Journal - ongoing novel experiment for cessation of fast acting benzodiazapines

[allyourbase]

SWIM is prescribed xanax for hyperkinetic insomnia. SWIM had a girlfriend who was extremely high strung, and SWIM used the xanax to escape these problems on a daily basis. One can see where the story goes from there. now SWIM is dependent. SWIM has tried tapering to no avail...the symptoms get worse and worse no longer how long the new dose is used. now....SWIM had sort of a "eureka" moment. and for the past two weeks swim has been successfully withdrawing from benzos with the help of amphetamines.

Heres the rub, beginning of the first week SWIM eats a bunch of valium which has an enormous halflife, gets a twelve pack and drinks a beer an hour. day two SWIM begins the day with one dexedrine spansule, one dexedrine IR, one adderall XR and a hearty workout. around midday SWIM takes one more spansule and one more IR. this is repeated three days, followed by another day of valium with a 10 mg reduction. this has been working extremely well for swim, and almost no withdrawl symptoms have been experienced.

Im thinking the reason this has been working is that the bodys response to amphetamine is to upregulate GABA, whereas benzodiazapine addiction downregulates GABA and upregulates adrenaline and seratonin. this method would most likely not work for those dependent on long acting benzodiazapines, as it hinges on the extraordinary half life of diazapam.

By swims calculations he will be benzodiazapine free in less than a week, mind you swim didnt start today.

[allyourbase]

SWIM has gone from 4 mg of xanax a day to 5 mg of valium a day in two weeks time, and at most suffered a few rough hours. the only profound and chronic symptom swim can report.

[Dickon]

I've never tried this experiment, neither has my cat, but it scares the life out of me. My cat used to be able to interrupt a small opiate addiction for a week or so by using amphetamines, however the problem always came back when he stopped. He found amphetamines to be worse than useless as an adjunct to quitting, as always when the amphetamine comedown kicked in he used opiates. He feels the same may well be true of benzodiazepines, but if you can manage to quit the benzos while on speed and somehow manage to stay quit when you come off, all power to you.

Benzos he found at one time of his life to be fairly easy to quit cold turkey after about 6 months use, and other times significantly harder (especially using alprazolam, i.e. Xanax) after only a month or two of use. He did end up having one fit after quitting cold turkey from pretty high doses (~200-400mg diazepam equivalent a day. Sometimes twice that or more), used for a (small) number of years. He resumed, for safety's sake at a moderate dose (~30-50mg diazepam equivalent a day: Note, 30-50mg diazepam taken by a benzo-naive person would almost certainly be too much) and quit after a 10 day chlordiazepoxide (librium) taper. Although the quit was on top of a methadone w.d., I'm pretty sure it was the benzo w.d. that led to 6 - 12 months of serious anxiety and reduced sleep for 3-6 months. This was not unlivable with, but looking back, it was pretty noticable to most that he was "off the wall".

I mention this because the fit my cat had was a fair while after quitting, so be careful. I'm dubious about the GABA upregulation, but it has a certain plausibility. However taking heroin and cocaine together is more dangerous than taking the two separately, and the idea that one can balance out a stimulant and a depressant/minor tranquiliser seems a bit flawed.

I'd be interested to know the doses and length of time you used the alprazolam for. Was 4mg a regular daily dose?

This is an interesting experiment, and I'd be interested to hear more details as you progress. Best of luck getting off the benzos. They are somewhat nasty to quit, as I'm sure you know.

Dickon

[allyourbase]

well as it stands swim is building a tolerance to amphetamine, which is essentially upregulation of GABA. days SWIM doesnt take amphetamine he is beyond lethargic even when not on benzodiazapines. swim has moved up to taking between 55 and 75 mg of amphetamine within a given 12 hour period. SWIM understands the crash is going to be hard, but will be much much less dangerous than benzodiazapine withdrawl.

[Bluedrip]

Did SWIY succeed in staying entirely away from benzos after cessation?

Many people on short acting benzos that cross to valium are able to taper off rapidly, but they often get slammed later with the cumulative effects of the rapid cuts due to long-acting nature of valium and it's active metabolites. If that didn't happen to SWIY, he lucked out, and that happens too. Everyone is different. SWIM would also be interested in hearing the answers to Dickon's questions, above.

That said, SWIM did notice that when he began taking Vyvanse (D-amp prodrug) near end of his benzo taper, his anxiety symptoms were greatly reduced. SWIM theorizes that in some individuals, amphetamine can be a useful adjuct med in treating symptoms of benzo withdrawal in conjuction with a gradual taper. SWIM would expect it to aggrevate symptoms in many other individuals, however.

[allyourbase]

yes....after several weeks on amp, swim went three days without consumption. swims body had no withdrawl effects. though swim feels he may have lost an IQ point or two in addition to 3 out of 4 nights of sleep. it
worked, swim is at a baseline where he requires nothing. but is heavily lethargic and sleepy due to the adjustments made while on amp to maintain homeostasis.

[Bluedrip]

Good luck to SWIY. While his approach was certainly unconventional, if it worked that's what is important.

There alway seems to be a period of lethargy & other "PAWS" type symptoms after stopping any drug that has impacted neurotransmitter function. SWIM found that physical exercise helped with this more than anything else.