Oh dear - am I addicted/withdrawing? Please help

[Zoidberg]

My pet ghost been using diazepam recretionally for a couple of years, usually the odd weekend here and there. He's also used alprazolam a few times, but never more than once a week. However, his benzo use has become a weekly event in the last month or so.

Last weekend he took 70mg of diazepam, and he thinks he took 40 mg the weekend before. He thought this would be okay as he wasn't dosing more than once a week, even if the doses were quite high...He assumed that each dose would've been metabloised by the time the next dose was taken, minimising his chances of developing a tolerance. Perhaps he was mistaken.

Anyway, he's feeling really anxious today (a week after the 70mg dosage). This was triggered by a fight that happened outside his house. He assumed it was just normal anxiety, but since then he's had chest pains, a rapid heart beat and is generally feeling very edgy. He even felt like he was having a panic attack earlier, but it soon passed.

So does SWIY think that my pet ghost is W/Ding or just being unnecessarily paranoid and driving his own symptoms? He doesn't have any benzos left so he's not sure what to do if this really is withdrawl...

He's not sure what else to say, really. Do you think he's fucked himself over?

Zoidberg added 124 Minutes and 56 Seconds later...

The ghost is feeling a lot better now. Perhaps it really was all in his head? Guess he'll have to wait and see if the symptoms reappear...

[missparkles]

Sparkles thinks swiy was a little hyped due to the fight. But if he still feels anxious in a couple of days it would be a good idea to see his doc, just to check it out. It's never a good idea to just stop benzo's as W/D can be quite dangerous.
Stay safe.
Sparkles.

[Zoidberg]

I guess he was a bit silly in thinking he could take large amounts of diazepam recreationally without building some kind of tolerance or addiction, bearing in mind their long half-life...

Many thanks for SWIYs reply. You've reassured the anxious entity

[missparkles]

TBH...benzo's are a damn fine buzz ...but they will kick your ass when you stop em. Sparkles has experienced this. Try something less addictive and dangerous, there are lots of things.
Do a little research.
Take care love.
Sparkles.

[Zoidberg]

Originally Posted by missparkles

TBH...benzo's are a damn fine buzz ...but they will kick your ass when you stop em. Sparkles has experienced this. Try something less addictive and dangerous

Yeah - SWIM is keeping away from benzos now as they're too damn tempting to play with. Luckily he wasn't taking them daily so hopefully he doesn't have too much to worry about

[missparkles]

Sparkles just wanted to pop back and see if the OP was feeling better. She's been wondering if he was ok?
Take care.
Sparkles.

[Zoidberg]

Hey sparkles. Thanks for your concern

My pet ghost's symptoms seem to come and go. Yesterday he was quite anxious in the morning but was 'normal' from the afternoon onwards, and today he fritters between the above states for hours or minutes at a time.

Physically, he's getting very occasional twinges in his chest and strange, almost pinprick-like sensations in random places that last less than a second. He's still unsure of whether this is all just anxiety-related and he's just noticing things about his body more than he usually would do.

At the moment he's decided to just keep away from diazepam altogether in the hope that all this will pass. Someone is sending him 10 10mg just in case things do worsen, but unless that happens they will remain untouched.

He's a bit frustrated by the lack of literature relevant to his situation. Much has been written about people who use benzos daily or who binge on massive quantities over long period of time, but there's very little info on those like myself who have admittedly been silly, but haven't taken anything more often than once a week.

Perhaps that's a good thing? Who knows. He's still very confused, as she can probably tell!

[dadrone]

SWIM's been using benzo's for over a year now. His max was 6 mg in a night. Not sure if that is a large amount but that's the max before he falls asleep (did it one time).

He doesn't use benzo's every day, usually a couple times a week when he knows he is not tired enough to fall asleep without assistance. 2mg's most oftentimes.

But SWIM agrees with missparkles -SWIM is always proceeding with caution. SWIM's prescription allows 3mg in a day and he has never used the prescription before the recommended date (i.e. 60mg @ 3 mg/day would equal 20 days if maxed out everyday). SWIM does not combine benzo's with alcohol - he has but found it to be overwhelming.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good to mention about alcohol and benzo combo being dangerous.

[Zoidberg]

Be assured that he wont be taking benzos ever again for recreation or any other unnecessary reasons. He feels that he should have some to hand though as it's near-impossible to get an appointment with his doc and he's concerned that his symptoms will worsen. You have to ring for an appointment 2 days in advance. He tried ringing this morning when the surgery opened (8am) but by the time he managed to get through all the appointments were gone! What a joke!

