Abrupt Etizolam Withdrawal Advice/Opinions Please

[[Ap...]]

Please forgive duplicate post from my introduction page:

 

I've never taken benzos recreationally, however for a year now I have been taking an average of 1.5mg etizolam per day, initially to sleep after stimulant use, which somehow became daily use because I knew stopping would be painful. After taking stimulants (an ongoing problem, maybe 2/3 times per month) this can increase to 2-3mg/day.

 

I now need to stop my use as soon as possible due to a work medical/drugs test  in a couple of weeks, and quite simply would like some opinions as to whether I can stop abruptly without dangerous physical symptoms? After a brief etizolam binge a few years ago I had terrible insomnia and horrific nightmares for a few days, but realise that despite my current dose being very low in comparison to some, the length of use could produce problems. I'm happy to take the pain for a week or two if my physical symptoms won't be dangerous. I realise that tapering would be far more preferable but it's not really an option for me, nor is using a longer acting benzo.

 

Many thanks in advance. 😊

[[be...]]

I like your optimism of only a week or two of symptoms, but that is not always the case with withdrawal from benzodiazepines, especially if it is not your first withdrawal from them. Subsequent withdrawals are often more difficult than the previous one.  Stopping cold turkey is ill advised for a number of reasons. Symptoms as a result can be severe and or prolonged, and the seizure risk increases.

[[Da...]]

I'm reading this and thinking about whether it will be a nightmare to you or not. The majority of people can stop and have no prolonged WD symptoms. Or it is very short lived. Then others like myself and I was a long time user, I did a CT WD and it has been a complete nightmare. You need to at least wean over several days. If you have to take a drug test and you have a prescription can you not just show them the bottle. I truly hope things go well for you.

[[Da...]]

Unless OP is in Japan or Italy, I don't think Etizolam is available on prescription. It's usually sold as a 'research chemical' or designer Benzo. I started out with Etizolam, landed up on Diclazepam and now in the mess I am currently in. I was never prescribed this stuff either. I will be brutally honest with you, do not stop this stuff CT. Please get some advice from your doctor and see if you can cross over to Valium. This way you will have a script to show work, and you will be able to follow a sensible taper. I would recommend Ashton's tapering advice as the gold standard. Print this off and discuss it with your doctor. 1mg of Etizolam is approximately equivalent to 10mg of Valium.

 

I wasn't given any medical support at all. I am under an addiction treatment agency for Codeine dependency and they scuppered my attempts to sensibly taper the Diclazepam (another designer Benzo) with threats to forcibly reduce and remove my Subutex if I did not pass a clean test ASAP. It's a mess, I wish I'd just let them do it and gone back to using Codeine until I had tapered the Diclazepam. Another problem was the designer drugs were being banned here in the UK, so I was facing stopping or having to go to drug dealers, no thanks!.

 

I have about 50 physical WD sxs as a result of stopping too fast from such a high dose (up to 70 1mg Diclazepam pills a day, equivalent to approximately 700mg of Valium), that dose would easily kill someone without a stupidity high tolerance. Your dose is nothing close to mine, but it's still significant enough to cause WD.

 

I was also suffering extreme paradoxical psychological reactions to the Diclazepam, I was desperate to get off it. My attempts to taper down slowly enough to try and avoid severe WD sxs were seen as 'desperate' and just an addict trying to 'stall the process'. They do not believe in Benzo WD and told me to CT the equivalent of 700mg of Valium a day. Thankfully I didn't do this and managed to hold them back for a few months. It should probably have taken years from such a high dose and I should have been crossed to Valium because of the availability issues post ban. I just bought enough for a few months before the websites closed.

 

Also it took me two months to pass a drug test at the addiction treatment agency. I was accused of continuing to use Benzos at my appointment about a month after I jumped off. I was very sick by this point and being threatened in this condition made me even sicker. They only allow 28 days for a clean test even after chronic use. So I will warn you you may not pass the test anyway as your use has been chronic too. I personally don't think anything is worth risking your health and even life for. You need medical assistance with this. This is of course based on my personal experiences, but I try wherever I can to help others in the same position, and I will always advise slowly tapering these meds down. A CT is not advisable outside of exceptional medical circumstances such as the patient developing a sudden severe allergic reaction or pregnancy. Even then it requires strict medical supervision because of the seizure risk and the risk of protracted WD. I would see if you can work with your doctor, and avoid all 'rehabs' and addiction clinics because they often rush something that cannot be rushed.

