Overdose - The Alprazolam Overdose Thread

[dirtyp]

i realy dindn't know that, i thought you just fel asleep thats all. swim once took a whole bottle 50 pills of 2mg, he was high, but swim has high tollerance to benzo's

[soma]

Dirty,
Most benzos have a MUCH higher LD50 (lethal dose) than does alprazolam. For example, people have taken over 500 tablets of Diazepam and lived to tell the tale. Certainly, no on assume this is by any means safe- everyone is affected differently by medication. However, as alprazolam is a triazolo-benzodiazepine, not a typical benzo, it appears it can be more lethal in certain individuals. The only other triazolo-benzo I know of is triazolam/Halcion. Also dirty, I bet you felt bad when you noticed that there were 50 xanax killed in a night, I know I'd be pissed at myself. Such a waste of good drugs

[Matt The Funk]

SWIM's personal sweet spot for xanax(if he has decided to refrain from taking them for a few days) is 3-4mg. Anymore and it's a bit of overkill. If consumed with alcohol 1mg-2mg with a beer or two is how he rolls. But he also takes .5(or more) 3 times daily....but has been trying to stop doing this. SWIM believes xanax is GREAT for anxiety, and thats partially why he uses it, and alcohol, but the euphoria that goes with it(and alcohol) makes it really addictive. And the most SWIM has taken is 3mg with a few glass's of kahlua and milk, and then 2 hours later 3mg with 4 shots of whiskey and 3 shots of tequila. Swim felt great until something disturbed him emotionally(he is bi-polar, but believes it was just the alcohol) and he left the party walking intoxicated out of his mind and broke his cell phone(along with a few mail boxes). He was stopped by security(gated community) and they let him get a cab home, and let him off with a warning because they liked him. Most of the night is a blur but the end is some what clear as he was sobering up when security got him. And keep in mind his tolerance. I have seen people take 4mg and act like E-tards, and others take the same and only seem drunk, who knows. Know yourself, your source, etc...

[IHrtHalucingens]

In SWIMs experience tolerance to xanax develops very very quickly. He has used 4mg one day and gotten great results then 30mg the next day with less effect than the 4mg from the day earlier.

It seems to depend on the person and their use. SWIM has taken over 17mg of xanax many times before without being knocked out or even close to it. He took the large dose chasing the euphoria experienced at lower doses with no tolerance. Moderation is key, only use recreationally a couple times a month otherwise youll end up taking extreme doses with no effect.

[fatal]

dying is rather unpleasant... or so i hear... rather undesirable at least... if you would wish to avoid this side effect please refrain from taking in excess of 10 of any pill... especially highly potent benzodiazepines... also consider the fact that if you continue to use this drug especially in these unreasonable seemingly far fetched amounts that when you stop you will experience heavy benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms which is extremely unpleasant... be safe... please dont mislead any of the more naive members of this community to think that this is ok acceptable safe or any other such thing... it is not any of those things and talking about it really isnt either...

Reputation Comments on this post:

Pertinant reminder of withdrawals... not sure it is bad to talk though

[Wyborowa]

withdrawing from benzo's is soooooooooooo much worse than gettin off opiates...if u can't get off opiates, benzo's are gonna kill ya...

[jodyjody]

Originally Posted by Wyborowa

withdrawing from benzo's is soooooooooooo much worse than gettin off opiates...if u can't get off opiates, benzo's are gonna kill ya...

have you gone through it? i do believe my good friend is very addicted to benzos and they want to stop. i'm all for them quitting, but i don't want anything really dangerous to happen to them during withdraw. they said they already have slight muscle spasms and really bad headaches if they try to go a day without taking some xanax, which seems pretty bad to me.

[hh339]

Cleverdemise, I will not call you a liar: SWIM has done a lot of benzos and has gone far far beyond 20 mgs of alprazolam without falling asleep. Even SWIMS girl who was 18 at the time used to take 200 mgs of diazepam or up to 50 mgs of alprazolam, not at once but over a few hours. SWIM developed a strong tolerance very quickly and even got to the point where he took over 150 mgs of alprazolam in one day. Please people, dont call SWIM a liar. Anyway, doing that will most likely get SWIY killed(eating too much benzos, not calling SWIM a liar), and that is exactly what almost happened to SWIM. Benzos are highly addictive, be extremely careful and dont get carried away. Everyone should start low, and never ever go to high. I dont know what it is with Swedish people, but here 200 mgs of diazepam is considered an average dose among the users. 20-40 mgs of alprazolam is also considered average here. It will fuck people up beyond belief, but sadly enough that is what people around here is after.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Good sound advice on benzo's
	Excellant harm-reduction advice

[merecat]

SWIM overdosed on Xanax. She had had a little experience with them (never more than 4mg); and no tolerance at the time.

