The Benzodiazepine Thread Version 5

[Crankinit]

Curious - does anyone here take diazepam and find it doesn't last as long as it's supposed to?

I've been on it for nearly a year now (officially, before that I was buying whatever benzos I could get off the street and taking them in much higher doses for 6 months or so, and before that as an occasional comedown pill or combo with opiates) and despite claims that it's a "long acting benzo" (wiki gives: Biological half-life - 20–100 hours (36–200 hours for main active metabolite )) I find that it starts wearing off around 4 hours (to the point that I even wake up every 4 - 6 hours when sleeping and have to redose to get back to sleep). The only times it seemed to last longer have been when I've taken big doses all at once (ie. 50 - 100mg at once back in the day).

Any thoughts on what's up? I figured there could be a metabolic issue of some sort.

 

[drug_mentor]

I am prescribed diazepam and I don't find that at all. I find it is pretty true to its half-life, to the extent that I will avoid taking it if I know I am going to binge drink socially the next night, as I have a tendency to get too fucked up when this happens. I don't tend to take less than 20mg, maybe if I was taking a single tablet things would be different, but I don't see any good reason to assume that they would be.

 

[justsayknow]

I would say the subjective experience and the half life are not the same thing. I would say I feel good for 3 or 4 hours and calm for another 3 or 4. I'm pretty sure I feel a bit calmer the next day than I normally would. I havent gone 100 hours without benzos too often for the last few months now. I'm usually taking a dose at least twice a week so it would be interesting to see if I have any withdrawal effects. Usually 20-40mg

 

[floatingaround]

I find with diazepam anything over 20 mg will have me feeling calm with no anxiety for at least 36 hours. I love taking them on work nights because generally the days following dosing will go much quicker and I really enjoy walking around with no stress. I find the initial 'high' from Valium to last no longer then a few hours, and these days I need massive doses to achieve the feeling I'm after so i tend to not eat large amounts. I try to use Xanax if I plan to get fucked up on benzoes.

 

[tripnotyzm]

im really diggin' diazepam in small doses.. it seems to stay in my system for quite a while and something like 5mgs is just enough to keep me on top of my game throughout a heavy day or night..
of course, there are times when doses are increased.. but i try not to use benzos for recreational purposes too often.. they are just too handy to be using up all in one go!

 

[jourdanridley]

I'm currently on 150mg Diaz and 30mg zopiclone and 4mg flubromazepam and I feel sober
I have yet to try flunitrazapam or clonazepam

 

[Squeaky]

Kind of an old thread here, but I'm laying in bed suffering so here's my story-
5 months of Lorazepam @ 6mg per day after back surgery Rx'd for stress. I jumped off the Benzo bus at 3mg per day to start my taper and my complications from the surgery got worse(pain and cramping). With each drop in dosage it seems to me that I have stirred up new pain/complications related to my surgery. I have been writing down every pill I took since the surgery, and I swear that I have had a few new problems about 1-2 days after each drop in dose. I did about 10 days each at 3mg, 2mg, 1mg daily. Yesterday I stopped cold from 1mg/day and today I have new pains.
Is it possible the Benzo wd's are causing some sort of swelling in my spine and problems from that? I guess I'll never know for sure.

 

[basix]

^^Squeaky that's a pretty fast taper considering the dose - I can't comment on the benzo's effecting swelling directly, but I doubt it. Tapering quickly from 6mg/day can definitely give you all kinds of weird side effects though. It could also be that the muscle relaxant effects were providing some extra comfort to the post surgery soreness.

The thing I find with benzo's withdrawals is the physical and mental side effects are all kinda tied in to one - I can't really tell which is which and everyone reacts differently.

For me it's inability to concentrate, racing thoughts, rebound anxiety, mild paranoia. But also racing heart, blurred vision, hypersensitivity to any physical change. I start to notice every little thing much more during withdrawals. So it could have been there all along but you were just relaxed from the benzo's and never felt it, but now you're super sensitive to any discomfort and jumping to conclusions from the extra anxiety.

I'd just ride it out if you're off alredy and the symptoms are tolerable. Or if you do go back on benzo's I'd try valium, it's much easier to taper off of in my experience due to the long half life.

 

[Squeaky]

I've got the physcholohical problems for sure, and the blurred vision. I'm also pretty sure I had a small seizure about 3 days into the start of my taper at 3mg/day. I guess it would make sense that I was getting some physical relaxation effects from the Lorazepam and they're gone now that I'm off it.
Either way life is a little more crappy right now than it was a month ago(before the benzo WD's). It is tolerable though so I'll just ride it out.

