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Had to resort to taking a Valium (5mg) tonight for acute stress flare-up after a heated argument (happened right before bedtime, then I can't fall asleep) These intense emotions of overwhelm and sadness keep me awake for hours afterwards. How long until this kicks in? After 20-30 mins, It doesn't feel like it's doing much at all...would taking more be bad? I also have Xanax, but I end up waking up middle of night when it wears off.

So I have been on xanax 1mg two to three times daily for about 1-1.5 years now; Paxil is great and I don't need xanax when on paxil but it makes me manic as hell so that isn't really an option. Been thinking whether Zoloft would be any different.... Anyway, still on xanax same dosage, but just doubled my valium from 10mg at night to 20mg at night because I was waking up from sleep with difficulty breathing and panic symptoms. I asked to try ativan, eliminate the antipsychotic i use for sleep mainly since ativan 2mg really helps with insomnia, and get rid of the valium. Well she said lets try increasing the valium first then we will go from there. Valium honestly does nothing for me. At 10mg I legit feel nothing. It takes at least 40-60mg for minimal anxiety relief. I respect its long half-life but if it's not benefiting much for sleep, or other anxiety problems in the morning I feel like why should I continue it. Switching to ativan 2mg at bedtime could get me off valium and saphris for sleep (would love to not be on an antipsychotic mainly for sleep anyway). Ativan very little to no next day drowsiness, cognitive impairment, lethargy, flat mood. Refreshing sleep is what ativan gives me. Any ideas why the dr might be pushing for valium instead even after I explained it doesn't help for sleep, for anxiety, only thing it is good for is if i dont take my xanax for 1-2 weeks and I wont have a seizure, but my neurologist said lamital should cover that since it's an anticonvulsant. I don't know whether to stay on 2 benzos as the same time, whether it's xanax and valium or xanax and ativan, or to ask for an increase in xanax to maybe 5-6mg/day in divided doses, maybe 2mg twice per day and 1mg once per day, or 2mg 3x a day. My neurologist said if you need to be on these types of medications than it is warranted and pretty much OK in my case. Klonopin sucks, not as much as valium, but it does barely anything for anxiety, esp. panic, or sleep. Makes me have a depressed mood actually, while xanax uplifts my mood and helps me enjoy life without having anxious mood and panic attack symptoms. Ativan just makes me drowsy so I prefer that for sleep. My main question is regarding how i could proceed. Adding ativan, stopping valium maybe saphris, or upping xanax dose and being on only one benzodiazepine. I do have a tolerance so higher doses than 1mg sometimes are needed to stop anticipatory anxiety, avoidance anxiety, and esp. panic attacks. Restoril doesn't help with sleep surprisingly. Never tried triazolam but would love to due to its short half-life and potency/efficacy for insomnia, but my dr thinks it wouldn't be a good idea. Dr says stims may be increasing my anxiety but don't think that is the case. Really want an effective benzo combo or pick to be on xanax only, just at a higher dose. My parents think its crazy to take 3 xanax a day but it's what helps and lets me live life. Somtimes i take more than prescribed because 1mg will not help my symptoms. I just want to be on a stable dose, whether its xanax 3mg xr 1x daily with 1mg 3x daily or 2mg 3x daily. Something has got to give, and the hardest part is even bringing up increasing my xanax dose with my dr because of its bad reputation since everyone seems to abuse it nowadays. I'm ready to take a trip to mexico and take a visit to their pharmacies...

So I am currently following the Ashton manual taper schedule for getting off 4mg alprazolam a day and am between stage 5 and 6. I am on 1.5mg Xanax a day and 40mg Valium a day. Anyone else thing this is a high dosage of diazepam? Despite taking 40mg at once, I still don't feel much of any effects, no sedation or memory impairment, no memory loss or blackouts, no ataxia and no 'feeling high'. Is this abnormal for being on such a high dose of diazepam? The pharmacist literally was so hesitant to fill my monthly prescription for diazepam because it was for #120 tablets and said they've never seen someone prescribed such high dosage of diazepam. Pharmacist wanted to call my doctor first, but ended up filling it anyway after I showed her the Ashton taper schedule I was following. All the pharmacist asked was for me not to take it all at once, but my doctor said it was fine to take all 40mg at bedtime so that's what I do. Anyone else have experience using Valium to help taper off Xanax or other short acting benzodiazepines? It has been going surprisingly smooth so far, and I'm thankful I have a psychiatrist who is willing to allow me to take it at my own pace, giving me an extra week at the same dosage before decreasing the alprazolam. I am excited to get off Xanax but at the same time sad because of how much it helped. But I guess it's for the better because I wasn't using it as prescribed anyway. Would love to hear from anyone who has tapered off xanax, using a taper schedule or not.

