Benzos How long after quitting benzos or benzodiazepines can I drink alcohol again ??

[bakulaflare]

Does anyone know how long after quitting xanax cold turkey or any benzodiazepine can drink alcohol again ? Basically Im asking when on average does the healing of your gaba receptors complete? I've been clean 3 year and 9 months and really want to have a beer but I'm nervous that maybe I'm not fully healed yet...

Was on Xanax, Klonopin and Ativan sporadically for 6 months or so and quit cold turkey, went through hell for a week straight and then normal uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms for 2 months.

After 2 months had a beer and it made me sick and brought back the withdrawals so I told myself i would quit drinking for 3 years to heal my Gaba Receptors.

I'm at 3 years and 9 months and I feel great but I am still anxious about having a drink? I no longer have any withdrawal symptoms

Should I be fine having a beer?

 

[jamesBrown]

Does anyone know how long after quitting xanax cold turkey or any benzodiazepine can drink alcohol again ?

I'm not 100% sure what it is exactly that you're concerned about here. You can drink alcohol at anytime before, during, or after quitting benzo's. Since they both are GABA agonists, consuming alcohol while going through benzo WD(or after benzo WD) would only benefit you as far as potentially painful/dangerous symptoms are concerned.

Basically Im asking when on average does the healing of your gaba receptors complete? I've been clean 3 year and 9 months and really want to have a beer but I'm nervous that maybe I'm not fully healed yet...

There's really no telling as far as I know...but I do not claim to be an expert in this field. And to be honest, I don't think that your brain ever really "completes healing" after being damaged/changed/altered from repetitive drug use. At least not in the way you are probably thinking.

Was on Xanax, Klonopin and Ativan sporadically for 6 months or so and quit cold turkey, went through hell for a week straight and then normal uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms for 2 months.

This is not a good idea. When you are on drugs like alcohol(YES people...alcohol is most definitely a drug and the phrase "drugs and alcohol" is HIGHLY misleading) or benzo's, you should NEVER just quit cold turkey(unless under doctor supervision with physician approval). You are putting yourself at risk of seriously dangerous withdrawal symptoms that go way beyond excruciating pain.

After 2 months had a beer and it made me sick and brought back the withdrawals so I told myself i would quit drinking for 3 years to heal my Gaba Receptors.

I'm at 3 years and 9 months and I feel great but I am still anxious about having a drink? I no longer have any withdrawal symptoms

Should I be fine having a beer?

Maybe when you drank a beer only 2 months after quitting benzo's you're brain was still "fucked up" enough to reject another GABA agonist because it was in the process of repairing some recent/acute damage to your brains' neurotransmitters and ANY neurochemical that you ingested would have resulted in similar effects.

IMO...you should have NO problem with consuming alcohol(other than the obvious "problems" alcohol tends to cause...i.e. belligerent/stupid behavior, car accidents, awkward sexual encounters...etc.). I would wager that the only issue you have with alcohol right now is all in your head....it's nervousness. You're simply anxious as a result of your past experiences with GABA agonists....especially the last time you drank alcohol, since it was such a negative experience.
If you are dead set on consuming alcohol again(I don't know why anyone would feel this way given the numerous benefits of cutting alcohol out of your life) I would
recommend EASING INTO IT. Take a few sips of beer and see how you feel for a while. Then try a bit more if everything seems fine...and so on. I'm sure you will find you have no problems other than an EXTREMELY low tolerance to alcohol. So...BE SAFE!

...oh, and have fun!...carefully.

The best of luck,
jB

 

[BurritoJimmy]

Its possible alcohol will make you sick again because you quit benzos CT rather than taper. Look up kindling. Basically alcoholics who go CT pretty much screw themselves by not doing a proper taper and end up having bad withdrawals from small amounts of alcohol.

 

[bakulaflare]

Thanks a lot for the insight JB. I appreciate it very much. About 8 months after quitting benzos cold turkey I had an endoscopy and they gave me Propofol, which although not considered a benzodiazepine, interacts with CNS and for some reason I had a few days of "benzo" like withdrawals following the procedure. In my mind I saw this as a bad setback at the time but then I realized that my system was still very sensitive and it wasn't a complete rewind to zero progress but only a bump along the road.

I think that you're right in that its the nervousness I have that has kept me from drinking so long, after months of research and reading every single forum on benzos in general most people that suffered the worst from benzos healed after 36 months completely in the most extreme cases.

I used benzos 2x weekly for 6 months and quit cold turkey and I've read testimonies of people who were on them for 10 years and tapered properly and healed in 3 years

I wish there was a definitive way to take a neurological test and have a doctor tell you "Your gaba receptors are healed enough to drink a Corona" without delaying the complete healing. I honestly have learned to live life without alcohol and it has been a really good thing for me because when I was drinking I was living a crazy life. But I've grown up and it would be nice to have a glass of wine or few beers with friends and family.