 

[crackbaby]

^Are you from Australia? It seems highly unlikely that a doctor here would put a person on a benzo-treatment plan for 20 years...actually, it doesn't matter what country you're from, twenty years of benzo (even if it's therapeutically beneficial) treatment seems like a very, very long time, which would set you up for a guaranteed life time of dependence.

You say you don't have withdrawal symptoms from years of diaz use which makes you a special anomaly for sure.

ive been on benzo treatment for 10+ years and have known quite a few others who have been on them 15-20+ so its not as rare as you may think. ive got numerous chronic pain problems/auto immune disease and have tried all the alternatives (baclofen, neurontin and lyrica which im still prescribed, etc) and its definitely the best when it comes to controlling muscle spasms as well as my GAD. ill be on the medications im currently prescribed for the rest of my life according to my GP, PM doc and other specialists ive seen. doctors are a lot more liberal with benzo scripting compared to opioids; its really not that hard to get a benzo script, particularly temazepam, valium and oxazpam.

but, yeah. definitely an anomaly not going through withdrawals if theyve stopped using them. id go as far to say theyre a lucky SOB.

 

[infectedmushroom]

Pardon my ignorance crackbaby I didn't consider those with chronic physical health issues in my post.

I guess I mean for mental issues like anxiety it seems unlikely to be prescribed benzos for long periods of time.

I am not diagnosed with GAD or SAD however benzos work extremely well for me when it comes to the at times crippling social anxiety I do face. The problem is, it's like putting a bandaid over cancer...the more I've learnt to overcome my anxiety, as slow and hard as its been, the better s person I've become for it I reckon.

That being said and so I don't get too self righteous I've still got a problem with abusing benzos and if I get my hands on them, well, I don't exactly use them for therapeutic reasons.

 

[crackbaby]

You're right that doctors prefer only prescribing benzos temporarily when it comes to treating anxiety and other things like sleeping problems. They prefer you to explore alternative treatment through a psychologist for eg after a short course and then go down the anti-depressant route if there's no improvement, sometimes both of them together. I agree that for anxiety and sleep disturbance they should only be used temporarily, as a band aid if you will as they do cause physical addiction quickly and are only so effective. They don't get to the root problem in the end which is the aim of helping someone with anxiety/depression and are only useful for so long when it comes to helping with insomnia.

im not rapt with the idea of being dependent with diazepam for the rest of my life but, dealing with chronic pain which induces a lot of intense muscle spasms which only increases pain levels, I've resigned to the notion as they help immensely. I am also on the same dose as I was initially prescribed many moons ago as they haven't lost their efficacy. Pretty impressive in my book and my doctor is impressed as well.

 

[Squeaky]

I took about 6 or 7 weeks to get off of 6mg/day of Lorazepam. 2 weeks each at 3,2,1 mg/day. It was hard, but doable since I'm on disability right now. It's nice to be done. The Ashton method may have been less stress, but it would have meant a year of counting pills. Gabapentin and oxycodone made it easier too.
Life is better for me now for sure.
I don't have the dark cloud of benzo withdrawl hanging over my life.

 

[infectedmushroom]

You're right that doctors prefer only prescribing benzos temporarily when it comes to treating anxiety and other things like sleeping problems. They prefer you to explore alternative treatment through a psychologist for eg after a short course and then go down the anti-depressant route if there's no improvement, sometimes both of them together. I agree that for anxiety and sleep disturbance they should only be used temporarily, as a band aid if you will as they do cause physical addiction quickly and are only so effective. They don't get to the root problem in the end which is the aim of helping someone with anxiety/depression and are only useful for so long when it comes to helping with insomnia.

im not rapt with the idea of being dependent with diazepam for the rest of my life but, dealing with chronic pain which induces a lot of intense muscle spasms which only increases pain levels, I've resigned to the notion as they help immensely. I am also on the same dose as I was initially prescribed many moons ago as they haven't lost their efficacy. Pretty impressive in my book and my doctor is impressed as well.

It's very impressive no efficacy has been lost. I suppose for some like yourself the circumstances require it. As long as it's making your life manageable

 

[infectedmushroom]

I took about 6 or 7 weeks to get off of 6mg/day of Lorazepam. 2 weeks each at 3,2,1 mg/day. It was hard, but doable since I'm on disability right now. It's nice to be done. The Ashton method may have been less stress, but it would have meant a year of counting pills. Gabapentin and oxycodone made it easier too.
Life is better for me now for sure.
I don't have the dark cloud of benzo withdrawl hanging over my life.

Good work man! Benzo withdrawal is tough as anything and getting through it can be hell. Glad to hear you're done with it.

 

[crackbaby]

It's very impressive no efficacy has been lost. I suppose for some like yourself the circumstances require it. As long as it's making your life manageable

thanks. for the most part most things are manageable in life so im happy enough. chronic pain can breed depression, ive fought through it buf. theres always bad days being moody or struggling through pain.