So I was getting #90 1mg xanax a month since October 2017, but then my doctor found out I wasn't taking them as prescribed. I would get my script filled and take 2-6mg at a time instead of 1mg only 3x a day. Some nights when I might take upwards of 10-12mg and combine with alcohol (I know very dangerous). I would black out of course, broke my macbook just a month ago and don't remember how the damage happened at all. One month I got duplicate scripts by accident and filled 1 through my medicaid and the other script through my private insurance so I got #60 and then #90 from another pharmacy. I went through the whole #150 in 2-3 weeks. I have had 2 seizures before due to running out of xanax early and have since been put on valium to stop a withdrawal seizure from occuring if I "decide to stop taking my xanax for a week or 2", aka run out before I am allowed to legally refill. Well my doctor now is set on getting me off xanax because I made a fool of myself in mid-late October 2017 at my health center, where my psychiatrist is, by taking like 18mg or more of xanax all because I admitted myself cause I felt very uncoordinated and ataxic and was going to have an IV put in my arm. I have such a hard time with needles, but why I thought taking 18mg xanax would be ok is beyond me. I ended up not being able to walk or serve myself food and made the staff stay 2 hours past closing and was wheelchaired to my car because of how incapacitated I was. I don't remember anything 5 minutes past taking a large handful of xanax. So after this is when my dr got concerned about my xanax usage and suggested we start trying to taper off it completely. You can guess that I am not too thrilled about that... Anyway, I ran out of xanax a little before christmas and didnt refill my valium until yesterday. This short break did something for my benzo tolerance because after I took 10mg valium yesterday I definitely felt an uplift in my mood, I was happier, more talkative, energetic, interest, and socially engaging, less annoyed and irritable, a decrease in apathy. 10mg would usually do nothing to me, my mood, etc. Could these effects be alleviation of benzo withdrawal symptoms since 2/23, when I took my last benzo dose, or did my tolerance really go down this much just after 1-2 weeks of not taking xanax? I always thought benzo tolerance took a good while to go down. Anyone experience tolerance reduction after only 2 weeks abstinence? I don't know what is going on, would love anybody's personal experience or knowledge about benzo misuse, tolerance, and the withdrawal symptoms; besides seizures I honestly don't know any of the other symptoms of benzo withdrawal

What do you think is the best Emergency PRN med for short/intermittent episodes of anxiety? I initially tried a couple of non-benzos Hydroxyzine (antihistamine) which did nothing...and Oxazapam (did very little and took over an hour to notice any effect). Valium worked pretty well in the past, but the effects are too long lasting (would wake up groggy). I would only take it 1-2x per Month (for emergency/anxious distress) in order to avoid tolerance. I'm wondering what your favorite med is for this purpose? Something that works quickly, and doesn't last like 12 hours. Also, how many times per week can you take a low dose without developing any tolerance?

Is Klonopin the only benzo that doesn't cause problems with libido and ED? I've been on klonopin, xanax, and now valium, and both xanax and valium killed my sex drive but klonopin did not. Klonopin did make me more grouchy and irritable though and was less effective for anxiety. Xanax and valium also made it hard to get an erection while klonopin did not. Haven't tried ativan or any others.

Hi all, So I have had 2 seizures throughout my entire year and a half treatment with xanax 1-2mg per day and now my pdoc wants to move over to valium and eventually only use valium with no xanax. This definitly makes me uneasy because xanax is one of the only benzos that gives me a great benefit/side fx ratio and I get scared changing things in my med regimen that already work. Has anyone else taken both of these medications for anxiety? If so, did you find that valium was more effective than the xanax? besides the two benzos above, does anyone know which other benzos provider longer duration and stronger anti-seizure properties, or if valium would be the best

