• 💊 OTHER DRUGS 💊 Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads 1 Notable Threads 2
    Dangerous Combos Addiction Support
    Emergency Services Benzo Guide v.1
    Addiction Stories Scary Case Studies
    Biology, Pharmacology & Drugs 101
  • Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Benzos benzo withdrawal 1 month clean and used xanax for two days - back to square 1?

Tryptamite

Tryptamite

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
3,447
Location
Dublin
i am 4 weeks clean of benzos. Still feeling slight WDs, mainly anxiety. I bought lyrica to help, its a fantastic and less addictive medication. but my lyrica supply isnt steady. I cant get on with life with this cripling anxiety. Will sporadic use of xanax when i cant get lyrica put me back to square one in terms of the benzo withdrawal.

I also have prescribed olanzapine. Helps but not a lot. Would mirtazapine be better??

Any advice/input is appreciated. Thanks.
 
i have been told by many doctors that benzo tolerance does reset so to speak after a good break or taking it PRN unlike opiate
i dont take more than .125mg to .25mg of xanax maybe one dose a day no more than 1 to 3 days a week depending been doing so for over 3 months now
everytime i take it it hits me hard and good i by no means feel like i am building a tolerance
i know anxiety can be hellish but after being benzo free why go back to it? imo it's gonna be a vicious circle
 
deos68 said:
i have been told by many doctors that benzo tolerance does reset so to speak after a good break or taking it PRN unlike opiate
i dont take more than .125mg to .25mg of xanax maybe one dose a day no more than 1 to 3 days a week depending been doing so for over 3 months now
everytime i take it it hits me hard and good i by no means feel like i am building a tolerance
i know anxiety can be hellish but after being benzo free why go back to it? imo it's gonna be a vicious circle
Click to expand...


so i can take small doses sporadically as needed and it shouldnt hinder my withdrawal recovery? Or perhaps only slow the recovery process slightly.

is this your experience deos???

i cant work with this anxiety. i dont want to be dependent on benzos again. lyrica does a fine job of covering withdrawals and masking anxiety. i will use that instead as often as i can get it. hopefully i will have a script soon and not have to rely on street dealers.
 
Tryptamite said:
so i can take small doses sporadically as needed and it shouldnt hinder my withdrawal recovery? Or perhaps only slow the recovery process slightly.

is this your experience deos???

i cant work with this anxiety. i dont want to be dependent on benzos again. lyrica does a fine job of covering withdrawals and masking anxiety. i will use that instead as often as i can get it. hopefully i will have a script soon and not have to rely on street dealers.
Click to expand...

No, it will MASSIVELY set back your withdrawals. You should read up on benzo withdrawal, it's no joke, I'd say stay the hell off them while you already have a running start. It will always end in the same way, and it will just postpone the withdrawals and PAWS and completely set you back in your withdrawal process. Also, be careful with lyrica... It's very easy to trade addictions, especially since they both work on the gaba receptors. Lyrica will set you back as well, although it may be okay if it allows you to function and cope better with the withdrawals and you don't use it daily or even every other day, or else you will just form a new habit, and lyrica withdrawal is shit as well.

The thing about benzos is, the reason you use them in the first place, get 10x worse when you get addicted to them. The rebound effects of benzos, and the potential LONG TERM ANXIETY RIDDEN WITHDRAWALS, make them one of the most vicious and insidious drugs out there. Benzo withdrawals are WAY worse then opiate withdrawal if you have a real habit, and the acute withdrawal symptoms are just the beginning. Benzo's should only EVER be used for very short term periods with LONG LONG breaks inbetween usages. They are heavily over prescribed considering the nasty long list of potentially LIFE THREATENING withdrawal symptoms that can last for YEARS.

