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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Xanax Warning

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SoWhat!

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
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195
So there is always mention on BL about one Benzodiazepine or another, and given the last 6 months of my life i thought i'd post a warning on one of them, Xanax or Alprazolam as its chemically known.

I first tried this drug after a night of taking Ecstasy to aid sleep and help the come down. I immediately loved it, it was euphoric, sedating and made me absolutely care free. I abused it on and off for 3-4 years, not knowing at the time i was self medicating a pre-existing anxiety disorder. I knew the addiction potential, and also knew the risks in abrupt abstinence but took the risks anyway with no real issues that i could notice. It made me angry, and near psychotic when i'd run out. I can't count the amount of holes ive had to patch in my room as a result of Xanax induced rage.

After the anxiety diagnosis i was put on Xanax foolishly by my doctor, through much persuasion by me admittedly. Slowly my dependance and tolerance went higher and higher, to the point where i could eat 50x2mg bars and still be coherent. I would run out and COMPLETELY flip out, smashing things, and drinking copious amounts of alcohol as it also acts on the GABA system so it was the only respite i had if i couldn't get any benzo's. I've used almost every drug in the book, and started to use meth alot during this time. I managed to get off meth, a drug some would say is the most addictive out there yet i could not shake Xanax. I would tell my doctor my tolerance was sky high and was prescribed 7x2mg a day. I'd go to other doctors and would regularly have 20-30 bars a night. I was full blown addicted.

After putting my family through torment for 6 months i finally woke up one day and realised how fucked i was. It was time for me to go into detox. I entered a private clinic and was placed on 10mg of Valium 4 times a day as a way to ween me off. Little did they known this was totally insufficient given the dose of Xanax i was coming off, and for the first 2 days i experienced the worst withdrawals i have ever felt. I would not wish it on my worst enemy. Body sweats, anger, agitation, visual and auditory disturbances, cramps, blurry vision, my whole body was aching. It was absolute hell.

The moral of this story is to the recreational benzo users out there, or the people who doctor shop and abuse them like i did, the benefits completely disappear when in full blown dependance. I would take 50mg to stop me punching a hole in the wall. No euphoria or sedation. Nothing. Just know that as much fun as they are, they have an extremely dark side, one that i never want to face again. And to add to it, im still on 40mg of Valium a day to taper off, 2 months later and im still tapering down. It will steal a year of your life in a heartbeat. Enjoy them, but moderation is key.

One thing to remember, when i took that first tablet 7 years ago, i never intended to become dependant. So don't think you're immune because i did. Hope this helps some people out there facing similar battles.

Peace
 
Ive been an on and off/weekend/inconsistent heavy user of most benzos over the past 2 years and i can relate to a lot of what you said, it got to a point where like you 100mg + was the normal thing for me to take and still be coherent! Other users find this hard to believe, its not a boast and its nothing im proud of but its a simple fact im sad to say. :(

Like i said i mostly only used at weekends until this past easter when i spent a whole week abusing xanax, i stopped abruptly at the end of that week (it was my easter work factory shutdown) i can honestly say the following 1-2 weeks were the worst of my life, horrific rebound anxiety, insomnia, and depression, suicidal thoughts, feelings of impending doom, paranoia, closed eye visuals, auditory hallucinations, loss of appetite, severe sweating amongst other things.

Luckily i didnt suffer anything more serious like seizures etc....I guess this was due to the fact that i only had 7 days heavy abuse and not longer.

Since then ive been on and off the wagon so to speak, having weeks or even 2 months clean then falling off again and getting wasted on various benzos and probably Oxycontin most the time aswell.

Im currently under presciption of 100mg sertraline per day and havent touched any benzos for 1 week, i also see a drug councillor once a week and go to a group anxiety meeting once a week.

I can only try to imagine how you feel as you were taking massive amounts daily for a long period of time, the drug councillor mentioned a detox/taper plan but said the doses that they would give me of benzos wouldnt even touch me so until i bring the doseage down on my own then theres not a lot they can do.

Fortunately the last benzos i abused were diazepam so the hell shouldnt be quite so bad as the alprazolam due to its much longer half-life....

Anyway thanks, your post does help at least one of us (me) facing similar battles.:)

Respect....and good luck to you.
 
The withdrawals were so bad I was almost comatose, I couldn't move, eat, drink or function for a week. The doctors didn't believe me when I said the dosages I was taking until they gave me 100mg Diazepam for withdrawals and it did nothing.

I'm certainly not boasting, but even now I could still eat 250mg of Diazepam and not feel a thing. It's scary how quickly tolerance and dependence build. I just didn't realise how out of hand id gotten.
 
Not to sound harsh... Isn't this more of your fault? I mean, it is quite clear to us you chose to go to any doctor who would just hand them out to you.

I'm just saying for a majority of the narcomaniacs including myself, that it is more of our faults than anyone else for the holes that we dig ourselves.
 
Not to sound harsh... Isn't this more of your fault? I mean, it is quite clear to us you chose to go to any doctor who would just hand them out to you.

I'm just saying for a majority of the narcomaniacs including myself, that it is more of our faults than anyone else for the holes that we dig ourselves.