How did it go? "The only thing we have to fear. Is fear itself!" So a small piece of my history. I was DXed with Anxiety and my doc suggested Xanax. As I've had experience with a person who takes Xanax and his apparent vegging out on it I begged off. I was afriad that whatever happened to him would happen to me. So we went over a list of other Benzos and the only one I knew about was Valium/Diazapam. I knew one person that took it and seemed to be perfectly functional on it. In fact if she had not suddenly stopped taking it I would have had no idea she took it. *Aburpt stopping a drug your taking daily like Valium can have serious baggage. Better to taper off or better yet not take it daily - I think So I tried a half tab and it did nothing. I tried 2mg and again nothing. I asked GDoc if we could up the dose to 5 to 10 and after getting an OK I found that 5 or 6mg was where I could tell it was doing something and that was enough for occasional bouts of Anxiety. I think the buspar helped put up a wall so that anxiety wasn't getting to the curled up on the floor or unable to drive level stuff but the occasional super tense up holding my breath and mouth drying up kind of anxiety that wasn't daily? It worked pretty good. Maybe a handfull of times (Finger counting amounts) I took 10 mg. That was a tad sedating maybe too much unless its the Sky is falling levels of anxiety. So - the Benzos = dementia stuff started going around and I was called to turn in the unused valium and was put on Xanax (As needed) Xanax at the 0.5 mg amount ought to have been like 10 mg of Valium from what I've read but it was (at times) underwhelming. Or perhapes the short lived effect made the interrupted anxiety more noticeable? Anyway I refilled it on a fairly infrequent basis because I was never in danger of using all the tabs in a month. Then I signed up for an automated reminder system for my meds and Vitamins. The Xanax came in monthly and for the last 4 or 5 months I just texted back "1" to refill. The only other option was press 9 to make the system forget about reminding me about that drug. So.... I made a complaint about Xanax maybe 0.5 was not effective or maybe I needed Xanax ER or as I put it Diazapam worked pretty well why not just go back? I think the monthly refilling set off an alarm and I got a major talking to about addiction. After explaining I wasn't using them all that frequent and how extra crappy things were going I got a new DX of severe Anxiety and was put back on Diazapam. At the useless 2 mg dose and reminded not to take it everyday. SIGH... So I see tdoc this week and PDoc in a week or two to figure this out. I'm thinking of bringing in the unused tabs of Xanax to show I'm not shoveling it in. Explain that I think I'm having a short acting or dose problem with Xanax and see if I can't get back to the dose that worked with the Diazapam. Are Benzos the new Heroin of meds? Should they be? The stuff I read from the UK seem to imply this. I'm seeing UK law suits against Doctors for "creating" drug addicts etc. I don't have a dx of paranoia but it seems like the National health care types are finding ways to unprescribe a lot of drugs and therapies. Or is this just me? Whats going on with you guys? If your taking a benzo is there a sudden signal from your doc that they want you off them? My impression is that Xanax is far more addictive then Valium. Or are they just two sides of the same coin? Do you sign pledges not to misuse them? Are you doing meds checks where you are doing an inventory of unused pills? Real problem or?

It's been awhile since I posted.... I have still been what I think is a mixed state rapid cycle for months now :/ I was on the Trileptal but as it increased it just gave me headaches so bad I ended dup in the ER because it was shooting down my back and neck (It did help my physical problems though) So I already know a number of antipsychs don't work and worsen m physical problem. Depression meds have always revved me up unbearably. Other then Valium my first notable calmness came with Depakote, however like I said before it oddly gave my a weird audio hallucination on a extremely low dose on day 3. So I hung out on the Trileptal for a bit then my psych though maybe Gabapentin would work since the Trileptal was helpful and NO! For others I heard it was a wonder for me OMG I NEVER cycled so fast with mix of slight audio sounds/paranoia I almost went to the ward I was out of it I thought I was on a BAD acid trip and was dying as well. Now he uped my Valium slightly from 15mg to 20mg and want's to start a Low does of Lamictal*spelling? (25 mg twice a day) Anyway for ease of mind is the lamictal going to help with the rapid and mix cycling? I know were all different but I'm still in a bad state after that Gabapentin and don't want to agitate it. My psych only classifies all Bi polar as one so he doesn't classify in the Bi polar 1 or 2 category's and such so he just throws out what med he thinks is needed based on a 1-10 feeling chart. I'm just looking for some reassurance I guess on lamictal as I very drug sensitive. I noticed I'm always in general angry suicidal down but at the same time tried yet hyper ready to go out and do something risky and extreme and get paranoid easily and tend to get delusion (which I kinda like my delusions there the only thing that make the world kind of real and fun) But I can recognize that there delusions I just get caught up in them these are accompanied by Huge panic/anxiety along with some physical problems. I rarely go to just one side of anger or sad. If anyone has the kind of feelings I get what has worked for you? (I know to each is different but just wondering) I hope the Lamictal works but heard it's activating :/ If this collides with anything I wrote in the past I'm sorry since I been trying all these meds I had memory laps ALOT and parts where I be talking then blank out staring (did it infront my therapist and husband) Sometimes I can hear them talking but can't talk can only fumble and stare around. I also started losing how to word myself properly. I even found out at my last ER visit I can't take oxycodone like I use to since my physical problems oxycodone trigger full body shakes that make me bite my tonged lasting a hour and limb jerking (the worse in the neck cause that one hurts) Anyway success story's with lamictal in medicine sensitive people who get mixed/rapid cycles with delusions and anxiety? (excuse the grammar and spelling and format please)

