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Benzos Any way to avoid paradoxical reactions? Benzos making me aggressive...

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DexyDevil

Bluelighter
Joined
Jul 20, 2012
Messages
186
I have had some pretty severe anxiety issues over the past couple of years and currently find pregabalin to the most helpful medical intervention. While it is great for Generalized Anxiety Disorder, it doesn't do much for panic anxiety.

I find alprazolam, lorazepam and even diazepam to be very effective for panic anxiety, but I have a major side-effect from benzodiazepines that makes using them counterproductive. When they first kick in I feel remarkably relaxed, relieved and even euphoric in the case of alprazolam... BUT fifteen minutes later I become severely irritable and agitated, which gets me into trouble because benzos also disinhibit me. You know the expression mean drunk? Well, benzos make me mean, aggressive, moody... it isn't pretty. Yet they are so wonderfully therapeutic during their peak effectiveness. Longer acting benzos (clonazepam is bad news for me) and shorter acting benzos alike have this effect, as do intermediate acting benzos... and well, just all benzos!

I'm almost positive there's no way to avoid this effect, but I thought I'd ask if anyone has had a similar expeience and found a way to deal with it and still manage to use benzos for panic attacks, GAD, or even just for fun if you're so inclined.
 
Hm, maybe try lower doses. For me the disinhibiting effects result in more sociability and I can be a mean drunk too (on hard liquor though which I avoid because of this).
Think about the reason why you become aggressive. Is it like being irritated because Benzos are the best drugs to just not give a fuck about unnerving people/things. Is it not just the disinhibition but maybe some psychological problem? Are you taking other drugs/meds?
 
Have you tried temazepam? That's a very relaxing benzo and pretty sedating. Nitrazepam might be another one worth looking into. Then again you might just be better staying away from benzos altogether. 2 idiot's i once called friends get very bad reactions off benzos and one night when they got on clonazepam (only 2mg each i think) i had to grab a knife on one of them to stop him from stabbing the other guy. Some people just can't handle their drugs at all :p

So yeah you would be better off staying away from them altogether most likely.
 
I get have the same things happen to me sometimes too. But it's usually only when I've taken way too much.

Perhaps benzos aren't for you?
 
DexyDevil said:
I have had some pretty severe anxiety issues over the past couple of years and currently find pregabalin to the most helpful medical intervention. While it is great for Generalized Anxiety Disorder, it doesn't do much for panic anxiety.

I find alprazolam, lorazepam and even diazepam to be very effective for panic anxiety, but I have a major side-effect from benzodiazepines that makes using them counterproductive. When they first kick in I feel remarkably relaxed, relieved and even euphoric in the case of alprazolam... BUT fifteen minutes later I become severely irritable and agitated, which gets me into trouble because benzos also disinhibit me. You know the expression mean drunk? Well, benzos make me mean, aggressive, moody... it isn't pretty. Yet they are so wonderfully therapeutic during their peak effectiveness. Longer acting benzos (clonazepam is bad news for me) and shorter acting benzos alike have this effect, as do intermediate acting benzos... and well, just all benzos!

I'm almost positive there's no way to avoid this effect, but I thought I'd ask if anyone has had a similar expeience and found a way to deal with it and still manage to use benzos for panic attacks, GAD, or even just for fun if you're so inclined.
Click to expand...

The benzodiazepine Pyrazolam is known to produce milder aggression and disinhibition. Have you tried it?

Best of luck to you, mate!

/Solnakorv
 
It's called 'benzo rage.' It's not necessarily a paradoxical reaction so much as a product of disinhibition. The only thing I can really think of to do is take smaller doses.
 
The only time in my life I have ever been unkind to my children even slightly was the one day I abused alprazolam. I didnt abuse them at all but I hurt ones feelings, and when she objected I told her I was going to take her back to her moms (and effectively give up my weekend with my beautiful children). Or more like I robber my kids of their little bit of time with me that they love so much :( . More than anything it taught me that high doses of xanax alter my self control, while not actually getting me any more euphoria. And it showed my daughters an unkind side of me that has never come out, and that I never want them to see again. I quit abusing benzos that weekend and actually went cold turkey (luckily the habit wasnt monstrous, still sucked for days though).

I have had benzos maybe 5 times since and never over 1mg, thats how bad that shit got me.
 
paranoid android said:
Have you tried temazepam? That's a very relaxing benzo and pretty sedating. Nitrazepam might be another one worth looking into. Then again you might just be better staying away from benzos altogether. 2 idiot's i once called friends get very bad reactions off benzos and one night when they got on clonazepam (only 2mg each i think) i had to grab a knife on one of them to stop him from stabbing the other guy. Some people just can't handle their drugs at all :p

So yeah you would be better off staying away from them altogether most likely.
Click to expand...


