Hi,

I called my MD for my valium refill (I've tapered down to 2mg 3x/day, originally was on 30mg/day! I welcome inquiries on this topic.)

I also requested a small stash of a low dosage of a short-acting benzo to have handy for "those" times, as the xanax I've had for a while has run low. For that he called in chlorazepate 7.5mg (which I'm guessing I'd usually halve.)

First question -- From what I've gathered chlorazepate isn't much shorter-acting than valium. Before I ask him, anyone have a hunch why he may have selected it, other than (wonderful doctor though he is) he is occasionally scattered?

Second question -- I've heard that expiration dates on meds tend to be very conservative. Anyone have an unofficial estimate on how much longer benzos last beyond expiration? Does it make a difference if they're time-released? (I have some very old xanax XRs in case of major crisis.)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Clorazepate appears to have the same half-life as Valium, but it appears to act 'slightly' quicker than Valium. No idea why he prescribed the same class of benzo....

Sorry, can't help you with the last question....but I have taken meds many months and in some cases years after expiry. I really think it depends on the med. I would google that one. Congrats on getting down so low on Valium. I see you take it 3x per day. With its long half life, once a day should be enough or twice a day if your really sensitive to flunctuations....

Cheers

Thanks, melli. It would be typical that he heard "fast-acting" when I said "short-acting". I'm sure they'll come in handy anyway.

As to the Valium, at least at this low dosage, I do feel a definite drop-off by hour 8. But then I do metabolize stuff really fast.

Anyway thanks for your support, and in advance to anyone else who may add something.

my doctor recently prescribed me chlorazepate, or tranxene as its brand name is called. he seemed to have a pretty favorable opinion of it. he said it was the best benzo, and has been around a long time but only recently has begun being prescribed again. so maybe that was part of your doctors consideration. i certainly had not heard of it before, but my pdoc has been working for some 40 years so he seems to prefer some of the older drugs. he gave me the 3.75 mg pills, and i've tried it a couple of times at the higher dose, but the longer acting benzos seem to give me wackier side-effects than good ol xanax. i'm not sure if i'm going to stick with it or not because i can't tell how strong it is.

Thanks, scream_phoenix. This may explain it further. I consider my doc very knowledgeable and not stuck to the mainstream so it's the kind of thing he'd do. I might try it for a day or two in lieu of valium and if I like it better maybe he'd want me to switch over. At that point I'll ask him why he prescribed that instead of a short-acting (but hey, I'd rather it act too long than too short, as I don't get the wackiness of which you speak.) (Or maybe it's my norm, heh.)