Harm Reduction IV Meth Overdose: Benzo?

[Lizabeth]

I think I just slightly overdosed on IV meth. I coughed pretty hard and that’s when I knew. I kind of panicked after a few minutes from the dizziness, and my heart rate being elevated along with strong palpitations, and felt uncontrollably shakey. So like an idiot I immediately took a 3rd (not a whole) of a benzodiazepine. Now I’m just very dizzy and very tired. I take about a 3rd of a benzo about once a week or so. Their the strong ones so never more than just a third. Was that a stupid thing to do? Did I just basically screw up big time? My blood pressure is 114/76 with a 106 pulse sitting down. The benzo definitely calmed me down

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

you did the exact correct thing - don't worry

the medics give benzos routinely for stim od's

 

[Coffeeshroom]

So basically you drove your car too fast, got scared and slammed on the breaks making everything go haywire. I'm no expert in meth and this but i think if you give the more knowledgeable people on this question more info like dosages and the benzo taken, then im sure someone will advise/suggest or help in a manner that will help you.

And if you reading this, then you good. you not dead

 

[Lizabeth]

you did the exact correct thing - don't worry

Oh thank God. I’ve read before that that’s how meth overdoses are treated but wasn’t sure if it was true, because I’ve also read it dangerous to mix them (an upper with a downer) I’m not sure if I overamped or overdosed or what? I used to be able to do shots way bigger than that abs would be okay, and it felt awesome. Not so much these days. This time I just got super dizzy and shaky and my heart kept pounding off beat real hard. It was kinda scary. Now I feel like absolute crap. The Benzo made me tired. Kinda strange to be tired after doing that. My blood pressure is now 111/73 so that’s good I think, and my pulse is down to 102.

 

[Lizabeth]

So basically you drove your car too fast, got scared and slammed on the breaks making everything go haywire. I'm no expert in meth and this but i think if you give the more knowledgeable people on this question more info like dosages and the benzo taken, then im sure someone will advise/suggest or help in a manner that will help you.

And if you reading this, then you good. you not dead

It was a 3rd of a 2mg clonazepam. And the meth, I just eyeballed it like always. I’d say it was a 15cent shot? Maybe 20? I just dump some in a spoon, mix it with 20 of water. I might need to learn a safer way of mixing shots. I’ve always done it that way. But maybe I should start weighing it out first. I’ve never been taught that way

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

Oh thank God. I’ve read before that that’s how meth overdoses are treated but wasn’t sure if it was true, because I’ve also read it dangerous to mix them (an upper with a downer) I’m not sure if I overamped or overdosed or what? I used to be able to do shots way bigger than that abs would be okay, and it felt awesome. Not so much these days. This time I just got super dizzy and shaky and my heart kept pounding off beat real hard. It was kinda scary. Now I feel like absolute crap. The Benzo made me tired. Kinda strange to be tired after doing that. My blood pressure is now 111/73 so that’s good I think, and my pulse is down to 102.

all sounding good to me - the uppers/downers combo-is-lethal thing is mainly an urban myth (although it can definitely be lethal if people take massive doses of downers by accident as they are too up on stimulants...and then the stims wear off and user od's) definitely best make that your last shot of meth for the day though

jkust out of interest what dose of meth and what dose of what benzo did you take?

Again - best medical practice prescribes a benzo for overstimulation so you will,be just fine

 

[ageingpartyfiend]

It was a 3rd of a 2mg clonazepam. And the meth, I just eyeballed it like always. I’d say it was a 15cent shot? Maybe 20? I just dump some in a spoon, mix it with 20 of water. I might need to learn a safer way of mixing shots. I’ve always done it that way. But maybe I should start weighing it out first. I’ve never been taught that way

ok just seen this - you'll be fine, it would be fine to have another third (or even all) of the 2mg clonazepam if need be

Please start weighing your meth doses though and not just eyeball them

 

[Lizabeth]

ok just seen this - you'll be fine, it would be fine to have another third (or even all) of the 2mg clonazepam if need be

Please start weighing your meth doses though and not just eyeball them

Thank you so much for your reply! I do feel like an idiot for not weighing out my doses. No one I’ve ever known does that. Then again they don’t practice safe or clean injection either. I definitely do. I don’t know how to weigh it out. As far as how much it should be, or what’s too much. I’ve always just thrown a decent portion into the spoon, covered it with 20 of water, and that’s that. Not very smart I’m realizing. But I’ll try to find info.

 

[Wilson Wilson]

Hey OP, hopefully by now you're feeling much better. Based on your symptoms it sounds like you could have had a panic attack from overstimulation. In which case the benzo was a good choice.

Combining stims and benzos is not physically dangerous, I am even scripted both amphetamine and benzos and have been for years.

What people do warn of as being potentially dangerous is mixing your stims with opiates. This can be fatal simply because many people will take a higher dose of opiates than they usually would to counteract the stimulation. But once the stim wears off and the full effect of the high opiate dose kicks in, if you're not tolerant to the dose you took you could be overcome by the respiratory depression.

Usually this happens with cocaine since of course coke has a short duration, but it can happen with meth if you were to use a high dose of an opiate for a comedown.

So it is a good idea to not mix stims and opiates for this reason, and if you must, then do not exceed the doses you'd take normally. Take less of the stim to make sure it doesn't overpower the opiate instead of increasing the opiate dose.

But this doesn't really apply to benzos as the CNS depression they cause is not strong enough to stop you breathing unless they are taking them in combination with other downers.

So taking a benzo to take the edge off overstimulation is absolutely fine.

The obvious risk of course is getting into a habit where you do this all the time and end up hooked on benzos as a result. But if you feel like you took too much stims, nothing wrong with popping a benzo, just don't make it a habit.