Diazepam dependency & withdrawal - Is it overrated
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 24
Diazepam dependency & withdrawal - Is it overrated
I am an alcoholic. I have stopped drinking and don't want to start again. I was mainly self medicating to stop anxiety. Sadly, I wasn't a functioning alcoholic. I was the type who could stay sober for a while, then binge for weeks and end up losing my job, gitlfriend, all my money, friends and be throwing up and dry heaving and hating myself. It was a sorry state.
I know I am going to get a lot of flack for this, but instead I am now taking diazepam. Yes, it is replacing one addiction with another, but at the moment I am doing damage limitation. Diazepam, to me, doesn't prevent me from doing anything. I can function like a normal human being everyday and live a normal life that I never could with alcohol.
Admittedly, I take too much of it, and irregular amounts of it, Some days I take 10mg, some days I take 80mg, some days I go 3 days without feeling the need to take any. It fluctuates. I have been doing this for about 5 months.
I know it is too much, and I do MOSTLY for anxiety, but occasionally I like to get the chilled out buzz... I know when/if I stop I will feel like crap for a bit... BUT... Some people take Valium for 10 or 15 years and manage to taper of it and be fine after 6 months or a year. So how bad can I be?
Also, you hear about the tolerance, but surely that is overrated too. If not, people on it for 10 years would have to be taking grams of the stuff. Not milligrams, but literally about 10g of the stuff every day to combat their dependency, and these are people who have it prescribed and no doctor would prescribe 10,000mg of valium a day.
So what is the truth? People say you build up a tolerance and have to double and triple your dose after just weeks, maybe months, but that simply can't be true when people are taking it for decades without even knowing they are addicted until they try to stop. I am not asking for medical advice, and flame me if you want, but I just want a discussion about this please? Based on personal experience.
I know it is not an ideal solution, but I would rather be a normal, happy functioning, NON ANXIOUS person on valium than a disgusting alcoholic who can't hold his life together.
So what have you people experienced. If some people can go 20 years without realising they are addicted, and then only find out when they go cold turkey or taper off, REALLY, how bad can taking it for 8 or 9 months be?
I know I am going to get a lot of flack for this, but instead I am now taking diazepam. Yes, it is replacing one addiction with another, but at the moment I am doing damage limitation. Diazepam, to me, doesn't prevent me from doing anything. I can function like a normal human being everyday and live a normal life that I never could with alcohol.
Admittedly, I take too much of it, and irregular amounts of it, Some days I take 10mg, some days I take 80mg, some days I go 3 days without feeling the need to take any. It fluctuates. I have been doing this for about 5 months.
I know it is too much, and I do MOSTLY for anxiety, but occasionally I like to get the chilled out buzz... I know when/if I stop I will feel like crap for a bit... BUT... Some people take Valium for 10 or 15 years and manage to taper of it and be fine after 6 months or a year. So how bad can I be?
Also, you hear about the tolerance, but surely that is overrated too. If not, people on it for 10 years would have to be taking grams of the stuff. Not milligrams, but literally about 10g of the stuff every day to combat their dependency, and these are people who have it prescribed and no doctor would prescribe 10,000mg of valium a day.
So what is the truth? People say you build up a tolerance and have to double and triple your dose after just weeks, maybe months, but that simply can't be true when people are taking it for decades without even knowing they are addicted until they try to stop. I am not asking for medical advice, and flame me if you want, but I just want a discussion about this please? Based on personal experience.
I know it is not an ideal solution, but I would rather be a normal, happy functioning, NON ANXIOUS person on valium than a disgusting alcoholic who can't hold his life together.
So what have you people experienced. If some people can go 20 years without realising they are addicted, and then only find out when they go cold turkey or taper off, REALLY, how bad can taking it for 8 or 9 months be?
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Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
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Welcome to the forum 
I have no experience myself, but I really hope you'll read around here about Valium and other benzos here MyNewName.
Most people I've known here wouldn't wish benzo addiction on their worst enemy.
I think you seriously need to rethink your strategy.
Why not do it right and seek some professional medical advice? be honest with them about your anxiety problem and what you've been trying to do with it.
D
I have no experience myself, but I really hope you'll read around here about Valium and other benzos here MyNewName.
Most people I've known here wouldn't wish benzo addiction on their worst enemy.
I think you seriously need to rethink your strategy.
Why not do it right and seek some professional medical advice? be honest with them about your anxiety problem and what you've been trying to do with it.
