I took Valium before, for out-of-control anxiety and panic attacks. I got sick of the long halflife so I switched to Xanax. Well, I've been through Xanax withdrawal twice, after taking it for a short period of time (1-2 weeks). It's been a bitch.

Now, from my understanding, Valium is less addictive, right? I know I took it for two weeks last summer and stopped cold turkey and didn't have a problem. Also, I found that Valium has a much "smoother" feeling if that makes any sense.

So my pdoc and I decided to go back to Valium. Since I don't need benzos that often anymore, the long halflife shouldn't be much of a problem.

Any experiences with this? Which one do you like better?

I am on both at the moment, but I completely understand what you mean when you say that Valium has a much smoother feel to it.

Xanax is there in case I need fast relief, and Valium is there for anxiety stemming from a tourettes/OCD problem.

I prefer Valium, and, for me, Xanax doesn't seem all that potent to be honsest.

And yes, Valium is not as addictive.


Good luck.

PS, I usually need about 40mg of Valium and 4mg of Xanax at a time.  Quite high I suppose, but I am a big heavy guy.

I try not to take the drugs anymore than 3 times a week.

Tried it yesterday.

Didn't do much. Kept the panic away, but did nothing for anxiety. And I took 20 mg, as opposed to 5-10 mg I'm supposed to take. Maybe my tolerance is a bit high after Xanax? But since I hope I won't need it that often, I'll try and stick to it and see if my tolerance goes down again.

I had 5-10 mg prescribed before too, but after a while I needed 20 mg to feel any difference. I take 2 mg of Xanax.

The big, big plus is that it's less addictive. I'm scared as hell of withdrawal again.

Hi Helena, remember that there are 2 types of benzo tolerance.

One is tolerance to the solomnence effect (the feeling of being a little bombed or high) and the other is tolerance to the anti-anxiety effect.

I had the same problem when I switched from xanax to valium.  1mg xanax used to work well for me, but I found valium did nothing below 20mg.

Over time I have come to realise that with the valium I often get the anti-anxiety effect without feeling the solomnence, which took some time to get used to but is probably better in the long run.

Now I can take 10-15mg and get a decent effect - Ive been off xanax for over a year now.

Thanks.

But the thing is, it did nothing for anxiety even at 20 mg. And I'm only allowed to take 5-10 mg.

I see you're dx of Bipolar (probably type I) with rapid cycling.  Is it possible that the anxiety is actually a mixed state?  I ask because I have been mistaking the two in myself for most of my life.

Or you are just becoming tolerant to benzos.  It's pretty much inavoidable.

Dee

It just might be, now that I think about it. I have mixed states, but they are usually distinct from panic/anxiety attacks by more destructive thoughts, more energy and that electric-shock feeling in my body.

But the attacks may be "light" mixed states, who knows? Come to think about it, it's gotten better since I started being treated for BP.

Tolerance sucks. Hehe. I don't need benzos often anymore, but I still need them every now and then. I'll just hope Valium starts working when my tolerance goes down a bit.

My Pdoc is hoping the anxiety is comorbid to the bp and by treating the bp the anxiety will go away.  Here's hoping!  Meanwhile, I think I'll pop a blue valium now. 

I guess if valium isnt working for you at a significant dose, then you can talk to your dr about the following options :

- Atvian (Lorazepam) which is a short acting and fairly potent benzo, though not as short acting or addictive as xanax

- Klonopin (Clonazepam) which is a very long acting benzo, but much stronger than valium and quite popular with Bi-Polar patients

- a variety of other mysterious and colorful benzos, which I will not go into detail with but you can read about at the top of this forum

A lot of people find klonopin withdrawal to be harsh; not so bas as xanax but probably the second worst.  If valium works for you its great because it sort of hits the middle ground; if it doesnt then definitiely consider your options.

Hmm, Klonopin is actually not a bad idea. I was on it daily (2 mg) for months because I tended to get manic in the nights, being the rapid cycler that I am. I stopped cold turkey and everything felt a bit unreal. So I split the dose and took that for a few days and no problems.

And it really worked for me. I will ask pdoc about that.

I'll also look into Ativan.

Thanks!