 

Please keep in touch as I'd like to know how you're doing. You're not alone with this difficult situation.

 

 

[[Ap...]]

Thank you all for your replies. Apologies I haven't been back sooner, I've not been well.

 

I have decided to taper, albeit quickly. I was taking around 1.5mg of etizolam every night for a year, up to new year's eve. Here is my use since then:

 

 

Sunday 1st- 3mg

Monday 2nd- 2mg

Tuesday 3rd- 1mg

Wednesday 4th - 0.75mg

Thursday 5th - 0.75mg

Friday 6th- 0.5mg

Saturday 7th - 0.5mg

Sunday 8th- 1.5mg

Monday 9th- 0.5mg

Tuesday 10th- 0.5mg

Wednesday 11th - 0.25mg

Thursday 12th - 0.25mg

 

I am using Nytol and now also valerian root to induce sleep, and so far I have had no problems at all. I'm planning to do another two or three nights at 0.25mg then halve that for three or four nights before stopping completely.

 

I'm not sure how long it would take for any withdrawals to become apparent? I know etizolam has a short half life and hope that if I haven't had problems so far I may be ok. My medical at work has been postponed next month because of my illness which is a godsend. My research indicates that there is a possibility that etizolam may not show positive on a test because it's a thienodiazepine , with different metabolites to benzodiazepines.

[[Da...]]

This is still really fast, and I still think, in all honesty, you're going to be pretty sick, or already are. I tapered Diclazepam over 7 months and I'm still really, really sick. It feels like my life is over at the moment and I am terminally ill (most likely just a wave but I am so new to this I am very confused by it all sometimes).

 

Etizolam may have a slightly different molecular structure to more traditional Benzos, but it works on GABA in exactly the same ways and is for all intents and purposes, a Benzo. It's marketed by big pharma companies in Italy and Japan as a prescription drug for depression and anxiety, and in some countries as a 'designer drug' aka 'legal high'. I started my Benzo disaster with Etizolam, and when it got harder to get hold of from the online 'headshops', I switched to Diclazepam and my dose went out of control and I landed up on the equivalent of 700mg of Diazepam (Valium) a day. Like I said I wasn't given any medical assistance, was rushed and threatened, and nobody told me I would land up losing my entire life as I knew it. I was told I wouldn't have any WD sxs, and that WD sxs were reserved only for people who go cold turkey. This thing is so indiscriminate that even people who taper over many months can suffer extreme sxs after stopping, while some get minimal sxs.

 

Etizolam showed up the addiction agency's urine drug tests that I am forced to take as part of my Subutex program, as a Benzo. Really, if I am honest with you, like I am with everyone, it's probably going to show up. I tested positive over 4 weeks after stopping, and I was very sick from acute Benzo WD and suffered a huge setback as a result. I got threatened, and because I was shaking so much, my left eye was stuck shut because of a bad muscle twitch, my legs were very wobbly and I couldn't stand straight and my face was grey, I had lots of visible sxs, they told me 'look at the state of you, it would be irresponsible of us to continue prescribing the Subutex to someone who refuses to stop recklessly abusing Benzodiazepines'. They saw my ill health as the result of me continuing to use Benzos, not as a result of stopping. If S/O hadn't come with me and chimed in, telling them I hadn't bought any more, then I would have been facing severe WD from Subutex too, and probably wouldn't be here today. I didn't get out of bed for a week, apart from to go to the pharmacy every day to collect the Subutex on supervised dosing, which was an ordeal worse than hell in acute. I not only had to walk up there (on my worst days this took me over two hours to do a 15 minute walk), I had to keep myself upright and somehow manage to hold a conversation with them while trying not to be sick from the vile taste of the stuff in my mouth because I had quite bad nausea in acute (I would promptly find a quiet corner and be sick once I left the place  ). It was terrible, I was constantly terrified they would report me back to the addiction agency for being 'intoxicated' as I was so sick and out of it from sleep deprivation a couple of times that I gave them the wrong date of birth. Thankfully I no longer have to go everyday, just Tuesdays and Fridays, which are total write off days now as the trip still flares all my sxs up pretty badly but so long as I get straight back on the sofa and go to sleep for a bit, I'm usually back to 'baseline' in a few hours.

