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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Benzos Xanax, how long can I take it safely?

jose ribas da silva

jose ribas da silva

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I am taking Xanax daily, 1 mg, for medical reasons. Shortly, I need it and despite the risk of addiction (as was in the past), I truly need it.

So I am wondering how long I can take it (length of time) without developing a physical dependence (it does not matter the psychological dependence at this point). I mean, are one month or two reasonable lengths of time for a correct treatment? I want to get the therapeutic benefits of the drug. According to the doctors, one month is enough, but I have seen many people taking them for years (I mean, people who are taking them seriously and not for fun)

For example, let’s suppose that because of my psychological conditions I need to take benzos daily. So am I doomed to addiction? No chance to change the fate?
 
jose ribas da silva said:
I am taking Xanax daily, 1 mg, for medical reasons. Shortly, I need it and despite the risk of addiction (as was in the past), I truly need it.

So I am wondering how long I can take it (length of time) without developing a physical dependence (it does not matter the psychological dependence at this point). I mean, are one month or two reasonable lengths of time for a correct treatment? I want to get the therapeutic benefits of the drug. According to the doctors, one month is enough, but I have seen many people taking them for years (I mean, people who are taking them seriously and not for fun)

For example, let’s suppose that because of my psychological conditions I need to take benzos daily. So am I doomed to addiction? No chance to change the fate?
Click to expand...
You're not necessarily doomed to become addicted. It depends on the substance, imo... everyone is different. I could take benzo's for a month and not be addicted. It's not my "cup of tea" per se. Im more of an opiate type of guy, so if I take that for a month... I WILL become addicted. If you take Xanax daily for a month or 2 will have some physical dependence.
 
I take clonazepam twice daily, and have for several years. Sometimes I take extra.. my script rarely last until the next month's refill.
Not condoning it or anything, and I know your taking your benzos as directed. But I have never had withdrawals or feel physically addicted to it at all.
That's just my experience, never had issues at all.
Just my two cents.
 
No one can say for sure whether your psychical tolerance will grow to the point of putting you in withdrawals after a month or two, everyone is different.

From my experience with other substances and from things i've read here you have a better chance of avoiding withdrawals if this is your first time using benzos. The kindling effect will come into play more and more the longer you use them. It's hard to say whether you will be able to shake them with no ill effects when your 1-2 month use is up but just be prepared for the possibility of having to taper off.

Also the psychological pull is nothing to just shrug off, you may find yourself making excuses to use them after this short encounter. These are things you should keep in mind.
 
"The kindling effect will come into play more and more the longer you use them".

I am wondering which factor is more dominant in terms of dependence, time or dose. I mean, 1 mg in my case is the minimum effective dose. On 0.5 mg I do not get the therapeutic benefits.

I know that there is the question of individuality, but would 1 mg be a significant amount of the medication that could cause a physical addiction? Or this concentration is too low? In terms of the pharmacological properties of the drug, I mean. I am curious to know from how many mg of alprazolam it can actually be considered too much.
 
It can vary massively from person to person, but 1mg a day is enough to have withdrawals if taken for longer than a week or 2. Even less if you've been physically dependant before (IE the kindlng effect).

It also depends what you mean by withdrawals, they can vary between rebound anxiety and insomnia, to grand mal seizures.

As a rule of thumb, you don't want to take benzos daily for more than a week, to avoid most withdrawals.

However someone who has had an on off benzo habit for years may take large doses of Xanax and suffer withdrawal symptoms after a few days of use.

If you feel the need to take benzos every single day, you probably need some kind of counselling or other medication, to get more exercise or who knows.

Unfortunately taking benzos every day isn't sustainable. Believe me, I know.
 
Updating

I have found that 1 mg is too much. Despite the Xanax’s short life, there is a cumulative effect in some way.

Perhaps someone else has noticed this, but when the metabolites from the medication begin to accumulate, they are massively excreted in sweat, and one can feel it.

Sure enough, I cannot go from 1 mg during 3 days, let’s say, to zero abruptly without suffering from withdrawals.

I am preferring to take it sporadically or taking it in underdoses, like 0.25 mg per day, since, as I said, there is a cumulative effect.
 
By the way, I have found that for me quetiapine in low doses works very well for social phobia and anxiety, better than benzos.

Actually, my favorite benzo is getting harder to find (cloxazelam)
 
Is there any data, anecdotal or otherwise, about benzos and longevity? What I have always wondered is that if there is a steady benzodiazepine user with uninterrupted supply, could they live to a phenomenally old age like narcotic, or at least morphine, opium, codeine, hydromorphone, and some smack users have been known to? For example, there is the pre-Harrison Act pain patient who lived until 2009 and a number of similar cases, William S Burroughs, the Johns Hopkins co-founder on the big M for 65 years, my own grandfather who lived to well over 100 and started on the Cube Juice in his early 50s because a burning ceiling beam smacked him on the shoulder . . .

Why I wonder if, caeteris paribus, benzodiazepines, and barbiturates, GHB, and antihistamines would do the same, in that this could be a combination of slowed metabolism, protection of and less wear and tear on the cardio-pulmonary, circulatory, and nervous systems, other metabolic and endocrine changes, and the overall sedative and euphoric effect improving mode of life and slightly reducing risk-taking behaviour. Mutatis mutandis, that is -- an unsupervised opioid user on the streets or close to it could very well have to take lots of risks to Take Care Of Business every day and that can really drive up blood pressure and make one forget to eat properly amongst other things, not to mention if they do not have a sterile new spike every time.
 
