Can you please share your phenazepam withdrawal experiences?

I am from eastern Europe (not Russia) and I was on phenazepam for 8 years.

I did month-long taper and now I am 15 days benzo free!

I can (and could almost all this time) work, can get joy from life. Morning are the worst while nights are good.

I can't find any shared experiences about phenazepam withdrawal so if someone has to say something on this matter - please comment.

And probably most important question: do I have to fear seizures or delirium tremens now? After 15 days (and I didn't have any seizures/delirium tremens in my life).

Phenazepam half life is 60 hours according to English wiki.

With a half life of 60 hours, I think you could still be at risk. However if you feel alright I doubt you will have issues.

I have anxiety, some tremors, photo/sound phobia, hypertension from time to time, memory issues (better now) and that's probably (almost) it.

Symptoms are much worse in the morning and usually at evenings I feel almost "normal".

But I can work/walk on the street even in mornings if I beat my anxiety.

The withdrawal symptoms of any benzodiazepine can wax and wane with little or no warning. One day you could feel fine, then next day you could be having a full blown reaction that can include symptoms as severe as seizures or DTs. However, since you have tapered off over a month and have not had any serious physical withdrawal symptoms, you could be in the clear (in the short term). In the long term, extended use of benzodiazepines has been shown to correlate with an increased risk of dementia in later life. This is just something you will have to keep an eye on as you get older. I hope you get through this and wish you great luck for the future.

Thank you, I just read about this on google an I found:

"The researchers relied on a database maintained by the Quebec health insurance program. From it, they identified nearly 2,000 men and women over age 66 who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. They randomly selected more than 7,000 others without Alzheimer’s who were matched for age and sex to those with the disease. Once the groups were set, the researchers looked at the drug prescriptions during the five to six years preceding the Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The type of drug taken also mattered. People who were on a long-acting benzodiazepine like diazepam (Valium) and flurazepam (Dalmane) were at greater risk than those on a short-acting one like triazolam (Halcion), lorazepam (Ativan), alprazolam (Xanax), and temazepam (Restoril).

The researchers acknowledge that the use of benzodiazepines could be just a signal that people are trying to cope with anxiety and sleep disruption—two common symptoms of early Alzheimer’s disease. If that’s true, their use of a benzodiazepine may not be a factor in causing dementia but an indication it is already in progress."

So dang, are we seeing a wave of people who bought like an ounce of phenazepam back in the day running out of their stash? Is this a preview of what's to come when rc benzos disappear and widespread withdrawal ensues? Feel bad for al the clon heads out there when that day comes.

I used pharma phenzepam as it is available in my country in local pharmacies by prescription.

Phenazepam was invented in soviet union and still used in eastern europe.

So it is not a 'rc' here.

Indeed. So many interesting gabagenic drugs came out of the Soviet Union. The first time I tried phenazepam it was in powder form as an RC, but it didn't last long in my country before it was banned. Since then I have occasionally ordered the legit 2.5mg pills from Russia.

It has a long half life. May not be in the clear. But hope so. Taperd with chlordiazepoxide. Thought was in the clear . Two weeks later bam it got me .gl

Thank you for the answer!

I am now 24 days benzo free and I it's 4th day I feel almost 'normal'. An I didn't have nor seizures neither DT. I believe I should be in clear now, would you agree?

Phenazepam in my unfortunate experience has been the easiest benzo to withdrawal from(compared to daily clonazepam and etizolam usage). I was only taking 2.5-3.5 mg daily for about a month when I first got the tablets as I used to be all too eager to test a new benzo and that would usually end up being anywhere from a week to a month of daily testing to make sure I had the real deal lol...I used to be so reckless.

Anyway, what I remember about the withdrawal was it being barely noticeable after having went through prescribed daily 2 mg clonazepam withdrawals cold turkey after being cut off in addition to taking 2-4 mg etizolam for a few weeks and then CT'ing it(stupid I know) in different time spans. The reason I think phenazepam wasn't so bad of a withdrawal is because of its active metabolite(3-ho-phenazepam) which is nearly as potent as the parent compound. Most long acting benzos do have active metabolites but they're far weaker on a mg to mg basis than the parent compound so you don't get any mental cushioning as you're coming off of them because the lingering active metabolites are too weak to have a noticeable mental effect.

With phenazepam it has a 9-18 hour half life but than metabolizes into 3-oh-phenazepam which extends its half life to around 60-90 hours and since it's around the same potency you feel it as it's leaving your system; almost as if you were switching to Valium or something from a shorter acting benzo to negate the withdrawal feelings(except the metabolite is just as good at this than diazepam would be in this case). In a way it's a unique benzo in that it may actually be self-tapering due to the potent metabolite, as long as you're not abusing it and doing over 5 mg a day or higher.

Even if you have to taper off of it doing a daily regimen because for some reason you do notice withdrawal effects, you should be able to remain functional. I'm guessing you could probably take one tablet every 3-4 days for a month or however long you wish and gradually cut the dosage on the days you're taking it for the smoothest landing but that's just from my own experience that I formed that opinion and not medically sound advice. If you do have to take it daily than just taper it gradually using the Ashton Guide as a compass and it should be easy to come off of compared to most other benzos.

I searched for this post as I remember seeing it a few days ago but was busy atm so didn't have time to reply. Be glad it's phenazepam and not clonazepam or etizolam you're trying to come off of! I think a lot of people have the idea that phenazepam is worse than other benzos but it's actually quite functional and one of the easiest benzos to come off of ime. I don't understand why they even started selling it as an R.C. powder in the first place when getting it in Rx form is quite easy. Apparently some pharmacies even sell it OTC in Ru$$ia from what I hear. I wish they would sell a mild benzo like pyrazolam OTC here or at least behind the counter to adults with I.D. The amount of stress most people have to deal with these days is crazy, they should come up with some OTC anxiolytic that actually works, haha...we can dream