He'll try the doc again tomorrow. Hopefully s/he will be able to shed some more light on his situation

[missparkles]

Zoidberg.

Sometimes Sparkles has had to embellish the truth to see a doctor, she doesn't like doing it, but she ain't waiting with a bad chest infection for three days when she knows if she tells em she has earache, an thinks she has an ear infection, they'll see her that day.
Doctors receptionists (UK) can be completely and utterly heartless, sometimes she's thought it would be easier getting past a pack of hungry dogs than getting past her doctors reception staff. But she doesn't do it unless it's absolutely necessary.
She's not advising anyone to do the same...unless of course it is an emergency.

Sparkles.

[Zoidberg]

Haha thanks for that sparkles. My pet ghost didn't realise that UK doctors receptionists had such a notorious reputation! He thought it was a London thing as he never had any problems getting appointments when he lived elsewhere. Nevertheless, he is fairly sure that complaints of chest pains and heart palpatations, which are not a million miles from the truth, will get him through the door fairly quickly!

[yaba]

Yes always say its a emergency, other wise swiy will wait for ages.. About the diazepam swim is having his beer with 2 strips of diazepam a total of 140mg.. As he is having a shit time and wants to relax.

His usual prescription is 112/5mg tablets every 4 weeks and swim abuses them, then gets more from another source..

He has to say after a few days bender he sometimes feels a slight withdrawal effect.. But nothing to bad and the doses taken are usually more then your friends... But if in doubt see a Doctor ! Better be safe then sorry.. Also swim is used to drug abuse in "high" doses and isn't advising to do the same ! But true the years swim likes to take a (for him) reasonable dose, regardless of the drug swim is taken. That has always been a problem for him.LOL

[Zoidberg]

My pet ghost would like to thank SWIY for that, yaba. It's reassuring to hear from someone whose use pattern is similar to his own. What withdrawal effects does swiy experience in these cases?

[yaba]

When he is on a bender he sometimes get little shocks true his body, it feels something cardiac.... And it makes swims anxiety go true the roof !!! But he has been reassured by some drug he veterans that its normally. One day he had such an anxiety at tact thet he phoned his friend for some diazepam and took 10mg an hour later another 10mg and it didn't seem to work and he thought this is bad news so he took 20mg of zolpiden and was hoping to wake up as he did ! Its more feeling insecure, little paranoid some shocks going over your body.. That are the main things.. Thats why swim abuses diazepam and doesn't take his 20mg/daily dose, to avoid addiction !!! Diazepam adicction isn't pretty and abusing it a few times a month avoids addiction for swim.

[dadrone]

Speaking of addiction, SWIM is starting to think that whether he is psychologically dependent on Benzo's or not... his body may be physically addicted to benzos!

SWIM doesn't have a lot of proof to this claim but the past two nights, he has been struck with terrible insomnia. SWIM has been out of his benzo prescription since Monday (5 days ago) and got a refill authorized that same day but hasn't bothered to pick it up. SWIM has been prescribed benzo's to use as necessary for about 2-3 months now. As stated above, he doesn't use them everyday but occcasionally will take more than the allotted daily dose for relaxation purposes.

Both nights, he had a few beers but wasn't drunk when he went to sleep. First night - slept 10:30-12:30pm, in-and-out until 3am, FLAT-OUT AWAKE from 3am-5:50am, slept from 5:50am (distinctly remember the last time SWIM saw, insomniacs have a tendency to stare at the clock) to 6:15am when he woke up for work. Ok, so SWIM was tired at work but still was fairly productive and got through the day. Being the last day of the week, he hit the tavern with his mates as he does every week. SWIM didn't have too many to drink, relatively, but probably more than the average bear will drink in a casual setting - 8 beers over the course of about 6 hours, 4-10ishpm. SWIM is going to sleep well tonight, he assumes. SWIM gets home (but doesn't drive under even the slightest influence, ever) and hits the sack about 11pm. AWAKE at 4am. 5 hours is not enough for one night, let alone to catch up for an insomniac episode the night before. Not to mention the fact that SWIM oftentimes sleeps until 10am-noon or later on the weekends, he has never been a morning person. SWIM is awake from just before 4am to just before 6am. Sleeps from 6am to 8:30am. It's almost 10am now and SWIM can tell he's not going back to sleep.

