Benzos Etizolam alternatives

[GumbyClaymation]

Etizolam alternatives for sleep

Hi. I've found etizolam to be extremely useful for me. I use it almost exclusively for insomnia. I try to limit my usage to once a week or less to avoid tolerance/habituation/addiction issues. Once in a while I'll use it to override the residual stimulation from some other drug and get some sleep (a different type of insomnia, I suppose).
As I said, this stuff is great. I'd really like to find an alternative, though. First, I find the nights sleep that I get with it so refreshing, I'm tempted to take it more often (still would never be nightly), but I don't want to risk a benzo-type addiction forming. Second, sometime in the future, I envision having a job that would require drug screening, and I fear a false positive for benzos would wreak havoc on my career plans.
I've tried some "natural" things like Melatonin, but they don't seem to work at all. I've also been prescribed Ambien, but never took it because the prospect of "sleep driving" and other crazy shit I've read about scares me. I'd rather deal with the insomnia than that.
I have tried other non-pharmaceutical approaches - improved diet, yoga, exercise. These have helped to some degree, but incompletely. I reserve etizolam for the night before a performance or some other very long day where I need to be my best. Used properly, it seems to be without negative effect (aside from urinalysis {note to mods, I do not intend this to be a drug testing question in any way}).

Is there anything I might consider as another effective sleep aid without major side effects?

 

[belfort]

im surprised you find a nights sleep after taking etizolam to be 'refreshing'...if i take benzos to sleep, i always wake up feeling just kind of off and not refreshed..

 

[tunesey]

I get a script of 1mg of clonazepam to be taken before bed I sleep well on it but used to get a benzo hangover with them but not any more. I have tried the intas etizolam and took 2 the first time I got a really nice buzz for 5 mins then felt sleepy. I have taken it a few times after but never had the nice 5 min buzz like I did the first time. Thats the thing with benzos and why they are so addictive

 

[GumbyClaymation]

I have never gotten a benzo buzz, nor am I seeking one. I guess I am lucky that I experience no hangover, either. The only side-effect that I feel sometimes the next day is I may feel not quite as sharp for the first few hours of the morning. The effect is extremely subtle, though, and I'll only notice it if I'm trying to do something extraordinarily complex. If I could quantify it, it might reduce my mental agility by 5% or less. I wonder if these qualities are unique to me, or if that's a quality of etizolam vs true benzos.

Just realized that I might have a better chance if I had included "sleep" in the subject line. Would appreciate if anyone could comment on alternatives for sleep.

 

[tricomb]

How about benzodiazepines that have literally been studied for decades and are used way more often in medicine for legitimate reason like diazepam? It depends on what you're taking the benzodiazepine for to begin with, if you're looking for a hypnotic agent or a sedative or anticonvulsant etc it would be relevant.

 

[zzz101]

In my experience when i take etiz (to sleep) at night, i still wake up with it in my system. and can still feel it, even though it is subtle. So really, i think the feeling you have of 'having a great sleep' is more so to do with the etiz still being in ur system.

even though etizolam has a very short half-life of like 4 hours, its main metabolite half-life, is like 8 hours. it will really still be in ur system when you wake up.

switching to a traditional or studied benzo wont change much, all the risks are still there.

It is debatable that Etizolam is more risky to take. Some countries have approved-for-use it. (prescription)



You want to be using etiz no more than once a week, it is addiction telling you to take more because you think it is sleep that makes you refreshed, when it most likely the etiz.


as for sleep. weed + magnesium works great for me.

 

[zzz101]

I am going to be coming off 2 weeks of use, ahh , going to see how this goes. i've never experienced withdrawal so not sure if it'll happen. i had 3mg today. but i can kinda tell it might be annoying.

last few times it was hard to sleep for a few nights. then that feeling in the back of the throat at the beginning. also the depression.

but its bearable, nothing I'm not used too : /

so for me ill be using plenty of weed and magnesium to sleep. might not work for you. and it might not work for me in this case but it is better than nothing.

 

[I B Profane]

I am going to be coming off 2 weeks of use, ahh , going to see how this goes. i've never experienced withdrawal so not sure if it'll happen. i had 3mg today. but i can kinda tell it might be annoying.

last few times it was hard to sleep for a few nights. then that feeling in the back of the throat at the beginning. also the depression.

but its bearable, nothing I'm not used too : /

so for me ill be using plenty of weed and magnesium to sleep. might not work for you. and it might not work for me in this case but it is better than nothing.

I'm not sure what doses you were using, but I'd say you're probably fine. Two weeks isn't long enough to develop a SERIOUS benzo dependency (unless you were taking ungodly amounts) so other than mild insomnia and a bit of rebound anxiety you should be in the clear.

Coming from an etizolam addict, please take it careful with these...you never know when that two week binge will turn into a month, or several months, or a year, or longer....I've yet to take my morning dose and even though I have a full day before the REAL withdrawals start, I already need to pop one just to get my hands to stop shaking. And I'm not even in as deep as some of the other poor benzo addicted souls. Anyway just be careful man %)

 

[AromaticNitrogen]

I find etiz to be a very good sleep aid, especially for 6-7 hrs and rarely experience hangover. For 8+ though, 50mg diphenhydramine Is great

 

[belfort]

I'm not sure what doses you were using, but I'd say you're probably fine. Two weeks isn't long enough to develop a SERIOUS benzo dependency (unless you were taking ungodly amounts) so other than mild insomnia and a bit of rebound anxiety you should be in the clear.