Heck, I was on Valium for awhile and kind of liked the feeling and when I stopped it was no biggie. However, I have read horror stories from folks on here who had to stop for whatever reason and suffered greatly. I geuss it just depends, but I do have a good deal of respect for that class of drugs. Proceed with caution!
 
They say 1-2 weeks max. It is all how you view it and take it. If you see it as medicine and take it at same time daily or when you absolutely need it, you may have a tolerance develop, but not turn into a fiend.
 
BeachBum4u said:
Heck, I was on Valium for awhile and kind of liked the feeling and when I stopped it was no biggie. However, I have read horror stories from folks on here who had to stop for whatever reason and suffered greatly. I geuss it just depends, but I do have a good deal of respect for that class of drugs. Proceed with caution!
Click to expand...

Sudden withdrawal by physically dependent users is exceptionally dangerous though and potentially lethal just like alcohol and barbiturates . . . there are cases mentioned here and elsewhere of big time benzo users needing to be maintained on diazepam then tapered down extremely slowly over years, and the Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome for all or most benzodiazepines is the worst I have ever heard of so far.
 
Nicomorphinist said:
Is there any data, anecdotal or otherwise, about benzos and longevity? What I have always wondered is that if there is a steady benzodiazepine user with uninterrupted supply, could they live to a phenomenally old age like narcotic, or at least morphine, opium, codeine, hydromorphone, and some smack users have been known to? For example, there is the pre-Harrison Act pain patient who lived until 2009 and a number of similar cases, William S Burroughs, the Johns Hopkins co-founder on the big M for 65 years, my own grandfather who lived to well over 100 and started on the Cube Juice in his early 50s because a burning ceiling beam smacked him on the shoulder . . .

Why I wonder if, caeteris paribus, benzodiazepines, and barbiturates, GHB, and antihistamines would do the same, in that this could be a combination of slowed metabolism, protection of and less wear and tear on the cardio-pulmonary, circulatory, and nervous systems, other metabolic and endocrine changes, and the overall sedative and euphoric effect improving mode of life and slightly reducing risk-taking behaviour. Mutatis mutandis, that is -- an unsupervised opioid user on the streets or close to it could very well have to take lots of risks to Take Care Of Business every day and that can really drive up blood pressure and make one forget to eat properly amongst other things, not to mention if they do not have a sterile new spike every time.
Click to expand...

Benzos alter the biochemical functioning and signaling patterns throughout the body in several ways

They are very potent drugs and their action can be pictured by imagining that cell signaling is a function of a neuroendocrine system, so that if the neural part is altered, the endocrine will also be and vice-versa.
 
jose ribas da silva said:
Benzos alter the biochemical functioning and signaling patterns throughout the body in several ways

They are very potent drugs and their action can be pictured by imagining that cell signaling is a function of a neuroendocrine system, so that if the neural part is altered, the endocrine will also be and vice-versa.
Click to expand...

Also I am not certain that benzodiazepines bring about changes which are as innocuous and even beneficial as those of morphine for example, so I think it less likely that one could take them for 70 years, live to 100 years old and remain extremely healthy. One hurricane, revolution, supply disruption and the long-term benzodiazepine user could die, whereas opioid habitués normally have to be in below-average cardio-pulmonary health and/or have weak other organs to be at high risk.
 
Overall, on the correlation between longevity and drug use, two main aspects need to be highlighted firstly

1) Purity and 2) associated stress levels.

In our examples, we are speaking of pharmaceutical-grade compounds, so 1) will not be a problem, but, it will certainly be for heroin, cocaine, meth, and so on.

In relation to number 2

How does this drug affects one's lifestyle? Addiction and unhappiness usually go together. Unhappiness, loneliness, lack of friends, money, employment, and all the factors associated with addictions are relevant triggers for high levels of cortisol and others stress-induced hormones, which, in turn, are major contributors to health decline. Perhaps, if you are a millionaire, like keith richards, being deified by the world, idolized, you can succeed and circumvent the obstacles that addictions bring about. Alternatively, one can be only a calm person and that is, one can inject daily without major problems.

Thinking biologically, drugs that cause a state of low metabolism, disregarding the aforementioned contributions, yes, I believe that, in some way, they can increase the duration of life. It is a kind of a daily hibernation, saving nutrients and decreasing the rates of cell division
 
I hear all the time that stimulants age folks prematurely, which could very well be the case for the aforementioned reasons. Though, cases like crank and green cat have extra ingredients like unreacted precursors and cuts which lead to lots of much more visible and intractable trouble. What passes for smack on the street these days can be all or nothing in that respect. Good No 4 with maybe some natural noscapine and acetylcodeine and some morphine and MAMs as decomposition products -- good .. . . fentanyl and Upjohn 44770, whose structural formula on paper just looks nasty and corrosive, and shit like bathtub gin benzos and cow shit, not so much . . . .
 
I know English probably isn't your Mother Tongue man and our search engine is not actually quite there yet, so I wanted to help you with a thread that normally would be closed simply because it's a very frequent issue. I am of the most real in terms of the advice I give my peers here. I don't try too often to scare folks away or use scare tactics in general, but the powers that be medically have it pretty accurate in my opinion, that the only acceptable course is a high-maximum of 6 weeks, but should be 2-4.

I once couldn't sleep for 2 straight nights following the 2-Week Long Administration of 2mg Clonazepam per day. That should give you an idea. If it is sporadic and only when needed it's gonna be a different story.
 
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