Addiction - GHB use to help during cold-turkey Benzo(valium) Withdrawal.

[kummin123]

Hi! SWIM has been using Valium for about 3 years, more or less daily. With some short periods off them but its prolly 6 monhts since last time. SWIMs daily dosage is approx. 20-30mg.

Now SWIM know that he's gonna run out of valium, in a day or so, and be completely without pills for atleast a month. And, Yes, He knows the dangers of quitting cold-turkey, but SWIMS life has been troublesome lately so he dosed a little to high on to many occasions.
He have done it before without any real physical problems, but the fear for seizures is of course always there.

Now to the question, can he use GHB moderately to ease the benso-withdrawal, from anxiety and sleeplessness etc.?

Or is it even contraindicative to use GHB while stopping benso-treatment abruptly?

SWIM saw something about GHB causing very mild seisurez in some ppl, maybe it can trigger Grand Mal seizures during Benso withdrawal?

Any opinions on the matter would be appreciated.

Sinc. Kummin

[~lostgurl~]

I think you will find some information in these threads:

Phenibut, worth it for relaxation/sleep?

2g GHB Overdose vs. Poisoning. naked, pissing, slamming head on desk. normal?

[kummin123]

Thanks for those pointers, I had missed your post in that thread when I read it earlier, which actually was just just the one that answered my question

"...and SWIM found benzos (Clonazepam anyway) helped to alleviate and lessen the symptoms of GBL withdrawal and vice versa (GBL helped with the withdrawal symptoms from Benzos) Note that it did not stop the withdrawals but it sure helped..."

So it works a little for SWIY atleast? And this has been when SWIY quit cold turkey from the bensos?

SWIY also suggests to keep somekinda of a rotating regimen of GHB, benso, and mebbe OTC sleeping aids and/or anti-anxiety aid, to stay away from dependency, which sounds like an excellent idea and is something SWIM is gonna try the next time SWIM fills his prescribtion of Valium. 2 days of GHB 2 days of Valium etc...

Thanks alot

PLUR

Edit: now after reading the second url im not so sure anymore, sounded like seizures CAN be induced by GHB, altho most often in high doses...

[Jatelka]

Seriously, If your marmoset is thinking of withdrawing from benzos, then they need to bite the bullet (as it were) and see a doctor, so they can get a proper, controlled taper. Upside is, it's already diazapam your marmoset is taking.

If SWIY is determined to go it alone then can I direct them to this...

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45539

which may help (but cannot be advised)

Benzo withdrawal is not something that should be taken lightly, the risk of seizure is unpredictable.

I know very little about GHB, but my understanding is that the half-life is shorter than diazepam, and therefore, using it for benzo withdrawal symptoms could well result in rebound symptoms, hence more frequent GHB dosing, thus substituting one GABA addiction for another

The flamingo would go with the diazepam taper

[saline29]

*** Disclaimer, the following was written by The Hunchback of Notre Dame, who broke into my account and posted this incriminating little number in order to get me into trouble. Which it has. I'll make sure he has to read the rules again, like I had to.


Ha ha,

I'm in the opposite predicament as you are; well, not really any more. I've used G for a while. Then I got stuck with butanediol, which is fine in my opinion; a little more sedating than energetic, but nonetheless, "g." It is easy to find too in the US where I live, but I am assuming that you are in the UK, or some other place where GBL is also easy to find.

Let me tell you this: GHB is a hell of a lot stronger than valium. When I was going through withdrawals from GHB, I had to go to the emergency room cause my heart started beating out of my chest for no reason other than just reading something on my computer, after 3 days of insomnia. This is the difference between the two. One 3ml shot of G could have set me for three hours to be high and then at least, with my withdrawals, 1-2 hours after I would have been okay till the withdrawals would have come back.

When I went to the emergency room, they shoved an IV in my arm and gave me injected valium, 5mg a shot; yeah, it made me a little dizzy feeling, but no satisfaction in my soul like with "g." That feeling was absent. Also, the nurse had to keep giving me shots of 5mg of valium every 45 minutes to an hour. Really no comparison.

When I got admitted to the the rehabilitation center in the hostpital by choice, cause I knew I didn't have drugs of my own to taper myself off of (by the way alcohol kills cravings for about the first and second day, but doesn't keep withdrawal away; plus, it increases dopamine, which makes it even harder to sleep; when trying to drink to kill withdrawals from "g," the I can drink a frickin pint of anything hard within a couple of hours and get real drunk, then the buzz wears off in a couple of hours or so and I'm sober, but feel like shit from the alcohol; that is another example of how strong "g" is once you grow a tolerance (it kicks alcoholic drinks in the arse). In the rehab, they were giving me orally 10mg of valium ever hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours max. I started to convulse the first time I was givin a 10mg cause it didn't act fast enough. I had to lay there in the bed and just let my whole body convulse and spazz until the valium kicked in. Yes, it worked, but hardly; I felt normal, no buzz, and a looming threat was over my head, which I could slightly feel, that the "g" withdrawal would be back for more. WAY FRICKEN SCARY.