Yes but it is also the the doctors faults, for handing out Benzodiazepines so fucking easy and not telling people the risks. Benzodiazepines need to be way more controlled. I can totally relate to the OP, as I am going through some horrific benzo withdrawals myself right now, and 100mg of Diazepam wouldn't touch me either.

Fucking Benzo's are the most addictive drug on the THIS PLANET EARTH. No doubt about it. I don't give a fuck what anyone says. Once you have been to hell and back from over years of Benzodiazepine abuse, and even tapering off, its still complete hell.
 
This is exactly what I mean. You guys are finger pointing away from the main cause. (You)

This is going to make any therapy useless, if you keep putting walls up from the blame that is initially yours.

Benzos are not the most addictive drugs on the earth. Cocaine and Heroin are.

The arguments you put up are not facing reality.

Not to sound rude...
 
Not to sound harsh... Isn't this more of your fault? I mean, it is quite clear to us you chose to go to any doctor who would just hand them out to you.

I'm just saying for a majority of the narcomaniacs including myself, that it is more of our faults than anyone else for the holes that we dig ourselves.

I definitely take some responsibility for where I ended up. But why didn't the doctor heed the warning of 4-6 weeks is really the maximum amount of time one should be on Xanax. It took him 8 months to refer me to a psychiatrist who then formed a plan to get off them.

I played with fire and got burnt but GPs certainly hold some accountability. It was sadly ironic that in detox everyone there was in for alcohol or prescription mess. No illicit drugs.

And I'm not going to argue but I met drug and alcohol specialists, some whom dealt solely with benzo addiction and they along with the therapists said Benzos are harder to get off than any other drug.
 
This is exactly what I mean. You guys are finger pointing away from the main cause. (You)

This is going to make any therapy useless, if you keep putting walls up from the blame that is initially yours.

Benzos are not the most addictive drugs on the earth. Cocaine and Heroin are.

The arguments you put up are not facing reality.

Not to sound rude...

Cocaine and Heroin? haha No they are not. Cocaine has absolutely no physical withdrawals, its all psychological. Ask any expert in the field of Addiction. I've had hours of sessions with a South African
Psychiatrist with over 20+ years of Addiction experience in British Columbia, Canada. And Benzodiazepines are absolutely the most addictive drug on the planet earth in terms of withdrawals.

Opiates are a cake walk to kick compared to Benzo's.

And not to sound rude, but how the fuck could you say Cocaine to be the most addictive drug? That is utter bullocks.
 
Simple sir... Only you can be totally responsible for yourself.

It is up to you to fully understand the drugs you use. (Pros and Cons)

If you were researching anything, you would have had a fair warning. Instead the doctor was enabled to bamboozle you into being addicted, so you could visit him every month... ($$$$$$$$$$$)

You are addicted, he's racking up... That's just how it works.
 
This is exactly what I mean. You guys are finger pointing away from the main cause. (You)

This is going to make any therapy useless, if you keep putting walls up from the blame that is initially yours.

Benzos are not the most addictive drugs on the earth. Cocaine and Heroin are.

Cocaine and Heroin? haha No they are not. Cocaine has absolutely no physical withdrawals, its all psychological. Ask any expert in the field of Addiction. I've had hours of sessions with a South African
Psychiatrist with over 20+ years of Addiction experience in British Columbia, Canada. And Benzodiazepines are absolutely the most addictive drug on the planet earth in terms of withdrawals.

Opiates are a cake walk to kick compared to Benzo's.

And not to sound rude, but how the fuck could you say Cocaine to be the most addictive drug? That is utter bullocks.

+1.
 
Simple sir... Only you can be totally responsible for yourself.

It is up to you to fully understand the drugs you use. (Pros and Cons)

If you were researching anything, you would have had a fair warning. Instead the doctor was enabled to bamboozle you into being addicted, so you could visit him every month... ($$$$$$$$$$$)

You are addicted, he's racking up... That's just how it works.

Exactly right, the point of this thread was harm minimization so if you want to rant on about how i chose to become dependent then take it to PM.
 
Simple sir... Only you can be totally responsible for yourself.

It is up to you to fully understand the drugs you use. (Pros and Cons)

If you were researching anything, you would have had a fair warning. Instead the doctor was enabled to bamboozle you into being addicted, so you could visit him every month... ($$$$$$$$$$$)

You are addicted, he's racking up... That's just how it works.

Okay buddy, thats your response? Obviously you haven't done drugs long enough to know what is Addictive, and what's not. Nor have you researched things properly.
 
Guys, arguing over which drug is the most addictive isn't very productive is it? If you are struggling with addiction it isn't helpful to hear that the drug you are addicted to isn't the most addictive drug out there..

People are confusing physical dependency with addiction too. This is a debate we've had here before, and has been had on BL many times. People mean a lot of different things by the word "addiction" and it causes a lot of misunderstandings.

ICD-10 guidelines on substance abuse, for anyone who is interested

SoWhat!, thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry to hear about your benzo dependence and difficult taper, and I wish you all the best for the future. I'm going to close this thread now as it doesn't really fit with the short q&a format we stick to here in BDD, but feel free to make a new thread if you have a specific question, or come over to our social thread. Other Drugs and The Dark Side forums also have a lot of info on benzo addiction, and we also have a section for blogs if you just need to talk about stuff.

Send me a pm if you have any queries anyone.
 
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