Need some advice regarding my use of Etizolam and Flubromazolam

[cornishninja]

I've been using Etizolam most nights since the 25th of September to help with sleep, with a break starting 9 days ago until last night. Before the break I was up to 3mg a night, increasing the dosage when I needed to. I didn't get any side effects the next day except for maybe a bit of emotional flattening and some mild short term memory loss (it's not that bad). But the problem with them is that my tolerance has risen very quickly.

I decided to try Flubromazolam and got a pack of 20x 0.25mg pills 9 days ago. When I got these pills, I stopped using Etizolam and switched to 0.75mg of F-lam a night. When I've taken it I've noticed that I've become more aggressive and negative in my thinking, very irritable, and I was unsteady on my feet all day until the effects wore off. I also couldn't think clearly and felt tired and lethargic. Imo it's a horrible drug, second only to Olanzapine.

I decided yesterday I needed to stop using F-lam right away even though I've only been through 15 pills since I got them 9 days ago.

Last night I took a total of 3mg of Etizolam (I started with 2mg but that didn't put me to sleep within the time it's meant to peak so I added another 1mg and that did the trick). I woke up today without any side effects. No aggression, no irritability, no unsteadiness, and I feel fine. I feel more clear-headed and I functioned perfectly well.

So, I'm wondering if I should just taper the F-lam with the remaining 5 pills I have left or can I just stop? If tapering is advised, how would you do that, considering I've only had 3.75mg spread out over the last 9 days?

If tapering off F-lam is advised, is it safe to take a small dose of F-lam during the day and the full dosage of Etizolam at night?

At the moment I'm not able to deal with the insomnia unmedicated because there are external factors I cannot control at the moment that's causing the insomnia. I'm currently looking for ways to deal with these external factors but for now if I'm to get any sleep each night, I have to medicate myself, bearing in mind that I need to function the next day. So I think I'm going to stick with the Etizolam even though I'm aware of the risks associated with it, and when I'm ready/able to, I will go to one of the drug centres around here and ask for help to come off them.

PS Don't ask me to go to my GP for sedatives/hypnotics, he will do sweet f-all for my severe insomnia which was previously being treated with the maximum dose of 7.5mg of Zopiclone a night because he wasn't allowed to prescribe a higher dose. No GP in my area will prescribe a benzo or a higher dose of any of the Z-drugs for insomnia. Now Zopiclone on its own won't sedate me at all unless I mix it with another drug like Amitriptyline, various antipsychotics, or antihistamines - and these leave me with a horrible hangover effect for days, leaving me unable to function. I've also tried other sedative drugs like Mirtazapine and these were either just as bad or even worse. Yet if I'm without any effective meds, I absolutely cannot cope with the continuous cycle of being awake for 24+ hours straight and then crashing for a few hours only to be kept awake for up to a further 24+ hours, because it's f-ing my life up and makes me feel depressed and angry (I mean horrible rage-type of anger).

 

[Speed King]

If you have to taper, the slower, the better. I'd keep the Etizolam at night, whatever your current dosage is. If the flubromazolam is that big of a deal, and you have 5, .5 tabs left, I'd go 1mg, 1mg, .5, done or 1mg, .5, .5, .5, done. Now about your use of Etizolam at night. if you want to taper off that, first, get over the f-lam, get to the lowest effective dosage of Etizolam for sleep. Now, you have been on it a little over a month. That's not too bad at all, but to make life easier, taper nice and slow. This is the hard part. Everyone is different. Some will recommend a quick taper, because you have been on it a pretty short time. If this were me, I would do a slow taper. I would try to taper over two months. I am sure some other Bluelighters will offer up some suggestions.

 

[Johndoedoe.junk]

IMO if you can go without the f-lam without withdrawing I'd say stick to the etiz and leave the f-lam alone. Sounds like you respond much better to the etiz.

 

[Speed King]

IMO if you can go without the f-lam without withdrawing I'd say stick to the etiz and leave the f-lam alone. Sounds like you respond much better to the etiz.

johndoedoe.junk, your idea, could work for some Bluelighters, but OP's post sounded a little more complicated and having gone through withdrawals, that were too fast and uncomfortable, detailed information was in order. Greenlighter status helped the decision.

 

[cornishninja]

Thanks for the advice.

I stopped the F-lam period, and I went back on the Etizolam (which I'd already restarted on the 28th). I figured there was low risk of seizures and psychosis after such a short duration (9 days of F-lam use at 0.75mg per night). I'd been off the F-lam for a few days when I suffered an episode of sudden onset paranoia, jumpiness and anxiety (very unusual for me), which was likely amplified by my tiredness at the time (I'd been up for too long). I knew this couldn't have resulted from the Etiz because I'd started taking it again. So I put it down to F-lam withdrawal, took some Etiz and went to sleep. I woke up feeling fine, and I haven't had the symptoms since.

I heard whispers of a blanket ban coming in April (in the UK) but haven't read any further news about that yet.