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Benzos If you've built a tolerence to a benzo is it permanant or temporary??

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Sep 1, 2016
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I first started taking benzos 1 year ago in March 2016 it was prescribed to me by my doctor. The thing is I started at low doses I was taking 2mg of diazepam 3 times a day so 6mg then after a while I switched to Xanax I was given 0.5mg twice a day (1mg a day) it was working despite the low dose I was taking perhaps cause I was new to benzos so I didn't have a tolerance. So then after my psy switched me to lysanxia/prazepam I wasn't given a dosage so I was taking how much I wanted to bearing in mind 60mg is the maximum dose. Taking 15-30mg a day was effective for me. But then I switched back to diazepam & I saw a different doc who prescribed 30mg a day at first it was working but after a few months it stopped working so I upped the dose to 40mg which is the maximum dose but still nothing it wasn't working it was as if I was taking sugar pills! So I asked the doc to switch me back to Prazepam/Lysanxia he gave me between 40mg-50mg to take everyday but it was ineffective it had no effect on me I didnt feel sedated/stoned or calm/relaxed like I used to feel when I was taking a very low dosage of the same medication a year ago in 2016. So my question is if you become tolerent to a benzo does that mean it's forever or just temporary?? Another question is if you become tolerent to say diazepam does that mean I'm also tolerent to all the other benzos such as prazepam or xanax?? Obviously after a while the medication does stop working but if I take a 1-2 month break from Benzos not taking any benzos at all would my tolerence go away & then the medication would start working again if I start from scratch again at a low dosage??
 
Tolerance is temporary but can take a while to drop depending on how strong it is and how long you were using high doses. It does cross over to other drugs in the same class so if you built tolerance using diazepam you would also be tolerant to other benzos. 1-2 months with no benzo use really should drop your tolerance a pretty significant amount and make lower doses functional again, but everyone is a little different and it may take more or less time than that depending on your body and how tolerant you really are by now.
 
Tolerance is temporary but can take a while to drop depending on how strong it is and how long you were using high doses. It does cross over to other drugs in the same class so if you built tolerance using diazepam you would also be tolerant to other benzos. 1-2 months with no benzo use really should drop your tolerance a pretty significant amount and make lower doses functional again, but everyone is a little different and it may take more or less time than that depending on your body and how tolerant you really are by now.

I agree with this. In fact I was about to type the same thing :)
 
I would agree with the other replies that it is temporary but can take a pretty long time to shake. I have been scripted diazepam three different times over the past 12 years and each time I had to switch because it no longer had the desired effect, or anything close to it.

After a couple years off all benzos my tolerance did all but go away. Most recently I switched from diazepam (again) to clonazepam, and while I obviously maintain a pretty strong tolerance to benzos overall, the latter is much more effective than the former. Benzos are a real bitch when it comes to tolerance, but abusing them and taking very large doses intermittently (which I can't help but do) will cause the tolerance to skyrocket much faster than using smaller doses more frequently, even daily.
 
Tolerance is temporary but can take a while to drop depending on how strong it is and how long you were using high doses. It does cross over to other drugs in the same class so if you built tolerance using diazepam you would also be tolerant to other benzos. 1-2 months with no benzo use really should drop your tolerance a pretty significant amount and make lower doses functional again, but everyone is a little different and it may take more or less time than that depending on your body and how tolerant you really are by now.

Phew I'm glad it's temporary not permanent. I've been taking benzos for about 1 year/10 months daily. I've been switching benzos inbetween I started taking Valium than my psychiatrist switched me to Prazepam than back to Valium. Like I said at first it was working but now I don't feel anythin it's like taking sugar pills whether I take the maximum dose of Valium(40mg) or another benzo. I'm currently prescribed 7.5mg of Ativan ( the maximum dose is 10mg) but it's not working even though I've never ever tooken Ativan before. So if I go 1 month/6weeks without benzos my tolerence will return back to normal??
 
I posted this as a separate thread but it has seventy views and no replies yet. You said tolerance is temporary but I am worried in my case it might be permanent. Here is what I originally posted:

I take Clonazepam for help with anxiety; a maximum of 3 mg daily (3 mg can be taken at the same time; my doctor is aware of this and allows this since it seems low doses of any benzodiazepine do absolutely nothing for me - not even reduce my anxiety a little). I only take the drug once a week - I have been doing this since February 2016. My doctor and I have tried other drugs, including other benzodiazepines (I have a prescription for Ativan, which is the one benzodiazepine that works for almost anything) and found that, except for Ativan, they would make me sick, even at the lowest dose. We tried other anti-anxiety drugs but I would either have bad side effects or be allergic.

My doctor decided to switch me to Clonazepam last year, but I take it as needed, and that is usually once a week. I have a extremely high anxiety level and he felt the Ativan wasn't doing much for it - this would happen when I would have to deal with anything medical, including medical appointments (such as blood tests).

Even though I only take Clonazepam once a week (and have not taken any other benzodiazepine other than Clonazepam; I am saving the Ativan for a dental appointment on May 29, 2017) I assume I built a tolerance to it, since I took it today but still had a panic attack. I am wondering if it is possible for the drug to stop working completely and for your body to reject the drug; I even increased my dose to see if that would help but it did nothing - it was as if someone game me a placebo. I had eaten the night before than took the pills twelve hours later so maybe the food was still in my stomach. Once I felt the drugs weren't working I got something to eat then a little while later decided to take some more pills but still found they did not work. I was not looking to get high, I just wanted anxiety reduction.

