Low dose alprazolam is energizing and motivating?

[Lil'LinaptkSix]

Looking at neurotransmitters on a global level is akin to looking at a malfunctioning computer and saying that there is probably a problem with the resistors.

As I read through my first thought of 1/-1 equaled 1/0... on or off?
Thanks for that. Gotta do some homework.

 

[Nicomorphinist]

Anecdotal warning:
I've decided to consult with a psychiatrist finally, after years of holding the typical self-medicating taboo against doctors, some for good reason, albeit. I've been diagnosed with PTSD, and wake up with adrenal fatigue, feeling like I just had to fight off an attacker in my sleep. It was a reality of my childhood, and one that I believe is rooted in my subconscious. Being that it was directed toward my from my father, the one that is supposed to protect normally, I believe my trust issues and not so much social anxiety as interpersonal anxiety stems from here, and other similar events. Also, I've dealt with suicidal ideation since 8-9 yrs old, and depression was basically my accepted norm until my 20's. I'm pretty sure I have a mild antisocial personality disorder(undiagnosed), or at least it seems likely to me.

My personal history aside, I have always found benzos, in general, to be extremely euphoric at low and uncommon dosages, and even numbly euphoric in a drunken kind of way at higher doses. Much of the euphoria quickly fades with tolerance, and leaves me feeling numb, and physically drained and exhausted. I suppose this would likely be explained by GABA receptor down-regulation(?) and the following rebound anxiety. Probably glutamate up regulation, as well as other factors contribute here.



Anyways:
My question comes mostly from the fact that when I use sparingly and in low doses, before any tolerance has built, I feel energized and empowered to accomplish things I would normally shy away from or feel very uncomfortable doing. Is that(potentially) caused by the loss/decrease in inhibition caused by the GABA agonism? What causes me to feel become more motivated and productive at low doses, imo, more so than stimulants as I'm not chasing the dopamine. I know there isn't a clear answer here, any the obvious answer is that my anxiety disorder progresses to antisocial/depressive tendendencies(so it seems to me at least). But if someone with a better understanding can give me their rough idea of what is happening on a neurological level, I'd be extremely interested and grateful.

Like with opioids, low I assume low doses are stimulating due to the dopamine agonism. However, it may not be intuitive. It's known that cannabis is found to be the most anxiolytic/stress relieving among individuals who use chronically, implying that much of the relief is actually relief from the cannabis withdrawal(largely endocannabinoid system shock I believe). Also, similarly, once dependent, I experience a fatigue as I go into withdrawal(which seems counterintuitive as I thought there'd be excessive glutamate), and the fatigue is lifted with a dose of the drug of addiction, even though they are sedatives.

That makes sense -- sort of a combination of homeopathy and the discoveries being made about ultra-low dose naltrexone vis-à-vis one or more conditions from what seems like every category under the sun . . . of course a low dose or a high dose of a benzodiazepine taken for months and years on end can lead to physical dependence, one of the more dangerous ones, in fact, but under medical supervision and if there are no supply disruptions, it sounds like it can be very helpful.

The cannabis withdrawal scenario is fascinating, and it seems you have hit the nail on the head so to speak . . . it is possible to utilise both side effects and withdrawal symptoms of several types of drugs to help with other conditions.

 

[cduggles]

Curious about whether or not alprazolam affects encoding of memory or retrieval? If yes, by what mechanism? Thanks.

Great discussion!

 

[Nicomorphinist]

I have heard reports that nicotine can counteract it somewhat, and hyoscine and other belladonna alkaloids are notorious for anterograde amnesia (and also used surgically for that reason) so I suspect that benzodiazepines may accomplish the same effects as anticholinergics and propofol by a different path.

 

[checktest]

Long-term effects of alprazolam on memory: a 3.5 year follow-up of agoraphobia/panic patients - PubMed

Explicit memory impairments found while patients were taking alprazolam and weeks after drug withdrawal did not persist 3.5 years later. We suggest that the memory impairments observed in our previous study weeks after withdrawal of alprazolam were not residual effects of alprazolam but rather...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The Effect of Chronic Alprazolam Intake on Memory, Attention, and Psychomotor Performance in Healthy Human Male Volunteers

Alprazolam is used as an anxiolytic drug for generalized anxiety disorder and it has been reported to produce sedation and anterograde amnesia. In the current study, we randomly divided 26 healthy male volunteers into two groups: one group taking alprazolam ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of Alprazolam on Driving Ability, Memory Functioning and Psychomotor Performance: A Randomized, Placebo-controlled Study - Neuropsychopharmacology

Alprazolam is prescribed for the treatment of anxiety and panic disorder. Most users are presumably involved in daily activities such as driving. However, the effects of alprazolam on driving ability have never been investigated. This study was conducted to determine the effects of alprazolam (1...

www.nature.com

1 mg, driving test. Acute, so sedative/ alertness issues.