Alot of your anxiety right now is caused by benzo withdrawal, it's not your normal levels of anxiety, even though it may feel like that right now. And if you continue using gaba drugs to deal with them, your anxiety will just get worse and worse when you are off them, until your baseline anxiety level is literally panic attacks all the time. Benzo's create more problems then they solve in the long term, big time. You have to make lifestyle changes like eating healthy, excersizing daily, potentially seeing a therapist or psychiatrist to work on your anxiety issues and the causes and triggers of them. Benzo's are like a bacteria ridden bandage on an open wound. It seems to help for a bit, and then shit just gets way worse.

Good luck, you can do this, stay strong, a month off xanax is huge! Keep at it, you got this!
 
Last edited:
pbuilder said:
No, it will MASSIVELY set back your withdrawals. You should read up on benzo withdrawal, it's no joke, I'd say stay the hell off them while you already have a running start. It will always end in the same way, and it will just postpone the withdrawals and PAWS and completely set you back in your withdrawal process. Also, be careful with lyrica... It's very easy to trade addictions, especially since they both work on the gaba receptors. Lyrica will set you back as well, although it may be okay if it allows you to function and cope better with the withdrawals and you don't use it daily or even every other day, or else you will just form a new habit, and lyrica withdrawal is shit as well.

The thing about benzos is, the reason you use them in the first place, get 10x worse when you get addicted to them. The rebound effects of benzos, and the potential LONG TERM ANXIETY RIDDEN WITHDRAWALS, make them one of the most vicious and insidious drugs out there. Benzo withdrawals are WAY worse then opiate withdrawal if you have a real habit, and the acute withdrawal symptoms are just the beginning. Benzo's should only EVER be used for very short term periods with LONG LONG breaks inbetween usages. They are heavily over prescribed considering the nasty long list of potentially LIFE THREATENING withdrawal symptoms that can last for YEARS.

Alot of your anxiety right now is caused by benzo withdrawal, it's not your normal levels of anxiety. And if you continue using gaba drugs to deal with them, your anxiety will just get worse and worse when you are off them, until your baseline anxiety level is literally panic attacks all the time. Benzo's create more problems then they solve in the long term, big time. You have to make lifestyle changes like eating healthy, excersizing daily, potentially seeing a therapist or psychiatrist to work on your anxiety issues and the causes and triggers of them. Benzo's are like a bacteria ridden banade on an open wound. It seems to help for a bit, and then shit just gets way worse.


Good luck, you can do this, stay strong, a month of xanax is huge! Keep at it, you got this!
Click to expand...

i couldn't agree more i would stay away from benzos all together and yes you are feeling the rebound anxiety from benzo WD
the major anxiety will decrease over time just hang in there
 
Benzo withdrawal is not something I've dealt with but hearing how much worse it is then dope withdrawals and the length of it... ugh i couldnt imagine. I feel for you and wish you the best
 
benzo WD can last well over a few months depending on how bad you are/were
you doc should have gave you a taper regimen
try and stick with one medicine dont replace a benzo habbit with something else
 
deos68 said:
benzo WD can last well over a few months depending on how bad you are/were
you doc should have gave you a taper regimen
Click to expand...

This, google "THE ASHTON MANUAL, FOR BENZO WITHDRAWAL". Here is a quick link I found: http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/

Find what your dosage was, and his recommended taper. That is how you should be taken off benzos. It is the safest way and has much less severe withdrawal symptoms this way, and actually makes the PAWS in the end a lot LESS severe, even though you might taper for months, because as you are tapering, your gabareceptors are figuring out that slowly the dose is going down and they begin to kinda work again by themselves slowly. If you just stop cold turkey, your gaba receptors are shocked and usually down-regulate which means your entire gaba system shuts down and your glutamate system kicks into overdrive and that is what causes the severe PAWS, like potential seizures, serious restlessness and "fight or flight" style panic 24/7, inability to sleep, huge brain fog, feeling like electricity is running through your body constantly. High levels of glutamate pumping through your body, and no gaba active things to take care of it because your receptors are down-regulated and have stopped producing the shit because it began to just rely on the benzos, I think I've read is the cause of a lot of the withdrawal symptoms and PAWS. I might be wrong, but anyways, check out the link above, and maybe talk about a taper with your doctor. It will be much better if you can have a trusted family member hold on to your prescription though, because we all know that it's easy to just take a little extra and completely fuck the taper up.
 
