would drinking alcohol help with withdrawl from benzos?

[kst7488]

since alcohol and benzos are both sedatives basically would drinking while you are weaning off of a benzo be benificial in calming withdrawl symptoms?

i know when i drink too much a night out the next morning my anxiety is worse, but it seems like it would help for withdrawling.

[Velvet Elvis]

If you go off the benzo slowly enough withdrawal shouldn't be that bad. It likely to minimize it anyway.

With me, my anxiety gets worse even an hour or so after I've had a drink. That's a big part of why I seldom have just one (and probobly should not drink at all).

[nalgas]

since alcohol and benzos are both sedatives basically would drinking while you are weaning off of a benzo be benificial in calming withdrawl symptoms?

The problem with alcohol, aside from its mechanism of action being really, incredibly messy in terms of how many things in your brain it hits compared to something like a benzo, is that it gets cleared out of your system really quickly, so while it may temporarily make stuff better for a short period of time, you tend to end up with rebound symptoms very shortly afterwards. For example, it technically has anticonvulsant properties, too, but since it wears off so abruptly, it's more likely to cause seizures while it's wearing off than it is to prevent them while it's in your system (at least for people who tend to have them in the first place). And as you've noticed, it can do similar things with anxiety, too. In general, one of the things that seems to help the most with withdrawal from benzos is to switch to a longer-acting benzo as you're going off a shorter-acting one. Something with a longer half-life keeps the levels more consistent and goes out of your system more slowly, so the change for your brain/body isn't quite as abrupt.

[kst7488]

i just have my first p doc appt coming up and im really worried that he wont wean me off of my ativan becuase rumor has it that he doesnt prescribe them. would he really just cut me off of something i have been on 3 years cold turkey that could kill me and cause seizures? im just trying to think of back up plans (hello control freak and worrywort) in a worst case scenario.

would an p doc do that?

since alcohol and benzos are both sedatives basically would drinking while you are weaning off of a benzo be benificial in calming withdrawl symptoms?

The problem with alcohol, aside from its mechanism of action being really, incredibly messy in terms of how many things in your brain it hits compared to something like a benzo, is that it gets cleared out of your system really quickly, so while it may temporarily make stuff better for a short period of time, you tend to end up with rebound symptoms very shortly afterwards. For example, it technically has anticonvulsant properties, too, but since it wears off so abruptly, it's more likely to cause seizures while it's wearing off than it is to prevent them while it's in your system (at least for people who tend to have them in the first place). And as you've noticed, it can do similar things with anxiety, too. In general, one of the things that seems to help the most with withdrawal from benzos is to switch to a longer-acting benzo as you're going off a shorter-acting one. Something with a longer half-life keeps the levels more consistent and goes out of your system more slowly, so the change for your brain/body isn't quite as abrupt.

[nalgas]

i just have my first p doc appt coming up and im really worried that he wont wean me off of my ativan becuase rumor has it that he doesnt prescribe them. would he really just cut me off of something i have been on 3 years cold turkey that could kill me and cause seizures? im just trying to think of back up plans (hello control freak and worrywort) in a worst case scenario.

would an p doc do that?

I really hope they wouldn't, because that would be pretty irresponsible of them to. Even if they don't personally like to prescribe certain things, they should still know how they work and what to do about them, since that is kind of their job. If they do try to get you to stop that suddenly, feel free to make a fuss and point out all the things that can go wrong if you don't taper off. You'll probably have a much more pleasant time of it if you do it right instead of having to just drop it. There's no guarantee any of those things will happen to you personally, but if they do, they're not exactly a good time.