To kick things off, as we were discussing in the other thread, many of us have stumbled onto the fact that benzodiazepine medications seem give us our ability to be normal human beings to some degree.
However, my experience with trying to relate this to doctors (who otherwise are more than fine with doing absolutely nothing for us) runs the gamut from my PCP who cut me off mid sentence to say "I don't do benzos" to my shrinks whom keep telling me that while they aren't against it in the future at some point (allowing for months to go by whereby I suffer needlessly) that there needs to be some parental lecture and "boundaries" discussion first.
Recently I was experimenting with
alpha-pinene, an essential oil constituent which
binds to the GABA-A benzodiazepine receptor, and modulates this receptor in a way similar to zolpidem, a Z-drug.
Alpha-pinene binds to the alpha1 and gamma2 subunits of the GABA-A benzodiazepine receptor.
When I was experimenting with 3 drops of juniper essential oil taken internally (diluted in 15 ml of carrier oil), I found that it caused a fairly profound relaxing effect on the mind, which was rather pleasant. Though this relaxed mental state only lasted for a few hours; so it may be that frequent re-dosing is required to maintain the effect.
You can buy pure alpha-pinene
here cheaply, or you can buy juniper berry essential oil which
contains 29% alpha-pinene.
However, because alpha-pinene binds to the alpha1 subunit, it may be subject to a similar tolerance build up as regular benzodiazepines and Z-drugs.
I wish the so called "perfect benzodiazepine" imidazenil was available, as this produces much less tolerance and addiction, as it targets the alpha5 subunit of the GABA-A receptor, rather than the alpha1 subunit. I believe alpha5 is less subject to tolerance build-up than alpha1.