Coming from an etizolam addict, please take it careful with these...you never know when that two week binge will turn into a month, or several months, or a year, or longer....I've yet to take my morning dose and even though I have a full day before the REAL withdrawals start, I already need to pop one just to get my hands to stop shaking. And I'm not even in as deep as some of the other poor benzo addicted souls. Anyway just be careful man %)

damn, how many mgs do you take daily?do you always start off with a morning dose?full blown etizolam withdrawals dont kick i until 24 hours?yeah i know guys who immediately pop a 2 mg xanax bar before getting out of bed..

 

[I B Profane]

damn, how many mgs do you take daily?do you always start off with a morning dose?full blown etizolam withdrawals dont kick i until 24 hours?yeah i know guys who immediately pop a 2 mg xanax bar before getting out of bed..

It really depends on the day. I've been meaning to get down to a "maximum daily dose" and just stick to it, but it's easier said than done when it comes to these things. Right now I try not to go above 4mg/day. I take .5-1mg in the morning before work for social anxiety. If I take it, mixed with coffee, I'm productive, happy, and social. If I miss my dose, I'm a stammering, shaking, worried mess, completely unable to socialize with anyone or even make eye contact. I'm not sure how much my baseline anxiety is a factor, vs how much I fucked up my baseline anxiety by getting addicted to etizolam.

After work I'll usually take another 1mg. And then dose as needed based on the days daily stresses, but I need 2-3 mg at night to knock me out for sleep. Night time is when I dose benzos the heaviest, because you're right, the full withdrawal doesn't begin until 24 hours after the last dose due to the drug still working its way out of my system. Perhaps the "shaky hands in the morning" thing is psychosomatic, but its usually just me being nervous about whatever I have going on that day. I really wish I'd stuck with mindfulness meditation more, because that did the trick, and you cant seize up and die from meditation withdrawals

But to answer your question (sorry, I'm an off topic rambler, I blame the benzos) I generally take about 5-8mg daily, obviously I've had days where I will blackout and eat 10-20mg but chasing a "high" with benzos is just stupid and I'm trying to get off these as soon as possible. I want to limit my usage to 4mg per day. I'm halfway through the day and so far
I have taken 1mg etizolam, 1mg Xanax, and 400mg gabapentin. I know that doesn't SOUND like i'm trying very hard, but I'm working on it. To anyone considering using benzos on the daily, my advice is DONT.

And yeah Its crazy how a dose that used to knock me out now becomes what I need to wake up. 2mg of Xanax when you wake up is a pretty heavy addiction, but I've heard of people needing 8-10mg Xanax just to get out of bed in the morning...absolutely fucking crazy.

 

[Slum Survivor]

Yeah id love a longer lasting RC benzo with more muscle relaxation. At least etizolam exists tho. Just have to be responsible with it.

 

[belfort]

etizolam doesnt last long, id say 3 hours tops for me...id love to find something that lasted 6-8 hours..

 

[Oxide]

Ambien has a lot of horror stories, and rightfully so.

I've never had an episode with it, personally. I attribute that to taking a few precautions before actually taking the ambien.

1) Take it after you've climbed in bed, pissed, brushed your grill, and washed your mug up.

2) Don't get out of bed.

3) Fall asleep.

 

[Νιοβη λος]

Ambien has a lot of horror stories, and rightfully so.

I've never had an episode with it, personally. I attribute that to taking a few precautions before actually taking the ambien.

1) Take it after you've climbed in bed, pissed, brushed your grill, and washed your mug up.

2) Don't get out of bed.

3) Fall asleep.

Personally I am very fond of the buzz from ambien. And sex on ambien is quite the time if I do say. Granted, it took me a couple years to be able to not do things I would later regret, mainly socially. I can't tell you how many times I have taken ambien and wandered around the town making friends with high school kids (I graduated ten years ago) and people I would never come into contact with while on another substance. Some of these relationships lasted for quite some time lol, although I was always amused the next day when I would get a text from someone I had no recollection of meeting.

Now when I take 5-10mg of ambien (never more than 10, or else there's no chance of escaping the 'hypnotism') I just get a really goofy fun buzz, and STAY IN THE HOUSE. And never ever drink with it, although I have done so many times. Always results in an unwanted hypnotism.

As for etizolam showing up on drug tests, IME it does not show up in a standard lab UA test, however it does indeed cause a false positive on instant cup tests. I took 2mg one night and failed a cup test the next afternoon. Another time I took 40mg over the weekend with the last 2mg taken on a Monday morning, and passed a lab test that included benzo's on Tuesday evening.

 

[easy as]

For sleep aids, I would try acupuncture and stay on the melatonin. Also, make sure you exercise 3-4 hours before going to bed or at least during the day as it will help your body get a more restful sleep. I'd stop taking the benzos for sleep aids as WD's can be debilitating. Even if you only get 4-5 hours of natural sleep it's better than the drug induced sleep that the alternatives offer. It took me over a year to taper and deal with the physical and psychological issues of Benzo withdrawal. It sounds like you're not deep into it and are looking for positive alternatives. You're on the right track. Just keep trying different approaches and fiddle with your diet, exercise routine and some natural alternatives. I've found that Valerian root and some calming teas work really well for me. Good luck and look in the archives under insomnia.

 

[tunesey]

Exercise is good for sleep I was in the military and never found it hard to sleep. I think the more exhausted you are the easier it is to sleep