Dissecting perception and memory-driven imagery by boosting GABA-ergic neurotransmission

Flanking lateral masks enhance or weaken the detection of a low-contrast visual target. This effect depends on the target-to-mask distance. An improve…

www.sciencedirect.com

Open. Vision. Perceptual disturbances so a question of encoding / integration.

Deleterious effects of a low amount of ethanol on LTP-like plasticity in human cortex - PubMed

Ingesting ethanol (EtOH) at low doses during social drinking is a common human behavior for its facilitating effects on social interactions. However, low-dose EtOH may have also detrimental effects that so far are underexplored. Here we sought to test the effects of low-dose EtOH on long-term...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Interesting comparison relative to ethanol, Xa not significant effect on LTP in this particular approach

A process-based approach to characterizing the effect of acute alprazolam challenge on visual paired associate learning and memory in healthy older adults - PubMed

Results of this study suggest that acute alprazolam challenge decreases visual paired associate learning and memory performance by reducing the strength of the association between pattern and location, which may reflect a general breakdown in memory consolidation, with less evidence of...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Question of general memory consolidation disruption with acute alprazolam

Alprazolam and lorazepam effects on memory acquisition and retrieval processes

A double-blind study involving healthy young adult males examined acute effects of two benzodiazepines (alprazoam 1 mg anrazepam 2 mg) on long-term me…

www.sciencedirect.com

References general acquisition more than retrieval, but highlights both. 1 mg.

Effects of positive modulators of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)-type glutamate receptors in a benzodiazepine-induced deficit of spatial discrimination in mice - PubMed

Imbalance between GABAergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission has been recently hypothesized to trigger memory decline related either to ageing or to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thereby, benzodiazepine-induced anterograde amnesia has been construed as a model of hippocampal-related cognitive...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Memantine, donepezil reversed some alprazolam deficits. Glutamatergic balance, AMPA receptors highlighted.

SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals

Subscription and open access journals from SAGE Publishing, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

doi.org

More AMPA modulator effects.

Alprazolam and lorazepam effects on memory acquisition and retrieval processes

A double-blind study involving healthy young adult males examined acute effects of two benzodiazepines (alprazoam 1 mg anrazepam 2 mg) on long-term me…

www.sciencedirect.com

Possible effect on PAF. Too many possible and perhaps but interesting.

Platelet Activating Factor Enhances Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis Via PKC, Elevated Intracellular Calcium, and Modulation of Synapsin 1 Dynamics and Phosphorylation

Platelet activating factor (PAF) is an inflammatory phospholipid signaling molecule implicated in synaptic plasticity, learning and memory and neurotoxicity during neuroinflammation. However, little is known about the intracellular mechanisms mediating PAF’s physiological or pathological effects...

www.frontiersin.org

 

[cduggles]

@checktest, thanks for assembling such a wonderful collection.

 

[Hylight]

benzo makes me strong again. . . . but with the aid of a redbull no less may help more in my deepest prayers.
i need benzo, i need energy, but with both will i explode !
benzo is not an abuse that i want and that is because i truly need help to feel better, to relax, and to continue on into the moment.
i want to stay awake today but need to be away from daily dependence of the best days ever that were being able to live and still be alive.

but i am better now, but not used to coping this way either, in the presence. so alprazolam is my preventative answer for a blessing to be.
it is relaxing, helps so much, and a cloud thats fine.
i think the coffee should not cause worries.
that is if i make it to the spoon to stir.

Long-term effects of alprazolam on memory: a 3.5 year follow-up of agoraphobia/panic patients - PubMed

Explicit memory impairments found while patients were taking alprazolam and weeks after drug withdrawal did not persist 3.5 years later. We suggest that the memory impairments observed in our previous study weeks after withdrawal of alprazolam were not residual effects of alprazolam but rather...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The Effect of Chronic Alprazolam Intake on Memory, Attention, and Psychomotor Performance in Healthy Human Male Volunteers

Alprazolam is used as an anxiolytic drug for generalized anxiety disorder and it has been reported to produce sedation and anterograde amnesia. In the current study, we randomly divided 26 healthy male volunteers into two groups: one group taking alprazolam ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Effects of Alprazolam on Driving Ability, Memory Functioning and Psychomotor Performance: A Randomized, Placebo-controlled Study - Neuropsychopharmacology

Alprazolam is prescribed for the treatment of anxiety and panic disorder. Most users are presumably involved in daily activities such as driving. However, the effects of alprazolam on driving ability have never been investigated. This study was conducted to determine the effects of alprazolam (1...

www.nature.com

1 mg, driving test. Acute, so sedative/ alertness issues.