Last edited:
Why are you taking Zyprexa (olanzapine)? That stuff is pretty heavy duty; watch your weight and check your blood sugar. I was on it 15 years ago and porked up to 245lbs and it caused high blood sugar in me.
 
so am i fucked after taking 4mg xanax for two days? I hope not. I am four weeks off xanax and did a fast taper with valium. most of the symptoms are gone apart from anxiety. I have come off a 7 year heroin/methadone habit as well about 2 months ago.

The doctor put me on olanzapine for anxiety caused by benzo WDs. Risperidone was rubbish. Olanzapine helps but not a lot. Any suggestion? Lyrica helps, it is not gabaergic, but i wont be taking it every day as I have no script.
 
Tryptamite said:
so am i fucked after taking 4mg xanax for two days? I hope not. I am four weeks off xanax and did a fast taper with valium. most of the symptoms are gone apart from anxiety. I have come off a 7 year heroin/methadone habit as well about 2 months ago.

The doctor put me on olanzapine for anxiety caused by benzo WDs. Risperidone was rubbish. Olanzapine helps but not a lot. Any suggestion? Lyrica helps, it is not gabaergic, but i wont be taking it every day as I have no script.
Click to expand...

Yes lyrica is gabaergic, although it doesn't directly bind to the gaba receptors as far as I know. It is the definition though of "Trading one addiction for another", because lyrica has it's own hellish withdrawals and effects very similar to benzos...

Here is someone in a similar situation to your, albeit more dire.

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=59678.0
 
I have come off 900mg lyrica before 25mg a day and the WDs for me were much easier and shorter than benzos. But thanks for the link.

What is the likely result of my slip with the xanax?
 
Tryptamite said:
I have come off 900mg lyrica before 25mg a day and the WDs for me were much easier and shorter than benzos. But thanks for the link.

What is the likely result of my slip with the xanax?
Click to expand...

not much really but if you go into a viscous cycle again with xanax you are gonna be back to square 1
because they provide relief correct? so in turn what does that mean? you can start taking it again , more and more see the pattern?
 
You only used 4mg after being clean for a month?


I wouldn't worry about having WD in the slightest bit.
 
mankind said:
You only used 4mg after being clean for a month?


I wouldn't worry about having WD in the slightest bit.
Click to expand...

Really? I have now used 4mg for 3 days. If the WDs get worse tomorrow when i stop taking more xanax I don't think i will manage. I have detoxed of methadone. heroin and valium. I've been sick and WDing for months.

I feel like my strength to battle WDs is fatigued. I might go back on the xanax at a low dose, if my WDs get worse or reset after my little binge.
 
Hey man. You may be a little anxious the day after, and less so the day after that, but nothing really after 2 days go by. this is how I take my benzos. did it every day for 2 years, quit for a month, then use and put at least 1 week in between uses. It makes me anxious the next day, but that's about it. but its worth it to feel anxious the next day cuz I get to take zs
 
If you don't keep taking Xanax you shouldn't be back in wd. I know with opiates (I know benzos aren't the same as opiates but similar in physical dependence) once you use a few days in a row that's when the wd come. So stop now. If you hit day 4 and 5 you're going to be right back where you started.

Why can't you get a lyrica script? Most doctors (IME) have no problem giving that...even a pain dr who wouldn't give any opiates handed my bf 3 bottles of lyrica to sample...
 
Tryptamite said:
Really? I have now used 4mg for 3 days. If the WDs get worse tomorrow when i stop taking more xanax I don't think i will manage. I have detoxed of methadone. heroin and valium. I've been sick and WDing for months.

I feel like my strength to battle WDs is fatigued. I might go back on the xanax at a low dose, if my WDs get worse or reset after my little binge.
Click to expand...

Unless I am not understanding correctly, you have been clean from xanax for a month, then took 4mg?

I don't know why you think taking the 4mg once would send you back into WD. Am I understanding correctly?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top