Way to prevent benzo tolerance?

[Paultoombes]

so heres the story. I used to smoke bud alot, but sadly my two friends who smoked with me have moved on to another circle (which is sad because i bought my weed off one of them). I also used to dabble in dph but i dont want to kill my liver.

anyways, i use temazepam for recreational use now. And while i have first hand experience of how addictive benzos can be (i had a big problem with Klonopin some time ago). i've been taking steps to try and prevent dependance. Here it is.

So Temazepam has a half life of 8 hours and you multiply that by 5.5 to get the time to fully get rid of it. thats about three days. what i do is I'll take like one or two 15mg temazepam to just help me sleep occasionally, but i wont use 3-5+ 15mg's recreationally until up to three or four days later. What i want to know is, is that a suitable way of staving a tolerance? I've been doing this for weeks now and i dont feel anymore tolerant to Temazepam. Is my brain still creating extra receptors though?

 

[T. Calderone]

In my experience, the best way to keep your benzo tolerance low is not using them frequently and keeping the dosage smaller. You have the right idea spacing out your usage. But when you start doubling-tripling the dose, your tolerance may go up much quicker. That 15 mg won't have the same effect as it used to.

 

[Paultoombes]

yeah, thats about what i thought, it happened to me with Clonazepam, but i figured that because Temazepam has a way shorter half life, the addictive/tolerant properties might be different.

 

[Paultoombes]

I don't exactly understand how dextromethorphan could do that? Could I substitute with a therapeutic dose of Diphenhydramine? What dose DXM do chemical wise?

 

[Speed King]

this medicine called Campral is used for alcohol dependence and benzodiazepines. I take Campral and it's been too soon for me to really tell, but I have noticed that I am starting to take less clonazepam and I have absolutely no desire for alcohol. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acamprosate

 

[Speed King]

Another idea, take theraputic (30mg-60mg) doses of DXM (dextromethorphan, an OTC cough drug) 45 min. before taking benzos (or any other drug). It can keep tolerance from developing, although some people will say it won't. But be careful, it might potentiate the benzo, IDK. Try lower doses with the DXM first and experiment.

Start in the 30mg range and work up to 60.

 

[sighkosis]

I don't exactly understand how dextromethorphan could do that? Could I substitute with a therapeutic dose of Diphenhydramine? What dose DXM do chemical wise?

I believe the DXM-blocks-tolerance theory comes from DXM's NMDA antagonism, in which case no, diphenhydramine--an antihistamine--won't substitute. But other NMDA antagonists--which induce a dissociative state quite unlike the anticholinergic hallucinations of diphen--would: ketamine, methoxetamine, PCP & 3-/4-MeO-PCP, nitrous oxide...

Also, I echo the sentiment that there's no tolerance shortcut, especially for benzos. i've been prescribed clonazepam for coming on 2 years now--currently 0.5mg x2/day, but i only take them 2-3 times a week, and my tolerance has stayed mostly the same such that my prescribed 1mg still brings clinical anxiety relief. i do occasionally binge on 3-4mg clonazepam, which raises my tolerance noticeably for a week or so. I think unless you take them even less than medically prescribed, you're going to deal with rising tolerance.

 

[deos68]

general rule of thumb to avoid tolerance of anything keep the doses small and don't take the shit daily or frequently
have some breaks in between or even a few days in between and youll be alright