How long does it take for benzos to leave your system?

[[Ra...]]

Colin:  Thank you for clarification and being a great benzo buddy.  I learned so much from this site. and you:

First ---In short, longer the taper- the less severe at the end is withdrawal.  For me this was true.  I was at .02mg Lorazapem for a month before stopping.  I had really one severe (but tolerable) withdrawal day.  Currently have some palpitations, vivid dreams, chills and alot of muscle stiffness (anxiety?)

Second- withdrawal effects can last 3 to 6 months or more depending on symptoms.

I had no other meds I was taking so this makes things less complicated.

Third- Each day is closer to full health and total recovery!

Fourth- Natural approaches to relieve anxiety and sleep issues:

fresh ginger in microwaved glass of water

vapor essence machine (use clary sage)

breathing

this site, for friendship and info

family support

[[mi...]]

I recently tapered down to 0.25 mg of alprazolam, then stopped.  Three days later I begin having severe withdrawal symptoms, but felt fine the first 2 days.  I went back to 0.25 mg for a week, then down to 0.125 mg for 7 days and tried stopping again.  Again, on day 3 I had severe withdrawal.  Went back on 0.125 mg for a week, then down to 1/16 mg for a week.  Stopped again, and yesterday, on day 3 - you guessed it.  I took 1/8 mg yesterday to relieve the symptoms, and so far none today.  I'm thinking of trying 1/16 mg again every other day for a week, then maybe every third day.  Anyone have any thoughts?

 

Also, recently my physician did a blood test for pheochromocytoma (adrenal gland tumor) wondering if my withdrawal from such low doses was actually not withdrawal but pheo.  I got the results today.  It showed very high levels of epinephrine, and high levels of dopamine.  This could possibly mean I have pheo, but he the results are not conclusive (if the test was normal, he said it would confirm I did not have pheo, but when it is not normal additional testing needs to be done to find out what is going on).  He is following up with a 24 hour urine test.  Just curious whether anyone had any knowledge of whether alprozolam withdrawal can cause elevation of excitory neurotransmitters like epinephrine and dopamine.  The doctor seemed to not think so.  Anyone know whether benzos can counteract excess dopamine and epinephrine?  Is it possible for alprazolam to mask pheochromocytoma symptoms?

[[ac...]]

If you read the Ashton Manual, Benzos How they work and what they do to the body, Benzos are first metabolized through the liver after that it has to go through another process then  go back to the liver before it reaches the kidneys to be eliminated from the body, so drinking a lot of water is not going to make the process any faster, yes it is good to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, but the process is still the same it goes through the liver twice before it gets to the kidneys,

[[hi...]]

I don't know how to post. I startedtitrating a month ago from klonopin 1mg. twice a day times 14years. doctor is compounding it and i taper 5 percent a week. i feel really flu like in the morning and afternoon. evening it starts to subside. Can anyone teach me how to post properly and offer up some badle needed emotional support?

[[fi...]]

I don't know how to post. I startedtitrating a month ago from klonopin 1mg. twice a day times 14years. doctor is compounding it and i taper 5 percent a week. i feel really flu like in the morning and afternoon. evening it starts to subside. Can anyone teach me how to post properly and offer up some badle needed emotional support?

 

It almost sounds like you're tapering too fast.  You might want to slow down.  That's what I had to do.

[[pi...]]

I don't know how to post. I startedtitrating a month ago from klonopin 1mg. twice a day times 14years. doctor is compounding it and i taper 5 percent a week. i feel really flu like in the morning and afternoon. evening it starts to subside. Can anyone teach me how to post properly and offer up some badle needed emotional support?

 

Hello hijackedbymd,

 

This particular thread is more for informational purposes.  I would suggest you post some questions about your taper to the General Taper Board.  Fishingguy is quite right, your symptoms could be from such a rapid taper plan.

 

To post on the General Taper Board, click on that board title. Next click on the dark blue " New Topic" button.  Decide on a title for your thread and then write your questions or concerns. Be sure to click on the blue "post" button on the bottom when you are finished.

 

If you have any other questions about navigating the forum please do contact me or any other members of the team via the Help Desk.