So if anyone could tell me if my body now rejects the Clonazepam and it won't work anymore that would be great; I don't want to bother getting any more prescriptions for a drug that doesn't work. I understand nobody has my body therefore cannot say for sure if it is rejecting it but if they have had experiences like this it would be great to know that I am not the only person dealing with this and worrying that the pills won't work - the Clonazepam has worked in the past for medical appointments, such as ophthalmologist appointment - I took Clonazepam and still panicked but did not try to leave the room - if I had not taken anything I would have probably left; I have done this in the past when I had a medical appointment that made me nervous. I have another ophthalmologist appointment in July 2017 and found the Clonazepam worked for it - except this time it is with a neuro ophthalmologist and is more invasive (this appointment will be in July 2017). I would like to take a sedative to help relax me for that but Ativan tends to work for a short period of time but Clonazepam tends to work for a longer period of time - the neuro ophthalmologist appointment is supposed to be a long appointment so that is why I was hoping the Clonazepam would work but because it has not been working lately I am afraid it will not.

I don't know if I will take any Clonazepam for my appointment in July and I will take Ativan May 29, 2017 so I will be free from using benzodiazepines during the month of June. Does anyone think this may reduce my tolerance to Clonazepam or has my body built a permanent tolerance to it so it will never work again?
 
Yes, my friend -- you are going to have to take quite a break from any type of benzo use due to all of them being cross-tolerant -- I would say anywhere between 1-2 months of complete abstinence. TWO months just to be safe, and even then, your tolerance level still won't seem to go back to being completely normal. Benzos just seem to be one of those weird drugs where you tolerance never seems to COMPLTELY subside, only decrease over a matter of time.

It's not like opioids where I can take be abstinence for 3-4 weeks, take some again, and it's like my tolerance was barely even there to begin with.

Benzos, IMO, seem quite difficult to understand completely so I may need to do some more research on them.
 
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Alot of benzos, including Clonazepam, have really long half lives. Even dosing once a week, you're still going to have low levels in your bloodstream. That's also why it can take years for tolerance to reset with benzos.

There's also a psychological component. Most will say that drugs are never the same after your first stint.

Have you tried any supplements or natural remedies for your anxiety. I recommend Noble kava root powder all the time. It has 0 physiological dependence liability, so if it works, it can be a godsend.

Kratom isn't ideal as a long term treatment, but for what your describing, it could be extremely useful to you (if it works).
You could definitely take Kratom once a week and not worry about developing a physical dependence although psychological dependence will be a liability. Kratom is an opioid, and while most consider it less euphoric than prescription opioids, it still carries an addiction liability. That said, Kratom is addiction and tolerance are way more manageable than GABAergics.

Also, have you tried gabapentin, pregabalin, and phenibut?
 
I have never heard of Kratom and when I asked my pharmacist if they had any I was told no. I don't like opioids; I would rather stick with benzodiazepines and deal with the withdrawal side effects (I won't have seizures since I'm already on anti-seizure medication because I am actually epileptic - I have stopped using benzodiazepines cold turkey before without having any seizures, and I would not use any benzodiazepines for up to a month; the worst withdrawal side effect I would get is insomnia).

I might give gabapentin, pregabalin, and phenibut a try though. I still intend on using the Ativan for my appointment on May 29th but am not sure what I will do about the appointment in July; I am really nervous about that appointment (the one in July) and have no idea what to do about it. If you tell the doctor you are supposed to see that you are nervous, the doctor can be mean to you and snap at you for being afraid (that happened to me before). I tried things like deep breathing but it doesn't work. Sometimes anxiety is impossible to control.
 
The pharmacists probably wouldnt know about Kratom. It's a plant that is sort of regulated as a supplement
 
I am starting to think it can be permanent! I was originally scripted just 7.5mg a day of diazepam but me being me, I ended up on 500mg (or equivalent of Xanax or lorazepam, sometimes temazepam) for awhile. Have tapered down to 20mg a day and it does NOTNING. And no amount I take seems to have any effect except to keep withdrawal away.
 
I am starting to think it can be permanent! I was originally scripted just 7.5mg a day of diazepam but me being me, I ended up on 500mg (or equivalent of Xanax or lorazepam, sometimes temazepam) for awhile. Have tapered down to 20mg a day and it does NOTNING. And no amount I take seems to have any effect except to keep withdrawal away.

500mg!? You mean 50mg yeah I tried taking 40-50mg of Diazepam for a few days it had no effect still didn't work. So anyway is the tolerence temporary or permanant?? Some are starting to say it's permanant I hope not?!?
 
any tolerance of any amount will go away given the adequate amount time spent sober
i mean it could take months it could take years, but it will goaway in the end

i do have this theory though that it might not feel exactly the same as the first time you took it - stuff feels a lot more intense if you haven't tried it before but the novelty wears off eventially
 
^ yeah you need some sober time, not taper.
once you have like half a year benzo sober your tolerance will shoot down
 
Yesterday I was feeling overwhelmed with anxiety so I took 6 mg of Lorazepam. It didn't do a thing but it could have been because I ate a piece of orange cranberry loaf earlier. I find that eating prevents the drug from working; does anyone else find that?

I used the Lorazepam I was going to use for my dental appointment on May 29, 2017 but now I will use the Clonazepam instead - I think I will not take anything benzodiazepine-related until that date; 19 days without taking anything is almost three weeks and should be enough time to lower the tolerance.
 
Benzodiazepine tolerance is something that may take half a year to multiples of years to fully mitigate. I was at a point I could easily eat 100mg's of Valium and barely notice any effects. Now even if I haven't taken any benzos in a 3-4 months, 20mg just gives me paradoxical effects such as insomnia and hypomania. I've kind of excepted the notion benzos just are out of the equation for any medicinal or recreational value for the time being.
 
I can only speak for myself but I feel for 85% of the time it is only temporary after long periods of time without your tolerance will go back to how it really was. However I'm sure there is a very small percentage of Truth to permanency
 
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