Amphetamines and Benzodiazepines: Polypharmacology

Amphetamines and Benzodiazepines: The Curious Nature of Polypharmacology

I was curious to see or hear if anyone else had been prescribed both stimulants and sedatives within the same cocktail for Bipolar disorder.

I am current prescribed ; .75mg clonazepam prn, .5mg lorazepam prn, 1000mg Divalproex, and 30mg Vyvanse, and my first though was "Well... that sounds an awful lot like a speedball", I do have an informal background in pharmacology but I was quite surprised that a specialist was willing to put this much trust in a 20 yr old male. Especially when considering that they "allow" me to set a range of benzos I wish to take (their recommendation being .5-2mg clonazepam and lorazepam as needed), I just prefer to take them as little as possible to avoid any risk of dependence. I already have a serious illness at a relatively young age, I don't need a serious addiction as well.

The use of stimulants to treat Bipolar has long been an elephant in the room of the medical community, yet it is not THAT uncommon and has seen a gain in research with the rise of nootropic stimulants such as Modafinil that have risen in popularity (and may provide neuroprotective benefits) for treatment resistant depression. I myself was on 400mg of Modafinil at one point with the same levels of benzodiazepines.

So has anyone else suffering from treatment resistant depression seen any success with psychostimulants or nootropics?

Hell, I'm sure almost everyone with bipolar disorder has seen odd combinations of pharmaceuticals so this could even be a thread for (positive and negative) experiences with polypharmacology.

I think sometimes ppl add meds without necessarily thinking about what they are adding too carefully. At one point due to the actions of several different doctors between IP and OP I was on the equivalent of 50mg of diazepam in the forum of clonazepam, lorazepam and nitrazepam and got myself pretty addicted to this. I was in a bit of a state at the time so I dont know mood wise specifically what it did other than I was really unstable - and I am sure the benzos at that dose did not help. Eventually I came off them which took months at a tapered dose and I have not had benzos since - tho I have had a couple of courses of Z drugs which I do find give me a bit of a hit tho work for the sleep so I do take them and try to take them healthily. I have never been on stimulants.

Cracked

CrackedGirl wrote:I think sometimes ppl add meds without necessarily thinking about what they are adding too carefully. At one point due to the actions of several different doctors between IP and OP I was on the equivalent of 50mg of diazepam in the forum of clonazepam, lorazepam and nitrazepam and got myself pretty addicted to this. I was in a bit of a state at the time so I dont know mood wise specifically what it did other than I was really unstable - and I am sure the benzos at that dose did not help. Eventually I came off them which took months at a tapered dose and I have not had benzos since - tho I have had a couple of courses of Z drugs which I do find give me a bit of a hit tho work for the sleep so I do take them and try to take them healthily. I have never been on stimulants.

Cracked

Thank you for the reply! I can't imagine that high of a dosage of benzodiazepines, and I am sorry to hear of your struggle with dependency, although it makes me very happy to hear that you successfully tapered.

Although it may be difficult to talk about your experience with benzodiazepines greatly interests me as I attempt to remain highly vigilant with their usage to avoid dependency. It seems to be a battle against time in many cases, sadly.

I am very glad to hear your tapered successfully, from my understanding it can be an extremely difficult (as well as dangerous) process.

Once again your insight is always appreciated

Solovyov wrote:

CrackedGirl wrote:I think sometimes ppl add meds without necessarily thinking about what they are adding too carefully. At one point due to the actions of several different doctors between IP and OP I was on the equivalent of 50mg of diazepam in the forum of clonazepam, lorazepam and nitrazepam and got myself pretty addicted to this. I was in a bit of a state at the time so I dont know mood wise specifically what it did other than I was really unstable - and I am sure the benzos at that dose did not help. Eventually I came off them which took months at a tapered dose and I have not had benzos since - tho I have had a couple of courses of Z drugs which I do find give me a bit of a hit tho work for the sleep so I do take them and try to take them healthily. I have never been on stimulants.

Cracked

Thank you for the reply! I can't imagine that high of a dosage of benzodiazepines, and I am sorry to hear of your struggle with dependency, although it makes me very happy to hear that you successfully tapered.

Although it may be difficult to talk about your experience with benzodiazepines greatly interests me as I attempt to remain highly vigilant with their usage to avoid dependency. It seems to be a battle against time in many cases, sadly.

I am very glad to hear your tapered successfully, from my understanding it can be an extremely difficult (as well as dangerous) process.

Once again your insight is always appreciated

Thank you

Yeah it was a high dose of benzos for sure. At times I wish I could have some prn loraz but I know that is a slippery slope. I still have some substance abuse issues but am working on it and dont want to make things worse by asking for benzos- plus given my history with them I doubt I would be prescribed them.

Sounds like you are really aware of dependency issues and I think that is really good. I did not realise how addictive benzos were til I started to have a real problem with them - I abused them whilst working and thought I would be able to just give them up and could not. I did not tell anyone what I had been doing but I luckily got prescribed oral benzos (had been doing them iv) which stopped the withdrawal from stopping the large amounts I was injecting. Further down the line is when I tapered them off and came off them.

Benzos are def very addictive imo and I think it is good you are aware of this for sure.

Cracked