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Old 06-16-2013, 06:05 AM
 
1,410 posts, read 2,130,704 times
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Has anyone on here old enough to remember these types of sedatives (popular in the 50s and 60s as a safer alternative to barbs, but soon replaced by benzos for anxiety) ever been on them or knew of someone who was? Did tolerance develop? Were they as hard to withdraw from as benzos? Just as addictive both psychologically and physically?
During a recent hardship that I had trouble coping with, I managed to get my hands on 3 Equanils once...I took one 400 mg. pill one day and it not only masked my physical anxieties, but unlike benzos, masked my worries as well. Yet, I wasn't drowsy like with benzos and managed to get a lot done and have a productive day, but in a calm relaxed non-jittery way. Unfortunately, when I woke up in the middle of the night that night to use the toilet, my head was spinning.
A month later, I tried again, but this time I took the 2nd pill late morning and then the final pill 12 hrs later. I had mild vertigo the next day on and off, so I guess I was allergic to the drug after all.
But my experimentation with those piqued my curiousity and I don't find too much info online about them since many phychoactive drug use sites have younger users who've never heard of meprobamates. I posted this question on here because there is a wider variety of users' age groups, so I'm hoping to hear from those old enough to remember the stuff when it was commonly prescribed.
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Old 06-16-2013, 11:38 PM
 
Location: TOVCCA
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I remember them well. It was a ridiculously popular tranquilizer. Ever hear the song "Mother's Little Helper" by the Rolling Stones? Well, that was about Miltown; we teens knew it meant that even then. Practically all the people I used to babysit for in the 1960's had an Rx for Miltown in their medicine cabinets. I was never into tranx, more the pure hippie type but some I knew were.

The fuzzy/dizzy head effect is well-known. Lots of auto crashes in those days behind Miltown. And they are easily addictive with an easily-acquired tolerance. But the most problematic issue for meprobamate is that a mix with alcohol can rather easily be fatal. Adults in the 50's and 60's were big drinkers (ever watch Mad Men on TV?) and so there was the push to find safer tranx. Hardly think Xanax is much so with the seizure detox and all, but benzos are considered so. A few years ago I met a guy who was still on them and had been so since 1958! They are still available, but most docs think they're like a sledgehammer compared to benzos.

Another factoid: the drug Soma is a "pro-drug" of meprobamate, and I think it metabolizes the same, if I understand it right.

You might enjoy these links:

How it got so popular:
America's Long Love Affair with Anti-Anxiety Drugs - Newsweek and The Daily Beast

The guy who invented it---obit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/he...rger.html?_r=0

Here’s a good list of the problems with meprobamate:
Miltown, Equanil (Meprobamate) Addictions | Drug Addiction Treatment

Last edited by nightlysparrow; 06-16-2013 at 11:51 PM..
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Old 06-18-2013, 12:05 AM
 
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I thought that song was about valuim,it was yellow too.Anyway back to subject.Those drugs were not helpful from what I saw in those who used them.
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Old 06-18-2013, 11:34 PM
 
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Thanks for the links, Sparrow. I've read patient reviews on meprobamate drugs from webmd.com and a few others, and I had a hard time believing how most of them (senior citizens) said that they had been on the same dose daily for decades and the reviews were all positive. (smells like b.s. to me!) That's why I asked about tolerance. Because I've been on benzos before, and tolerance can build pretty fast in some of them, and on one of them I was able to stay on the same dose for a number of years, but it eventually caught up with me, and it had been nowhere near a decade, let alone longer. So I figured that the meprobamates would've had to have had some similar tolerance drawback.

I too, also thought that Valium was what the Rolling Stones' song was about. My Equanils were white (but they were 400 mg., IDK what color the 200 mg. doses came in, or what color the Miltown brand came in), but Valium 5 mg. is a "little yellow pill". OTOH, a verse near the end of the song went, "...and if you take more of those, you will get an overdose...", and the older types of sedatives were easier to overdose on than Valiums, so IDK.
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Old 06-21-2013, 08:49 AM
 
Location: So Ca
26,577 posts, read 26,445,339 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by temazepam View Post
anyone on here old enough to remember these types of sedatives ever been on them or knew of someone who was?
I was prescribed Miltown in my 30s for PMS (I don't recall the # of mg). The day before my period, I would knock over things, have shaky hands, feel jittery, etc. My doctor told me to take one and break it in half. I took that dose one day per month and ALL of my PMS symptoms disappeared. I couldn't believe it; it also had no sedative effect.
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