• 💊 OTHER DRUGS 💊 Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Notable Threads 1 Notable Threads 2
    Dangerous Combos Addiction Support
    Emergency Services Benzo Guide v.1
    Addiction Stories Scary Case Studies
    Biology, Pharmacology & Drugs 101
  • Select Your Topic Then Scroll Down
    Alcohol Bupe Benzos
    Cocaine Heroin Opioids
    RCs Stimulants Misc
    Harm Reduction All Topics Gabapentinoids
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums

Benzos Valium wears off quickly despite long half life

Ashley

Ashley

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Jun 17, 2005
Messages
1,000
Location
NSW, Australia
Hi all, just wondering why the nice sedated, chilled out, recreational effects wear off so quickly? Like well any truly within an hour? Its a real tease. The reason I ask is because of its long half life shouldn't those effects last longer?
 
To sum it up so that everyone understands it is the same reaction as hitting your toe on something and feeling the pain. Then after a while you hit your head feel more pain even that the toe pain has not diminished.

It "lights" up more receptors when you dose more even while the receptors that the active ingredients have binded on are still binded by them.
 
Ashley said:
Hi all, just wondering why the nice sedated, chilled out, recreational effects wear off so quickly? Like well any truly within an hour? Its a real tease. The reason I ask is because of its long half life shouldn't those effects last longer?
Click to expand...

The length of peak effects really doesn't correlate with half-life. Half-life concerns the amount of drug in plasma over time, while there are other factors at play determining the strength of effects felt. If you've been addicted to opiates (or any drug physically addicting drug really, opiates are just the best to illustrate this), you know that you only feel the effects for a short while after administration, but withdrawal doesn't set in for a while longer. This illustrates it pretty well, IMO.
 
so if i took 50mg valium last night (with GFJ to slow the elimination even more), i wouldnt feel withdrawal for 2-3 more days if i didnt top up again?
 
bignbrown said:
so if i took 50mg valium last night (with GFJ to slow the elimination even more), i wouldnt feel withdrawal for 2-3 more days if i didnt top up again?
Click to expand...

There are a lot of factors... The dose of benzos that you are dependent on is key. Also, rebound anxiety has to be accounted for. What can be said is that you're not going into withdrawal as soon as you stop feeling effects.
 
When diazepam is absorbed quickly from an empty stomach, it is first distributed only to those organs in the body that have lots of blood circulation(brain, liver, lungs, etc...) and because it reaches high concentrations in the brain at this point, it gets you high. After that the drug is redistributed to other organs (a much larger volume) with a half-life of 1 hour. After this redistribution the elimination of the drug continues by hepatic metabolism which has a long half-life.

This redistribution effect also explains why the effects of intravenous fentanyl wear off in 30 minutes even though the metabolic half-life of fentanyl is 5 hours.
 
^ True for all drugs that have low binding affinity but cannot be applied to drugs like buprenorphine which has very high binding affinity to receptors.
 
Valium is a fast-acting benzo, peak plasma concentrations are reached in an hour. Xanax is also fast-acting. In my experience, the recreational effects of Valium might only last a short while, but the anxiolytic effects and the subtler effects of benzos lasts a long while.

While dependent on benzos, a single Valium dose in the morning would hold me for the day, while I would HAVE to redose Xanax every 4-6 hours, interdose withdrawals.

Also Xanax is very in-your-face, while Valium is a lot more subtle. I can feel the moment the Xanax kicks in, and the moment it leaves the system.
 
polymath said:
This redistribution effect also explains why the effects of intravenous fentanyl wear off in 30 minutes even though the metabolic half-life of fentanyl is 5 hours.
MrRoot said:
^ True for all drugs that have low binding affinity but cannot be applied to drugs like buprenorphine which has very high binding affinity to receptors.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Doesn't fent have quite a high binding affinity?

Regarding the original post becoming used to the subjective experience also plays a part. Like how when driving a car you notice how fast you are going when you merge onto the highway but soon it just seems the norm even if you are still going just as fasted or even slightly faster.
 
^Exactly. You notice the Valium taking effect and enjoy the recreational effects, then that effect tapers in to more of a relaxed, subtle, anxiety-relieving effect.
 
The question has been already answered by Pegasus. Drug half-life can't be used as a measurement for subjective feelings. There are so many things affecting actual concentration of the drug in the CNS.

Here's an example why lorazepam is more effective than diazepam as an anticonvulsant in terms of length of effects. Diazepam flows to the fat tissue much more than lorazepam which is less fat soluble and it stays in the brain. This is at equivalent doses. Now, lorazepam is an intermediate acting benzodiazepine with no active metabolite. In contrast, diazepam on its own has a longer half-life and its metabolite has even longer half-life and it's active having just a little bit worse affinity to the BZ receptors.
 
For those wondering where their posts went, this thread is about the effects and pharmacology of the chemical and not about fake pills nor generic versus brand name etc.
 
the 50mg i took two nights ago, although i lost effects after about 3 hours, withdrawals didnt start setting in til today, ive had a few beers and taken some DHC in the mean time.

think im gonna have to get to docs to get a taper programe set up (for second time :()
 
tagamet and white grapefruit juice increase the bioavailability and increases the duration
 
Valiums alot more of a 'stable drug' to be depedent on then short acting benzo's like xanax. Sense it does have such a amazing long half life, it's hard to notice withdrawals. Which does make it perfect for quiting.

Sense your blood levels of diazepam tend to not fluctuate as much. It tends to be less up and down then shorter benzo's in my opinion. Then again, the urge to take more can still be strong. (but you get my point).
 
well its been over 48 hours since my last dose of valium, normally i would be feeling some withdrawal now, im just experiencing insomnia, im hoping i wont need to use my emergency vals or a taper.
 
bignbrown said:
the 50mg i took two nights ago, although i lost effects after about 3 hours, withdrawals didnt start setting in til today, ive had a few beers and taken some DHC in the mean time.

think im gonna have to get to docs to get a taper programe set up (for second time :()
Click to expand...

You don't think you'll be able to just ride-out the withdrawal symptoms while you still can?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top