Benzodiazepine Withdrawal after three weeks

[willandgrace]

Hello,

I have recently stayed in a country were benzos were available OTC, and took a range of benzos, mainly Valium though, daily over the coure of three weeks. My daily dose was roughly equivalent to 20 mg of Valium, but varying as I took the drugs recreationally.

Three days after quitting I experienced very strong anxiety close to a panic attack for about 20 hours, as well as physical withdrawal symptoms like spasms and muscle aching / stiffness.

Now it is one week later, and I feel quite fine again. Nevertheless I still have occasional spasms, especially when sleeping.

Is it possible to forecast how long it will take my body to overcome this? General descriptions of WD Symptoms talk about 6-12 months, but I would hope that due to the relatively short time I was dependent on the drug this timespan is going to be shorter for me.

Also, how long should I stay away from other drugs acting on the GABA receptors (e.g. alcohol)?

Thank you very much for sharing your experience.

 

[spork]

Welcome to Bluelight willandgrace. I'm going to move your thread over to Other Drugs as they'll be able to answer your questions better there. Take care.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

I seriously doubt you'll experience the full resolution of symptoms after more than a month or two, given that you were only on it for 21 days.

That six-twelve months thing is mostly for people who've been on a benzodiazepine for several months. However, some say it takes years for the PAWS (post-acute-withdrawal-syndrome) to go away, but again, this is extremely unlikely given the dose (which is low-low-moderate, but some people are prescribed well over 100mg valium a day).

Still though, it may take longer for the symptoms to completely go away given that one of valiums active metabolites has a half-life of well-over 200 hours, but this also translates to the withdrawal symptoms being less severe (this is why many taper off of their benzodiazepine with diazepam [valium]).

When it comes to benzodiazepines, just as with most drugs, some can be on them for four weeks and experience little-no withdrawal while some can take it for a week and then experience withdrawal. It sounds like you're holding up fairly well, though.

As for alcohol, anecdotal reports vary as to whether or not it leads to a relapse of symptoms; best to be on the safe side and stay away from it. To be safe, I would take the time it takes for symptoms to completely resolve, and, when symptoms do finally fully resolve, add that time on as a buffer. For instance, say it takes a month for symptoms to fully resolve: when they do resolve, wait another month before trying another GABAergic.

I would stay away from valerian, kava, and other herbal GABAergic substances too, unless you absolutely need them to make withdrawal easier.