She had planned on taking no more than 7-8 1mg pills. Something happened however, and she just kept taking them. It was a Sunday afternoon. She passed out and slept for 36 hours. Whe she woke up she was very surprised to learn that it was Tuesday, and that she had lost an entire day.

She doesn't remember taking any pills beyond 7-8, however there were 19 missing from the blister pack. SWIM had unintentionally taken 19mg and slept through her boyfriend's birthday.

SWIM would like to agree that anything over 4mg is a waste.

[bineon]

SWIM has taken as much as around 8mg in a sitting. Thank god the pills he had were .25s and not 1 or 2mgs or else he would have sure just kept eating them easy. He likes to snort .5mg and eat 2.5mgs. He actually finds redosing more of a problem with Zolpidem as it inebriates you quite a bit more/easily than Alprazolam.

[xmaster23]

hey guys whats up.. i just took last night 2mg of alprazolam for the first time and smoke some weed... although i didnt feel much i did felt it alittle bit and then fell asleep... so next try i wanna try with a little bit more anyway i was wondering.. is there a lethal dose with alprazolam?

Reputation Comments on this post:

please read the rules, you must not incriminate yourself or DF

[moda00]

Please read the rules and do not self incriminate. I presume maybe you mis-typed, and that it was SWIM (someone who isn't you) you were referring to?

One thinks it would be safe to try increasing by 0.5 to 1 milligrams of alprazolam at a time and see how that does swiy when finding their dosage in general. That said, try it alone to understand the effects without weed, and if one does it at bedtime one may be asleep while its effects would be working, as it is a sedative, and if one is tired and it is nighttime, and one smokes, one may have just fallen asleep before it could affect one, or even fallen asleep due to the drug's sedative properties. So perhaps swiy could try a 1-2 mg dose during the day and without weed before upping things in that particular situation. For a first time user 2 mg may have been enough to knock swiy out, as swim's seen new users get faded on less than that...

Swim has low/normal benzo tolerance. If she hasn't done benzos in awhile she will feel 1-2 mg of alprazolam pretty good, if she has done them recently she may take more like 3 mg, but everyone responds differently, she hasn't taken or needed more than 3 mg.

The search is a good tool to find past threads on topics, I suggest someone might find some good info in this thread (found by searching "alprazolam lethal dose") it has lots of experiences and opinions and may give one some more perspective.. do be careful, better safe than sorry.
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=17233

In swim's opinion it shouldn't usually take more than 4-5 mg to 'get off' recreationally, although more may not kill you, it could certainly knock you out or lead to one doing very stupid things one doesn't recall- example would be driving under the influence and getting in an accident or robbing a pharmacy (both stories I've read reported here on DF I believe), or in the thread is the example of one who took 8 mg, blacked out, and ended up eating the other 22 mg for a total of 30 and waking in the ER) and one should be very careful about issues of tolerance and combining with other drugs.

It seems that overdoses seem to come in between 10-30mg from what swim has read, but they do have a pretty wide safety margin between a dose that will get one high or knock one out and one that will be lethal, so just dose responsibly and know swiy's limits by testing the waters slowly. Enjoy!

Originally Posted by xmaster23

hey guys whats up.. swim just took last night 2mg of alprazolam for the first time and smoked some weed... although swim didnt feel much s/he did felt it a little bit and then fell asleep... so next time swim wants to try with a little bit more anyway s/he was wondering.. is there a lethal dose with alprazolam?

[Ididnotinhale]

In swims pharmacology class he was told that it is nearly impossible to kill oneself with benzos because surprisingly the body will puke it up. The only danger is choking on ones own vommit. This does not hold true with rophynol which is easy to OD on.

If one has benzos with even a tiny bit of alcohol, opiates, or just about any downer then it is very easy to OD due to the synergy.

Even though it is hypothetically very difficult to OD on xanax (alprazolam) please do not try to test your limits!

Even if one doesn't OD the user will likely forget what's going on and could start to drink or take other drugs and kill themselves.

Ididnotinhale added 3 Minutes and 7 Seconds later...

swim forgot to mention that although it may be "difficult" to kill oneself on benzos alone, it is very easy to put yourself in temporary coma which can seriously damage your brain.

