Benzos Occasionally benzo usage - Will I get addicted again?

[Opioten]

This year I have been using a lot of benzodiazepines to mask my GAD. I noticed I was starting to get addicted so I did a fast taper and went cold turkey for 4 weeks. It went alright (I didn't use massive amounts of benzo's) so I am happy not to take them every day anymore.

After the 4 week break I took a small amount of diazepam (20mg). Now I use benzoes like twice a week. I use diazepam or clonazepam at the most. I know these benzoes are long acting and therefore I have this question for you guys: Will this give me withdrawels/or make me addicted again even though it's only twice a week? Its usually like tuesday and friday, and some weeks only once a week.

I have been searching alot but couldn't find an answer.

And please don't comment on the fact that I should find the actual cause for my anxiety. I have been trying to do that for several years.


I love Bluelight btw

 

[VerbalTruist]

We can't say if you will or will not get addicted, that's totally on you.

 

[Opioten]

I mean physical addicted like I once was. If I continue to do it twice a week with a low dosage.

 

[Too many doses]

Self medication is a slippery slope that can ultimately make your actual symptoms worse than they were when you started. Just because you don't use daily doesn't mean you aren't an addict (unless you only care about physical dependance). 20mg of diazepam 2x a week won't cause wds that make you suicidal although it could really effect your mood when you aren't on benzos. It's better you take long acting ones over something like alprazolam, so that will make the comedown less noticeable/intense. Good luck .

 

[Opioten]

Yea but if I use a short acting benzo like alprazolam there's a smaller chance that I'll get addicted I believe? I am not sure, that's why I ask here. My docter knows nothing about benzoes.

I am not afraid of mental addiction aslong I suffer from chronic anxiety, but I am very afraid to get physical addicted again. The withdrawels wasn't fun

 

[crazykidck69]

I think alprazolam is the best benzo! You can take it only whenyou need to, like when you feel panic attack coming or have to do public speaking or whatever makes you anxious. It works fast and is a great prn. I wld ssay a dosage of .5 to 1 mg wld suffice almost anyone! I take 4mg of generic xaxnax a day 1 mg twice a day and 2 mg at ight to sleep. I was just wondering since i like the alprazolam so much i wanna take 1 mg 4 times a day and find something different for sleep. I have a high tolerance and have treid everything from ambien,seroquel, trazadone, temazepam and lorazepam. I was thinking abt asking my dr. for halcion does anyone have any experience with taking xanaxx during the day and halcion for sleep?

 

[Too many doses]

A short acting benzo causes bad rebound anxiety and is very reinforcing, as when you take it it releives your anxiety quickly but leaves your body quickly aswell. So most people end up chasing releif. That's why tolerence escelation is extremely rapid with Xanax.

 

[Opioten]

As you guys probably know diazepam has a half life from 20-100 hours (how can it vary that much?)

Therefore I am afraid that even a weekly dosage of lets say 20 mg every friday makes me physical addicted to the drug. Can the GABA system repair/recover itself even though there's still a little diazepam inside your body?

I hope there's some wise men out there who can help answer my questions (and understand em'. English isn't my primary language)

 

[VerbalTruist]

A short acting benzo isn't what you want. With Valium you're able to take one dose a day and be fine with a short acting benzo like Xanax you're taking more during a day and causing your receptors to bounce back and forth, if that makes sense.

You should stick to a low frequency of Diazepam along with a low dose.

 

[Sentience]

They are addictive, so I think its likely if you dont check yourself.

 

[delta_9]

^^E-Nod^^But with something like diazepam wont plasma pretty much always show (varying, of course)levels of diazepam, which is definity something one would want to aviod if trying to not become addicted.

BTW OP, I recently kicked my diazepam addiction(50-60mg/day for about a year or so) and it's been about a week or so since the last noticable withdrawl symptoms and trust me it's definity not something you should be jumping right back into. And even if you think you're playing it safe you could be treading in dangerous waters.
I mean, it started off with 20mg-30mg a day or every other day and then before I knew it when I finally did decide enough was enough, I had to scramble like crazy to get a sufficient taper stash before my usual stash runs out and I'm screwed.

 

[OEandricearoni]

As long as you can control your usage and don't take the everyday you shouldn't get physically addicted. Try only taking them when you feel you really need to. Try getting to only taking them once a week on average. You really don't want to get physically addicted to benzos, from what I've heard it's even worse than opiates, which is unimaginable for me because being physically addicted to opiates sucks hard.

 

[Cameo]

That's why tolerence escelation is extremely rapid with Xanax.

No Kidding.

I have been addicted to both opiates and benzos, at different times. Though the withdrawels are different, I thought Xanax was much harder to get off of cold turkey than Opiates where. Opiates made me feel Flu type sick, while benzo (Xanax) made me feel like I was going insane.