Dissecting perception and memory-driven imagery by boosting GABA-ergic neurotransmission

Flanking lateral masks enhance or weaken the detection of a low-contrast visual target. This effect depends on the target-to-mask distance. An improve…

www.sciencedirect.com

Open. Vision. Perceptual disturbances so a question of encoding / integration.

Deleterious effects of a low amount of ethanol on LTP-like plasticity in human cortex - PubMed

Ingesting ethanol (EtOH) at low doses during social drinking is a common human behavior for its facilitating effects on social interactions. However, low-dose EtOH may have also detrimental effects that so far are underexplored. Here we sought to test the effects of low-dose EtOH on long-term...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Interesting comparison relative to ethanol, Xa not significant effect on LTP in this particular approach

A process-based approach to characterizing the effect of acute alprazolam challenge on visual paired associate learning and memory in healthy older adults - PubMed

Results of this study suggest that acute alprazolam challenge decreases visual paired associate learning and memory performance by reducing the strength of the association between pattern and location, which may reflect a general breakdown in memory consolidation, with less evidence of...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Question of general memory consolidation disruption with acute alprazolam

Alprazolam and lorazepam effects on memory acquisition and retrieval processes

A double-blind study involving healthy young adult males examined acute effects of two benzodiazepines (alprazoam 1 mg anrazepam 2 mg) on long-term me…

www.sciencedirect.com

References general acquisition more than retrieval, but highlights both. 1 mg.

Effects of positive modulators of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA)-type glutamate receptors in a benzodiazepine-induced deficit of spatial discrimination in mice - PubMed

Imbalance between GABAergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission has been recently hypothesized to trigger memory decline related either to ageing or to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thereby, benzodiazepine-induced anterograde amnesia has been construed as a model of hippocampal-related cognitive...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Memantine, donepezil reversed some alprazolam deficits. Glutamatergic balance, AMPA receptors highlighted.

SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class research journals

Subscription and open access journals from SAGE Publishing, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

doi.org

More AMPA modulator effects.

Alprazolam and lorazepam effects on memory acquisition and retrieval processes

A double-blind study involving healthy young adult males examined acute effects of two benzodiazepines (alprazoam 1 mg anrazepam 2 mg) on long-term me…

www.sciencedirect.com

Possible effect on PAF. Too many possible and perhaps but interesting.

Platelet Activating Factor Enhances Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis Via PKC, Elevated Intracellular Calcium, and Modulation of Synapsin 1 Dynamics and Phosphorylation

Platelet activating factor (PAF) is an inflammatory phospholipid signaling molecule implicated in synaptic plasticity, learning and memory and neurotoxicity during neuroinflammation. However, little is known about the intracellular mechanisms mediating PAF’s physiological or pathological effects...

www.frontiersin.org

mine

benzo makes me strong again. . . . but with the aid of a redbull no less may help more in my deepest prayers.
i need benzo, i need energy, but with both will i explode !
benzo is not an abuse that i want and that is because i truly need help to feel better, to relax, and to continue on into the moment.
i want to stay awake today but need to be away from daily dependence of the best days ever that were being able to live and still be alive.

but i am better now, but not used to coping this way either, in the presence. so alprazolam is my preventative answer for a blessing to be.
it is relaxing, helps so much, and a cloud thats fine.
i think the coffee should not cause worries.
that is if i make it to the spoon to stir.

continues help
to persevere,
and for feeling
better a
while being here.
can't ruin my whole
day
if the xanax can
take what ails
away.
tomorrow might
just be the best
if i can just get
some much needed
rest

very strong !

 

[krisdef4]

I am prescribed 1mg of Xanax to take first thing in the morning and another 1mg at noon. I use it because it really helps me with my procrastination issues. I think that when I have a big task ahead of me, the xanax helps me just do it and stay on track.

I even find myself doing household chores without even realizing that I'm doing them. It really just helps me initiate the task without thinking twice, and then once I'm doing it, I am able to finish it.

I don't have severe anxiety about any particular thing, but I have mild anxiety about almost everything. So if you are like me, I think that this might be a helpful medication for people that have similar issues.

