Benzodiazepines have a nonlinear respiratory suppression curve. It plateaus. This means that for many people (not all) it's exceptionally difficult to cause terminal respiratory suppression with benzos alone. Everyone's threshold is different though, and that death line can be moved by other factors, such as combining with opioids, alcohol, or other respiratory suppressants.
evedgebah t1_jeh2zbq wrote
Reply to ELI5: If benzodiazepines are CNS depressants, why is it so hard to die from a overdose of them alone? by psychrolute
Benzodiazepines have a nonlinear respiratory suppression curve. It plateaus. This means that for many people (not all) it's exceptionally difficult to cause terminal respiratory suppression with benzos alone. Everyone's threshold is different though, and that death line can be moved by other factors, such as combining with opioids, alcohol, or other respiratory suppressants.
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