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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

benzo vs alcohol addiction

F

frankie fresh

Greenlighter
Joined
Oct 1, 2008
Messages
41
Location
bangkok
hei bl's

i would hope u could share some opinions with me in regards to the following:

what it worst between a mild benzo addiction (10-30mg diazepam daily topped with a few mgs alprazolam sporadically) or a mild alcohol addiction (6-8 beers daily topped with a few whiskeys soda sporadically). right now am doing both, trying to taper, but am not sure am ready to kick out both yet.

with worst i mean health, withdrawals, long-term effects etc....

thanks in advance for your comments
FF
 
I think long term withdrawals physically (I believe benzos can cause seizures and other bad shit) and also probably feelings of social inadequecy benzos are worse. As far as wreaking havoc on the body and destroying the mind alcohol has to take the cakeabove almost all other drugs.
 
yeah alcohol is much worse. benzos take longer to withdraw from but if you're talking about staying on the drug and which is going to do more damage to your body, alcohol is much riskier. also, i don't think "6-8 beers a day few whiskeys soda sporadically" qualifies as a "mild alcohol addiction". it's definitely moderate.
 
I'm dependent on benzos for controlling my anxiety. I wouldn't even want to imagine being addicted to alcohol, I don't know anyone who is a successful full blown alcoholic.
 
I've been addicted to both alcohol and benzos. IMO, heavy abuse of alcohol is more physically harmful than heavy abuse of benzos. But withdrawal from either of them can cause seizures and death. So be careful.
 
The answer to this question depends how long you've been taking ~30mg diazapam and how long you've been drinking six packs of beer. It also depends if you are the kind of person who has trouble with alcohol.

If I were you I'd quit the alcohol first, and once you are at a comfortable level, begin to taper off the benzos relatively slowly. The valium will make it much easier to quit booze cold turkey. Then you will need to start tapering your valium. To do this, immediately reduce your daily dose to your minimum relatively comfortable dose, which sounds like around 10mg for you. Take benadryl at night to help you sleep.

Then split this 10mg dose into two 5mg doses, one in the morning and one at night. Give it a few days for your body to adjust and then start reducing your morning dose down to 2 or 3mg. Give it a few days and then reduce your evening dose likewise.

Set goals for yourself and don't feel like you need to rush quitting benzos. Just meet your goals and remember, from now on benzos are not recreational drugs for you, so don't fuck around with them to try to get high because you'll fuck up your tolerance and reinforce the addiction.

good luck
 
bluedolphin said:
The answer to this question depends how long you've been taking ~30mg diazapam and how long you've been drinking six packs of beer. It also depends if you are the kind of person who has trouble with alcohol.

If I were you I'd quit the alcohol first, and once you are at a comfortable level, begin to taper off the benzos relatively slowly. The valium will make it much easier to quit booze cold turkey. Then you will need to start tapering your valium. To do this, immediately reduce your daily dose to your minimum relatively comfortable dose, which sounds like around 10mg for you. Take benadryl at night to help you sleep.

Then split this 10mg dose into two 5mg doses, one in the morning and one at night. Give it a few days for your body to adjust and then start reducing your morning dose down to 2 or 3mg. Give it a few days and then reduce your evening dose likewise.

Set goals for yourself and don't feel like you need to rush quitting benzos. Just meet your goals and remember, from now on benzos are not recreational drugs for you, so don't fuck around with them to try to get high because you'll fuck up your tolerance and reinforce the addiction.

good luck
Click to expand...

hey thanks to all nice feedback very helpful - especially blue dolphine :D

sounds like a nice plan only thing in work in food & beverage and alcohol is waaaaay to available on a daily basis... but i hear u mate, u make totally sense... right now can be on 20mg diapezem and drink 15 beers -of coursr im f....d but no hangover nest day.... i'll try quitting the booze and stick to my diazepam - although i take a recreational dose - and im sure i can take i can take it from there.... havent been on this for tooooo long :D

if u dont mind i'd like to keep u in my contact list to share comments/opinions/issues wiht u...

