Sorry this thread is huge and I haven't the time to read through it all. But I have a question about reverse tolerance.
Basically I've been using Etiz (I started off with Etizest before switching to Intas a few months ago) on and off since September to help with insomnia, and it usually works great. I found that my tolerance would rise, but I always set myself a limit of 3.5mg a night. So whenever I reached that, I knew I needed to take a break from it which can last up to 9 or 10 days. After a break, my tolerance dropped quite a bit so I would then start off with 2mg again.
Recently I reached my limit and found that it wasn't doing the job of sending me off. But instead of taking a break, I upped the dose to 4mg because I truly felt I couldn't cope with a sleepless night because I was already stressed out. 4mg knocked me out, and the next day I felt groggy. It's worth noting that previously when I took 3.5mg I never felt groggy the next day so I thought maybe 4mg was pushing it too far and decided to never take 4mg again on any night. So I reduced it to 3mg the next time I took Etiz and found that it was doing the job of 4mg. Which is weird because only a few nights prior, 3.5mg wasn't doing the job of sending me off!
I'd heard that reverse tolerance (drug sensitisation) can happen with Etizolam so I wondered if that was what I was experiencing. I decided to pop 2mg to see if it would send me off, and found it was doing the job of 3mg. It seems I'm becoming more sensitive to the sedation effects. Since then I've been taking 2mg a night and I'm out like a light, without any grogginess the next day. But I'm now approaching the point where I can get by one just 1, maybe 1.5mg on a "good" night when I still have some trouble falling asleep but not as much as I do on a bad night.
The only side effects I'm experiencing is poorer memory and a poor appetite, which I've had since I first started using Etiz.
I don't know whether this reverse tolerance is a sign of addiction, or if it's something I should be concerned about. Do I have something to worry about? Is it my brain telling me I need to stop?