 

pianogirl

[[Se...]]

From what I understand about benzo tapering & the chemistry of GABA receptors is that the brain physically STPOS making chemicals necessary to deal w/ anxiety, stress & insomnia thereby when a benzo is taken over time the brain's ability to make these coping chemicals is diminished so that is why ppl develop addictions...then go into wd's when taper or ct occurs. 

I've also learned GABAs DO rebuild, slowly, over time when the benzo leaves the system & the brain can "heal" & "rebuild" naturally. 

I am so bad @ following math but think I understand the basics of what you figured out.

I have had or am in protracted...I don't know anymore but am doing a dose cut frm 3 mg/day (1 1/2 mg dose every 8 hrs 3x per day at 1/2 pill per dose) to .25 (1/4 pill) every 4 hrs at noon, 4pm, 8pm & 12am w/ a 12 hr jump between doses...I have less wd's dosing more frequently but still get the bad chest squeezing, fuzzy vision, hands tingle, fading & numb feeling but I sleep way better & am making self do this taper.  Am on Day 4 of this sched so down to 2 mg (1 pill) cutting out 1/2 pill of 1 mg.  Probly a big taper but after 10 mo of 3 diff Dr's & wd's worse after updose a month ago when Dr. taper put me in bad wd's BUT the updose had same bad wd's I chose to cut dose.  I am making it w/ some wd's but not as wacky & paranoid as past 3 cuts.  My GP does not know I am cutting as she was advising a detox ctr & looking for a psych dr to wrk w/ her but I got the instinct, as did my mom, to just cut dose as updose was worse & maybe "toxic" level??

I read allot about ppl doing own tapers & fed up w/ Dr.'s during benzo wd & had own mess w/ Dr.'s saying I NEEDED Loraz for life. No way.

Thanks for doin the math,  it is interesting.  I will keep the grp posted w/ my taper progress. : )

[[DD...]]

It's done...

I posted in March about my schedule of taking X every other day with only mild I/W. Colin wisely suggested not to prolong my taper which made sense to me.....As soon as I stopped having any sx, I stopped.

Only slightly dizzy and feel fine. Have joined a gym and looking forward to being pill free for life.

 

Just wanted to give some encouragement to others that this can happen to you and to thank Colin!

DDMM

[[Ho...]]

DDMM,

 

It would be wonderful if you would post the on the withdrawal and recovery board. Not many will see it here but the majority of our membership visit the W and R board regularly and will definitely see it.

 

Great news!

[[fi...]]

It's done...

I posted in March about my schedule of taking X every other day with only mild I/W. Colin wisely suggested not to prolong my taper which made sense to me.....As soon as I stopped having any sx, I stopped.

Only slightly dizzy and feel fine. Have joined a gym and looking forward to being pill free for life.

 

Just wanted to give some encouragement to others that this can happen to you and to thank Colin!

DDMM

 

Great to hear!

[Guest [Gl...]]

An interesting point of note that more pertains to the very beginning of this thread is that any pill of these meds has inconsistent medication amount throughout the physical pill.  I never realized this but my psychiatrist said that this is true of many meds.  So if you cut a 1mg K in half, depending on how well you do this, you may or may not be getting .5mg in each half.  I understand that scored pills are an exception to this and are generally okay to split at least in half.  Still, I know when I have tried to split a 1mg K 4 ways it's a pretty rough cut, powder left behind, uneven quarters, etc.  I guess it also depends on how sensitive you are to fine variances in dosage.  At any rate, it is really very difficult to determine how fast we metabolize these meds because each of our bodies are so different and unique.  Best of luck to everyone. 

[[Ho...]]

Hi Glammin,

 

I dry cut my K throughout my taper (I used a jeweler's scale) and had no problems at all. The amount each pill (or each cut pill) might vary seems to be so little it doesn't make much difference.

[[Co...]]

