I don't know if turkey has melatonin, I'll have to look that up, but it does have tryptophan & 5HTP is basically tryptophan. Maybe that would help you more than just the melatonin alone. I noticed a significant difference once I began taking them together at bed time. There is cbd oil with melatonin, that may be something to look at. Yeah, getting your nutrients and vitamins through food is always better than getting it from supplements, much better absorption. Supplements shouldn't be a thing we need, but we're not living like we're designed to any more.
How you describe using the benzo doesn't strike me as too worrying, not like you're abusing it. Plus you are aware of the dangers. I have very minimal knowledge about them though. I experimented a little some years ago and quickly found it wasn't my thing.
I've got an amusing benzo story for ya. This was about a decade ago, I was not there to witness this, I heard this through second hand accounts.
My buddy, we'll call him Phil, went to a party. The party was at an apartment, where you open the door to the first floor, there is a flight of stairs that leads to the upstairs apartment. On the left is a door that leads to the apartment of the people living downstairs.
The party gets going, and Phil takes around 4-8 Xanax "bars": this is the highest dose of Xanax that is prescribed, typically. One of those can turn a grown man into a shambling, zombified person for a few hours. He also drank about half a fifth of vodka. This combination is ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE, AND CAN KILL YOU AND PUT EVERYONE AROUND YOU IN SERIOUS DANGER.
Phil was very, very fucked up. Eventually, people started falling asleep. At some point in the night, Phil took all of his clothing off and walked outside, wandered around in the street for a bit, and then went back into the front door of the apartment. Rather than going up the stairs to his friends' apartment, he opened the door on the ground floor- it was unlocked. He stumbled in and passed out on the nearest couch.
He awoke to police and EMTs dragging him out of this frightened family's apartment. Phil says his memory of the night is very foggy, he remembers going outside, doesn't know why, and everything else is absolutely blank.
This is a funny story because nobody got hurt... but Phil could've died. If I walked into my living room one morning and saw some strange man laying on my couch... well, let's just say the police wouldn't be needed so much as the EMTs would be. Fortunately, one of the family members knew Phil, who is actually a good, nice kid who makes some bad decisions (he was in his late teens I believe).
I ate a bar once after a long night of partying. I woke up 30 hours later. Never again.
Good god he's lucky he didn't die. Years ago, I took one or two of those blue footballs and drank a big beer and was completely wrecked to the point I couldn't stand and walk. It took me 30 minutes to get a cup of water. I got learnt real quick not to do that again.
I have also seen coworkers completely change from abusing xanax, that shit is insidious.
Alcohol potentiates the effects of benzos to an insane degree- benzos are not water soluble, so when taken without booze you get very little of the drug into your system.
But if you wash it down with a beer or vodka, it causes the drug to "separate" more and get into your bloodstream, along with the alcohol.
Interestingly, grapefruit and omeprazole (an anti-heartburn medication, over the counter) also potentiate benzodiazapines. There's a warning on the prescription bottle to not take with grapefruit juice.
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