How come alcoholics can tolerate alcohol for 20,30,49 years but...

Most people cant tolerate benzos for many years. Some may make it 10 years or so but eventually it goes paradoxical. My therapist said shes never seen benzos work for someone longer than 2 years. Alcoholics still can get drunk after decades of use and dont become sensitive to foods and such. Why

I took prescription benzos for 31 years without becoming paradoxical.  I did have my dose upped over and over to cover tolerance and eventually realized what was going on and began to taper off. 

 

People can abuse alcohol for decades but they are destroying their livers and GABA receptors.  From what I've read, GABA receptors are destroyed by alcohol… they are down-regulated by benzos but not destroyed.

 

Challis 

Just a couple of guesses here; I'm not a doctor.

 

Maybe benzos have a stronger effect on GABA than alcohol does. 

 

Benzos have a longer half-life than alcohol, and they are taken on a regular schedule vs. "as needed" for alcohol.  Thus benzos are always present in the brain, whereas with alcohol the brain gets a break between drinking episodes.

 

I have a life time friend thats a terrible alcoholic (recover(ed)ing)....

I would NOT trade places with him for anything in the world, after some of the stuff Ive seen him go through...

Ill stick with the benzo problem...

I binge drank alcohol for many years and quit c/t with no problems at all and it never affected my body or brain.  My mother drank beer ever day until she was in her 80's quit and never had a problem and her mind stayed sharp.  I think these benzo's target those deeper more specific areas of the brain, just my guess.  And the alcohol maybe targets the brain in a more general way.  Plus, booze is brewed from hops and other substances of the earth and not synthetic like these benzo's.  Maybe that's why it doesn't affect the CNS so badly.  IMO.

I binge drank alcohol for many years and quit c/t with no problems at all and it never affected my body or brain.  My mother drank beer ever day until she was in her 80's quit and never had a problem and her mind stayed sharp.  I think these benzo's target those deeper more specific areas of the brain, just my guess.  And the alcohol maybe targets the brain in a more general way.  Plus, booze is brewed from hops and other substances of the earth and not synthetic like these benzo's.  Maybe that's why it doesn't affect the CNS so badly.  IMO.

 

I would agree if it was alcohol from naturally fermented fruits or grains but it's not the case for commercial beverages nowadays, they do have synthetically made ingredients such as colouring, high fructose syrup, MSG, propylene glycol and more.

I believe these days alcoholic beverages are quite dangerous to consume, apart from the occasional drink.

 

It's true that coming off benzos is a lot harder than alcohol but in the long run after being off for a while the possibility of a total recovery is a lot higher than in alcohol dependency.

We are talking about dependencies and not occasional use of course.

 

My pdoc told me I didn't have an addictive personality and I think he was right, which is why I could quit the alcohol with no problem or craving and I probably could have quit the benzo's too c/t with no problem, if they hadn't screwed up my receptors. 

if you see the movie The Flight you can see what an awful hold alcohol has on people.

 

i thin-k its realistic. plus, unlike benzos, you can buy it everywhere.

 

i know from a friends x husband toward the end they usually quit eating and just drink. its sad.

 

but, yes benzo w/d is hard to go through.

Some people do drink themselves to death in a very short period of time, too.

 

Some people can tolerate benzos for decades, some people can tolerate alcohol for decades, some people die in their mother's arms when they are still a screaming baby and never get the chance to worry about any of these things. Life is strange :-/

I think it depends on how much benzo someone takes, and how often.  I blew it early by binging and taking them throughout the day, but some people go years taking the same dose without much problem.  (My grandpa for instance, who's taken one Klonopin before bed each night for years). 

 

There are some other subtle pharmacological differences between alcohol and benzos, but I forget the specifics. 

Oh, there are significant differences. Alcohol and benzos both impact GABA through chloride channel activation (IIRC), but benzos bind directly to the BDZ receptor outside the GABA 'gate', and alcohol does not use the BDZ receptor at all afaik.

I think it depends on how much benzo someone takes, and how often.  I blew it early by binging and taking them throughout the day, but some people go years taking the same dose without much problem.  (My grandpa for instance, who's taken one Klonopin before bed each night for years). 

 

There are some other subtle pharmacological differences between alcohol and benzos, but I forget the specifics.

 

If you look at my sig and note the extremely low dosage I was on only at bedtime, I don't believe the dosage or how often you take it makes a difference with who will suffer bad w/d.  I had a horrible w/d when I jumped off and I'm still having problems having taken very little. 

A wealth of longitudinal studies support the idea that longer duration of use and dose dramatically impact outcomes. This does not mean that you can't run into big problems from fairly short term use, but it does imply that people who use the drugs longer and at higher doses are more likely to become dependent and have difficulty withdrawing.

Oh yeah, I know anyone can have withdrawals.  I was referring more to tolerance/loss of effectiveness, which seems to be more of a problem if you increase the dose or frequency of use. 

 

 

I took benzo's for well over 2 decades and only upped the dose from 8 mg Valium equivalent to 12 mg after 15 years.

 

Not a problem for me... dulled me a bit but that's all.

 

 

Most people cant tolerate benzos for many years. Some may make it 10 years or so but eventually it goes paradoxical. My therapist said shes never seen benzos work for someone longer than 2 years. Alcoholics still can get drunk after decades of use and dont become sensitive to foods and such. Why

 

Real alcoholics develop tolerance, just like benzo users.

 

When I quit, I was drinking over a quart of vodka daily, but still went to work every day, maintained my home, paid my bills, took care of my family, etc.

I have a life time friend thats a terrible alcoholic (recover(ed)ing)....

I would NOT trade places with him for anything in the world, after some of the stuff Ive seen him go through...

Ill stick with the benzo problem...

 

Here here!

Benzos have a longer half-life than alcohol

 

This isn't true of all benzos. It is for the more common ones. Z-drugs also have a very short half life (similar to alcohol).

Most people are oblivious to the negative affects that alcohol has on the body and brain the same way they are oblivious to the affects of smoking or a junk food diet. Here's just one reference on the affects that we can't see or feel.

 

http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/alcohols-effects-body

I just read that alcoholics can have serious cognitive issues for years after their last drink.

 

http://www.choosehelp.com/topics/alcoholism/a-timeline-for-the-restoration-of-cognitive-abilities-after-quitting-alcohol

 

Sounds very familiar considering I am 3 years off clonazepam and still dealing with significant cognitive issues.

I have read several articles that state that alcohol can cause a very long protracted withdrawal with all of the same symptoms as benzo withdrawal.

 

Part of the difference is that benzo sufferers were just following doctors orders and were not warned. On the other hand alcoholics that get PAWS assume that it was their own fault and that they were warned, so they just take it in stride.

 

I have read lots of articles about recovering alcoholics who suffered multiple years of protracted acute withdrawal syndrome, so it is more common than we think.

 

One article I read stated that the recovery period for it is a MINIMUM of one year.

 

So just like benzo users, a certain percentage can do it for years with a very short term minor withdrawal, and for some reason, others get hit with a very acute protracted withdrawal.