D
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 24
Hi,
I have tried, but the Dr's have tried to put me on anti-depressants, (I am not depressed, I am actually pretty cheerful), Beta-blockers, which don't do anything, one even suggested that I just try breathing exercises.
Valium works, but because I have a history of alcoholism they would nevr prescribe them to me. Don't get me wrong, I know I SHOULDN'T self medicate with valium but right now it is the lesser of two evils for me. An alcohol binge can cost me hundreds of pounds, not to mention losing lots of other things. Taking valium costs me maybe £30 a month.
I have a lot of stressful things going on in my life at the moment so I think once I have got all the life obstacles out of the way, then I can take a month break and wean myself off valium, which I will do with medical assistance and the Ashton manual, but until then, for me this seems a lot easier than trying other methods that don't work which will probably end up seeing me relapse on drink.
Again, I know we can't give medical advice, but I would like to hear some personal anecdotes/tales from people who have taken valium long term, because compared to those on them from decades who manage to get through it, surely what I am doing is minor in comparison? I am not STATING that as fact, I am speculating and trying to understand.
I will be drug free eventually, but considering I was taking cannabis, ecstasy, LSD, speed, cocaine, crack, heroin and virtually every street drug you can imagine from the age of 14 until I was 24 (I am 31 now), then being an alcoholic on top of that... How I am now, feels like I have come a very, very long way. I am never 'wrecked' the most I am is relaxed, and the majority of the time I am just not anxious. It might not seem the right path, but for me, this is a very good starting point.
I think the main thing I need to do is stop being an idiot occasionally, and stick to taking 10mg once or twice a day instead of when I am bored, taking 60-80mg and getting a chilled out buzz to watch TV. If I can do that, I think that when it comes time to taper off I will be able to handle it... As much as it will hurt :P
I have tried, but the Dr's have tried to put me on anti-depressants, (I am not depressed, I am actually pretty cheerful), Beta-blockers, which don't do anything, one even suggested that I just try breathing exercises.
Valium works, but because I have a history of alcoholism they would nevr prescribe them to me. Don't get me wrong, I know I SHOULDN'T self medicate with valium but right now it is the lesser of two evils for me. An alcohol binge can cost me hundreds of pounds, not to mention losing lots of other things. Taking valium costs me maybe £30 a month.
I have a lot of stressful things going on in my life at the moment so I think once I have got all the life obstacles out of the way, then I can take a month break and wean myself off valium, which I will do with medical assistance and the Ashton manual, but until then, for me this seems a lot easier than trying other methods that don't work which will probably end up seeing me relapse on drink.
Again, I know we can't give medical advice, but I would like to hear some personal anecdotes/tales from people who have taken valium long term, because compared to those on them from decades who manage to get through it, surely what I am doing is minor in comparison? I am not STATING that as fact, I am speculating and trying to understand.
I will be drug free eventually, but considering I was taking cannabis, ecstasy, LSD, speed, cocaine, crack, heroin and virtually every street drug you can imagine from the age of 14 until I was 24 (I am 31 now), then being an alcoholic on top of that... How I am now, feels like I have come a very, very long way. I am never 'wrecked' the most I am is relaxed, and the majority of the time I am just not anxious. It might not seem the right path, but for me, this is a very good starting point.
I think the main thing I need to do is stop being an idiot occasionally, and stick to taking 10mg once or twice a day instead of when I am bored, taking 60-80mg and getting a chilled out buzz to watch TV. If I can do that, I think that when it comes time to taper off I will be able to handle it... As much as it will hurt :P
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,126
For a decade I was prescribed Klonopin, which, as per the Ashton manual, has the following Valium equivalent formula: .25 milligram of Klonopin = 5 milligrams of Valium.
for the last few years of my use, I was prescribed 20 milligrams of Klonopin per day, or 400 milligrams of Valium.
Dependence? All benzos have a tolerance threshold quickly reached. When I was first prescribed benzos, I was on 1 milligrams per day.
I was prescribed the drug for panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.
I also suffer from major depression and take an antidepressant. As a shrink 20 years ago told me, think of anxiety as depression. It's a paradox, but very true.
Here's another paradox: benzos create withdrawals between dosages. And you get rebound anxiety during those periods. And you have to increase the dosage. Let the brain get used to benzos and take away the benzos and you no longer have anxiety, you have panic. Take a benzo because it's difficult to go to sleep, remove benzos, and you will have acute insomnia for weeks.
