Benzos If Alprazolam has an average half-life of 11.2 hours...

[Oxy8_8]

Then why is it prescribed four (sometimes three) times a day? Surely twice a day would be enough since you'd still have half the last dose in your system.
Taking it four times a day seems like it would continually build the amount of the drug in your system and eventually lead to overdose?
Can someone explain this to me?

Before I get a lecture from board mod, I looked on wikipedia and tried several different entries in the bluelight search too and found nothing close.

 

[draevon]

Basically, what happens is that after a set period of time, the concentration reaches a peak, at a somewhat higher level than the actual dose is.
As a recreational user, I monitor my doses to avoid addiction, so I made these graphs from my template quickly. Check these out:

The same principle applies to 3 or 4 doses a day, with the exception of the peak being higher.

 

[Oxy8_8]

Ah, I kind of understand that. Especially that last graph reminded me f the way my Dr tried to explain about SSRIs and the way you initially have to let them build up in your body.

Thanks for answering .

 

[Psychedelic Jay]

This is improbable.

After all when you sleep, the drug is still metabolizing.

You are indeed almost starting fresh every morning.

It will not, and cannot be that linear in the blood with repeated doses ever... Even XR formulations have a big dip towards the end of the day.

Even though there are active metabolites, these are mostly equal to or weaker than the alprazolam itself.

If you want a more linear blood level of a benzodiazepine, I would recommend you switch to diazepam.

Therefore you can go from four pills a day to just one, and your tolerance will indeed thank you.

 

[Jktm]

Half-life doesn't equate to duration of action. Methamphetamine has a half-life of about 12 hours, and even when IV'ed (which increases half-life/duration oddly) it only lasts about 6-8. Another example is diazepam. It has a half-life of 50-100 hours, but that doesn't mean that you only take 1 pill every 2.5 days. I have a friend with epilepsy that was once prescribed 10-20mg of diazepam q6h.