Benzos Permanent Benzo Burnout?

[KyleOpium]

Hey all. I am a daily opiate user, however before I got into the opiates, benzos were my downfall with peak usage around 2011. My daily cocktail included

4 mg Clonazepam
30 mg Diazepam
Minimum of 10mg Alprazolam
1 mg Lorazepam throughout the day


I went into treatment in late 2011, and using librium, slowly got myself off the benzo's. I went 2 and a half years with no benzos, alcohol, or even any L-theanine as I was confident I didn't want to go back to that. Lately my opie tolerance is getting insane, and I'm realizing I need to go back to benzo's to help with my anxiety, as I need to kick the opiates before I get physical WD's. However I'm only planning to take these medicinally.

Now, I got in the mail 100 mg of etizolam, and 50 grams of phenibut, as I do not know how long it's going to take my insurance to find a doctor willing to get me benzo's again. And finding a Dr. Feelgood can find quite a while.

Last week I started off with 250mg of phenibut and 1 mg of etizolam to start. Felt absolutely nothing. Next time I doubled the dosage. My anxiety was still there, and in insane amounts too. Had a panic attack later that week, and ended up eating 4 mg of etiz, only for it to do nothing. Finally last night I took about 10mg of etiz, and felt a little something, but not even really enough to take the edge off. 5 grams of phenibut did absolutely nothing either.

My question is, have a permanently fucked up my Gaba system from previous heavy benzo abuse? I know the etiz is real, it's tested and from a legit source. I can still get drunk off booze, so I'm thinking it has to be something else that's messing with it. Or does alcohol affect gaba differently than gaba. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

 

[sekio]

It's possible. Benzodiazepines/barbiturates/alcohol/GABAergics are known for being the sort of drugs that once you build a dependence to them, it never leaves you.

People who take benzos for anxiety generally don't practice other ways to deal with stress (hence the benzo usage) and so it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Someone has anxiety, takes benzos, it makes everything better, then when they wear off the anxiety increases because they're not sure where they'll get more benzos, etc.

Really you have to deal with whatever is causing you stress in your life, get more exercise and a better diet, or perhaps switch to something like cannabis if you're in a state that legalized it. There's also other stuff like various herbs - skullcap, dagga, kava, chamomile, and the like that can substitute quite effectively for benzos.

 

[Tommyboy]

I used benzos 3 times since detoxing from them a year ago after 8 years of taking them daily as prescribed, and they worked just fine for me, and I only needed a small amount as my tolerance has gone down. So in my case I haven't permanently ruined that area of my brain, but I can only comment on my particular situation.