Taking pain killers lower tolerance to alprazolam?
swim was wondering if it was true about taking other medications would actually lower your tolerance level. swim has been on xanax for 6 years, and has just recently had to start taking WAAAAY to many xanax to feel the same effect, which in turn led my doctor to stop giving me prescriptions. swim quit his job and is struggling severly trying to detox and somehow feel better until he can see a doctor. swim noticed his tolerance level went sky high when swim started taking ass-loads of opaiates. Lortabs and oxycontin (10MG lortab, and 80MG oxy). After months of non stop use, swim has noticed that not only did i have to get switched from 30 to 60 pills a month, and then 90 pills a month, but my tolerance was also sky high. swim is on 0.5MG 3 x a day. swim would take 5 at a time, 3 times a day. which in turn, the medication would only last MAYBE 2 weeks if i was lucky. never was. they were gone within 8 - 9 days. that led me to call into the doctor a few times wayyyyy to early asking for a refill. he finally said no more, and cut me off. now im experiencing extreme anxiety and withdrawls, and he wants me to see a psychologist to see if i still need any medication. im making the doctor appointment thursday when i have the money, but it could take up to 3 weeks before i see him. even then, the first appointment he wont do anything for me anyway. so basicly im screwed. i need to get my tolerance level lowered so i can start taking my medication as needed.
and btw, swim started taking painkillers to ease the pain of his divorce. swim doesnt drink, so swim took pills. if you were wondering
Well I dont see much sense in switching from a highly addictive substance to an even more highly addictive substance. If need be, just constantly lower your dose until u get to 0. Dunno what else to tell you. Are you saying ites okay to take all of these pills because it is better than alcohol and you dont drink. I dont really know where you are trying to go with this.
no not saying its ok. im just looking for answers. lower my dose of what? i dont have any xanax or painkillers. im trying to detox myself. i took the last of my xanax 2 weeks ago. there is no slow taper. i have to quit cold turkey. no choice. dont have anymore. but i still need the xanax, and my question was very clear. will taking other pills with my medication raise my tolerance level because of the kind of drug it was, or no?
swim was wondering if it was true about taking other medications would actually lower your tolerance level. swim has been on xanax for 6 years, and has just recently had to start taking WAAAAY to many xanax to feel the same effect, which in turn led my doctor to stop giving me prescriptions. swim quit his job and is struggling severly trying to detox and somehow feel better until he can see a doctor. swim noticed his tolerance level went sky high when swim started taking ass-loads of opaiates. Lortabs and oxycontin (10MG lortab, and 80MG oxy). After months of non stop use, swim has noticed that not only did i have to get switched from 30 to 60 pills a month, and then 90 pills a month, but my tolerance was also sky high. swim is on 0.5MG 3 x a day. swim would take 5 at a time, 3 times a day. which in turn, the medication would only last MAYBE 2 weeks if i was lucky. never was. they were gone within 8 - 9 days. that led me to call into the doctor a few times wayyyyy to early asking for a refill. he finally said no more, and cut me off. now im experiencing extreme anxiety and withdrawls, and he wants me to see a psychologist to see if i still need any medication. im making the doctor appointment thursday when i have the money, but it could take up to 3 weeks before i see him. even then, the first appointment he wont do anything for me anyway. so basicly im screwed. i need to get my tolerance level lowered so i can start taking my medication as needed.
and btw, swim started taking painkillers to ease the pain of his divorce. swim doesnt drink, so swim took pills. if you were wondering
First of all, I am not a doctor nor am I studying medicine (I've just recently found myself very interested in pharmacology and may choose to study it soon). I'll try not to make any absolute assertions but in case I do, take it with a grain of salt, I guess.
I'm prescribed to another benzo (ativan) so I'm familiar with benzo's, but the only analgesic I have experience with is laughing gas (teeth pulled), which isn't an opiate. However, I was just reading about opiate pharmacology the other day, and the first thing that comes to mind is that both drugs depress respiration.
Indeed, this site mentions the synergistic effect of opiates+benzos only under the pulmonary system: "Synergistic effects: In terms of respiratory depression sedative-hypnotics would be synergistic with opioids. Therefore increase respiratory depression would be expected upon combination of opioids with benzodiazepines."
I'm not sure what this means in terms of what SWIY feels, but I can imagine that such an interaction would make one or both of the drugs more effective. I believe this is a potentially fatal interaction though, as it can cause SWIY to just stop breathing -- i.e, SWIY should not look at opiates as a way to use xanax more effectively.
I'm wondering if SWIY's doctor thinks SWIY is distributing SWIY's xanax, because otherwise it seems irresponsible to not taper SWIY off slowly. Can anyone else verify? Sudden benzo discontinuation after taking too much all the time seems really dangerous, and the someone who isn't the poster seems to be (somewhat) legitimately trying to get help.
As for taking painkillers, that's an awful solution. From what i understand, they work by causing your body to release more endorphins, which it does naturally for physical pain. They are not meant for mental pain, such as that from a divorce. They're among the most addictive of drugs, if SWIY had a benzo problem, SWIY should absolutely not self-mediate with opiates.
If SWIY was prescribed to xanax in the first place, would SWIY say it's true that he has a legitimate need for anti-anxiety medication? Perhaps SWIY could explore other benzo's or even less(non?)-abusable medication like buspar with SWIY's doctor?
10-12-2007, 21:12
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