 

[smokedup]

Im quite suprised by just how well benzos seem to work for someone who is quite inquisitive and a deep thinker, to just negate all this fuss and thought goin on upstairs

 

[sussbuster]

Hi I've been looking through blue light for a few weeks and here seems like the right place to post. I'm looking for somebody to give me decent info on A)suboxone treatment in Australia..( am currently on this, seems to be working better then methadone which I tried for a few months overa yr ago(no good!). And B) diazepam(Valium) xanax basically benzos and which works best for for somebody coming off opiates and is currently on the suboxone program. I need good info as I'm never going back down that dark road again!! My drs hesitant to prescribe me anything benzo to calm as hes afraid I'll abuse, thing is I'll abuse other things (opiates) if I can't get my anxiety sorted.. that's all I want to calm not fitchet/ heart attack/ freakouts. He's prescribed seroquel in high doses but that wipes me out like a zombie for 10 hours at a time. Sorry for the rammbling.. <snip>

 

[customs]

he's dreamin' mate.

Jesus. As naive as it sounds - I've been trying to find recreation in benzos for the past few years (only a select few months per year). In considerable quantities and varied settings I have tried:

Alpraz
Diaz
Loraz
Bromaz
Clonaz
Nitraz
Estazolam
Etizolam

not gonna list any that I haven't actually had dealings with, my testicles are large enough already.

Am I going to rank 'em? don't think so. Each and every one of the above have been at the top of my list at some point or another. And I'd recommend a much different set menu to somebody who perhaps has once or twice used other substances. I spent so much time online searching 'xxxxepam/olam recreational use/dosage' and reading other peoples opinions on what gives their butthole a tingle, that only ever made me desire the 'euphoria' people spoke of in such threads/articles - Diaz especially common for this.

When my fat dog returns to his native land with his loot, he fucks around with all but Nitraz/Bromaz and Loraz. Yeah - you'll read people testifying to their shittiness, and others swear by 'em.

The euphoria I get is laying in bed with a glass full of milk in a cup full of ice (no puns, actual from the cow), laying down on top of the covers and firing up The Sopranos S01E01 - the lovely taste of Nitrazepam is complimented by the tiny tiny sips of milk (not important). That's the only one of the lot I use holistically, followed by the options of Bromaz or Loraz (loraz can cause some shitty visual effects I don't like if using to aid a comedown/long term use).

Bromaz, I experience as a 50/50 combination of Alprazolam and Clonazepam (without the lingering 'linger' that clonaz halflife tends to have). They're the best after my fat dog spends too much money on uppers and wants to transition from shit -> so-so -> codeine (if avail.).

Valium, Xanax, all that shit - tolerance is a cunt. Luckily/unfortunately it builds up SUPER quick. So I fire back 1x 1mg alpraz and take the dog for a walk - best to have a plan to stick to, don't just sit around expecting the benz' to do all the work like an opioid or stim would.

Another post from another point of view - if anyone managed to take something away from this then I've achieved what I set out to do. And next time you ready Bromaz is shit - tell 'em he's dreamin' mate.

My drs hesitant to prescribe me anything benzo to calm as hes afraid I'll abuse, thing is I'll abuse other things (opiates) if I can't get my anxiety sorted.. that's all I want to calm not fitchet/ heart attack/ freakouts. He's prescribed seroquel in high doses but that wipes me out like a zombie for 10 hours at a time. Sorry for the rammbling.. <snip>

Yeah, if I were your doctor (or my doctor) I'd be hesitant to prescribe them to us also. If you are a charmer and a fluent speaker you could perhaps tell him you tried a friend's (insert your preference here) once - just a small dose - and how it worked WONDERS for you. I managed to get a few weeks of Clonaz (fuck all per week, but still). I source my stuff elsewhere - NZ/AU, as lenient as they are compared to a lot of places - we have a lot of good Doctors.

 

[consumer]

I dont have a problem getting valium scripts. Legitimately prescribed for anxiety and also when my back goes on me as a muscle relaxant. I have an excellent relationship with my gp. I am a nurse so she accepts i have a good knowledge about my conditions and treatment. The valium is never prescribed long term. I may need it for a few months then we slowly taper down the dosage. Sometimes i take it recreationally but generally i keep my dose to a maximum 10mg prn. I dont want to get in a position where it no longer works when i need it. No benzodiazepine is a long term solution for anything. Long term they create more problems than they solve. But for short term acute anxiety they are indeed a blessing. Most docs wont prescribe them any longer than two weeks though. I am lucky i have the relationship with my gp that i do.