IME, temazepam is the benzo least likely to produce "benzo rage," but there are still a handful of times when it did.
 
Morphling said:
It's called 'benzo rage.' It's not necessarily a paradoxical reaction so much as a product of disinhibition. The only thing I can really think of to do is take smaller doses.
Click to expand...

The funny thing is that even the smallest therapeutic doses can cause and there are no situational triggers.
 
DexyDevil said:
The funny thing is that even the smallest therapeutic doses can cause and there are no situational triggers.
Click to expand...

Fellow Bluelighter,

Have you tried Pyrazolam? I would say, from friends telling me, that it reduces paradoxical disinhibitory effects of benzodiazepines by at least 60 %.

/Solnakorv
 
Dexydevil,

You have devil in your name, I reckon Benzo's are going to be your devil if you keep going the way it seems you are going.

First off the reaction you describe is not paradoxical but typical with higher doses, or at least common enough to be well known about.

Secondly what doses are you doing? And how often do you do them?

Thirdly, Benzo's are horrifically addictive if used heavily, and they can make people commit serious crimes of violence if they take enough and have a temper locked inside them. Also in higher doses they SEVERELY impair judgment and memory, probably worst than almost every other drug. A huge dose of Benzo's is WORST than heavy alcohol intoxication.

However, I personally have found the antipsychotic Solian (amisulpride) stops my moods swinging from happy to aggro when I am on either benzo's or alcohol. It's possible it might help you, and 100mg is a very low dose (400mg for Schizophrenia). At 100mg, it is extremely unlikely to cause ANY side effects (it doesn't lower dopamine at that level, it increases it), it may mildly help with anxiety too.
 
DexyDevil said:
IME, temazepam is the benzo least likely to produce "benzo rage," but there are still a handful of times when it did.
Click to expand...

I've never had benzo rage from any benzo I've taken but from what i have seen and heard alprazolam seems to be the worst offender. From what i have heard from the few people who have taken triazolam (trade name Halcion) is that it is pretty bad as well because it seems to be one of those blackout benzos plus it's rather potent. After that would be either lorazepam or clonazepam. Valium, nitrazepam and oxazepam don't seem to be too bad for it. I have heard a few people get benzo rage from temazepam but some people seem to get that from any drug that causes disinhibition. Most people who i have seen get benzo rage also get pretty much the same reaction to alcohol, coke/crack and sometimes amphetamines. It seems some people are just looking for a excuse to go right off the head more or less :\

It's funny because one of the first indications for Valium and Chlordiazepoxide (Librium) where for treating aggression. Granted benzos are still used today for that it's just that some people don't react well to these drugs.
 
Alcohol doesn't cause me to be aggressive but I also don't find it particularly euphoric. Pyrazolam sounds promising. Thanks to the posters who mentioned it.

I should be getting a few milligrams of alprazolam tonight. I will probably take a milligram in the morning and one later on in the day. I'll let you guys know how I respond. Or maybe I'll take .5mg. We'll see...
 
Well, I actually just got scripted .25mg of Alprazolam 3x daily and am having a wonderful therapeutic response. No irritability, rage, etc...

I guess I just needed to take especially low doses.
 
If you're going to take benzos anyways, and this happens to you, ya start low and get used to it. :\
 
Nice! Glad it's working for you. Yeah, reducing your dose was the only thing I could think of to do, glad your doc wrote em that way then :)
 
I know this is kinda off topic & that this is a kinda old thread, but-

Does anyone know why some benzos will cause paradoxical reactions while other ones don't? What I mean is- I've taken most of the common benzos and a couple of RC ones and the only one that has caused a paradoxical reaction more than once has been temazepam...and not even high doses of temazepam!

In fact I found that taking 15mg temazepam (which does virtually nothing to me) was more likely to cause aggression/anxiety than taking 60-100mg (which I can feel/enjoy). I've only had paradoxical reactions a handful of other times, 95% of them with high doses of midazolam...which is pretty self explanatory.
 
I'm now taking .5mg of alprazolam 3x daily on prescription without paradoxical reactions. I do notice that I become a bit grouchy when each dose wears off and it is coming time for the next one.

Has anyone had any good experiences with Xanax XR? Clonazepam does NOTHING for me. Diazepam is too sedating at doses that are effective for me (very high ones).

I'll probably just stick to IR alprazolam. I just ordered 100 2mg etizolam and 50 1mg etizolam though. We'll see what kind of effect those have.
 
@limonov, your not the only one!lol temazepam causes anxiety attacks for me too..its the only benzo ive tried that does though so im not sure what to make if that.lol
@DexyDevil, you might do a bit better with the etizolam because even tthough its fairly potent, its a very clear headed type of benzo high. Unlike the classic benzos which are alot more disinhibiting and disrupting to higher brain function.
 
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