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Benzos Shorter acting benzos than Diazepam.

Polynomial

Polynomial

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 19, 2011
Messages
54
Location
Calgary, Alberta
I've been taking Valium on and off for a month or so now, as my doctor prescribed it to solve both my back pain issues, and anxiety issues - however; the half life of diazepam is just SO DAMN LONG! The Diazepam truly works for dealing with my back pain when needed, but doesn't do alot for my anxiety. I go to my doc's tomorrow, and I'm wondering what you guys think would be the best benzo to use in addition to the odd valium here and there.

So far I've considered Alprazolam, and Clonazepam mostly.

What are the advantages of having a benzo with a shorter half life?


Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbUDLZ5zpIM <---- A SONG FOR YOU
 
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Shorter-acting benzos are better for anxiety attacks and panic attacks as they work a bit faster and have a "peak". The best drugs for this are alprazolam and lorazepam IMO. However, the short and medium acting benzos tend to be more addictive...

If you have anxiety all the time, a longer-acting benzo is probably better for you. If you have panic attacks then its good to have a shorter-acting benzo...clonazepam lasts almost as long as diazepam so it probably won't be effective.

This is bordering on discussion that we don't allow here - there are lots of different benzos but in the end its best to be honest with your doctor about your expectations from your medication and hopefully they'll be able to help you find out which one works best for you. I've been on benzos for years now and started out with alprazolam (Xanax) but it didn't work for me. In fact, I find lorazepam and clonazepam to be the most effective benzos...but lots of people would disagree and say that they find lorazepam to be useless.

Its all about finding what works best for you...
 
You're probably not going to get a better answer than Neighborhood Threat's post.

Alprazolam(xanax) and Lorazepam(ativan)..work quick and die out fast.
Clonazapam lasts a long time.
^^^that's all in my own experience, anyway.^^^

Just to go off what Neighborhood Threat was saying..
I do believe that ativan does work for a real panic attack..
I think the people who say it doesn't work..are expecting to feel
sedation..and you don't really feel that with ativan.

Anyway..just remember xanax is extremely addictive and you build a tolerance
very quickly.
Ativan's good if you have to work and stay alert.
Clonazapam is big trouble for me..but it's very effective for others..
but it's long acting also.
And benzo withdrawl is a bitch.
Hope you find some relief!

<3token
 
If you are looking for round-the-clock anxiety control I'd advise against a short-acting benzo, and instead opt for a longer acting benzo like clonazepam. Clonazepam is a good benzo for anxiety and would likely help with muscle pain as well. If you need a benzo for anxiety or panic attacks to be used as a PRN, a short-acting benzo can be better, alprazolam is quite efficacious for such as a PRN as it hits quickly and hard in addition to not lasting long.
 
I'd say go for ativan as I find it not as good as valium for muscle relaxation but its better than xanax or klonopin for this purpose. It also has a shorter half-life than valium or klonopin, but has a longer half-life than xanax (~10 hours half-life for ativan). In terms of enjoyablility ativan (lorazepam) is low on the list, but if you don't care about recreational aspects than I say go for it.
 
SplatChrome said:
I'd say go for ativan as I find it not as good as valium for muscle relaxation but its better than xanax or klonopin for this purpose. It also has a shorter half-life than valium or klonopin, but has a longer half-life than xanax (~10 hours half-life for ativan). In terms of enjoyablility ativan (lorazepam) is low on the list, but if you don't care about recreational aspects than I say go for it.
Click to expand...

Which have good recreational value? I sometimes need to dose at work - and don't want to be too fucked up to work well which is what the muscle relaxant qualities of Valium do for me. Hmm. Well Nitrazepam sure is a no - I felt like SHIT for days after taking Nitrazepam.. Just exhausted. And it sure doesn't solve anxiety. Maybe it would be good if you had 3 energy drinks, and then dose. Even then you might just fall asleep.

Bah.
 
Out of all the benzos I've tried (clonazepam [klonopin], alprazolam [xanax], diazepam [valium], and lorazepam [ativan]) the most recreational were alprazolam and diazepam. Though I don't find benzo very recreational in the first place.

-alprazolam is prefect imo for intense sudden onset anxiety, great for general anxiety but because it last so short I rather go with a longer acting benzo for general anxiety (ok with SAD, not the best though. High doses can be recreational, and goes great with alcohol if used responsibly);
-diazepam is great for muscle relaxation, general daily anxiety, and social anxiety (not great for sudden onset intense anxiety. Higher doses are real chill so can be recreational);
-clonazepam is pretty good for general anxiety and for getting to sleep easy/staying asleep (sucks for quick onset anxiety, doesn't do much for muscle relaxation, and not great for social anxiety. Its not very "fun", so imo not very recreational. Its ok with alcohol for recreational time);
-lorazepam is pretty good for fast onset anxiety, good for falling asleep, and decent for muscle relaxation (leaves my mind feeling a little off, really doesn't feel like it can be recreational at all ime)


~1.0 mg alprazolam = ~10.0 mg diazepam = ~1.0 mg clonazepam = ~2.0 mg lorazepam
~0.5 mg alprazolam = ~5.0 mg diazepam = ~0.5 mg clonazepam = ~1.0 mg lorazepam

This is there general medical view of the equivalent potency. The different effects do come at different levels so there are some disparities depending on the right dose for the desired effects depending on how you respond.

This is all from my experience.

Hope it helps
 
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I was on valium 10 mg BID for 3 months, switched to xanax and eventually ended at 3mg/day, and just last week switched to klonopin 1 mg BID (I'm gonna have the doc up the dose when I see him soon, it's too low).

