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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Xanax alternative for surgery

movbikwaet

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Messages
150
Getting horizontally impacted wisdom teeth out, turned down the fentanyl for more local anesthetic as I am a bit neurotic and avoid drugs these days.

I have had 2 surgeries before under spinal and both times I took xanax because I had taken it once when I was younger, so I felt comfortable with it.

But looking back it felt so dirty, I remember getting agoraphobia in a shopping center with it which I did not like. Driving on it was an interesting experience.

The last surgery I had which was 2 years after the 1st and I had no taken any benzos inbetween I wasnt even sure if the xanax did anything, I took about 1.5mg sublingually like the previous time and I did not feel much, maybe cause I was lying down most the time who knows but I felt I could of done without it, doc was rough with the spinal and I dont think the xanax helped.

Anyway I hate the scat feeling on it, I hate feeling so out of it, I am an uppers person.

I heard valium is more smooth but it lasts most the day? Is there something like Valium with a shorter half life, prefebly something that wont make me feel like my brain got scrambled lol.

TL;DR
Is there a shorter acting version of Valium that doesnt make you feel scat like Xanax?
 
Perhaps lorazepam (Ativan) would be more to your liking? I find it to feel fairly transparent on the mind/body compared to alprazolam (a.k.a. Xanax, which makes me feel obviously intoxicated at 1.5mg). It takes about an hour to kick in, and lasts an intermediate amount of time between Xanax and Valium. 1-2mg lorazepam should help diminish anxiety without making you feel too out of it (for most people. Some people are sensitive to it, so maybe try a tester dose a different day to see how you react).

P.S. do not drive on benzos! They make you more impaired than you realize while you are on them. I don't care if you want to risk your own life, but it's not fair to everyone else on the road if you drive intoxicated. Certainly use only 1mg or less of lorazepam if you absolutely must drive yourself.
 
Lorazepam would be a good choice, except it takes a while for it to kick in and it takes a couple of hours or more for it to peak.

Oxazepam is another one, but that also takes a long time to kick in and it takes a while to reach peak.

There is temazepam, but that is an hypnotic (for sleep) and it is has very strong sedative effects, I don't know if that's something you'd want.

There is also estazolam, it's short acting, but it is an hypnotic like temazepam. It's not as quite as strong as temazepam, but it will sedate.
 
There are many different benzos, but yes, Ativan (lorazepam) is a nice middle ground between Xanax (alprazolam) and Valium (diazepam). Klonopin (clonazepam) is also a good middle ground, although it is a bit longer-acting than lorazepam is.

P.S. do not drive on benzos! They make you more impaired than you realize while you are on them. I don't care if you want to risk your own life, but it's not fair to everyone else on the road if you drive intoxicated. Certainly use only 1mg or less of lorazepam if you absolutely must drive yourself.

This is very important. Benzos mask the intoxication they cause because they reduce anxiety, so you feel like you're not impaired when in reality you really are. Driving on benzos is just as dangerous as driving on barbiturates and probably more dangerous than driving on alcohol because you're not aware that your reaction time, etc, is impaired.

Get somebody to give you a ride.
 
I'd say take the fentanyl, if you don't have a history of opiate addiction. Don't drive after though.
 
Thanks guys.
The driving was a one off thing for experimenting. I wasn't aware how bad it was and definitely wouldn't do it again and I would say it is definitely worse than drink driving imo. I think benzos should have a different warning than the generic drowsy... do not operate heavy machinery.
 
For wisdom teeth surgery, particularly if things are impacted/it's going to take them a bit longer fussing around in there, they use the IV "twilight" sedation which is usually fentanyl + midazolam, so an opiate + benzo. Even if avoiding drugs, this is probably a good option since I've had a few oral surgeries and a couple in particular I'm quite glad I wasn't aware during, so turning it down maybe wasn't the best --- it's certainly not a "getting high" situation. It seems my fellow BDD mods know way more about the varieties of benzos, because personally I'm quite the fan of xanax.

The driving thing, driving on a normal low dose of benzos you may have to take daily/several times a week for anxiety is usually perfectly fine. I'm talking very tiny doses though, like .5mg of clonazepam or alprazolam...the warning is probably good enough, since its more of just a liability because no one ever reads/listens to/cares about those things apparently except for us BLers. Just be careful, really ;)
 
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