drugs if possible is good for lowering tolerance.

 

[Pegasus]

Nobody here has given the OP a true answer, but limited it to speculation. Benzodiazepines act on the GABA-a neuroreceptor. There are 5 types of GABA-a receptor subtype:

"Alpha1: sedation, amnesiac, alcohol interaction, tolerance
Alpha2: anxiolysis, muscle relaxation

Alpha3: anxiolysis, muscle relaxation

Alpha5: memory, tolerance. "

Taken from the "Benzodiazepines: Basics to Advanced, 2nd ED." by K'd-OUT-in-AZ.


As you can see, tolerance development has nothing to do with longevity/"intensity" of the benzo in question, as most others have suggested. If you want to do some further reading do a search for the thread I quoted (cba to find a link right now), it's a good place to start.

[Edit] The poster above me seems to be in a bad way. I recommend you read this: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/...nd-anecdotal-reports?highlight=nmda tolerance

People should only really post when they are sure of an answer, unless we want this place to degenerate to the likes of Drugs-Forum.com....

Addiction potential does have to do with intensity of the drug; this is why alprazolam is very addicting compared to oxazepam (as adder was saying), and why ones with shorter half-lives are generally more addicting over a shorter period (alprazolam vs diazepam, triazolam vs anything).

 

[wolverhamptonian]

Benzos like lorazepam would cause quick phychological and physical addiction because of the rapid onset your better of with a benzo equivellent like diazepam. Because of the allround personel opinion of being a decent benzo pluss the decent duration that the drugs in the system!!