Benzos Ex benzo users (can you drink alcohol?)

[hotelyorba]

For anybody who was dependent on benzos in the past and went through the withdrawal syndrome: Are you able to drink alcohol again?
Its been about 14 months since my last klonopin if you dont count the 4-5 times I abused Ambien between January and March of this year. My issue for the longest time was that whenever I tried to get mildly drunk it felt as though my body was responding to alcohol differently then it did before klonopin and the withdrawal symptoms that I had from the klonopin would either "come back" or intensify for a couple weeks after a night of drinking. So in other words, once somebody has been physically addicted to something that effects the GABA-A receptor, is it possible for it to heal back to the point where you can occasionally get drunk from time to time and not go back into withdrawal? Last night I responded the best I have to alcohol in a while. It felt like getting drunk used to feel like. Still...it felt the tinniest bit off from what I use to feel like when I got drunk. Today I am a little wired and my lingering tinnitus may have gotten louder, but so far so good.

Thanks for the replies!

 

[mrflowers00]

i can drink and do benzos without w/ds i just only use for a few days in a row then quit for a couple of weeks

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I am not a benzo addict, and the biggest mini binge was legal (major surgery, I was out for 2 hours on a lot of midazolam and fentanyl IV) and I still have a low benzo tolerance.

However, I can't drink anymore. It blocks any euphoria I get from bupe or otherwise.

Considering how abrasive ethanol is to your brain, it is a good idea to not drink.

 

[Pegasus]

For me, it seems alcohol does set off withdrawal. I'm only like two months clean of benzos, but I tried drinking one beer about a week ago and it definitely triggered some benzo withdrawal-esque symptoms.

 

[PoppyLlama]

I wasn't physically dependant on benzos, but I was addicted, and I used to take alprazolam every day (I used to get about 200mgs/.month prescribed to me) and I would take anywhere from .5-5 mgs per day depending on the day, plus i would smoke a shit ton of weed (like a quarter to a half ounce a day)
for a few weeks after flushing the rest of my bottle down the toilet and calling it quits cold turkey (never had any withdrawals though), I couldn't drink because it would make me feel super sick to my stomach and give me a headache, but its been years now and I still just really don't like drinking, it makes me feel sick to my stomach, and alot of times I get depressed from it

 

[hotelyorba]

How long were you on benzos for Pegasus?

 

[Trigeminal]

Brings back my symptoms, too. A couple weeks ago I had a few shots and had symptoms for a full week after that.

However, I've been reading about it (cause I really want to be able to drink again), and once people are fully recovered, it seems like they can drink normally again. One dude on this site who said he was addicted to benzos for years, can now drink a bottle of wine at night, and says he feels better than when he used to drink pre-benzo use. So it can, apparently, eventually be done.

 

[Pegasus]

How long were you on benzos for Pegasus?

This latest time was like 3-4 weeks, but it was with alprazolam which is particularly nasty with addiction symptoms. I used benzos on and off for a long time before that on a non-daily basis though, so it's hard to say exactly. I was on clonazepam for 6+ months a few years back and while I tapered very well and avoided many symptoms, I still had the alcohol reaction I describe above (not as intense though)...

 

[Trigeminal]

Hey Pegasus did you get excessively sweaty at all from the withdrawal? I'm feeling good nowadays, but I have sweaty palms on a daily basis that's getting extremely annoying. I have to avoid shaking people's hands, and spend all day wiping my hands on my jeans. I guess I should be happy this is essentially the only symptom I have left, but I definitely want it to go away.

 

[HYDRO_CHRONIC]

ive mentioned this before i got real lucky in the past with alpraz. i didnt take for just the edge off or multiple times a day ,each day i took enough to pretty much b missing some memories the next day ,tolerance rose VERY quickly ,over the coarse of 2-3 bw3eeks i could EASILY and i mean easily get up to 16-18mg a day one dose

i came of everymonth when they ran out ,would always feel like i was gonna puke ,no sleep ,felt like my arms werent there ,my face as well ,shaking ....felt like a bell goin of in my head all day ,torture

anyway ,i may not get to 18 =mg much at all but each month i gotta start at 5-6mg for anything to be felt ,actually 2 months ago i got up to 14mg ....well was nt everyday


but anyway i been falling off the wagon lately with alcohol ,just came off a BAD binge was for 2 weeks almost ,been almost 4 days an im almost back to normal

 

[Pegasus]

Hey Pegasus did you get excessively sweaty at all from the withdrawal? I'm feeling good nowadays, but I have sweaty palms on a daily basis that's getting extremely annoying. I have to avoid shaking people's hands, and spend all day wiping my hands on my jeans. I guess I should be happy this is essentially the only symptom I have left, but I definitely want it to go away.

I did get that, it did eventually go away though.

 

[hotelyorba]

Brings back my symptoms, too. A couple weeks ago I had a few shots and had symptoms for a full week after that.