Benzos work. They get rid of the anxiety like no other drug I know. And there is this little insidious nature about them -- they kill all emotion. Ever do something embarrassing while drunk? Once you lose inhibitions through benzos, you'll make a drunk look like a pious saint.
Benzos are only meant to be taken for a few months and you want anecdotes about folks who have been on them for years. Well, I'm that story, and they destroyed my life, pure and simple.
What's benzo detox like? For me, 18 days after stopping following a taper program, I went insane. I had seizures, blood pressure near stroke levels, complete psychotic states that lasted for hours, heart rate like a scared rabbits, sweats, acute insomnia (read no sleep for 10 days), shakes...and many symptoms lasted for months. I mean, three months of watching a cigarette vibrate in my hand, legs that couldn't support my weight, I lost 30 pounds...and this lasted for six months.
I've been sober for a year and I still have withdrawal symptoms...tinnitus, loss of emotions, poor cognition.
Taking 80 milligrams to veg out in front of the television? That's not treating anxiety. Taking 20 milligrams to keep anxiety at bay? That's not recovery.
I know of no one who has successfully tapered benzos without extreme complications.
Replacing booze with benzos just might be the worst solution to your problem that I can think of.
for the last few years of my use, I was prescribed 20 milligrams of Klonopin per day, or 400 milligrams of Valium.
Dependence? All benzos have a tolerance threshold quickly reached. When I was first prescribed benzos, I was on 1 milligrams per day.
I was prescribed the drug for panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.
I also suffer from major depression and take an antidepressant. As a shrink 20 years ago told me, think of anxiety as depression. It's a paradox, but very true.
Here's another paradox: benzos create withdrawals between dosages. And you get rebound anxiety during those periods. And you have to increase the dosage. Let the brain get used to benzos and take away the benzos and you no longer have anxiety, you have panic. Take a benzo because it's difficult to go to sleep, remove benzos, and you will have acute insomnia for weeks.
Benzos work. They get rid of the anxiety like no other drug I know. And there is this little insidious nature about them -- they kill all emotion. Ever do something embarrassing while drunk? Once you lose inhibitions through benzos, you'll make a drunk look like a pious saint.
Benzos are only meant to be taken for a few months and you want anecdotes about folks who have been on them for years. Well, I'm that story, and they destroyed my life, pure and simple.
What's benzo detox like? For me, 18 days after stopping following a taper program, I went insane. I had seizures, blood pressure near stroke levels, complete psychotic states that lasted for hours, heart rate like a scared rabbits, sweats, acute insomnia (read no sleep for 10 days), shakes...and many symptoms lasted for months. I mean, three months of watching a cigarette vibrate in my hand, legs that couldn't support my weight, I lost 30 pounds...and this lasted for six months.
I've been sober for a year and I still have withdrawal symptoms...tinnitus, loss of emotions, poor cognition.
Taking 80 milligrams to veg out in front of the television? That's not treating anxiety. Taking 20 milligrams to keep anxiety at bay? That's not recovery.
I know of no one who has successfully tapered benzos without extreme complications.
Replacing booze with benzos just might be the worst solution to your problem that I can think of.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 172
On about my 5th opiate detox since 1988. They get harder and harder and thus last time I was taking 90 mg of Roxy every 6 hours. No matter how bad opiate withdrawals, I steer clear if benzos because those can ruin you if your predisposed to anxiety. A small anxiety probl can become a panic disorder once benzos removed.
I took pain pills because they removed the necessity and desire for me to drink alcohol. So I can relate to that aspect. All substances are simply a dead end street for me. The pills are just so much harder to get off of and take months for our bodies to reset.
If your an addict or alcoholic, you are playing with fire and will get burned big time from my experience. If not, then no worries and may a controlled taper and a soft landing be in your future.
I took pain pills because they removed the necessity and desire for me to drink alcohol. So I can relate to that aspect. All substances are simply a dead end street for me. The pills are just so much harder to get off of and take months for our bodies to reset.
If your an addict or alcoholic, you are playing with fire and will get burned big time from my experience. If not, then no worries and may a controlled taper and a soft landing be in your future.
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,677
Self-medicating
Originally Posted by MyNewName 
I am an alcoholic. I have stopped drinking and don't want to start again. I was mainly self medicating to stop anxiety. Sadly, I wasn't a functioning alcoholic. I was the type who could stay sober for a while, then binge for weeks and end up losing my job, gitlfriend, all my money, friends and be throwing up and dry heaving and hating myself. It was a sorry state.