I think as all people who are recovering from benzos, we want to know when we are going to feel normal again. For anybody who reads this just know that there is hope at the end of the long road. When I quit benzodiazepines I also quit drinking and cocaine. I also changed my diet drastically which made such a big difference in how I felt. I found I didn't have as much anxiety and felt less of a need to look for a scapegoat in the form of a pill or drink.

I will be posting an entire timeline of my struggle with benzodiazepines so other people in the same position can have a real life look at the progress you can make if you stay focused.

I posed a specific question about drinking alcohol post benzo but I should express that the most important thing about the recovery process is not when you can drink again, but when you can enjoy a normal life again.

I probably will have a drink at some point this year, and I will report my experience to the forum on how it goes. Still, it would be great to get feedback from anyone who HAS quit benzos successfully and can enjoy a glass of wine now without any adverse affects. Just to know that you can have a normal life and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks again for the input!

 

[bakulaflare]

Thanks BurritoJimmy, I read about kindling and it is very possible that some neuro adaptations may have occurred with my situation. I've gone though withdrawals from benzos twice. Once in June 2012, and then the last time in September 2013. After the initial withdrawal I didn't drink for a few months when i did drink again I noticed that the buzz I got from alcohol just wasn't the same. Obviously my brain wasn't processing the alcohol in the same way because it was damaged or sensitive to Gaba agonists but being young and uneducated as far as the science behind the benzo brain I didn't think much of it. Fast forward to Sept. 2013 the drunk i was getting was such a weird one, obviously because I was taking Klonopin, Ativan and Xanax sporadically and all the different release times and half lives of these drugs just made my withdrawal even more a ride from hell. Well 3 years and 9 months later I guess the only way I will know if my body can tolerate alcohol normally is to have a beer and see how I feel. If I have a bad withdrawal from a beer I would be surprised but anything is possible. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Farve10]

This story is very similar to mine. Would you be able to call me to discuss. I?m worried I?ll never be able to drink again ?

 

[Scrofula]

Howdy Farve, welcome to Bluelight. Not sure what you're looking for, since not a lot of people hand out phone numbers here.

But as long as you bumped the thread . . . lot of misconceptions going on.

For one, you don't have to "heal" from your benzo habit, OP. Benzos don't cause injury to your brain, they don't hurt it. Maybe with really large doses for a really long time, but that's the opposite of what you did. What is it that makes you think you're not healed?

Those GABA receptors just adapted to the benzos, and needed time to adapt back to life without benzos. And with twice weekly, they didn't adapt much. Really, from your posts it doesn't sound like you were on a sustained diet of benzos long enough for your brain to have to make a lot of changes.

If you abused these benzos, in your estimation, you might want to avoid alcohol. Benzos are just alcohol in pill form anyway (not literally, but they do the same thing). And alcohol is messier. Stick to sobriety while you have it.

 

[Lorne???]

^ That. If it makes that anxious, though, should probably avoid alcohol

 

[unkn0wn123]

I'm a recovered alcoholic, I use to be able to drink a liter of vodka in a day at my worst. I came of booze with the help of benzos, but I realized I was using alcohol to cover benzo withdrawal so few weeks ago I after a MDMA session I realized I should only fear alcohol if I don't think I can control it and I realized I can. I've drank (socially not getting drunk) for about 2 weeks straight which may sound like a relapse but many people can drink for months daily and stop alcohol without withdrawal. My point is don't fear alcohol just due to a benzo addiction mate they may work rather similar but they feel very different. Just know that your drinking to relax, slow your mind and have fun not to medicate. The second you're using it instead of benzos is when imo you have a problem, I thought I was an alcoholic for 4-5 years. I realized that I was drinking due to not being able to afford benzos, it's cheaper and feels better than benzos.
So I don't agree with avoid alcohol I am lowering my benzo dose and know why I abused pills and and faced why, if you can do that you SHOULD be fine with having a drink mate. But personally make sure your doing it socially with at least one person and maybe avoid spirits. Mixed drinks is fine but don't but vodka instead of cider or larger because I know myself I could turn to it in a bad day and use it to medicate my day to easy. But I could easily do shots of Jack Daniels with mates of course just don't do it on your own.
That's my own experience as a recovered alcoholic most people drink socially even if it's heavy drinking. And as for the coke, coke is so clean and lacks a lot of comedown you won't need benzos for it mate. Unless your not able to handle feeling a bit low.