Valium, like you said, lasts forever. its half life can be 200 hours, but it has active metabolites for about 100 hours after dosing. It just always left me feeling really groggy but worked well for my panic disorder.

Xanax is an amazing drug for people who have panic attacks (like me), in addition to general anxiety. But I have a very addictive personality and after 6 months of 3 mg/day I noticed I was getting interdose w/d and overall was just worried I was heading down a dangerous path.

Klonopin is fantastic. Its onset is really smooth (instead of intense like xanax), and I never get interdose w/d. Plus, klonopin has very good muscle relaxant properties like valium, but overall is better for anxiety than valium IMO. I think klonopin is for you
 
I think that the most consistantly effective short acting benzo that I have tried for anxiety would be alprazolam hands down. Tolerance does build fast if you dose around the clock, but I found that I could continuously get great relief from one mg, taken once a day. I did this for a month when I was away on vacation this summer, and I had purposely only bought enough xanax to this amount per day. Of course when I got back home, I bought a whole lot more and then ended up screwing with my tolerance, but with no other benzo have I been able to recieve strong effects continuously for more than a month on the same dosage.

IMO, lorazepam is really not that good, I would prefer clonazepam. I honestly have never achieved anything out of diazepam, and never understood what the hype was about.
 
I'm concerned about blackouts - sometimes if I do happen to take a recreational dose of 20mg+, I drink a little grapefruit juice, and drink poppy seed tea occasionaly.

If I blacked out at work - would I be so fucked up that everyone would notice? My first blackout was with clonazepam (which I wasn't prescribed...) - with no tolerance I took between 2mg and 10mg, can't remember cause I blacked out and my gf flushed all my pills. Came to about 30 hours later.

During a blackout - how normal does one act in comparison with a blackout caused by excessive alcohol consumption?
 
Polynomial said:
I'm concerned about blackouts - sometimes if I do happen to take a recreational dose of 20mg+, I drink a little grapefruit juice, and drink poppy seed tea occasionaly.

If I blacked out at work - would I be so fucked up that everyone would notice? My first blackout was with clonazepam (which I wasn't prescribed...) - with no tolerance I took between 2mg and 10mg, can't remember cause I blacked out and my gf flushed all my pills. Came to about 30 hours later.

During a blackout - how normal does one act in comparison with a blackout caused by excessive alcohol consumption?
Click to expand...

Please allow me to speak with some embarrassing authority about this:

You're right to be concerned.

If you're blacking out on benzo's-

*you're not going to be acting normally-

*people will know.

:\token
 
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Polynomial said:
I'm concerned about blackouts - sometimes if I do happen to take a recreational dose of 20mg+, I drink a little grapefruit juice, and drink poppy seed tea occasionaly.

If I blacked out at work - would I be so fucked up that everyone would notice? My first blackout was with clonazepam (which I wasn't prescribed...) - with no tolerance I took between 2mg and 10mg, can't remember cause I blacked out and my gf flushed all my pills. Came to about 30 hours later.

During a blackout - how normal does one act in comparison with a blackout caused by excessive alcohol consumption?
Click to expand...

An anxiolytic dose of most benzodiazepines should not cause significant amnesia esp. since you have a little tolerance. I will say they can cause some apparent disinhibition at anxiolytic doses, but this can be good as in treatments of SAD or other anxiety disorders which prevent people from doing things that they otherwise would. So you might have a bit of "fuck it" or "fuck this" or "I don't give a fuck" attitude, yes, but this doesn't usually land anyone in trouble unless it is higher than an average anxiolytic dose for the non-tolerant. A high dose for someone without benzo tolerance could result in some behavior issues and some amnesia. If you are really that concerned, test your doses at home first and get a feel for them. I still don't know what benzo you plan on choosing, but I will say if you select esp. clonazepam and possibly lorazepam it may be quite hard to determine how much the drug is effecting you, so with those really start low and go slow. With alprazolam, for instance, you will likely be much more aware that you are fucked up, but may not give a fuck. Again, I am talking in higher doses. A low dose (regularly rx'd anxiolytic dose) will likely not trouble you in terms of causing "blackouts" and the like.

Again, for anxiety control, if you want a PRN for anxiety or panic attacks, a quicker acting but shorter lasting benzo like alprazolam might be best. If you want daily anxiety control, round-the-clock, clonazepam is a good choice. Of course, there are other benzos, but I am giving examples, and alprazolam and clonazepam are quite effective for the above indicated purposes. They are pretty much first-line benzo treatment for anxiety, however, lorazepam is sometimes employed for the alprazolam-phobic physicians.
 
Half-lives aside, I consider the therapeutic action of a normal dose of lorazepam to be longer by about 2-4 hours than diazepam. There is mild residual grogginess from active metabolites, yes, but I will start feeling anxious and panic-prone after some 4-6 hours after 10-20mg diazepam, while only after 8-10 hours after lorazepam. At larger doses the active metabolites of diazepam do accumulate and can lead to genuine effects lasting for hours and hours.

Clonazepam is quite long-acting; alprazolam is VERY short-acting, quite addictive and builds tolerance very quickly. I find both to be highly superior in anxiolytic relief to diazepam. Oxazepam has a short duration of action but it also takes 1-3 hours to reach sufficient levels to relieve anxiety; also, its effects are relatively un-selective and weak in my opinion, so to achieve the kind of anxiolytic relief I get from, say, bromazepam, clonazepam, lorazepam, or alprazolam, I have to take a dose which is considerably more sedative.
 
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