thanks to all bl's
F

i'll go with ur tapering how it proposal and see how it goes.. right now i ca
 
sorry got some confusion in my writing, damn pc jumping suddenly, anyway i think point highlighted take care all and chock dee - good luck in thai :DDDDD
FF
 
Hello FF!!

how do you do now??
hope you are well! any updates?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
In terms of withdrawals, both are pretty similar. The only difference is that alcohol withdrawals can be managed with benzos (usually diazepam), while benzo withdrawals are managed just by tapering down. Both withdrawals cause sickness, tremors, and in severe cases, seizures which can be deadly. I've had multiple seizures while withdrawing from benzos, and they're fucking scary things to experience.
 
I've been through both. 5 months straight of 4-12mgs of Xanax daily gave me a grand mal seizure after running out and going cold turkey, followed by withdrawal symptoms that eased up after about a month.

When I was 18 I developed a heavy drinking problem, between a pint and a 5th of 80pf liquor a day for 7-8 months. The w/d from that was pretty nasty. DT's were probably the worst of the symptoms I experienced, and not surprisingly, alcohol w/d was pretty similar to that of benzos, but IMO, not quite as lengthy or severe. For instance I've never had a seizure from drying up after drinking heavily for an extended period.
 
it's easier to function on benzo's. if they are prescribed and you need them I think it's a much better option than alcohol as long as you don't over do it. also you're walking a fine line cuz if you run out of benzo's early and can't get your script filled your fucked.

I barely drink at all anymore, mainly because of my klonopin prescription. there was a time how ever when I'd wake up trembling and vomiting often from drinking gin and tonics all night long, that was hell and punishing on my body, but the couple times I've ran out of benzo's too early have had horrendous repercussions. and similar withdrawals.

if you have bad anxiety that requires benzo's than go the benzo route. don't self medicate with alcohol like I did, it gets ugly.

just don't use drugs.
 
Benzos are gaba agonists. Alcohol is GABA agonist AND NMDA antagonist. So with benzos, you have less gaba and hence, WDs. With alcohol, you have more glutamate (excitatory!) and less gaba.

So alcohol addiction is worse.
 
I can't say I've been addicted to benzodiazepines or alcohol, but I've been using benzos therapeutically (well, mostly self-medicating) for sleep disorders and I've also been pretty heavy on the bottle at times. Although benzodiazepines are physically fairly benign, I find them horribly anti-intellectual. In my job I need a fully functional brain. Even zopiclone, which some doctors are still dishing out like candy, really restricts my intellectual capacity during daytime if used on a nightly basis (yes I know it's not technically a benzo). A couple of stiff drinks before bedtime don't affect me in the same way, and they do help me relax and fall asleep. Not quality sleep, though. Of course it's better to use nothing at all, but a sleepless night isn't great for intellectual performance either.

My biggest concern with alcohol is that if used on a daily basis combined with a normal diet, it would make me fat.
 
I was addicted to benzo for about 8month and at the end I was taking about 6-8mg alprazolam to get a calm/sedating effect... I even took 10mg lorazempam once and it did not do much...

I got an accident a month ago and had to go to the hospital, and benzo withdrawl was the worst shit I never had... I had this feeling that my head's gonna blow up..

phatass said:
worse for your health is the booze... harder to get off are the benzos IMO
Click to expand...

yep agree.
 
How long do ya'll think it takes to truly have withdrawals from klonopin? I've been taking 2mg a day for about 7 months now & it's the only thing I take regularly because I'm prescribed it for anxiety. I ask this because sometimes I go a day or 2 without it if I'm going to take a lortab just for recreation (because I dont like the idea of taking an opiate and benzo in the same day).

Just wondering if anyone would know anything about that, if not that's okay.
 
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