Still Felt Withdrawals for About Four Months
Cinazepam (Levana)
Citation:   parodoxter. "Still Felt Withdrawals for About Four Months: An Experience with Cinazepam (Levana) (exp112315)". Erowid.org. Oct 10, 2020. erowid.org/exp/112315

 
BODY WEIGHT: 150 lb
Ukrainian Phenazepam Analogue Called Levana

In 2016 I went to Ukraine to try to sober up and maybe get overall healthier. To say the least I was definitely unsuccessful in this endeavor. To get to the point, about a month into my time there I discovered a benzo I could buy called levana. It was some kind of phenazepam derivative, and it didn't even have a short chemical name like alprazolam or lorazepam, just a long chemical formula name with the word benzodiazepine in it (моно-[7-бром-2-оксо-5-(2-хлорфенил)-2,3-дігідро-1Н-бензо[1,4]діазепин-3-ил]сукцината моногідрат) - it's in Ukrainian. From what I've read in some Russian forums it's related to phenazepam.

So getting to the point, I started using it. The effects are pretty weak, and I only really felt something from it at about 2+mgs. It seemed to work well enough for anxiety relief and the effects seemed to last a long time, approximately taking it once a day was technically sufficient. But I wanted to catch more of a high from it so I started using more, and then even more. I got up to about 12 or 14 mgs per day, but most days I tried to keep it to 10mgs or less, probably at around 6-8 mgs on average. I started noticing that if I don't take a dose every 24hrs, 36 hrs max, I would start going into some pretty scary wds.
I started noticing that if I don't take a dose every 24hrs, 36 hrs max, I would start going into some pretty scary wds.


After about 4 months of playing around with it I decided I wanted to stop using it. So i started tapering, I would say I tried to taper off for about 2 months. During my taper I noticed that I would def need a dose every day to avoid the wds. I tapered down to a pretty low dose, it has been almost 2 years so I don't remember exactly but it was either between .125 to .250 mgs. At those dosages it wasn't really effective for anxiety, but still if I didn't take a dose every 24hrs the wds started.

Finally, I decided enough was enough and I decided to go through it thinking I was on such a low dose, how bad could it be and how long could they possibly last for. Well they were bad, very very very bad. Just so you understand I have went through lorazepam and temazepam wds, I've been through heroin wds and oxycodone wds. The lorazepam and temazepam wd was nothing compared to this drugs wd process, and this was despite the fact I tapered to a very low dose. Even oxycontin wd, as hellish as it was, could not compare to these wds.

To illustrate this fact, I'd say that the levana wds were not all that physical, some muscle tension, restlessness, and sleeplessness. The real battle were the mental wds. I've had anxiety pretty much my entire life, and panic attacks after 19 years old. The anxiety from the levana was just unreal. It also put me in a deep depression, a horrible mental fog, couldn't remember basically anything. My actions and thoughts were all so illogical. I remember trying to write a sentence and thinking is it grammatically correct, but I just couldn't tell, all I know is that it seemed written very strangely but I couldn't understand why or correct it so it would be ok. One week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, five weeks... I'm starting to wonder if it's ever going to go away or if I have lost my mind.

Remember I'm in a foreign country alone, so I basically have no one to even speak to. I'm alone in my apartment, afraid to venture outside, some times for days. Afraid to see people cause I'm sure they're going to look at me like I've lost it cause I feel like I am tripping major balls. When I do go out it's only at night to a 24 hour supermarket to buy some kind of food for the next few days. The people there give me some pretty weird looks and when I try speaking it comes out very jumbled and just off. Having to try to speak in Russian doesn't help either.

The worst of the wds lasted about 2 months. But I still felt some for about 4 months. The experience was so traumatizing that I think a year later I still hadn't come back to where I was before starting the levana.
I think a year later I still hadn't come back to where I was before starting the levana.
I really really really wish I never found out about and took this med. It was probably one of the worst choices, if not the worst choice, of my life.

The only reason I'm writing this is cause before trying this med I looked for some reports about it in English and I think in Russian (although my Russian wasn't that good at that point) and did not find any. So this is my warning to you, do not take a medication sold under the name Levana. I believe it is only sold in Ukraine, but have read that the benzo called phenazepam is starting to make its way to the West. Based on my experience with levana, and what I've read about phenazepam, I would highly recommend not messing with these benzos. They're weak compared to the common benzos, but the wds are extreme. Be safe when experimenting and only use the meds and chems that have some data available on them. Sometimes the consequences are far greater than what you expect to pay.

Exp Year: 2016ExpID: 112315
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: 28
Published: Oct 10, 2020Views: 807
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Benzodiazepines (434) : General (1), Addiction & Habituation (10), Alone (16)

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