Benzos Heavy Benzo use leads to extreme tolerance.

I was a benzo user until recently. I got my tolerance so high I would need at least 15mg of Clonazepam or 10mg of Alprazolam to even feel any effects. At one point, I reached 25mg of Clonazepam. Have in mind that none of this happened in a daily basis, I avoided addiction by never doing benzos more than 2-3 times a week. Eventually I quit because I couldn't afford anymore to be taking +20mg, which would be 10 2mg pills, the box comes with 30 pills, so I'd be paying for a full box containing 60mg which would only last me 3 days, not worth it.

Now that I haven't done any benzos in over 2 weeks I wanna know how long until my tolerance lowers back to lower doses such as 2mg-4mg causing decent effects. The last time I lowered my tolerance I hadn't taken any benzos in over 6 months and it was right back at zero, but I figure I don't have to wait that long, it must be between 3-4 months. Has anyone had to go through this before?

Months if not years depending on how long your addicting lasted. Why abuse benzos? I take benzos for a medical condition but I think weed and basically any other drug is better and safer than benzos for getting high.

after serious abuse it'll never go completely to 0, not even close. Even 8 months off benzos, still needed 10mg of clonazepam for fun. and that wasn't even much fun.

^agreed, i'd even say smoking meth and using opiates occasionally is a much safer option for getting high, especially since after abuse/addiction/dependence/withdrawal, you aren't going to get high from any benzo ever again.

after 3 weeks my tolerance drops a fair amount i usually start with 6 to 8mg of alprazolam but after a few days i need 20mg benzos are a bitch

Man.. there must be an inherent difference between certain people.. after over two decade of daily benzo use.. i never had anything like an increasing tolerance unless it was facilitated by another gaba influence like ethyl alcohol.. to clarify yes in the very beginning i was much more affected bit this period very was short.. i'm just not convinced that the gaba has a built in tolerance like the dopamine reward pathway.. i more propose that people just become more accustomed, nothing like splitting hairs rite.. also i would recommend that anyone that loves benzos take every third day off, from the beginning.. as after I detoxed benzos in county, after 17 years of use/abuse i was able to keep myself out of physical dependence without even concentrating.. despite having a large script and access to whatever i wanted... just dont think that benzos are any more than physically dependent.. but i guess i've seen plenty of posts that show otherwise.....

I think the short acting benzos have a more pronounced mental dependence due to the constant need to re-dose. neversick, your restraint is impressive.

I agree with everyone saying benzo's is a path you don't want to go down. Your full tolerance to go down will take years. If you take a few weeks off then take 2-4mg it will hit you harder than before the break. Although that one time use will result in a spike upwards in tolerance back to where it used to be VERY quickly.

You might want to give Oxcarbazepine a try: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18821451

I was on the related drug carbamazepine when I quit klonopin cold turkey a couple months ago, and noticed no withdrawl. Only problem with carbamazepine is the side effects, I think I might have started developing SJS at one point later on.

I wasn't using benzos for fun, I have an anxiety disorder. I didn't go through withdrawals either because I never used often enough for it to develop into an addiction. I did develop a tolerance though, and I've found that after a month of no use, it would lower a little bit, but not enough for me to be able to use them therapeutically with just one or two pills (2mg - 4mg). I got tired of having to pop a bunch of pills so I decided to quit. I guess I'll just have to wait a few months and give it a try then.

if you're treating an anxiety disorder then it is most often the case that people find a set dose and stick to it, usually it's say 4-6mg clonazepam, 20-40mg of diazepam or something like, a bit on the higher end for therapeutic purposes. People fuck themselves over with abuse and end up with massive tolerances like me. I take 10mg/day of etizolam now and i don't ever have to increase my dose but 3mg/day certainly won't hold me. Even after a year's break from all benzos, i still needed 8-10mg of clonazepam for effect, or 6-8mg of etizolam, i wouldn't even get high or anything, that was just for anxiety. Your tolerance will never go down, you'll always just need a certain amount for anxiety relief. If you wait 10 months, your tolerance will be right back where it started after a couple of days, read up on the kindling effect, your body does not forget that shit.

If i never abused benzos/etizolam then i'd probably be perfectly fine at 3-4mg/day for the rest of my life, tolerance doesn't increase to the anxiolytic effects when used therapeutically. When abused the gaba system is far more punishing than the dopamine or serotonin. Even so, amphetamines used therapeutically are the same way, you can stay at the same dose for long periods of time, so long as you don't abuse the shit out of them.