 

You may still find yourself in a position where you have to 'come clean' to your employers. I know the absolute worst feeling is knowing you're not using a drug (or doing anything you're being accused of), and still being accused of doing it with no way to prove otherwise. If this does happen your best course is honesty. I still feel (and many others here will too) that cutting down that fast is going to cause you some serious problems, in all likelihood you'll face CT sxs, because cutting down that fast is pretty much a brutal CT when it comes to Benzos.

 

I would really hate to see anyone else land up bedridden and totally destroyed like I am. If I have a purpose anymore, it's to try and help stop someone else from having to endure the things that are happening to me.

 

I am very honest yes, because this whole ordeal can make even the world's biggest fantasizer into the world's most realistic person. I used to have a much more carefree attitude, I thought I knew what my priorities were, but how very wrong I was.

 

Please reply and let us know how you're doing.

[[Da...]]

Beware of the Nytol too, it can show a false positive for Methadone on drug tests. The active ingredient, Diphenhydramine, is renowned for this. It happened to me with the addiction agency and I was crucified for it. They wouldn't even see sense in the fact you cannot take Subutex and Methadone together without bringing on precipitated WD.

 

With shorter acting Benzos, WD sxs can appear even in between doses, so my guess is you will be feeling pretty awful well within 24 hours. I don't mean to shock or scare you, but you must also consider the seizure risk. Please, for your sake, you must tell someone, and you really must seek medical assistance. No job is worth risking your life for, end of. Sorry if I sound OTT, but I am very sick myself, and this is Benzos we're talking about here. No matter what their name or chemical structure, Benzo WD is one of the few life drugs with a potentially life threatening WD. As well as the seizure risk, there is a risk of suicide too, specially from CT WDs.

[[Ap...]]

Update.... Apologies I don't check in very often and thank you to all who have replied. Thanks to AppleDapple for your posts.

 

To cut a long story short, I haven't been tested at work and have been able to taper since the start of the year. This week I have gone three days without taking any etizolam and think I may have got away with it. I haven't had any adverse symptoms, except for a couple of weeks ago with some light insomnia.

 

I shall post my daily use so you can see the taper. I fully acknowledge that my use was minimal compared to some yet the chronic use would still have caused problems if I had attempted cold turkey. If I get through this weekend without symptoms then I think I have kicked a year's habit. Thank you all at this forum for your input. A great and valuable resource.

[[Ap...]]

Etizolam use (mg)

 

January

 

Sunday 1st- 3

Monday 2nd- 2

Tuesday 3rd- 1

Wednesday 4th - 0.75

Thursday 5th - 0.75

Friday 6th- 0.5

Saturday 7th - 0.5

Sunday 8th- 1.5

Monday 9th- 0.5

Tuesday 10th- 0.5

Wednesday 11th - 0.25

Thursday 12th - 0.25

Friday 13th - 0.25

Saturday 14th 1

Sunday 15th 1

Monday 16th 1

Tuesday 17th 0.5

Wednesday 18th 0.5

Thursday 19th 0.25

Friday 20th 0.25

Saturday 21st 0.25

Sunday 22nd 1

Monday 23rd 1

Tuesday 24th 0.5

Wednesday 25th 0.5

Thursday 26th 1

Friday 27th 0.25

Saturday 28th 0.25

Sunday 29th 0.25

Monday 30th 0.25

Tuesday 31st 0.25

 

February

 

Wednesday 1st 0.25

Thursday 2nd 0.25

Friday 3rd 1.5

Saturday 4th 1

Sunday 5th 1

Monday 6th 0

Tuesday 7th 0.25

Wednesday 8th 0

Thursday 9th 0

 

[[Ap...]]

Hi. It has been over a week now since my last use of etizolam and I have had no withdrawal symptoms so I can happily assume that I have succeeded. I hope my information can help someone in the future. Having this forum really helped, keep up the good work. Peace x