Once again, be careful.

[moda00]

In swims pharmacology class he was told that it is nearly impossible to kill oneself with benzos because surprisingly the body will puke it up. The only danger is choking on ones own vommit. This does not hold true with rophynol which is easy to OD on.
If one has benzos with even a tiny bit of alcohol, opiates, or just about any downer then it is very easy to OD due to the synergy.
Even though it is hypothetically very difficult to OD on xanax (alprazolam) please do not try to test your limits!
Even if one doesn't OD the user will likely forget what's going on and could start to drink or take other drugs and kill themselves.
swim forgot to mention that although it may be "difficult" to kill oneself on benzos alone, it is very easy to put yourself in temporary coma which can seriously damage your brain.
Once again, be careful.

Hmm, swim has not known benzos to cause nausea but could see how any substance in toxic amounts could cause vomiting.. that said, wouldn't that depend on how quickly the substance is absorbed, the type of benzo, the dose, the form (pharma pills, pure powders, EX vs IR), and the method of intake?

Of course there are other methods of ingestion- though, with benzos, often less frequently utilized and less effective- that would bypass the stomach entirely.. However, even if this is presumed true for oral dosing alone, which is most common, taking all the different factors into account, wouldn't that mean that the body would have to have a set cut-off point to know when it had to puke to interrupt absorption in time to prevent death, and take into account things like delayed absorption with time release pills vs. immediate release, and the fact that some will inevitably remain in the stomach and in the bloodstream following vomiting?

Or if the statement that the body will respond by puking (or perhaps more likely passing out, or both, something/anything to stop absorption and/or ingestion- which are obviously two very different concepts, and also having to do with a variety of factors and whether the overdose was accidental or intentional, which are obviously two very different scenarios) before death can occur, then that is simply a contrived way of conveying the idea of benzodiazepines having a wide "margin of error.." But if that is what was meant we cannot generalize that the only danger of overdose is choking on one's own vomit.. because I am sure that there have been cases of alprazolam- and other benzodiazepine- overdose that have resulted in death, which one unless one wants to say that in those cases this puking mechanism failed, it would seem more reasonable to say there is no guarantee

It just doesn't seem logical, although perhaps I am reading too much into it- do you think perhaps they meant that because there is such a large "margin of error" with most benzodiazepines that vomiting and/or loss of consciousness will often occur before a lethal dose is reached by ingesting pills? Anyone know more?

Thanks for the post emphasizing caution in dosing and for sharing that in context, I don't mean to criticize your post, simply responding to the idea that swiy shared was presented by that instructor and wondering if either swiy could clarify if the instructor explained this further, or in the context what s/he meant by that? Anyone who has knowledge of benzos feel free to chime in, would be nice to clarify what is behind this rather vague statement about benzodiazepine overdose, as I don't know much about it? And important to discuss the idea of differences between overdose potential and toxicity between different benzodiazepine type drugs.

And as for "Rohypnol" (flunitrazepam), is this really pharmacologically that dissimilar from all other benzodiazepines, as to be the only one which can cause overdose? I know the initial post is about alprazolam lethal dose, which as at least one study I have seen (I believe it is already in the archive, I'll find the link and add it), may be more toxic than other non-triazolo-benzos in excessive dosage.. Is there reason to believe that this property is the cause of excess risks associated with flunitrazepam, which (correct me if I am wrong) is also a triazolo-benzodiazepine? Or are there excessive risks with flunitrazepam other than those commonly known by its media reputation, which have nothing to do with its lethal dose but rather its potential to render one unconscious or cause memory loss? Interested to hear the pharmacology behind this.. thanks.
EDIT: Never mind I take it back apparently flunitrazepam is a nitro benzodiazepine!! So if not its classification based on the molecular structure, then what is it that would make flunitrazepam the most risky for overdose, or was that statement simply in regard to its misuse by dosing others without their knowledge in order to commit an assault, which would obviously create a higher risk situation in general because of the unknown dose being consumed, and any unknown factors like health conditions, other drugs or medications the person is on, alcohol consumed, etc.

Also this is the study I was referring to, it is already in the Archive:
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...1309&catid=129
and there is one other relevant study, an interesting overview of alprazolam that may help us to more knowledgeably discuss relevant issues of pharmacology and toxicity:
http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...2985&catid=129

Reputation Comments on this post:

Your responses to my comments have been very intelligent and thank you for your thoughts and info.