 

[Tramalala]

@sekio The story begins with a nearly fatal overdose of etaqualone. Family members found me nonresponsive and not breathing. Last thing i remember i put on a pore clarifying mud mask in preparation for a bath, and took a hit of etaqualone of foil.

4 days later i wake up in an ICU, intubated. Of course i start gagging from the tube down my throat and started pulling it out, before nurses ran over. "Did you do this to yourself? Were you trying to commit suicide" was the first thing they asked. Apparently i had done the whole clinically dead thing, but survived. Convinced i might have brain damage from having not been breathing for an unknown time, they did many tests. Was there for a week total. I had the strangest feeling for a few days, like part of me actually had died. As soon as i got home i went straight for my benzos stash.

Weeks later im in line at a hospital pharmacy. A loud mouth jewish man in front of me was arguing with the pharmacist about the pharmacological properties of some drug and its contraindications. I interject with my insights (they were both incorrect in a sense). "Are you a medical student?", then i say.... "yes I am, im actually an international medical graduate and finished medical school in Australia. I'm working now to get licensed here in my state" (this was of course a benzo and methylphenidate infused lie). We talk and talk, he is clearly impressed by me, and in the parking lot he gives me a briefcase full of medical files. He is a psychiatrist who also does QME's (qualified medical exams -- testimony for court). He is impressed with my knowledge of pharmacology and asked if I would be willing to work for him and help him on some of his cases. I agree. This is how it started. Eventually i would end up working at his practice, had my own office, patients, and started writing expert medical testimony.

My first write up was a wrongful death lawsuit where a man in the army died from apparently drug related cause, but the family felt that the army physician was at fault. I argued (on behalf of his family) that the base's physician treatments (high dose tramadol, for a patient known to abuse tramadol, co-prescribed with citalopram) resulted in his death (autopsy consistent with serotonin syndrome).

Aside form writing me "expert" testimony I began seeing his patients in his frequent and sporadic absences (he was bipolar and suffering from ocd -- he even had his license suspended due to a psychiatric hospitalization) as he was unreliable so i started seeing some of them. Then, I proposed the idea of integrating buprenorphine treatment into his practice because it was lucrative. I dealt with all the licensing, and even took the 8 hour online test for him to get the DEA waiver to allow its prescription...

The story goes on, maybe ill tell more later.

I really was a pretty decent psychiatrist and an excellent administrator. Ultimately, other psychiatrists started consulting with me for guidance in integrating buprenorphine treatment into their practices. I became a sort of expert on how to introduce a new revenue stream into ones practice by offering buprenorphine therapy. No one doubted me for a moment. I had few doubters (his female medical biller did doubt me howeve, and jokingly said she wanted to see my diploma, so I fired her and hired a replacement). (I also ran the office so I hired and fired all staff.)

This would have never happened without benzos and stimulants. I also believe that the recent temporary brain damage i experienced from being hypoxic for so long contributed to this significantly. Ultimately I quit because the other doctor was not treating the buprenorphine patients as they needed to be, so I pulled his DEA and SAMHSA waivers/license to provide buprenorphine services.

So, in short, i ODd on etaqualone, was clinically dead for a bit, and under the influence of benzos, started practicing psychiatry.

LOL, I'm glad this topic got bumped. Great story, if you've ever expanded on it in another thread I'd love to read it. @Skorpio also mentioned something about your experience with "o-desmethyltramadol narcosis". Any chance you know which thread you talked about that? Would like to read that aswell. Cheers mate, your posts are great

 

[negrogesic]

LOL, I'm glad this topic got bumped. Great story, if you've ever expanded on it in another thread I'd love to read it. @Skorpio also mentioned something about your experience with "o-desmethyltramadol narcosis". Any chance you know which thread you talked about that? Would like to read that aswell. Cheers mate, your posts are great

Should have never said all of that. Lets call it fiction

I did write part of a novel on various life events but I'll call that fiction too. I should finish it, its sort of a bizarre and surreal read.

 

[karambit]

Curious about whether or not alprazolam affects encoding of memory or retrieval? If yes, by what mechanism? Thanks.

Great discussion!

Via heavy binding to the Striatum, mostly the left head of the Caudate Nucleus

 

[plumbus-nine]

Just anecdotal but low-ish dose alprazolam was indeed pretty different from other benzodiazepines, both the effects as well as the high addiction liability could be explained by some dopaminergic mechanism..but the downsides of BZD use will still be there.

You could try another benzo + dopamine agonist like pramipexole. At least it's how I'd imagine this might feel, extrapolating from memantine (d2 agonist + nmda antagonist), taking away the nmda numbness and adding in some gaba..

 

[Gaffy]

G'yap.
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