long acting benzos - isnt your dose always increasing?

for people who take benzos with a long half life (eg valium - 40 hours i believe) and dose once or twice a day..... theoretically aren't you always increasing the amount of drug in your body every single day by a little bit?

 

 

lets pretend the half life is 24 hours (even though its more) ......say you take 10mg a day

 

day 1 you take 10mg.... in 24 hours its down to 5 and you take your next 10... you have 15mg now... in 24 hours its down to 7.5, you take your 10, its now at 17.5

 

if this carried on itd go , 17.5, 18.75 , 19.375 , 19.68 , 19.84 , 19.92, 19.99, 19.995, 19.9975, 19.99875, 19.999 etc etc.

 

so in 11 days its gone from 17.5 to 19.999.

 

obviously doses start getting only slightly more, but it'll always increase the whole time youre on the drug. unless im misunderstanding?

 

shouldn't this be taken into account when swapping drugs? is the half life considered. people say there is a conversion rate lets say 1 xanax = 1 valium (i know it doesnt).... but thats just for one dose, if valium has a half life twice as long as xanax then surely swapping to valium you'll be on more of the drug within a few days/weeks?

 

It seems like it would initially increase but wouldn't keep increasing indefinitely because at some point the entire first dose you took would leave your body then the second dose, etc.

It seems like it would initially increase but wouldn't keep increasing indefinitely because at some point the entire first dose you took would leave your body then the second dose, etc.

 

haven't i taken that into account?

 

i thought the half life was the total amount in your system is halved every 24 hours (or whatever the half life is)... so yes eventually the first dose will be fully eliminated, but it takes so long that even more has been added in the time it takes for that dose to be eliminated.

 

it'll never actually even out. obviously the longer you take it the increases in dose would be tiny. like 0.0000000000000000001 and less, but still its increasing every time.

 

drugs with such long half lives dont get a chance to become fully eliminated before more has been added than what they are.

 

unless im misunderstanding

Seems like at some point there just won't be any drug left in your body from a certain dose otherwise we'd never actually be off this stuff.  Not sure.

Seems like at some point there just won't be any drug left in your body from a certain dose otherwise we'd never actually be off this stuff.  Not sure.

 

well yes one dose would be fully gone. but the time it takes for that dose to be full gone, more than that dose has been added.

 

lets say it takes 2 days for that dose to be fully gone... but in that time 2 more doses have been added... so the drug amount has gone up in your body even though that first dose has left your body. more is always added before a dose is fully eliminated.

Seems like at some point there just won't be any drug left in your body from a certain dose otherwise we'd never actually be off this stuff.  Not sure.

 

obviously you get off it by tapering down, if you taper down it will get less. but im talking about when you take the same amount every day

Once you are at a steady dose for a while, as you are taking the same amount of drug, it's also leaving. But my understanding is that in the beginning, it takes a while for the Valium to build up into your system and so then when you are reducing the other med (which is shorter acting), there can be a lag time, which then gives withdrawals of the shorter half life of the drug.  That's why some people front load the valium on a crossover, to mitigate the w/d impacts.  Then of course, as you taper, the amount gets less and less but it can take a lot longer for valium w/d to fully hit people because of that.