[Solinari]

Originally Posted by moda00

And as for "Rohypnol" (flunitrazepam), is this really pharmacologically that dissimilar from all other benzodiazepines, as to be the only one which can cause overdose? I know the initial post is about alprazolam lethal dose, which as at least one study I have seen (I believe it is already in the archive, I'll find the link and add it), may be more toxic than other non-triazolo-benzos in excessive dosage.. Is there reason to believe that this property is the cause of excess risks associated with flunitrazepam, which (correct me if I am wrong) is also a triazolo-benzodiazepine? Or are there excessive risks with flunitrazepam other than those commonly known by its media reputation, which have nothing to do with its lethal dose but rather its potential to render one unconscious or cause memory loss? Interested to hear the pharmacology behind this.. thanks.
EDIT: Never mind I take it back apparently flunitrazepam is a nitro benzodiazepine!! So if not its classification based on the molecular structure, then what is it that would make flunitrazepam the most risky for overdose, or was that statement simply in regard to its misuse by dosing others without their knowledge in order to commit an assault, which would obviously create a higher risk situation in general because of the unknown dose being consumed, and any unknown factors like health conditions, other drugs or medications the person is on, alcohol consumed, etc.

I really don't think flunitrazepam is more dangerous than other benzodiazepines or other nitro-benzodiazepines like nitrazepam, in overdose. I do believe this is propaganda, and may stem from the claim that 'flunitrazepam is 10 times stronger than diazepam' and therefore taking 1 tablet of flunitrazepam is like taking 10 blue valium. Flunitrazepam is essentially 10 times more potent than diazepam, but then alprazolam could be said to be essentially 20 times more potent, it's all about single doses.

As for the puking thing, i don't think this is true either, although eating the sheer number of tablets would probably make anyone puke, so yea there could be some truth in it. I don't believe it's an anti overdose mechanism, rather a response to the sheer number of tablets, hell just eating a few can make you gag.

331 to 2171mg/kg, man that is high, and such a huge range. Even the lower number of that, 331mg PER kg, so half the people weighing 75kg would need at least 24 GRAMS of alprazolam for it to be lethal, that can't be right, that's 24,000 1mg tablets and that's the lowest number, and in rats.

[davestate]

Originally Posted by Solinari

331 to 2171mg/kg, man that is high, and such a huge range. Even the lower number of that, 331mg PER kg, so half the people weighing 75kg would need at least 24 GRAMS of alprazolam for it to be lethal, that can't be right, that's 24,000 1mg tablets and that's the lowest number, and in rats.

Unfortunately, results in rats do not correlate to results in humans. Look up any LD50 results, you will see that it varies wildly between test species, and should never be used in the case of humans. Remember, even if the LD50 was the same in both the rat and human, theres still a 50% chance the dose'll kill you

[trptamene]

A quick google search for the ld50 gave

The acute LD50 of alprazolam in rats is 331 to 2171 mg/kg

on a few websites, not sure of the orig. source.

[rxbandit]

I have seen fellow swimmers tank aprazolam... this did not end in fatality but one swimmer ended up hitting his girlfriend, then hitting a cop that arrived because of this then running in a zig zag pattern until tackled and another managed to beat up some ten year olds playing basketball at the YMCA. I'm sure those two fellows wished the stuff would have killed them, once they sobered up...

[trptamene]

Swim and many of nearly all of his aquaintances also report similar uncharacterstically violent behavior on higher doses of alprazolam. When people take very high doses of this drug I begin to worry about those around them rather than the person themselves, they usually wake w/ no memory of the event and utter confusion as to how the stories they are hearing about what they did can possibly be true. High doses of alprazolam seem to truly turn some ppl evil. Is odd because at lower doses these ppl seem like angels, like they're on cloud 9.

[Ididnotinhale]

Originally Posted by trptamene

Swim and many of nearly all of his aquaintances also report similar uncharacterstically violent behavior on higher doses of alprazolam. When people take very high doses of this drug I begin to worry about those around them rather than the person themselves, they usually wake w/ no memory of the event and utter confusion as to how the stories they are hearing about what they did can possibly be true. High doses of alprazolam seem to truly turn some ppl evil. Is odd because at lower doses these ppl seem like angels, like they're on cloud 9.