I know I am going to get a lot of flack for this, but instead I am now taking diazepam. Yes, it is replacing one addiction with another, but at the moment I am doing damage limitation. Diazepam, to me, doesn't prevent me from doing anything. I can function like a normal human being everyday and live a normal life that I never could with alcohol.
Admittedly, I take too much of it, and irregular amounts of it, Some days I take 10mg, some days I take 80mg, some days I go 3 days without feeling the need to take any. It fluctuates. I have been doing this for about 5 months.
I know it is too much, and I do MOSTLY for anxiety, but occasionally I like to get the chilled out buzz... I know when/if I stop I will feel like crap for a bit... BUT... Some people take Valium for 10 or 15 years and manage to taper of it and be fine after 6 months or a year. So how bad can I be?
Also, you hear about the tolerance, but surely that is overrated too. If not, people on it for 10 years would have to be taking grams of the stuff. Not milligrams, but literally about 10g of the stuff every day to combat their dependency, and these are people who have it prescribed and no doctor would prescribe 10,000mg of valium a day.
So what is the truth? People say you build up a tolerance and have to double and triple your dose after just weeks, maybe months, but that simply can't be true when people are taking it for decades without even knowing they are addicted until they try to stop. I am not asking for medical advice, and flame me if you want, but I just want a discussion about this please? Based on personal experience.
I know it is not an ideal solution, but I would rather be a normal, happy functioning, NON ANXIOUS person on valium than a disgusting alcoholic who can't hold his life together.
So what have you people experienced. If some people can go 20 years without realising they are addicted, and then only find out when they go cold turkey or taper off, REALLY, how bad can taking it for 8 or 9 months be?
I know I am going to get a lot of flack for this, but instead I am now taking diazepam. Yes, it is replacing one addiction with another, but at the moment I am doing damage limitation. Diazepam, to me, doesn't prevent me from doing anything. I can function like a normal human being everyday and live a normal life that I never could with alcohol.
Admittedly, I take too much of it, and irregular amounts of it, Some days I take 10mg, some days I take 80mg, some days I go 3 days without feeling the need to take any. It fluctuates. I have been doing this for about 5 months.
I know it is too much, and I do MOSTLY for anxiety, but occasionally I like to get the chilled out buzz... I know when/if I stop I will feel like crap for a bit... BUT... Some people take Valium for 10 or 15 years and manage to taper of it and be fine after 6 months or a year. So how bad can I be?
Also, you hear about the tolerance, but surely that is overrated too. If not, people on it for 10 years would have to be taking grams of the stuff. Not milligrams, but literally about 10g of the stuff every day to combat their dependency, and these are people who have it prescribed and no doctor would prescribe 10,000mg of valium a day.
So what is the truth? People say you build up a tolerance and have to double and triple your dose after just weeks, maybe months, but that simply can't be true when people are taking it for decades without even knowing they are addicted until they try to stop. I am not asking for medical advice, and flame me if you want, but I just want a discussion about this please? Based on personal experience.
I know it is not an ideal solution, but I would rather be a normal, happy functioning, NON ANXIOUS person on valium than a disgusting alcoholic who can't hold his life together.
So what have you people experienced. If some people can go 20 years without realising they are addicted, and then only find out when they go cold turkey or taper off, REALLY, how bad can taking it for 8 or 9 months be?
You describe a rather dangerous situation with your benzo use because you are self-medicating as much as for the concerns other people have given you about benzos in general.
It is true that some people in alcohol detox are given benzos, but it is under medical supervision and usually for a discrete period of time.
I'm not sure which might be worse -- the risk of your getting hooked on street benzos, or returning to your life of alcohol abuse.
There are doctors who will treat your alcoholism and give you something to get you through the anxiety, etc.
I realize a lot of people get alarmed about benzos, and well they should. But the fact remains that benzos have a place when part of a medically supervised program.
Not everyone gets hooked when prescribed benzos. Your dose and behavior just are not appropriate on any level. I was given lorazepam a few years ago for a few months when I suffered severe anxiety, but I never got over 2 mg a day. People can even have seizures if they suddenly stop taking that small amount. So when I was taken off, it was done gradually, and I had no ill effects at all. I no longer take any kind of opiates, benzos, or other substance, and I quit alcohol over 20 years ago.
Don't use others' examples to set your standard, though. Every individual should be treated as an individual, under a medical regimen if you are going to use dangerous substances like benzos can be.
Ft
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