Greetings;

I had read a post that naltrexone and extinction is hampered by benzo's. I haven't start TSM or naltrexone yet. I was on lorazapam .5 twice a day for the last two months. I have now been completely off the drug for 5 days. How long should I wait before beginning TSM and the naltrexone?

Thank you.


LD

None of us are MDs so we can't give you medical advice, including me. That said, benzos clear the bloodstream fairly quickly. If it were me I would be comfortable after a week's wait. But only an MD can give you the real scoop.

You might do some web research on the half-life of your particular med.

Thanks for the replys.

My concern is that if the Dr. no longer checks in, is the informaion here valid?

I know he checked in a lot as the book was released but over time I have not seen hardly any posts from him. My cpncern is that is itn possible that after the book was released and the maximum marketing potential approached he decided he got all he could out of this enterprise and bailed? I don't know. I see a lot of desperate people that have had no response from the Dr. At all.

I just want to make sure I'm not wasting my time.

Thank you all,

LD

I'm not a doctor, but I had to have benzos administered for a medical procedure and told my doctor about the naltrexone. He said 3 days would be the longest you'd have to wait to be safe for everything to be cleared out of your bloodstream (either nal, or the benzos that is) to avoid an interaction. Good for you for getting off the lorazepam - from what I understand that stuff is quite addictive.

Just found this. I'm prescribed two .5 slow release tablet of benzos daily. I take 1 at 8am and the 2nd at 2pm. My Dr. told me that there is not drug interaction between Nal and benzos. I hope not. Well anyway I am tapering off the benzos anyway, I already cut the dosage in half. Getting there.

Jay

I'm not really to sure as to how Benzos would affect how Nal works. I understand it has a big effect with Baclofen users as they're both working on the GABA recertors but Nal being an opiate antagonist I'm not to sure.

Saying that I'm no doctor.

My unmedical logic based opinion would be that consuming a drug which 'relaxes' could affect the decision making process regards slower drinking. I believe that in humans Nal lets you recognise the fact that you actually don't want to drink more and thus stop at a certain point. I shall try and find something out about this.

Right I've just found this and Dr Eskapa's response is at the bottom, it is a few years old so don't know if anything has changed in the meantime;

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=349

The benzodiazepines will not help you with the Sinclair Method - they will hamper, slow, and weaken your de-addiction or extinction progress. Avoid them if at all possible. There is both scientific research to support this and also clinical cases ....

Hi -

Your idea is intriguing because after three months of NAL, I still don't have much of an urge to stop drinking, and it could be due to my long-term use of benzos. Also, just to throw this in the thread, I have e-mailed Dr. Eskapa twice with questions, and he has responded quite cordially. The first time, he responded in some depth (not about benzos), but the second time he must have been in a hurry because he responded quickly with a short but definite answer. I think the guy is just *busy.*

One more thing, when I started NAL, I didn't even think of clearing the benzos out of my system, and my own personal experience is there's no untoward interaction between the two meds (I emphasize it's *my own* experience, and I wish there was more - or any - research about benzos slowing down the extinction process).

Thanks -

Tim

That's pretty disappointing to hear because I too have been using benzos for a while now and I plan to begin TSM, and it will be really hard form me to go without at least some minimal benzo dosage. There's just a point beyond which I can't taper them for the time being...

Joe38f -

The interface is a little quirky on this TSM website - it took me many times before I could read the code you have to enter to register - but I'll cut to the chase:

I told my shrink last week I wanted to get off the benzos I've been on for close to 30 years and which had gotten up to 1 or 2 0.5 alprazolam mg at night (or rather when I woke in the middle of the night) plus 1 or 2 5-mg diazepam during the day for muscle tension. He was surprised and asked why, and I said I was having to take more to feel any effect - for example, the only way it worked was to take the opposite of the same dosages I'd been prescribed for day and for sleeping - and he got upset and told me to stop taking the alprazolam immediately and just take 2 5-mg of diazepam during the day.

From what I've read at benzo.org about slow benzo withdrawal schedules, that's just crazy to drop down that fast. I've already had seizures from ecephalitis 40 years ago, and I don't need another round. My primary care physician is going to talk with the shrink about tapering down rather than turning it all off.

She has also prescribed - at my request - gabapentin (Neurontin in the U.S.), for daytime muscle pain and for help when I wake during the night. I can't handle more more than 100 mg at night because the gabapentin raises my blood pressure a great deal, and I'm now on double the BP med I was before (no problem there, the generic lisinopril is very cheap on my health plan). I also found that I wasn't to double the dosage at night on the second week but rather to take one during the day and one at night (D'oh!). One other reason I'm trying the gabapentin is it works on the GABA receptors, and I've found two studies that show it has promise in helping the progress of weaning of benzos. I can send links to the studies or simply the names, if you would like.

Dr. Eskapa has encouraged me in cutting back on my benzo use but also staying on the Naltrexone. I figure if I can gradually reduce my benzo use down to 50% of what it's been for a while, that has to affect the efficacy of the Naltrexone use.

All best and good luck to you and I both, my friend,

Tim