Posted by Tony P on January 23, 2012, at 17:26:20
In reply to Re: Does Tolerance To Benzos Lead to Toxicity of them, posted by jono_in_adelaide on January 22, 2012, at 21:12:24
I can see the possibility of toxicity developing with the longer acting ones like Valium & Clonazepam. My experience (& also a friend's) with Valium is that with the high tolerance I have the effect _seems_ to wear off in about 6 hours - but the half-life is up to 72 hours. So if I had access to unlimited amounts of Valium I can imagine that taking it every time I felt like it had worn off could lead to toxic levels.
In fact I have had some experience with this. While withdrawing from other meds in a clinic I was put on an initial dose of 80 mg Valium/day. With my high tolerance I thought that would be just great, and felt fine for the first few days. But by the end of the week I was seeing double and having trouble staying awake. All went well in the long run as I was put on a (relatively) fast 30-day taper.
At the same clinic, a patient had to be taken to hospital in a wheel-chair for what rumour said was toxic Valium build-up.
poster:Tony P
thread:1008072
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120120/msgs/1008200.html