Dose - why is it so difficult to overdose on xanax (Alprazolam) alone?

[ihavequestions]

swim has heard all over the place that overdosing on xanax is almost impossible.

but why? swim knows of people who have precriptions and 1mg is enough to make a person fall alseep right away. obviousely a strong drug even at prescribed doses with notable effects. yet many pills (lets say 20mg of xanax) will knock a person out for a day or two and they will be okay after that. you would think that a depressant at extreme doses would sto pthere breathing in the same way that opiates do.

why is it that benzos dont do this as apposed to other downers?

[tyranny4u]

Originally Posted by ihavequestions

swim has heard all over the place that overdosing on xanax is almost impossible.

but why? swim knows of people who have precriptions and 1mg is enough to make a person fall alseep right away. obviousely a strong drug even at prescribed doses with notable effects. yet many pills (lets say 20mg of xanax) will knock a person out for a day or two and they will be okay after that. you would think that a depressant at extreme doses would sto pthere breathing in the same way that opiates do.

why is it that benzos dont do this as apposed to other downers?

first of all, benzos don't have effect on the opiate receptors, they bind to
another "part of the nervous system"
Barbiturates, that bind to the same system as benzos do can be lethal
(one of the reason why they were taken from the market). But benzos
act in another way to that system. See, the nervous system is a very
complex system. The GABA receptors, where the benzos bind to, are res-
ponsible for our sleep regulation (and many other mechanism) Giving a
benzo to a person who never has taken a substance like it before, it will
show sedative effects, of course.
As alcohole works at the GABA system, too, it is dangerous to combine
benzos and alcohole, as now it could become lethal.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good post....informative and helpful

[Jatelka]

Please bear in mind that there is actually some evidence that Alprazolam is MORE toxic in overdose than other benzodiazepines

see here..

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/loc...id=129&id=1309

This goes for both Alprazolam alone and Alprazolam plus other substance overdoses

In terms of Benzo overdose in general, they don't tend to cause the circulatory collapse and arrythmias associated with other Downers (particularly the barbiturates, which also have an extremely steep dose-response curve)

All Downers can, of course stop a monkey breathing, or render them so sedated they are unable to protect their airway. Neither of which is a good place to be

There seems to be a rather worrying propensity to believe that (solo) benzo od cannot be fatal. It may be extremely uncommon, but it DOES happen.

[Seconal]

Swim heard somewhere that midazolam is the only benzodiazepine that could easily kill a person if overdosed on (especially the injectable kind) because is slows down the respiratory system causing the victim to fall unconscious and die. As with many prescription medicines - mainly downers - can be deadly if overdosed on.

[fiveleggedrat]

I'm sorry, I wasnt aware that overdose of substances causing CNS depression could be fatal

Swim has OD'ed non-fatally on alprazolam and other benzos many times. Swim has lost up to 4 days of memory before too. And Swim also know a good handful of people who have died from solo benzo overdoses.

Fatal OD with these substances is definately possible. Please be aware of such.

[chibi curmudgeon]

From Goodman's and Gilman's:

The remarkable safety of the benzodiazepines is likely related to the fact that their effects in vivo depend on the presynaptic release of GABA; in the absence of GABA, benzodiazepines have no effects on GABAA receptor function.

Essentially, the way benzos (all of them, not just Xanax) work is like this, and I can't quite think of a better analogy: when you put a battery into a vibrator, you enable electricity to run through it, however, no matter how well you connect the battery, you can't increase the voltage to the vibrator. There's no way you're going to get 120 volts out of a 9 volt battery.

Benzos work with the GABA you have, they don't stimulate the receptor themselves, like opioids do. (And barbs do this in high doses, which is why you can easily die from an od of them.)

While benzos cause CNS depression, they don't really cause respiratory depression unless you have a respiratory problem to begin with. A fatal OD from only a benzo is possible, but very unlikely.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Bloody fascinating, good work

[tyranny4u]

Please bear in mind that there is actually some evidence that Alprazolam is MORE toxic in overdose than other benzodiazepines

that seems to be plausible, as Alprazolam is "the little brother" of Triazolam:
These substances chemically are nearly identical. Alprazolam has just one
Chlorine atome missing where Triazolam is chlorinated.

[Politicalchalk]

In terms of Benzodiazapine overdose in general, a single dose only occupies a very small amount of receptor space. The study swim recalls was done with lorazepam: a single 2mg oral dose only occupied 3% of available receptor space in the brain. Overdosing is quite possible, but difficult relative to other depressants when used alone. Remember, Icarus flew to close to the sun, and got to taste melted wax and feathers browned on his way down...