Hmm, that was alot. You speak of it in the past tense, so you were able to get off them? Major kudos to you!
I've been to alot of forums like this and I have seen people mention they take 15+ per day, and some have said they got to a point with the tollerance where they could take 5 at a time and feel nothing. Me personally, I use them as sparingly as possible. I have severe depression and they are the only thing that actually help, so I am taking control of my own mental well being at the moment. But I am very aware of the addiction factor, and I can see exactly how it works. I used to take two at a time, now I take 4 to get the same effect. But that's it, I don't take any more than that in a day and I have not taken them for more than 3 days straight. And I usually break for a few days - ometimes just knowing I can take them if I have a real bad day helps, and I try to stretch it as long as possible. I guess some would say I am playing with fire, but I do not intend to use them for very long, just until I get past some BS in my life.
Regards,
-T