However, I've been reading about it (cause I really want to be able to drink again), and once people are fully recovered, it seems like they can drink normally again. One dude on this site who said he was addicted to benzos for years, can now drink a bottle of wine at night, and says he feels better than when he used to drink pre-benzo use. So it can, apparently, eventually be done.

Could you give us a link to this thread? I wonder if it's the guy who responded to a thread I started on this topic a long time ago. It seemed like a b/s answer.

 

[Trigeminal]

Could you give us a link to this thread? I wonder if it's the guy who responded to a thread I started on this topic a long time ago. It seemed like a b/s answer.

It could be, man. I can't find the thread--I think I looked at literally every thread discussing benzo withdrawal, so I have no idea which one is which.

I do remember he talked about a "holistic" lifestyle or something similar, though, which on second thought, does register with my bs meter.

I've read a couple of personal accounts on the Ashton manual site by people saying they can now drink, though. It's always hard to tell with anecdotal evidence, however.

 

[hotelyorba]

It could be, man. I can't find the thread--I think I looked at literally every thread discussing benzo withdrawal, so I have no idea which one is which.

I do remember he talked about a "holistic" lifestyle or something similar, though, which on second thought, does register with my bs meter.

I've read a couple of personal accounts on the Ashton manual site by people saying they can now drink, though. It's always hard to tell with anecdotal evidence, however.

One woman that I spoke with was on Xanax for 5 years. Her withdrawal seemed to be in the middle range...not easy but definitely not as bad as some people report it to be. At 6 months she was reporting that she was "feeling better" which is common among long term users (it takes about 6-12 months for most people to "heal"). I messaged her about a month or two ago and she was about 2 years off benzos at this point. I remember at a year off she reported being able to tolerate a glass of wine here and there, so I asked her if she had been drinking more at 2 years off. She told me she slowly re-introudced "2 bottles of wine a week" and reported no adverse effects from it. However, does anybody know if 2 bottles of wine a week is enough alcohol to basically have replaced an old addiction with a new one? Seems like she would have to be drinking more wine though if that were the case...

 

[Oxide]

I've been dependant on Xanax in the past, quite intensely as it was all legal and scripted, you know how that goes. I was taking around 8-12 mgs a day for an extremely long time mixing it with temazepam and eventually valium when I started getting all three at once from the same doctor. When I came off, it was hell as you can imagine. Seizures, waking up out of sleep paralysis unable to breathe in, the whole nine.

I never was a big drinker, and still am not. Although I am able to use and consume alcohol the same way I always was, although I have what seems to be an permanently reduced tolerance, however slight, it's not much because I've always been a lightweight.

It sounds to me like you're more sensitive to the hangover effects of ethanol now, and you're associating that increased negative feeling with the hellish effects of benzo withdrawal, as they're still fresh in your mind. But what do I know?

 

[Trigeminal]

It sounds to me like you're more sensitive to the hangover effects of ethanol now, and you're associating that increased negative feeling with the hellish effects of benzo withdrawal, as they're still fresh in your mind. But what do I know?

That's not what's happening at all, dude. There are several people in this thread who have all agreed that drinking alcohol brings back their benzo w/d symptoms.

 

[Oxide]

Haha, like I said what do I know? I saw that several people said that, and it makes sense when you think about it. I apologize, I was trying to be funny and now that I re-read it I see that it was funnier in my head, lol. I never really drank throughout withdrawals, and didn't drink until a few months after I had been clean. I personally didn't notice a return of withdrawals symptoms, but I would not be too shocked if this was indeed happening to others.


sorry, please don't hate me.

 

[zirbeldude]

i was heavily addicted to benzos for a few years.

i used to get drunk for a few months along the benzos.
but now i just can´t stand it. i like to be a little bit tipsy but not the tiny bit more.
even though it happens sometimes and then i get withdrawal symptoms....mild, but still unpleasent when you are nervous and can´t sleep.
so i drink very rarely these days.

same goes for gbl.....the last times it took about a day of constant redosing till i really enjoyed the effects and that was enough to get mild withdrawal symptoms.
i will leave that substance...too dangerous.

on the other hand i can take benzos from time to time with no problems at all.

i guess the GABAergic system will never fully recover.

 

[burn out]

I was addicted to benzos for two years and am now 2 years off. It has been an extremely painful withdrawal and I am still going through it.

I have only tried drinking once since coming off and it did not bring back any of my withdrawal symptoms or make them worse. However, I did not enjoy it (and I used to enjoy alcohol very much, was an alcoholic). It was like the ethanol euphoria was blocked, so I see no point in drinking now. I take opiates and some of the ephoria one would expect from those is blocked also. However, I still take them because they are gentle on the body and so even if I don't get a good euphoria, I don't wake up hungover. With alcohol on the other hand, getting drunk and then waking up feeling awful is not worth it if you don't get a strong euphoria from it. So I don't drink now.