# Can Benzo's Kill you?



## jessica200131 (Oct 23, 2009)

Hey everyone,
well, I just have a little question about benzo's and addiction. How dangerous is it for you to continually take benzo's(valium,xanax,ativan,w/e) for years at a time? 
I had a good friend (died 22 days ago, RIP) who was taking benzo's for about 5 or 6 years and this girl would take them by the handful. Literally, I've seen this girl with 240 benzo's (3 different prescriptions .. long story)... 3 days later, there might've been 20 left. She used to nod off she'd taken that many... anyways, we still don't know how she died... so I'm just wondering how toxic are they to your system? 
Jessica

P.S. Sorry if it's a stupid question ... :roll


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## soaringfalcon11 (Jun 7, 2009)

The chances that the benzos were the lone culprit of her death are almost nonexistent, even if she downed all three bottles of whatever she had - a lethal dose of Xanax is 8 grams! What probably happened is that she mixed the benzos with other central nervous system depressants such as alcohol and narcotic pain killers (e.g., Vicodin). If one were serious about taking one's life, a cocktail of big amounts of benzos, alcohol and Vicodin would get the job done nicely (I've seen it done, and the amounts of each drug were not even extreme). 

RIP to your friend


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## gillettecavalcad3 (Jul 9, 2009)

If you are going to be irresponsible with any type of drug including OTC medication, .....then most drugs can be dangerous.

Benzos are safe drugs. It all depends on the users predisposition and tendency to take things to extremes ( addictive personality)

Tricyclics are more dangerous than Benzos as far as od'ing is concerned.


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## jessica200131 (Oct 23, 2009)

Thanks, and you got it ... she was on pain killers. Morphine to be exact .... I miss her so much ...


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## jessica200131 (Oct 23, 2009)

Yeah, she on was a few different things, including morphine/dillaudid's and **** ...


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## euphoria (Jan 21, 2009)

Benzos alone are pretty safe in overdose, much safer than alcohol (but they can kill you by seizures in severe withdrawal). Mixing them with other 'downers' is very risky though (alcohol, opioids (like morphine), barbiturates, etc.). So many people have died from this. The big question is, why was she prescribed so many benzos, and painkillers on top of that? How was she able to sustain her use if she took so many at once? Surely the doctors would have some method of communicating, unless they haven't heard of the internet yet.


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## RockiNToM (Jun 15, 2009)

How much alcohol would it take to kill somone on a benzo euphoria?


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Benzos are not very dangerous at all on their own. They have an additive effect when used with other CNS depressants like opioids and alcohol. Most people who die of a "drug OD" really died in large part due to extreme levels of alcohol intoxication.

It just makes for a vastly more interesting news story to say "death by OxyContin," for example, than to mention that their blood alcohol content was .45, a level where they'd be nearing death by alcohol poisoning anyhow.


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## Dangerous (Oct 21, 2009)

Yes, benzo can kill you. I haven't read this whole thread but I am sure other have told you that. If you go to hospital or any rehab, they must if they don't get you more benzo put you on a anti-seizure like depakote. Benzo almost killed me! Not literally but I tried going off them (even slowly) and I could not sleep for 2 1/2 weeks straight. Felt liked death, oh goshh benzo's why am I still on you?


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## db0255 (Jul 20, 2009)

To put this in a pharmacological perspective, benzos depend on GABA to regulate the GABA receptor, so once you run out of GABA, the benzos won't be able to do anything. That's why they're considered safer than barbiturates, which don't depend on how much GABA there is, and can cause respiratory depression in overdose.


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## gillettecavalcad3 (Jul 9, 2009)

> Yes, benzo can kill you.


Highly unlikely, ......benzos are generally safe drugs.


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## jessica200131 (Oct 23, 2009)

Thanks, this was really interesting and helpful. And to reply to someone who asked why was she prescribed so many benzo's and painkillers on top of that... well, she had so many benzo's because she had a few different prescriptions and she wasn't prescribed painkillers if you know what i mean ... it was "recreational", well not really I guess you'd call it a full blown addiction to painkillers and benzo's ... there are different ways to get benzo's without a doctor's prescription ...
oh, and she wasn't drinking at all. She didn't drink very much, her father was an alcoholic and died 4 or 5 years ago ...
so, it all leads me back to the question... what killed her. i think it's highly likely as someone mentioned before that it was CNS depression or w/e. Too many benzos and painkillers. All I know for sure is that she went to sleep and didn't wake up anymore. Her boyfriend noticed because she stopped snoring... it's so freaky...
then again, she was cutting back majorly on both the morphine/benzo's ... maybe she cut back too quickly and that killed her?????????????


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## soaringfalcon11 (Jun 7, 2009)

jessica200131 said:


> Thanks, this was really interesting and helpful. And to reply to someone who asked why was she prescribed so many benzo's and painkillers on top of that... well, she had so many benzo's because she had a few different prescriptions and she wasn't prescribed painkillers if you know what i mean ... it was "recreational", well not really I guess you'd call it a full blown addiction to painkillers and benzo's ... there are different ways to get benzo's without a doctor's prescription ...
> oh, and she wasn't drinking at all. She didn't drink very much, her father was an alcoholic and died 4 or 5 years ago ...
> so, it all leads me back to the question... what killed her. i think it's highly likely as someone mentioned before that it was CNS depression or w/e. Too many benzos and painkillers. All I know for sure is that she went to sleep and didn't wake up anymore. Her boyfriend noticed because she stopped snoring... it's so freaky...
> then again, she was cutting back majorly on both the morphine/benzo's ... maybe she cut back too quickly and that killed her?????????????


According to wikipedia:

*Combining multiple depressants is generally recognized as very dangerous because the CNS depressive properties has been proposed to increase exponentially instead of linearly. This characteristic makes depressants a common choice for deliberate overdoses in the case of suicide. The use of alcohol or benzodiazepines along with the usual dose of heroin is often the cause of overdose deaths in opiate addicts.*

I think this gives a pretty good idea about what killed her. Moral of the story: don't mix pain killers with benzos/alcohol unless you're trying to stop your clock. I too know someone who died mixing benzos with pain killers and alcohol. It's a painless death at least.


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## 99x (Oct 4, 2007)

As I understand it the danger with benzos comes from abruptly discontinuing from long term use. That's if we're just talking benzos alone. Like others have said its also dangerous to mix them with alcohol and pain killers. 

I'm currently tapering off clonazepam and its definitely the most uncomfortable thing I've experienced.


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## IllusionalFate (Sep 10, 2008)

The only way I could see someone dying from benzo use (not withdrawal) is by being so cognitively impaired and inebriated that they end up in a vehicle accident or falling and hitting their head.


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