Posted by fachad on March 4, 2002, at 17:38:20
In reply to Benzo Differences, posted by Rakken on March 4, 2002, at 16:12:57
I can only relate what I have been able to gather from research. All of the information that follows is theoretical, none of it is based on personal experience.
Benzo's are distinguished from each other by five properties: half-life, potency, lipophilicity, active metabolites, and metabolism method.
HALF-LIFE
Half-life determines how long it stays in your body. This is important for several reasons. First, it determines how often you will have to take pills. Second, long acting drugs will build up in you system if you take them every day and can cause problems like sedation and mental fog. Third, long acting BZs are less likely to cause severe withdrawal symptoms than short acting BZs.
POTENCY
This does not mean how effective a drug is; rather this refers to how many milligrams of a given drug are required to give the same effect. For example, Valium is a low potency drug and Ativan is a high potency drug. But they are (theoretically) equally effective because you could get the same amount of benefit from taking 5mg of Valium as you could by taking 1mg of Ativan. It is also said that high potency BZs are more addicting than low potency BZs.
LIPOPHILICITY
This is how powerfully the drug is absorbed into fat tissues. It is significant because the more lipophilicity, the faster is the onset of effect. A drug with faster onset is more prone to abuse because you can "feel" it coming on. Fast onset is a good thing if you are experiencing acute panic.
ACTIVE METABOLITES
Some BZs are converted by the metabolism into other BZs before they go out of your system. These products of your bodies drug processing are known as "active metabolites". Some BZ drugs are just eliminated by the body without the creation of any other psychoactive compounds. This is important because of the build up over time with repeated dosing. If you are taking a long half-life drug with active metabolites, you could develop extremely high blood levels of the BZs. This can be very serious in an elderly person.
METABOLISM
This is how your body breaks down the drug so it can be excreted. There are two different ways BZs are metabolized, and one is easier on your body, especially on older people. This is also a blood level build up related concern.
All these properties can be viewed for individual Benzos on the Benzodiazapine Equivalency Chart in the Tips section.
Two benzos are worth commenting on: Xanax and Klonapin. Xanax has an extremely bad reputation (probably partly true) for being severely addicting and prone to abuse. Klonapin is viewed by many as having almost magical properties.
All my info is theoretical, the only benzo I have taken is temazapam, and it did not work.
I'm really hoping others will chime in and contribute their experiences of the qualitative differences between these drugs, how they are subjectively experienced, because that information is really more valuable than the theoretical stuff.
> I heard that some benzos work more in some areas. What benzos have the most muscle relaxant qualities, anxiolytic qualities, sedating, calming, anti-panic, euphoric, dysphoric, memory impairment, lethargy, and everything like that? Maybe theres a website out there that has the answers. OR maybe you guys know from a book, research, or experience. Any input is great.
poster:fachad
thread:96360
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020301/msgs/96368.html