So he got 7.5 hours the most recent night but still feels the same way he did the day before, suggesting he did not catch up at all for the night before's absence of sleep. No hangover present whatsoever either day, taste of alcohol not in the mouth - SWIM's been there plenty so he knows this is not an alcohol deal. During the 4am-6am time period, he researched benzo withdrawals as a possible cause and what do you know... #1 symptom - insomnia.

That's kind of dissapointing. SWIM knew getting into the benzo game, albeit for legitimate reasons (work-related stress and general anxiety), was a dangerous one with high potential for addiction. SWIM knows SWIMself and has a tendency to drink too much and is coming up on trying to kick the nicotine habit. Point being - prone to addiction. When he ran out of his script, he didn't think it was a big rush to get it refilled. After using for 2 months, he thought that was a good indicator he was not becoming addicted (yet). Also the fact that he had never used the maximum allotted (or more) over the prescribed period of time (as described above, he gets 60mg for 20 days - up to 3mg per day as needed. Have not used all the pills in 20 days yet, usually takes 25-30 days).

Not sure if SWIM wants to pick up his script today and ensure he sleeps well this weekend or if he just wants to kick the prescription, despite doctor recommendation in light of this new information. It could be other reasons for insomnia but 2 days in a row, coincidentally within a week of running out of benzo's... SWIM doesn't know.

[suboxodiazepine]

Zoidberg you have to understand that the withdrawl syptom of any substance of abuse is the exact opposite effect it produces when the person is on the drug. valium in in a class of pills called benzodiazepines, they work on GABA in the brain in a similar way that alcohol does and being on them for a long time and running out or stopping can be dangerous depending on his dose and length of use. Benzo withdrawl can be fatal, it can produce seizures, panic and anxiety attacks and put your blood pressure through the roof! No matter what his or her excuse they sound addicted to me and the only safe way to come off of the drug completely is a gradual decrease in dose over a fairly long period of time! Good luck, i've been there my self, it's more dangerouse than most people think!

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good to point out the danger of benzo's.

[dadrone]

An update to the previous story, SWIM picked up his prescription and proceeded to consume 5 mg of Alprazolam that day. He slept like a baby.

[AmpheDilaudiLazopram]

Jeeze.. I don't believe so
Medically speaking, one would generally have to go to the hospital due to unstable vitals and having violent seizures when withdrawing and detoxing from bezos. Take it from a person who has had many hospitalizations.. a benzo detox is deadly... one wouldnt solely be anxious... one would have uncontrollable spastic conditions. Benzos only become physically addicting when taken every day. Swiy has detoxed from xanax (alazopram) and it's worse than dope and alcohol (those too). Weekend warriors will be fine, we all start somewhere... SO STOP BEFORE swiy's shooting up everything swiy can get its hands on!

AmpheDilaudiLazopram added 6 Minutes and 56 Seconds later...

Originally Posted by yaba

Yes always say its a emergency, other wise swiy will wait for ages.. About the diazepam swim is having his beer with 2 strips of diazepam a total of 140mg.. As he is having a shit time and wants to relax.

His usual prescription is 112/5mg tablets every 4 weeks and swim abuses them, then gets more from another source..

He has to say after a few days bender he sometimes feels a slight withdrawal effect.. But nothing to bad and the doses taken are usually more then your friends... But if in doubt see a Doctor ! Better be safe then sorry.. Also swim is used to drug abuse in "high" doses and isn't advising to do the same ! But true the years swim likes to take a (for him) reasonable dose, regardless of the drug swim is taken. That has always been a problem for him.LOL

MIXING BENZOS AND ALCOHOL IS DEADLY> SWIM HAS HAD ONE OF SWIM'S FEW STROKES DUE TO THE COMBINATION> A GOOD FRIEND OF SWIMS DIED AT 19 BECAUSE OF IT. SMIM WAS IN A COMA FOR JUST SHY OF ONE MONTH FROM 10 mgs of alazopram (xanax), meanwhile 10 mgs was the daily dose for swim at the time - incorporating a tolerance of more than one year, taken with several (7-10) shots of tequila and gin (once again, an average drink consumption for swim). ONE'S TOLERANCE MAYBE LESS THAN SWIMS, BE ONE'S BODILY REACTIONS ARE THE SAME... DEPRESSANTS+DEPRESSANTS = DEATH!

Reputation Comments on this post:

Excellent Advice. Good addition of life experience outlining danger