This is getting interesting, because at low doses people are so mellow and swim could never imagine any of his fellow swimmers getting violent when taking a "normal" recreation level. Swim knows that benzos are used anti-nausea for chemo, but many drugs do very different things when very high doses are taken.
Also when the body knows that it is being "poisoned"(for lack of a better word) vomiting is the natural reaction. If one takes to much of heroin, alcohol, dxm, mushrooms, salvia, and even pot puking is likely.
Pot is a great example of how xanax could cause puking. Pot is used to treat nauseousness for those going through chemo like xanax, but swim has seen people smoke so much that they have actually puked. Swim has smoked enough many times where he has gotten nauseous, but also when he has had stomach problems he has also smoked a small amount and it has helped with the nausea. So in short to much of just about any drug can cause puking. Swim can't think of a single drug where extremely high amounts don't cause puking so he figures xanax is no different.


Swim hypothesizes the hypnotic benzos(like rophynol) are much more dangerous than the anxiolytic benzos, hence why hypnotics are rarely used. Possibly when my professor said that one can die much easier from rophynol than other benzos he may have used that as an example for all hypnotics since it is the most commonly known hypnotic.

Examples of hypnotics: Ermin, Halcion, Dalmane, Loramet. Temazepam
Examples of anxiolytics: Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan, Valium

As one can see, hynotics are rarely used, except for a little bit of Halcion, but nothing compared to any of the listed anxiolytics, swim knows that hypnotics are more likely to cause amnesia, but he also believes that their use must have been replaced by anxiolytics for some other safety issue. Such as accidental overdose leading to death. Wikipedia states that
"From a research perspective, there are some data suggesting that temazepam may be more frequently involved in drug-related deaths than are some other benzodiazepines" since temazepam is a hypnotic this shows once again how hypnotics are more dangerous.

So far swim hypothesizes that hypnotics are much more dangerous than anxiolytics and that extremely high doses of either type of benzo may cause vomitting.


Swim found this quote that was in an article that only spoke of anxiolytics:
"Very high doses of benzodiazepines can cause respiratory depression, unconsciousness or coma. Death rarely occurs from overdose of benzodiazepines alone, but deaths can occur if large doses are combined with alcohol or other drugs. Deaths can also occur from inhalation of mucus or vomit when a person is unconscious."
http://www.druginfo.adf.org.au/artic...nes#preventing

As swim previously said and as stated above, death is unlikely from high doses of anxiolytics, like xanax. During swims life he has heard of girls during both high school and college who tried to commit suicide with xanax alone, but none of them succeeded. Swim also knows that there was one girl who chased her xanax with alcohol and she died.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Do not sign your name when you leave positive rep for someone. The reputation system is supposed to be anonymous.

[radiometer]

Originally Posted by Ididnotinhale

This is getting interesting, because at low doses people are so mellow and swim could never imagine any of his fellow swimmers getting violent when taking a "normal" recreation level.

According to the published data, in studies of alprazolam, disinhibition was reported at a rate of 2.7%, a not insignificant frequency.

Granted, almost all tales I've heard of violent behavior associated with the use of benzodiazepines have included the use of large doses, often in combination with alcohol.

Could you quantify what you mean by "a normal recreational level?"

[soma]

SWIM thinks you stand a MUCH better chance of taking too much and doing something incredibly dangerous or stupid than actually overdosing.

[radiometer]

Is there a lethal dose of alprazolam?

There is a lethal dose of ANYTHING.

[Panthers007]

Aside from being a statistic as in a corpse, one can also go into the irreversible coma. A famous case of this was a young woman named Karen Anne Quinlan. She, according to doctors and friends, took a couple of Valiums (diazepam) and drank gin. She wound up in a coma - flat-liner brain dead - for several years if memory serves me. It was all over the news as bad as O.J. Simpson. Her family wanted her taken off basic life-support. Someone else said no. They said yes. And back and forth it played out - like a soap opera from hell.

So one might not die from taking a large quantity of benzodiazepines. It could be worse: Your emaciated shrunken body on a bed under TV cams next to a machine that goes <beep!> <beep!> <beep!> for what is likely eternity. Yuck!

[Ididnotinhale]

A normal recreational level really depends on the tolerance of the user. For newbies to benzo's swim would say a "normal" level would be anything under 3mg or so, but as tolerance builds 15 mg could easily be a "normal level". Sorry that swim did not make that clear earlier.

As panther stated, Quilan got put into permanent Coma, but once again it wasn't benzo's alone, she alcohol along with her downers. Additionally according to wikipedia
She "took a tranquilizer, believed to be phenobarbital, but perhaps valium or methaqualone " So possibly it wasn't even a benzo, but rather a barbiturate, which is far easier to OD on even without any "help" from alcohol or other downers.