Benzos Etizolam withdrawal?

[lightblue543]

Hey all,

As of late (past several days) I've finished my Etizolam usage (I bought 50 1mg pellets). Admittedly, I binged (usually took 2-8mg every few days), the last night on it all I remember was taking 7mg whilst still having several left, then I woke up with only 1 left and I told myself I would "keep it for anxiety", only to wake up again with an empty packet and no memory of it all... at least that's how I recall it happening, it was all a blur.

Now I've been off it for several days and I think I'm experiencing withdrawal... only slept sporadically over the past 3-4 days, either no sleep at all or just a few hours, and I have the anxiety and chills/cold sweat to boot too 8(. Also due to the insomnia I also have micropsia, and apparent depersonalization, but no real changes in mood.

I want to just pin this insomnia down to my horrific sleeping habits, and really it probably has something to do with it (awake till the early morning) but then again my sleeping habits have been off for a while now and I never get insomnia, so it would seem that this may be withdrawal. No rest last night, so I just stayed up all of today making sure to get enough light (circadian rhythm), slept from 5pm-9pm, rudely awoken, and now I'm gonna try to sleep through tonight (near midnight here).

So I'm wondering a few things: 1. Is insomnia (like this) at all dangerous... I mean, in the words of Trevor Reznik no one ever died from insomnia right? The 'type' of insomnia I have most closely resembles non-24.
2. How long will this last?
3. What are the the typical withdrawal symptoms of Etiz.? Any long lasting effects?

My usage length is basically under 2 weeks... I suppose it was still better to use up that 50mg within a short period of time, as opposed to doing 2mg nightly, might explain why these symptoms aren't any worse than they are.

 

[Morphling]

There is a form of insomnia that you can die from, the name of the condition eludes me at the moment.

I think you're just having rebound insomnia from the benzos. Should clear up in a few days, but what then?

Do you exercise, like really beat yourself up? I run an insomnia forum and aside from pharmaceutical aid, high-vigor exercise seems to help the most. Do do research into sleepy hygiene, and if it becomes too severe and is affecting your quality of life, have a sleep study done.

 

[mysafehome01]

Sounds like good old rebound anxiety. A couple of days and all should be normal again.

Try not to binge Etizolam in the future, it can be unforgiving.

Take care.

 

[Hodor]

A short-term binge on a total of 50mgs of Etiz shouldn't be able to downregulate your GABA receptors to the point where you'll actually run the risk of a seizure from the withdrawal, but yes, you'll most likely be suffering serious rebound anxiety/insomnia for a few days. I'd still avoid any drugs that might lower your seizure threshold (ex. Tramadol).

 

[yakattack]

I think it depends on the person but for me personally I had a bit of rebound anxiety after only 3 or 4 days at 2mg per day. After a month of 2-3mg per day I had bad mental WD, suicidal thoughts, paranoia, etc. which lasted for about 3 or 4 horrible days. I had to stop because they banned it in my state so my vendor stopped shipping.
I went through Klon withdrawl after taking 4mg per day prescribed by a hack doctor for almost 5 years. I was on 2 per day but when I had my first seizure he upped to 4 per day. Eventually I went to rehab for alcohol abuse and reluctantly agreed to stop the Klon as well. The alcohol WD was nothing compared to the benzo WD. I had constant suicidal thoughts, blurred vision, brain zaps, and then another seizure. At that point they put me on Nuerontin (spelled right?) which I suppose kept the seizures at bay but the WD last about 2 months. I stayed off for about 6 months but when my panic attacks started back up the only thing that worked was Xanax, eventually the doc switched me back to Klon saying it was better as a long term drug that Xanax. So now I am taking 2 mg of Klon per day. I wish there was a drug that was not so addictive that would fight the anxiety and panic attacks so well but so far I've found nothing that works as well as benzos. Granted Klon wont help if you are already having a panic attack but if you take it as prescribed on a daily basis it should keep them away. Its a vicious circle, if you dont have to go down that road you shouldnt, trust me it sucks. Take care brother.

 

[Ignio]

In went through 500 mg Etizolam in two months without suffering severe physical withdrawal. I felt uncomfortable and had trouble sleeping for something like one to two weeks. But I was a mess psychologically for a long time after suffering from depression like symptoms, anxiety, jitters etc. So despite being lucky and not suffering too bad physical withdrawal it had a severe negative impact psychologically. Plus I did a lot of stupid things during the two months and I have no recollection of an entire christmas with my family. I effectively ruined the christmas for my family as I were very unpleasant to be around and I actually scared my younger cousin who usually looked up to me. Not a great role model at all.

If I did that again I might think that I would be a lot worse of this second time with regards to physical withdrawals. I was very lucky and I might as well have suffered a lot worse when you consider the amount taken. I don't know how I ended up doing it, but then you have taken it for a few days your ability to make sound decisions is almost non-existing and you have the recipe for disaster.

I think you would see a small variation from person to person in how long it takes to develop dependence. I would not suggest anyone to take benzo's daily for more than 2 to 3 weeks. When we start to get past 2-3 weeks most people will suffer from psychological withdrawal symptoms and insomnia and past week 4 physical withdrawals will get increasingly worse for each day.

 

[morphine-dreams]

I agree that it sounds like rebound effects, 2 weeks is not a long time and usually not long enough for worrisome withdrawal symtoms. That doesn't mean that they can't happen though, and if they do, please seek medical help! Anyway, everyone is different, but I personally abused etizolam for a month straight and often in very high doses and didn't experience wd, so I think you'll be ok. I've had rebound anxiety/insomnia from benzos and it was similar to what you describe, mine was from a single use of clonazolam though and lasted for two days. I used melatonin and 50mg of benadryl and it worked pretty well, that's my normal nightly sleep cocktail anyway as I'm a chronic insomniac. Weed has always been my best friend for wd related temperature issues and anxiety. As for long term effects, there are many that can occur after long term use. But none that you'd have to worry about after 2 weeks of use.

 

[anaughtyman]

I use Keinever, which is Etizolam from time to time and I can tell you that unless you use it very occasionally, you will get insomnia upon discontinuing it. In my case, it passes after a few days, but those days (or nights to be exact), suck,