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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

What is the best benzo to help, not abuse? I'll explain.

B

bzduzit2011

Greenlighter
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
10
Location
USA
I've been on 8mgs of xanax for about 11 years now. Really I just take it because if I don't I'd probably die. It's gotten to the point to where it doesn't help out with my severe chronic anxiety. I see my doctor the 1st of next month, and he's a pill pusher. I'm not bragging, I'm just asking what do you think the best dose of what is? Eg....40 mgs of valium 10 4 times a day, or 6 mgs of ativan 1, 6 times a day. I really really need some help. I have tried: 40 mgs of valium, 6 mgs of klonopin, and have been on the 8 mgs of xanax now. Should I mix them up, or take maybe 4 mgs of xanax and 4 mgs of klonopin. Yes I like a good benzo buzz, it's just I can't really get them anymore. 8(
Please Help!
 
At the tolerance lever you're at, I wouldn't start mixing different benzos at one time. It is really easy to develop an extreme tolerance to benzos, and while you might not feel that much affected, your brain chemisty is still greatly affected..best bet is to try to slowly and steadily reduce your dose and your tolerance. Valium has a much longer half-life than Xanax or Klonopin, so it will stay in your system longer. How this fact will play in to catching a buzz, I don't know. It does seem like you are taking way too many benzos though. I don't mean this in a condescending way, but in a practical way. If you're taking that much and not feeling anything, then you've got to reduce your tolerance. Perhaps someone who is more benzo-savvy can answer the question about the best benzo and mixing them. You are right though - if you quit cold turkey you could die. You could also have back-to-back seizures that could result in busted teeth and crossed eyes and stuff like that (know that wasn't your question though).
 
It does seem like you are taking way too many benzos though. I don't mean this in a condescending way, but in a practical way.--I appreciate the honesty and have to agree. The thing is, I honestly do have chronic, severe, (generalized anxiety disorder ) If I were to go down in mgs as pathetic as this sounds I don't know if I could cope with just stress. ( No medical problems, or other psychiatric problems either, all have been ruled out ) So I'm basically stuck. I always kind of thought k-pins stayed in your system a lot loner then valium. Well thanks anyway, and I'll keep what you said in mind. LOL, I would never quit cold turkey.....not funny, but true ( the way you said it lol ) Thanks!
 
Valium is the best benzo for general use IMO. It possesses anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, hypnotic, sedative, skeletal muscle relaxant, and amnestic properties. It is long-acting as well as rapid-acting which can be beneficial in various situations
 
I would transfer slowly to another benzo. 8mg alprazolam/ day is a huge amount but can be overcome. I'd try to cut maybe 0.5 - 1mg alprazolam and substitute 10mg diazepam in at first, and continue adding diazepam and subtracting alprazolam until you are completely on diazepam. Check out this schedule for an idea of what you need to do (this one starts at 6mg alprazolam but you'll get the idea)...

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Charles Ferdinand said:
Taper and use Lyrica.
Or just add lyrica to your current benzo intake.
Good Luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for the input everyone. Charles, I don't believe lyrica is prescribed in the states for any anxiety disorder whatsoever. I have heard it used for that though. I'll figure something out to where I start seeing a doctor who actually cares and will taper me off the medication the right way. Thanks again!
 
bzduzit2011 said:
Thanks so much for the input everyone. Charles, I don't believe lyrica is prescribed in the states for any anxiety disorder whatsoever. I have heard it used for that though. I'll figure something out to where I start seeing a doctor who actually cares and will taper me off the medication the right way. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

it isnt, but any drug can be prescribed for off-label reasons. i got lyrica prescribed for anxiety, but my insurance didn't cover me so they cost a shit ton. the only problem will be with your insurance
 
Well, To be honest poster, I find Xanax to be best for me. I have never had an issue with abusing benzodiazepines, but I have had the issue of them to stop working at certain doses, and needing more than prescribed. I don't find that abusing them though. I guess if you're looking to sedate yourself, then thats abuse. Otherwise its not. I'm so sick of hearing about benzodiazepine abuse sorry. :)


Now if you're on 8mgs of Xanax and have been for 11 years, I would go on Ativan 2mgs 3 times a day, then to Diazepam 10mgs 6 times a day and stop or go down whatever comfortable......
 
OP, I want to start off and tell you that you are in a very serious position!!!! Your story sounds almost verbatim to mine. At one point I had many Dr’s (back in the old ROP Records Online Pharmacy days) prescribing me 120 2mg bars a month plus all of the bars I could get my hands on through overseas pharms. I was to the point where I was taking 3-5 2mg xanax 3-4 times a day. One day the party ended and I found myself with one bar left. I took half one day and the other half the next day at noon and by the third day around 2pm I found myself under my desk at work with no idea who I was where I was and in extreme pain. It took me about 15 minutes to pull myself together enough to crawl down the hall to a coworker office to have them call 911.

I had had a massive Grand Mal Seizure!!!!

I am very lucky I was not driving or somewhere that I could have really hurt myself because if you don’t know when you seize up like that you loose complete control of your body and all of your muscles contract and thrash violently. I have no idea how long mine lasted but it was a very traumatic experience. I NEVER want to go through that again!!!!