This was originally posted as a reply to this thread: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=5660.0

---

 

Strictly, it will not be earlier doses that are processed, but just a proportion of the amount of drug you have in your system. It just depends on the particular molecule coming into contact with your metabolic processes. So, it is all chance, and probability. But since there are huge numbers of these drug molecules floating around our system, we can predict how much (a proportion) of the drug is metabolised over a period of time. The only problem is that it varies from person-to-person. The usual way to describe this is how long it takes for half of the drug to be metabolised (assuming that you have stopped taking additional doses), we can work out the amount fairly simply. This will be expressed as a range because of our individual differences. So, Valium will take between 36-200 hours for half of it to be metabolised. Of what's remaining, half of that will be metabolised after a further 36-200 hours. So, you will have a quarter left in your system after 72-400 hours. The maths is as follows:

 

Since we cannot know our individual rates of metabolisation, we will have to instead calculate a range of possibilities. In the case of Valium, that's 36-200 hours. To calculate how much is left in our system, say, after 6 days:

 

144 hours in 6 days, divide by 36 hours, equals 4. (144/36=4). - This is our power.

 

Half-life (0.5) to the power of 4, equals 0.0625 (as a decimal). Multiply this by 100 to express it as a percentage, equals 6.25%. This is how much is left in our bodies after six days, assuming that we metabolise Valium at a half-life rate of 36 hours.

 

Now, if we instead assume that we metabolise Valium at half-life rate of 200 hours, then: 144 hours in six days, divide by 200 hours (144/200=0.72). This is our power!

 

Half-life (0.5) to the power of 0.72, equals 0.607 (as a decimal) Again, we multiply by 100 to gain a percentage figure, equals 60.7%.

 

So, you see, even after just six days, the range of possible blood levels is very large, and the gap grows even larger with more time.

 

Again (more succinctly):

 

6 days; half-life 36-200 hours

 

6x24=144 hours

 

144/36=4 (for a half-life of 36 hours)

 

0.5⁴=0.0625

 

= 6.25%

 

144/200=0.72 (for a half-life of 200 hours)

 

0.5^0.72=0.607

 

= 60.7%

 

Range = 6.25 to 60.7%.

 

---

 

Another example:

 

Clonazepam; 2 days and 6 hours; half-life 18-50 hours

 

(2x24)+6=54 hours

 

54/18=3 (for a half-life of 18 hours)

 

0.5³=0.125

 

= 12.5%

 

54/50=1.08 (for a half-life of 50 hours)

 

0.5^1.08=0.473

 

= 47.3%

 

Range after 54 hours: 12.5 to 47.3%

 

 

So, we can calculate possible ranges, but I don't think it really tells us anything, apart from our individual metabolic rates has huge effects upon our meds. Because of this variability, two people on the same benzo, at the same dose, can expect to have very different blood levels, even when not withdrawing!

 

As a matter of interest, the possible range for Valium left in our system after 30 days is: 0.000095% (that must be undetectable) to 8.25% (that must be easily detectable). This difference is enormous. Knowing this probably doesn't help any of us though.

 

Hi I appreciate you posting this.. I just need some help with this..

So if I was on .05 when I jumped off Valium on 6.13.13, when would all the valium be out of my system and thank you so very much!

 

[[sh...]]

Don't know if this has been posted or not but here ya go.

 

-How long would it take for the benzo to be out of our systems. Using colin's formula you could do the following

 

Assumptions:

 

Use 0.01 (1%) as a percentage almost complete elimination

 

P = the power, HL = Half life, HE= Hours to reach elimination (or to reach 1%)

 

P = ln 0.01/ ln .5

 

HE = P * HL

 

So example, how long would it take to reach 1% of Klonopin with HL of 50 hrs in a system?

 

P = ln 0.01/ ln 0.5 =  6.6439

 

HE =  6.6439 * 50 = 3321.928 hrs (or apprx 14 days)

 

Klonopin with HL of 18 hrs

 

P = ln 0.01/ ln 0.5 =  6.6439

 

HE =  6.6439 * 18 = 119.5902 hrs (or apprx. 5 days)

 

This of course is using Colin's formulas and considering %1 as "elimination"

 

 

Now how can one know ones metabolism rate? Thats what I'd like to know....

 

 

-Shelby

 

 

 

[[Co...]]

