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Help determining the implication of loss of muscle tone from benzodiazepines

Pegasus

Ex-Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
8,073
I have known about the fact that benzodiazepines decrease muscle tone for a long time, but I have never been able to fully grasp exactly what this meant. I understand that it would "sedate" the muscles, so to speak, but I don't understand if the implications stop there. Would I actually lose muscle mass from taking benzos for a period of time? Would it be harder to gain muscle mass if I exercised regularly and was on benzos as opposed to not being on them? If either of these scenarios could play out, to what extent would it occur?

I appreciate anyone who takes the time to help me with this, as I have wondered this ever since I read about initially. I have resumed taking benzos on a semi-regular basis recently, but have also been gaining a lot of muscle size lately and intend to continue doing so...
 
Besides the ataxia that one gets while a potent dose of the drug is active, I've never noticed any loss of muscle from a regimen. Sometimes a low dose helps me goad myself into attempting a lift I wouldn't normally attempt. It's my custom to stack a sub-therapeutic dose (1mg alprazolam for me) with amphetamine and a certain OTC pre-workout energizing concoction. This helps me take the edge off the cardiac and emotional hyperstimulation the stims may give me.

My best results (short of steroids) have come from skipping the amps and OTC products and stirring finely-ground ma-huang stem into fruit juice and taking this with a low-dose benzo. The ma-huang alone is too much of a jolt, but with the mixture, it's common for me to cruise through a heavy chest or leg or olympic routine and make gains in power and bulk.

My results may not be typical. Also, I'm into bulking, not cutting. And I take the benzos for chronic anxiety. I have no idea how they affect the process of muscle formation in healthy people.
 
I was convinced they would impede in muscle growth but recent and daily use of various benzos has not impaired my gains. It has, however, increase my body fat due to late night benzo driven eating....
 
Awesome, thanks for the tips, guys. I actually love exercise with a low dose of benzos in my system, so I'll be well off if I'm not wasting my time.
 
Benzodiazepines simply inhibit your neurological fuction by modulating ion voltage gates transmission on the GABA receptor making you feel sedated even if a bit euphoric maybe due to the loss of anxiety. Glutamate, can be considered the counterpart of theese receptors as they exite neurons by increasing glucose metabolism.

There are no GABA receptors in your muscles on in your body so they cannot directly decrese muscle tone, as a said before they are means to sedate certain parts of the brain so the loss of muscle tone is mostly due to neurological inhibition.
Of course if you down a whole box of valium before exercizing you ain't gonna get much results on your body working.
It would be like goin to the gym completely drunk...

Hope that helps.

Ciao
 
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