Yes, "ghb" would work for valium, but I am telling you, go to a doctor, cause you'll probably just hooked on the "g" instead, which is much more potent and way more satisfying. However, I might add, both are illegal to have without a prescription. Xyrem, the legal form of GHB is almost impossible to get, and having a personal stash of "g" is a way bigger crime, at list in the US, than having a schecule vi; I don't know where you are at. However, again, "g" is easy to taper off of.

3.5ml (if used around the clock including to sleep you will need a potent sleep aid; you'll probably even lose a few nights of sleep cause of all the backed up dopamine releasing and keeping your arse awake regardless of what you take; you can take a handful of sleeping pills and you'll either be hopelessly up, or dead). I had to leave the hostpital and do it my way.

Don't know your case, which would be the opposite with the Valium (I'm saying doing it with the Valium by a doctor and not "g") but in my case for others who are lost as to how to taper off of "g"...

I cut it down to 3ml with help from a little valium and some sleep pills after 3 days of insomnia and almost having a heart attack. By the way, I was doing "g" almost every hour (huge habbit).

3 - 2.75ml x 8 (in other words 5 doses in one day starting from 6am in the morning and 3 the next day, then taper it by .25ml) every 3 hours, stopping at 6 PM so that the dopamine rebound has time to disappear, so that you'll go to sleep.

afterwards, 2.5ml -2.25 - 2 - 1.75 - 1.5 (This is about the last point that I felt anything from the "g," maybe a little something from 1m). - 1.25 and so on down to .5 or .25, then just quit.

I'm sure with Valium, if I had your problem, I'd go through a 14 day period, and start watching the clock, get a different sleep aid for sleep, take the val. 5 times a day, the same way, and break it off by 4ths or 8ths so that my body didn't know the difference and wont freak out nor cause permanent frickn' nerve damage.

Anyway, just do it! Don't use the "G." If you don't quit now, or be under the help of a physician, you could be committing suicide and not even knowing it; no shyte!

saline29 added 2 Minutes and 51 Seconds later...

Oh yeah,

and one more thing, in my experience and opinon ((I quit all of these drugs by the way and only mean this to help)), 2ml, which is a very moderate, small dose for me, felt about as strong or stronger than a 10mg valium.

saline29 added 15 Minutes and 1 Seconds later...

I read some of the other posts better. Phenibut does not help; I had that and actually took that before my heart started racing; pure junk! The full effects of "butanediol" and "gbl" and "g" seem to last longer than valium and are more potent. I never felt that damn dopamine rebound effect from valium which is pure hell if you want to rest; it will make you also a paranoid schizophrenic for a few days too when you quit, not even able to say "hi" to anyone. Don't trade off g and valium unless you are experience with both and how long a dose of each lasts; you could kill yourself; it is a dangerous combo.

According to every source ghb withdrawal, benzos, and alcohol are all about the same.

If you get hooked to the "g" instead and run out, that stuff will scare the hell out of you, unless you are used to military sleep deprivation and stuff. I don't know which one is worse, valium or ghb, but being that I know ghb is stronger and often gets dosed a lot more often to keep the "drunk euphoric" feeling up, the withdrawals are probably worse than benzos.

[malsat]

G will help with benzo withdrawals but it can reach a point where even taking large doses of GBL (3ml) will not even help a person get to sleep and the other benzo WD symptoms can overpower the G also. I've seen people who have fallen into a G/benzo addiction seesaw, switching to one when the supply of the other runs out. In the long term it's just not sustainable. A month on G will require quite a large amount of benzos in a short while in order to get over the G WD's.

There is a brand of herbal sleep medication containing hops, valerian root and another ingredient (lemon balm I think) called Natrasleep which has remarkable efficiacy in treating benzo WD's. Either hop extract or valerian alone is not nearly as effective as this compound. Worst comes to worst I'd recommend that, but only for short term use.

The best thing you can do is go to a doctor and get on a controlled taper. Trying to manage these things on your own can be extremely difficult and adding one addictive substance in order to attenuate withdrawals from another substance will only complicate matters. Good luck mate.