I am new here. I found this site when googling alternatives to xanax. Anywho.. I have depression. I am currently untreated and it has taken over my life the past year or so. I have within the past 3 months started to get panic attacks sometimes daily. I feel like someone is sitting on my chest or something in stuck in my throat and I want to explode like the hulk or cry until my eyes dry out. My doctor is not the best and the referral she gave for a shrink told me I am bi-polar, have poor impulse control, anxiety, and a whole laundry list of things..then tried to prescribe me enough medicine to knock out a bear for 6 months..I left and never went back 3 months later I got a letter from my insurance stating that place had been shut down. Now here we are over a year later and I need something done because I'm a hot mess. I want an anti-depressant which I'm going to ask for either zoloft (which I've taken and did good on) or prozac (which my doctor prefers to prescribe). My point of this long post is what do I ask for in regards to the panic attacks???? I'm pretty sure her go-to is xanax but I don't want it because I know a lot of people who got addicted to it. So pretty much what do you take for panic attacks??? What is good/bad/ugly???

So my doc has me taking 2 2mg Xanax a day, one in the morning and one at noon, and 20mg of Valium at bedtime. Is anyone else on this many benzos at once? Am I to become a complete zombie? I'm on plenty of other things as well as you can see in my signature but I'm less concerned with those.

I'm at a crossroads. I'm 35 years old and I've been taking valium 15 mgs daily for 6 years. I tried everything before it. The SSRis did not help me one bit. Ativan made me severely depressed. Klonopin had the same effect. I felt I was backed into a corner. I had to do something in order to function daily. I don't misuse my medication. I take the same dose at the same time every day. It controls my over anxious brain from burning anxiety and the random moments of terror that used to plague me. I feel good. I feel normal. I feel like I have a life free of abnormal anxiety, and yet I'm scared. I'm scared of the day that will come when a doctor will no longer prescribe it for me. I'm fearful of the day when it will no longer work... That I will become tolerant to its anti-anxiety properties. I'm scared of the withdrawals... I think of these things every day. What will I replace it with? I've tried most everything else. I have had panic attacks and anxiety since I was 9 years old. I feel like an addict talking about it like this. I'm just ashamed that I ever even started it. I don't know where to go from here. I have not found anyone with anything positive to say about longterm benzodiazepine use. The literature and common medical belief doesn't support me. It seems that I am damned no matter what decision I make. Do I taper now or wait for tolerance and really experience hell? I need some help... JC

Hi guys, I'll try and keep this brief. I have been seeing a new p-doc for 8 months, 6 months of which was a clozapine trial. The cloz has worked out well, for the most part. I am still getting some break through symptoms., and it is likely that my new p-doc will increase my clozapine dose in 4 weeks time. Anyway, unfortunately my p-doc has just retired, and I am seeing a new p-doc who has replaced him. Yesterday was my second appointment (seeing him every 3-4 weeks). I brought up a couple of things in my appointment. 1) I have recently quit smoking cigarettes. Ive been clean for 4 months now. My agitation levels have increased since I quit smoking. I have done some research and it would appear that wellbutrin, or zyban as its called here in Australia, could well work for my smoking related agitation, as well as augmenting the effect of my ssri. 2) So I mention to my new p-doc, hey, what about zyban. He says to me, yes, Ive heard of it, and proceeds to look it up on the net using his iphone. He asks me if there is nicotine in it. I say to him, umm, no? He then does a drug interactions check and says, possibly dangerous interaction with clozapine. So there goes that idea. 3) I currently take 10mg valium prn. I ask p-doc about xanax. He says no way, too addictive. He says stick with the valium. I say to him, I am currently getting valium from my GP (as well as my prozac). He says, he is happy to take over this script but not until my next appointment. So I have to wait another 4 weeks. Meanwhile I will need to see my GP again to get more. 4) I say to p-doc, mate what about increasing my clozapine - Im still getting intrusive thoughts. He says, yes that is a good idea, but we need to do a blood test to check the cloz levels first. Now this pisses me off as I had 4 blood tests done the day before my appointment, but not a cloz level test. So no action will be taken until my next appointment. So I have to wait another 4 weeks. FFS. So he then dismisses me 10-15 minutes later. I walk out feeling like I have just wasted my time and will not see any improvement for another 4 weeks minimum. What do you guys think? Are my expectations unreasonable?