Hi Lena,

I no longer take a benzo on a regular basis. It is approximately two (calendar) months since I took my last dose of clonazepam. Since then, I have also withdrawn from the Z-drugs and Seroxat. I am currently experiencing higher-than-normal anxiety but I'm more inclined to point the finger of blame at Seroxat. This is because the current anxiety spike has been going on for about two weeks. In other words, there was a six-week interval between withdrawing from clonazepam and the onset of the increased anxiety. There have been a couple of occasions when I have resorted to taking diazepam when my anxiety was intolerable.

I have recently introduced dietary supplements into my daily regime in the hope that they will help to restore my brain chemistry to healthy levels. It's early days.

All the best.

V.

Lena and Virgil, that is absolutely tremendous progress for both of you, I am over the moon for you both

I am down from taking 8-11mg of valium a day for a few months (mostly at 9mg+) to 7-8.5 mg over the last few weeks. This is without reducing my drinking, so the extra anxiety that brings me over and above my GAD remains...so I am quite pleased. I think if I can temper my drinking at least just a little more I can survive on 6-7mg daily (barring additional stressful situations) for the time being, with the hope of reducing more in future. I just do not like the way valium makes me feel...spacey and without my usual sharpness.

I suppose the crux of the matter, really, is why I've been able to reduce. It's not been willpower - I feel just as helpless in the face of GAD as I am in my alcohol addiction, and have to medicate as I feel the need. I definitely feel benefit from my supplement regime, but also have benefited tremendously from low-dosage propranolol - a beta-blocker to slow my constantly racing heart down, which also has anti-anxiety properties. This racing heart of mine may or may not be due to the anxiety itself - I'll have to eliminate the anxiety first to find out!

I've had a lot of investigations into my heart recently, a large cause of my anxiety (a panic attack with a BPM of 200+ when a heart attack is what you fear most is NOT fun) and thank my lucky stars structurally everything looks fine, and lipid values too. But I've been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, and my cardiologist wants to put me on a specific heart (rather than anxiety) targeting beta-blocker.

It'll be interesting to see how much valium I feel I need when I make the switch. I do hope it doesn't go back up. I hate this terrible stuff, as much as I need it right now.

Sorry for the long post...

8

What is the most Valium you've taken in a day (in mg)?

Bob

In four months of daily Valium use the most I've taken is 7 x 2mg tablets (i.e. 14mg total) once or twice, but on a number of occasions I've needed 5.5-6.5 tablets. Why do you ask, Bob?

I'd say my average over the four months has been 10mg a day. The encouraging thing is that it's been going down despite spikes in drinking and the related additional anxiety, and also not least the fact that now I have a tolerance to Valium it doesn't work as well as it used to...nothing like it.

That's not too bad for a maximum. I've been on Valium for years. I'm surprised they prescribe you 2mg pills. 5mg is far more common for those with anxiety problems. Manics often get 10mg pills which I had for a while, but I couldn't stand cutting them in half to get my 25mg dose. The halves were never exactly even and my shrink knew that bugged me, so he switched me to 5mg tabs. I swear I have 500 of these piled up, now. Just the dust in the bottles is enough to mellow you out for hours

Bob

PS No point to this post... just talking...

Here's a cautionary tale: The most klonipin I was prescribed was "only" 1 or 2 mg. I was doing 1 mg for sleep. After getting chronic neck spasms from a car accident my dr. increased the rx to 1 or 2 tabs, since klonipin "agreed" with me. When I wanted to quit and found I couldn't, only then did I learn that 1 mg klonipin = 20 mg valium! So I was taking 20 to 40 mg valium in a single dose!!! For sleep, and a sore neck!!! I got 5 mg valium tabs 25 years ago for the first week I quit smoking (very appropriate short-term benzo use) and 1/2 tab knocked me out.

I'm convinced that the low dosage of later forms of benzos is a marketing ploy. My m.d. did not know they were that strong; they get their continuing ed from the pharma salespeople all too often.

Rant over.

The GPs here are very cautious with benzos, which has forced me to be too. Many days I try to ration them as best I can but have often been completely non-functioning: not able to leave the house, eat, etc. It was during a series of non-stop traumas lasting a few months last year that my 6 to 10 drinks a night long-term habit became a 24/7 35 drink-a-day problem which almost killed me after five months, just because the doctor I was seeing initially wouldn't prescribe me more than 20mg of Valium in the short-term in one month.

Now, I take more than that in a week, am on Valium long-term, lost five months to complete obliteration, almost died (no exaggeration there, I promise) and haven't been able to work ever since due to persistent anxiety developing into permanent (presently) GAD.

Gotta love this country and its 'health' service

I completely agree Lena. My local GP surgery's pens all come gratis from the maker of a popular anti-depressant - and, surprise surprise, that's the main thing the doctors are pushing me to take for GAD. (I can't take SSRIs because of the dangerous side-effects they've given me in the past, but still they push).

1/2 tab of Valium used to kill my anxiety and make me sleep like a baby...now I don't even notice I've taken it. Which (with my GP's reticence to prescribe me more - and my own to take any more, and desire to come off the stuff) leaves me trying to take enough every day just to function, but at the same time have as little as possible.

I hope to find another way and to join you good souls in the benzo bunch who have reduced so far. At the moment my main hope lies with the supplements I've been taking (which have helped).

Hi 8,



I have had so many bad experiences with the NHS, I could write a book on it. Having said that, I've also had some not-so-good experiences in the private sector. But the NHS takes the biscuit. I'd love to see John Cleese in a Fawlty Towers version of an NHS hospital/clinic/surgery! Can you imagine it? Anyone got John Cleese' e-mail address?

V.

That would be brilliant, though even Cleese would have to work pretty hard to do the farce that often is the NHS proper justice...


Latest consultation with my doctor today regarding benzos went like this (you'll like this V, and no doubt others!):


Doctor: How are you doing with the diazepam?

8: I'm pretty happy I've managed to get down to 4 tablets daily from where I was a few weeks ago, but I'm going to try really hard to reduce it further. I want to get off these things.

Doc: Yes, four tablets a day is a problem, we really need to get you down to just three a day.*

8: (thinking 'yes because one 2mg tablet a day less makes all the difference between someone who's misusing benzos and someone who's using them responsibly - what a joke') Um, OK doctor.


* 'Up to three tablets per day as required' is the standard prescription in the English medical system for short-term use of diazepam for anxiety - I have been using it long-term, and three tablets (6mg) no longer does anything much for me due to tolerance.



I suppose this next bit should go on my weekly progress thread, so I might copy most of this post there too. Here is where we discussed my previous drinking (he thinks I'm abstinent, haha, but I think this little exchange shows why I don't even bother to tell him about TSM):



Doc: You are doing so well.

8: I am?

Doc: Yes! You used to be an alcoholic, but now you aren't an alcoholic.


I was SOOOO sorely tempted to ask 'if I'm not an alcoholic anymore, does that mean I can have the odd drink?' just to see what he'd come up with, but by this point I was absolutely speechless with disbelief.

Gotta laugh I suppose, cos otherwise there'd be tears