 

[Backfromthebrink]

I'm a recovered alcoholic, I use to be able to drink a liter of vodka in a day at my worst. I came of booze with the help of benzos, but I realized I was using alcohol to cover benzo withdrawal so few weeks ago I after a MDMA session I realized I should only fear alcohol if I don't think I can control it and I realized I can. I've drank (socially not getting drunk) for about 2 weeks straight which may sound like a relapse but many people can drink for months daily and stop alcohol without withdrawal. My point is don't fear alcohol just due to a benzo addiction mate they may work rather similar but they feel very different. Just know that your drinking to relax, slow your mind and have fun not to medicate. The second you're using it instead of benzos is when imo you have a problem, I thought I was an alcoholic for 4-5 years. I realized that I was drinking due to not being able to afford benzos, it's cheaper and feels better than benzos.
So I don't agree with avoid alcohol I am lowering my benzo dose and know why I abused pills and and faced why, if you can do that you SHOULD be fine with having a drink mate. But personally make sure your doing it socially with at least one person and maybe avoid spirits. Mixed drinks is fine but don't but vodka instead of cider or larger because I know myself I could turn to it in a bad day and use it to medicate my day to easy. But I could easily do shots of Jack Daniels with mates of course just don't do it on your own.
That's my own experience as a recovered alcoholic most people drink socially even if it's heavy drinking. And as for the coke, coke is so clean and lacks a lot of comedown you won't need benzos for it mate. Unless your not able to handle feeling a bit low.

Dude, not being funny but that sounds like serious cope/denial. You say you're a recovering alcoholic but have drank everyday for like 2 weeks straight? You know that's not normal right? Especially for someone addicted to alcohol (ie and alcoholic). The mind plays tricks on us when we badly want to use our drug of choice...we convince ourselves that "other people do it...it'll be fine" but what you're describing isn't fine at all.

Rationalizing it because other people are present and youre not doing it alone is pure falicy...I was addicted to painkillers and I know now that I can't do them at all....thinking that it would be ok to pop a handfull of morphine or oxycontin tabs just cos someone else was with me for 2 weeks in a row would be madness. Saying that fits ok because "most people drink socially" is crazy...most people aren't alcoholics..it's completely different

Not trying to have a go, just really think you need to look at what you are doing.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Its possible alcohol will make you sick again because you quit benzos CT rather than taper.

Sorry this isn't true.

However it is possible that drinking may bring back withdrawal symptoms. I did read about someone on a benzo recovery forum I used to frequent getting their symptoms back like a year or 2 after quitting when they drank. But I think was a long term benzo user.

If you're worried about it and have been fine for over 3 years without alcohol, why even bother?

I'm a recovered alcoholic, I use to be able to drink a liter of vodka in a day at my worst. I came of booze with the help of benzos, but I realized I was using alcohol to cover benzo withdrawal so few weeks ago I after a MDMA session I realized I should only fear alcohol if I don't think I can control it and I realized I can. I've drank (socially not getting drunk) for about 2 weeks straight which may sound like a relapse but many people can drink for months daily and stop alcohol without withdrawal. My point is don't fear alcohol just due to a benzo addiction mate they may work rather similar but they feel very different. Just know that your drinking to relax, slow your mind and have fun not to medicate. The second you're using it instead of benzos is when imo you have a problem, I thought I was an alcoholic for 4-5 years. I realized that I was drinking due to not being able to afford benzos, it's cheaper and feels better than benzos.
So I don't agree with avoid alcohol I am lowering my benzo dose and know why I abused pills and and faced why, if you can do that you SHOULD be fine with having a drink mate. But personally make sure your doing it socially with at least one person and maybe avoid spirits. Mixed drinks is fine but don't but vodka instead of cider or larger because I know myself I could turn to it in a bad day and use it to medicate my day to easy. But I could easily do shots of Jack Daniels with mates of course just don't do it on your own.
That's my own experience as a recovered alcoholic most people drink socially even if it's heavy drinking. And as for the coke, coke is so clean and lacks a lot of comedown you won't need benzos for it mate. Unless your not able to handle feeling a bit low.

Sorry.. what?

 

[Scrofula]

I'd like to add, that I think it's a bit paranormal, but I've experienced the exaggerated withdrawal-like symptoms from alcohol before, possibly related to my many many CT and tapered WD from alcohol. They aren't quite the same, but I sure don't just get hungover like I used to. And somewhere else I said it was like "kindling".

But it's also not quite the same thing as kindling from a seizure. I'm pretty sure that seizure kindling is a medical fact with an understood mechanism. And is yet another reason to avoid them, especially once you've had one.

I think the "withdrawal" kindling is actually just sensitization. The same thing behind how quickly your tolerance can build when you relapse. All your receptors may have re-regulated back to their old levels, and your tolerance back to zero. But you still remember how it feels to be drunk or high, and your brain remembers how to operate on them decades later.

So don't hear "kindling" and think because you went cold turkey on a Valium habit twenty years ago, you'll seize and die if you eat a Xanax. If you had a few nasty WD though, that 20year Xanax might feel better than you remember, and worse the next day, for the same reason.