Stopping Etizolam use.

[ct-boi]

Hi there.

I started using Etizolam to help with my insomnia this summer whilst I was using Tren ace, using on average 4-6mg/ night for 2 months. For September I started dosing in the daytime also use maybe peaked at 8-10mg/day sometimes more, sometimes less.

A few weeks back I used ethylphenidate for 3-4 days in a row and consumed probably around 10mg/day again and ramped down a few days afterward.

For the past couple of weeks I went from 2mg/day, and the past week I've been splitting dose using 0.5mg before bed and 0.5mg upon waking. Sleep has been pretty bad and the anxiety was bad at first but I seem to have stabilized at this dose now and don't feel to bad on 1mg/day. Last week I tried stop cold turkey and started feeling really shitty with some paranoia and a mild stimulant comedown sort of feeling at about +36 hrs from last dose so I took another 0.5mg and have been here for a week as I said.

If I stay at 1mg/day for another week, then 0.5mg for another week, should I be safe to stop cold turkey then? Is it a matter of just powering through and puptting up with feeling horrible for a week or two or am I at serious risk? If it's willpower then I feel okay to go ahead but don't want to put myself at risk from any serious complications of seizures etc.

I feel as though if I can handle life okay on 1mg right now I should be okay stopping cold turkey with the short half life?

Total usage time is about 4 months. I never used this class of drugs recreationally but I am really regretting starting using them for sleep and comedowns as my doses did get out of hand at one point I feel.

 

[lurching]

Lucid enough post for a benzo addict, structured too. Benzo cold turkey I found really discouraging, time drags on and I just want to jump out of my skin 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or whatever's the metric of that wicked benzo-WD space-time manifold. Alright. If you stabilised at 2x 0.5mg (and try to put 12hrs between doses?), you'll need to dig up some patience and sit it out for a bit. Your habit of 4 months doesn't sound too excessive, and you're not doing TOO badly on 1mg per day, so I guess you'll stabilize relatively rapidly on the lower dosages. You'll find you can go to 1x 0.5mg in the morning and 1x 0.25mg at night maybe by the end of next week.
Consider supplementing your night dose with a drug of another class.. I like promethazine and mirtazepine and CBD-rich cannabis and perhaps a beta-blocker. Avoid alcohol because of cross tolerance. Insomnia will still be a problem I'm guessing, so watch for sleep deprivation. And stay fed

If you have an OK relation with your GP or a specialist, you could ask for a small/limited amount 5mg or even 2mg diazepam tablets.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

ct-boi, yeah i was thinking that if you do find the final steps nasty and difficult, you could switch to a weaker longer lasting benzo to finish off with. Most people use diaz if they can get it off a Dr, but i see no reason why you couldn't substitite 4mg flubroz pills instead, if the Dr wont oblige, they are weaker than etiz (you'll have too look up their relative strengths yourself im afraid, first result i found just now was from another forum where someone mentionted that 4mg flubroz = 1.5-1.75 etiz, I dunno how he worked that out, other than just subjective fellings ? Flubroz seem even weaker than that to me), but the half life is between 72-96 hours on them. Crazy man, i can see people using these to finish thier tapers as etiz is a bit too short lived, you wanna keep your blood plasma levels as consisntent as possible, not all peaks and troughs.

And your goood news is that you are doing so much better than me. Ive been addicted for 3.5 years now. Reduced to 11mg last night, slept fine last night and feel fine today. Im finally getting somewhere with this taper. My doses have been all over the place; 1mg, 6mg, 15mg, 25mg, 35mg, even 50 mg !! At one stage i was using 3 other sleep aids on top of a mountain of etiz. I must have been fucking crazy at that time. Jesus.

Aren't benzo addicts meant to be able to be lucid or structure their posts then Lurch

 

[ScotchMist]

Im yet to understand one of your posts yet MDB....

Good luck with the taper bud, the both of you that is

 

[Kronos]

Sounds like you have the right idea, you can come down from v high to more reasonable doses relatively comfortably & quickly but be more careful on the last lower doses as they can be torture, i'd go with MDBs suggestion to switch to a longer half life benzo (diaz is the standard for tapering) as i find with short half lifes you get horrible rebound anxiety & panic attacks/higher chance of seizure, though if you manage 0.5 twice a day, then 0.5 once a day for a week stopping CT after that should be ok health-wise..

You'd need to be pretty fucking headstrong though, good luck

 

[mydrugbuddy]

My taper was/is going OK apart from when i neglect to set my alarm clock; i find myself waking up at anthing from 15.30-18:30, even 22:30 the next evenining which is depressing as fuck and completely throws me. Got down to 10ml the other night, slept fine, and woke feeling noticebaly fresher, those mega doses must be having much more effect on me on the day after than I'd acounted for.

 

[Tangerine Dream]

I got rebound insomnia the last week... I was using 2mg before sleep and 2mg when waking for almost a month. Just easy short term fix I guess, which can get out of hand...but is cheap enough, easily obtained and creeps up on you if you let it. I'm onto diclazepam now for the longer HF, 1mg at night and 1mg mornings for now, maybe a bit of a sharp change? But managing... Soon 0.5 twice a day and hopefully then nothing.