I love taking Xanax, espiecally now since OC's are ridiculiously overpriced now... the only real problem that I have, is that I tend to lose my memory more and more now. I cant even remember what I did last night....

 

[TheFDA]

Everybody's different, so it's impossible to say for certain. If you're only using Benzos two days a week, I can't imagine you'll ever go through the sort of addiction & withdrawal that comes from daily use. If you use Benzos even only two days a week, though, & keep doing that for an extended period of time, there's a good chance you'll have minor withdrawal systems when you finally stop.
Overall, though, unless you're taking a TON of Benzos on the two days each week that you use them, you don't have much to worry about.

 

[TheFDA]

Hey guys, just thought I'd throw in my own question since it doesn't deserve its own thread.
Have gone through semi-benzo WD (1 year taking around 80+mg of zolpidem a day, at random times of the day, and stopped cold turkey). The anxiety I got was so bad I actually broke out into a rash, and at night I'd get an apocalyptic sense of doom that was worse than any MDMA come-down.

3 years later, I haven't forgotten just how bad the "doom" felt (anxiety can be dealt with in other ways). Since Zolpidem acts on GABA-A, and is short-acting, will my nightly use (every night, with no escalation in dose) of .5mg Xanax result in the same sort of horrible feeling?

Sorry about the long and tortuous question, but basically I'm wondering, because I realise there are "Bluelight" benzo users and "other" benzo users lol - my mother has been taking zolpidem for sleep every night at the same dose (5mg) for years. So if I keep the dose steady (and low!), will it still fuck with me?

Taking 0.5mg of Xanax nightly for an extended period of time might cause you to have some minor withdrawal symptoms, & it might not cause you to have any at all. However, no matter WHAT any withdrawal you may experience from that dose of Xanax won't be anywhere NEAR as bad as your withdrawal from Ambien was. Dosage is a HUGE, HUGE factor in determining the severity of withdrawal, & the reason your withdrawal from Ambien was so bad was because you were taking a TON of it each day. It sounds like your Xanax use is exactly the opposite from that -- 0.5mg is practically the lowest dose of Xanax prescribed [apparently people are occassionally prescribed .25mg of Xanax, but most doctors start people on 0.5mg]. Severe Benzo withdrawal can usually be avoided when people are slowly tappered off the medication; so, since you're currently on pretty much the lowest dosage someone would be on before they were finally tappered down to 0mg, any withdrawal effects you'd experience would almost definitely be nothing too difficult to handle at all.
If you're concerned about withdrawal, though, & if you let your doctor know that, he/she can probably tapper you down to .25mg of Xanax for a while whenever you end up going off of it, & you probably won't experience any withdrawal symptoms at all that way.

 

[dildonian jr.]

i wouldnt risk taking anthing if you got that adicted.....
just my opinon though


but if i were you id find a new habit

 

[Sentience]

I never got addicted to lorazapam.....but then again, I never had an addiction then went back to it.

 

[goaheadanjuna]

I never got addicted to lorazapam.....but then again, I never had an addiction then went back to it.

hi there can you help ive managed to get hold of 10 lorazepam 1 mg im a H user but aint managed to get any for weeks NOW proper shit in uk, any way will i get a buzz if i take them all at once? Can i bang them up? Can i sniff them for a better buzz?, im at work now but finish soon so want to know cos i need a buzz and will take the lot in one go, wat do you think? Thanx

 

[Sentience]

I dont care for the benzo buzz. I would use just 1mg at a time to potentiate an opiate buzz (this can be lethal if you use more or if you are already nodding on opiates), or just save them for the anxiety of WDs.

10mg is kind of a high dose unless you are used to it. I used 6 or 7mg before.....totally calm, slightly disassociative high. Slightly pleasant, but nothing special.


Instead, just use a very low dose and get blazed on weed. You can get really stoned without anxiety......a low dose, 1mg, with other drugs in my opinion is better than taking too many at once.

Anxiety ruins high doses of marijuana for me, especially orally, but with benzos you can get the best out of your experience without anxiety.

 

[Cameo]

hi there can you help ive managed to get hold of 10 lorazepam 1 mg im a H user but aint managed to get any for weeks NOW proper shit in uk, any way will i get a buzz if i take them all at once? Can i bang them up? Can i sniff them for a better buzz?, im at work now but finish soon so want to know cos i need a buzz and will take the lot in one go, wat do you think? Thanx

I wouldnt take them all at once, thats kind of a waste. But, the question has been asked before, which roate to go to get a better buzz off of benzos, and a good friend on here told me that banging isnt really the way to go with benzos. He said that orally is the best way to get the buzz, but I tend to sniff mine. But I also tend to usually fall asleep or not remember anything, which is also a waste.