How long does it take before you feel completely normal after taking benzos?

like when the effects wear off? anywhere from 2-8 hours. depends which benzo.

Like, when your mind should start clearing up. Are any of the damaging effects long term?

If I take xanax I don't feel normal again till hours and hours later.

no long term effects unless you become a serious junkie and have addiction/withdrawal.

what benzo is it? then i can tell you how long it lasts.

I just took xanax today for the first time since i gave up my prescription and its been 8 hours and i still feel it. It used to only last like 4 hours.

xanax has a relatively short half-life btw

yup i know, thats why im surprised it lasted so long. thats the only id take cuz i needed oen wiht a low half life, cuz i ahve drug test in 5 days, kwerjack, i got something to ask you on aim sometime if your interested.

what your sn? ill hit you up in like 20 minutes

Moviefone

Gabapentin?

Which I understand has limited abuse potential

I agree... it's lasted over 15 hours once when I took ~20 mg

that aint even a benzo, but it does act on GABA receptors, same receptors benzos work on.

pretty short half life - 5 to 7 hours

I agree... it's lasted over 15 hours once when I took ~20 mg

you did not take 20 mgs alprazolam

who said anything about gabapentin. Oddly enuf i got a script for it today, while i wait for insurance to cover lyrica.

you did not take 20 mgs alprazolam

I did. First time I had it. I started out with 2mgs, and didn't feel anything for over an hour, so popped another mg and snorted one. Next thing I know, it was about 20 hours later and I'm down 21mgs from how much I had to start out with. My room was a fucking mess (dropped my ashtray on the floor so ash and cig butts everywhere), and there was a chair in there that I had dragged in from the kitchen. Slept through a fucking loud alarm clock (that normally wakes me up in 5 seconds) for about 10 hours.

Fun stuff...

i once had a gram of pure alprazolam, my friends told me it was something else at first i tried and did about 40mg's i was unconcious for 48 hours.

Gabapentin actually hits none of the benzodiazepine or GABA receptors. It works through a totally different system involving ion channels, although it can indirectly raise GABA levels.

It's in fact an incredibly useful drug for benzo withdrawals; leaving the receptors to up-regulate while the addict can live with minimal withdrawals. I've heard of clinics using it with flumazenil to rapidly reset the whole GABA system. It also doesn't have significant tolerance/dependence issues so can be used as a benzo alternative.

To the original question about how long until you feel normal, it depends on the half-life of your benzo. Alprazolam levels are halved around 10 hours, and effects only last a few hours typically. Diazepam on the other hand has a half-life about 10 times that, with active metabolites too.

Of course if you take Xanax regularly for even a week, your body needs a lot longer to 'reset'. Take it for many months like I did and you have withdrawals that last for potentially years including anxiety worse than what you probably had to use it in the beginning...