After my seizure I spent years trying to taper using valium, clonazepam and various other benzos and it was hell. I found that no matter how slow I tapered or what benzo I tapered with it felt like I was in a constant state of withdrawal with only a little bit of minimal relief for a short period of time after every dose. I also found it almost impossible to resist the temptation to break my taper and cheat with large doses of benzos. I know using long acting benzos with a very controlled taper is the medical standard for getting off benzos, but it has never worked for me.

I finally found myself in an inpatient detox program where they used Phenobarbital to taper you off of benzos and after years and years struggling with this debilitating addiction I found myself free of benzos in less that a month with very minimal discomfort.

I had a good amount of insomnia along with the PAWS for a few months but nothing I couldn’t deal with and I did at least get a few hours of sleep every night. It took some time to learn to deal with the anxiety, and I have horrible terrifying almost paralyzing anxiety, with out resorting to a hand full of bars, but this period of clean time made me realize that the heavy regiment of benzos was actually making my anxiety worse. I was so surprised how well I was able to deal with my anxiety once I was just able to get past the few minutes of panic and take some deep breathes, assess the situation and move on. Still to this day I am amazed how easy it was to get clean using Phenobarbital compared to the years of misery attempting it with other benzos.

Since then I have gotten my self addicted to benzos quite a few times and every time done a quick taper at home with Phenobarbital and it has always been fairly painless and easy.

The latest binge/addiction involved about 1500 15mg Midazolam pills, mainly IV’ed over a 2-3 month period. I acquired some 100mg generic Phenobarbital pills and started out by finding the dose that made me comfortable and tapered down from there over a month ending with 25mg every other day for the last week. Again it worked like a charm!!!!

A few things to note: Phenobarbital is a drug that has many many drug interactions and really should be prescribed by a Dr. that knows what they are doing and the patient should be closely monitored throughout the whole taper detox period. Also Phenobarbital has an extremely long half life and builds up in the body. I was still testing positive for barbs well over a month after my last dose so keep this in mind if you are going to be trying to use this as a tapering tool outside of a doctors supervision as popping dirty for barbs months after your last dose can still get you thrown in jail on a probation hold or fired from your job, and for someone who already has anxiety issues a bad situation like this is not going to help.

Hope my information has been helpful. Keep in mind that I am not a Dr. and this is just all my personal experience. Always seek the help of a Dr. if you find your self in the life threatening grasp of any kind of benzo addiction or dependence. Cold Turkey can and WILL KILL you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
^Thanks for the info. Barbituates act on some of the same receptors as benzodiazepines but I haven't read much about their use in a benzo taper. I'm glad to hear it worked so well for you, especially since so many people on extremely high doses like you were have lots of trouble tapering.
 
Get on valium and try to get stabilized on a reasonable dose, then you might actually be able to taper off someday (only when you're off benzos will your anxiety get any better).
 
Imo clonazepam is best for anxiety and less abusable than alprazolam theoretically (I don't find benzos recreational).

That is a high dose, though. Personally I keep my dose low by taking Phenibut + phenazepam/clonazepam. Actually works better for me than benzos alone, but YMMV and I would talk to your dr.
 
There is not any good benzo for your problems.
They will fix your anxiety just for as long as they're in your system.
I know because I have already been there, and a benzo withdraw makes an opiate withdraw feels like a joyride.

Benzos don't cure anxiety, they just 'turn it off'.

If you want to get rid of your physical dependence, I would start a taper and probably stay on xanax or maybe move
to Clonazepam or Bromazepam, and please do follow your taper, the longer it lasts, the better you will feel, but I can
foretell its not going to be a fun ride. I'd say you need some months of vacations from life as to get this one complete.

Facing your fears and what makes you anxious is what will actually get you rid of anxiety, you say yourself that your doctor
is a pill pusher, in your place I would sue him up, I deeply regret of not doing the same to mine. Oh BTW, changing of doctor
might help as well.

Just my advice.
 
Most doctors will give the patient beneft of the doubt if they're aware the patient is an addict or has dependency issues to benzos, they usually go for the benzo with the longest half life. (my primary knows im an addict) refuses to give me anything thats not klonopin, he said "we have to focus on half life" as i asked for xanax back. plus when i was on suboxone, they gave me klonopin, as with every1 i know on suboxone. its the half life klonopin has docs will RX and feel has less abuse, like methadone and bupe have a huge half life and are used for dependency for example
 
wow i've heard of phenobarbital being used to taper but I didn't realize it was that effective.

ONandOFF777: sorry you had to experience that grand mal seizure; your story really motivates me to break free from benzos for good. They really just make things worse.
 
I wanted to echo what others said, that valium is a good benzo for you in this situation. Lowering your dose is usually easiest in the beginning, since you will still have a large dose in your system. You may want to try to lower your dose of xanax (alprazolam) before switching over to a longer lasting benzo such as valium (diazepam).

I slightly disagree with the equivalence of alprazolam to diazepam. Most charts have .5 mgs of alprazolam equal to 10mgs of diazepam. In my experience (and keep in mind that everyone is different) .5mgs of alprazolam seemed to be equivalent to about 7 mgs of diazepam. I switched from 1mg of alprazolam to 10mgs of diazepam with little to no discomfort.

I would suggest posting in the Tapering Plan Megathread- community project You may be able to find some other good advice in that thread.
 
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