Question/advise please

Originally Posted by Aquarian

If the entire world's supply of your benzo had run out, this would be true. But since we're talking about tapering off, the half-life of the drug is irrelevant.

Valium prescriptions in Britain dropped like a stone because mass media presented it as the most addictive prescription drug available.

I'm guessing here but I think the reason it's used for tapering off is because some company started producing it in liquid form purely for the tens of thousands of people addicted (highly ironic if true). This makes it easier to reduce dose gradually.

Also, the strength of the drug has as much more to do with the dosage as the type of benzo.

I wasn't suggesting that benzos are placebos. Indeed, the only one I've taken, Temazepam, was an astonishingly effective at helping me to sleep.

To say that a drug is a placebo is highly misleading. The placebo effect is purely a function of both the setting (how the drug is prescribed) and one's expectations.

http://www.benzobuddies.org/benzodia...drawal-methods

http://www.benzodocs.com/converter.php

As I said before, not a doctor. The way my doctor explained it to me is that the shorter the half life, the easier it is to become addicted. That's because it creates a roller-coaster effect of peak effect followed by quick withdrawal when the benzo wears off.

Initially I was put on Xanax and I thought the anxiety was returning after just 6 hours, so I'd pop more. I wound up popping it like candy. Eventually needing higher and higher doses.

Valium is used for tapering for two reasons:

1) Longer half life, therefore the wave from peak in blood stream to none in blood stream is much more gentle. This is the same idea as behind the nicotine patch, which delivers steady dose of nicotine into the blood stream, vs smoking a cigarette, which delivers quick peak while smoking, that then quickly dissipates, leading to craving for yet another cigarette.

2) Comes in wide variety of doses, including 2 mg, which is not much at all. Therefore you don't need to dilute or cut pills. Ever try to cut an Ativan or a Xanax into ever smaller doses? It's not that easy - tends to crumble. This is what I tried first, but I needed to cut the smallest dose pill into quarters, and that just didn't work at all.

Please note in those links above, half life varies greatly depending on one's personal metabolism. So that is another factor as well. A dose that might addict me may not addict someone larger, with different liver and what not.

Originally Posted by SerpentQueen

2) Comes in wide variety of doses, including 2 mg, which is not much at all.

What's the betting that the markup on such doses is a lot more than generic diazepam?

You may have confused withdrawal symptoms with other aspects of addiction.

Communicating relevant differences via ASCII doesn't seem worthwhile the way this thread is going so I bow out.

Originally Posted by Aquarian

If the entire world's supply of your benzo had run out, this would be true. But since we're talking about tapering off, the half-life of the drug is irrelevant.

Valium prescriptions in Britain dropped like a stone because mass media presented it as the most addictive prescription drug available.

I'm guessing here but I think the reason it's used for tapering off is because some company started producing it in liquid form purely for the tens of thousands of people addicted (highly ironic if true). This makes it easier to reduce dose gradually.

Also, the strength of the drug has as much more to do with the dosage as the type of benzo.

I wasn't suggesting that benzos are placebos. Indeed, the only one I've taken, Temazepam, was an astonishingly effective at helping me to sleep.

To say that a drug is a placebo is highly misleading. The placebo effect is purely a function of both the setting (how the drug is prescribed) and one's expectations.

Valium USED to Be the strongest most addicting benzo in the 60's. It used to be so potent people were crashing their cars and creating more problems. Over time they have changed the chemical makeup of the drug to make it less addictive and potent. I would think they did the same in the UK. Since all medications come from specific countries anyways.

Originally Posted by SerpentQueen

http://www.benzobuddies.org/benzodia...drawal-methods

http://www.benzodocs.com/converter.php

As I said before, not a doctor. The way my doctor explained it to me is that the shorter the half life, the easier it is to become addicted. That's because it creates a roller-coaster effect of peak effect followed by quick withdrawal when the benzo wears off.

Initially I was put on Xanax and I thought the anxiety was returning after just 6 hours, so I'd pop more. I wound up popping it like candy. Eventually needing higher and higher doses.

Valium is used for tapering for two reasons:

1) Longer half life, therefore the wave from peak in blood stream to none in blood stream is much more gentle. This is the same idea as behind the nicotine patch, which delivers steady dose of nicotine into the blood stream, vs smoking a cigarette, which delivers quick peak while smoking, that then quickly dissipates, leading to craving for yet another cigarette.

2) Comes in wide variety of doses, including 2 mg, which is not much at all. Therefore you don't need to dilute or cut pills. Ever try to cut an Ativan or a Xanax into ever smaller doses? It's not that easy - tends to crumble. This is what I tried first, but I needed to cut the smallest dose pill into quarters, and that just didn't work at all.

Please note in those links above, half life varies greatly depending on one's personal metabolism. So that is another factor as well. A dose that might addict me may not addict someone larger, with different liver and what not.

I used to take Ativan 1mg 3 times daily for 10 months. I just switched back to Xanax a week ago. I've been prescibed to Xanax before. And Ativan is just like Xanax. Ativan is 4 hour duration, Xanax 3-4 hours with a shorter half life. What I take is the Extended release version which is 12 hour duration and a very long half life. So tolerance will not be an issue, unless not. The point is after experiencing myself on it yesterday, it did not interfere with my consciousness. I felt normal and happy and fully conscious. So now I know it does not make me think at an unconscious level if I don't let it.

End of thread. It's getting too relevant to medication and adversing from spirituality. I'm done posting on this thread. Moke out, lol