I'm not good with all these calculations. :-(

Can anyone tell me about how many days till the .05m of valium I jumped off of on June 13th?

U c I was put on an AD to get off the benzo and I can't wait to discontinue the AD it's made me gain weight, etc!

Thank u sooooo much!

[[ma...]]

Hi,

 

Didn't know where to post this.  I have been on the Xanax forum but thought I would get some new opinions. To weak to give any info other than the signature, but can anyone tell me I am having such severe weakness I feel like I an just going to fall out.  Is this an anxiety attack or just part of the withdrawals.  Seems like heart rate is elevated too. 

 

Also does w/d's through your blood sugar out of wack?

 

Mama2

[[He...]]

I had severe weakness while on klonopin, during my taper and in WD. Not constant but in waves. Exercise would trigger it too. It is part of the benzo experience for me. I would get so weak I'd feel like I was going to collapse and they would have to peel me off the floor. Keep moving forward. It really does get better. 

[[Ho...]]

Hi,

 

Didn't know where to post this.  I have been on the Xanax forum but thought I would get some new opinions. To weak to give any info other than the signature, but can anyone tell me I am having such severe weakness I feel like I an just going to fall out.  Is this an anxiety attack or just part of the withdrawals.  Seems like heart rate is elevated too. 

 

Also does w/d's through your blood sugar out of wack?

 

Mama2

 

Hi Mama2,

 

You'll get a lot more replies if you post this on the Withdrawal and Recovery board. This thread is more informational and not many of our members will read it. Here's a link to the W&R board: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?board=55.0

 

Hope

 

 

 

[[ca...]]

i need help calculating - my brain is not functioning, and i'm sitting here with my calculator and i can not figure this out..

 

can someone help?? lol - it is crazy, i know i have the ability to figure this out but not right now...

 

[[li...]]

I am sorry but I can not figure out how to post to a particular forum. Can someone help with tha

[[Ho...]]

Hi life4me,

 

Here is the url for the general forum. Just click on this:  http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/

 

Once you're on the main forum scroll down it and you will see all the sub-categories, such as "Introductions", "Community Policies & Documents"...etc. If you scroll down further you will see our most popular board "Withdrawal & Recovery Support". Most member post there. But we also have board for Insomnia, anxiety..etc. Think of the main forum as a menu. You just scroll down until you see a board that you think would interest you.

 

Hope that helps.

[[lo...]]

I read on this forum somewhere that it takes the half life of the benzo x 5 to feel a cut in your dosage, to it's fullest effect.

In example, Say it was Valium.... 200 hours (max) x 5 divided by 24hrs = 41.6 days .... or some variation of this

 

The reason I ask is because I dropped from 6mg to 2mg Valium overnight without a taper, and although I experienced worsening symptoms within a week or so, I hit a true stage of (almost) psychosis about a month later. To me that would make sense with the above calculation

 

Anyone ever heard of this?

[[Ho...]]

Hi lotusflower1,

 

You'd be much better off posting your question to the main forum. This thread if more informational and not many members read it. You probably won't get replies here but will get several on the main forum. 

[[vi...]]

Don't do it like I did. I had no idea what I was doing, and by the time I found out it was too late. My taper from 3 mg of xanax a day to jumping in only about 3 1/2 months was insane. I am doing quite well right now, and for the last 2 days, but trust me, it has been horrible up to this point. 

    Probably the worst thing I did was to stop them for 4 or 5 days, thinking I was still having the opiate w/d's, then taking them again, telling my wife that they seemed to help with the OPIATE w/d's, when all along I was having benzo w/d's. I did this start and stop thing for around a month or so. My timeline is all messed up, so the times are approximate, could be off by up to 2 weeks. I did not write anything down, I wish I would have......

    One other thing that I did that was totally insane was to reinstate for 3 days about 2 weeks ago. It was absolutely terrible!

    But, that it in the past now. I am finally having the best break I have had since April 1st. Don't know how long it will last but THANK GOD for the break!!!!

    I think I am doing quite well after all that has happened since I started this.... :thumbsup:

I do love you all! :smitten:

 

 

Keep the Faith!

[Guest [br...]]

How are you now colin?