Feel nothing from diazepam

[Forstyrra]

So whats dosage did you guys have to take to get an effect when first starting benzos? I have 5mg pills, but i feel absolutely nothing when i take them. No effect, what so ever. Took 10mg last night, still nothing.

When i read about it  says 2mg is common starting dose for anxiety, then going up to 5mg, then possibly going up to 10mg. I feel like something is wrong with me to feel barely anything on 10mg? Or is it actually common to take a lot more? And yes, i know i should ask a doc and i will but its a while to my appointment and im just curious what you guys take.

If it matters at all, my dx is ptsd, before it was panic disorder, before that GAD. I've never gotten anxiety specific meds before (only antipsychotics and antidepressants) so im kind of new to it. When i went on my last med (zyprexa) i felt it really strongly even at a small dosage, so i dont think im 'immune' to drugs in general...

[melissaw72]

I have never been on diazepam, but here are my experiences on other benzos:

For benzos, I am on Klonopin ODT and was on xanax ODT for years (but new insurance denied 2 appeals for it so we started another benzo to take its place) ... but had to start Ativan 0.5 mg/AM and 0.5 mg/PM (works well for me and I need food in my stomach to really work well).

Xanax worked well for me, especially the sublingual ones (ODT), which had an instant effect on me.  The regular xanax pills (when I took them) took about 20 minutes to work (starting on 0.5 mg/day as needed, then raised as needed, unless I slipped it under my tongue (terrible taste though ... YMMV).  Xanax is short-acting, and doesn't stay in your system all day.  At the 0.5 mg dose, it works for about 4 hours in me, and then after that I usually didn't need anymore.  I used it for breakthrough anxiety.  But because I had to go off of xanax, I started Ativan.

For klonopin (pill kind) it took a while to feel it in my system to have an effect (was not instant), until I started having the oral disintegrating ones ... then they worked almost instantly.  Klonopin is more long-acting and can stay in your blood stream for a longer time than xanax can.  Personally I take klonopin in AM and PM to balance it out so I am covered the whole day.  I am currently on klonopin ODT, 0.5 AM, and 0.5 PM. 

And then I now use Ativan.  I take ativan usually 0.5 mg 2x/day, but it is for breakthrough anxiety too.  I just started it but from how I feel after taking it, as long as I have food in me (as I mentioned above), it take 15-20 minutes to feel something (for me).

Everyone is different though, and different doses will effect different people differently. 

[Forstyrra]

Hmm, i see. Checking the comparison charts it seems like the dosages you take is the equalivant of 5 and 10mg of diazapam. Can i ask what you feel when you take them? Do they just dampen the anxiety some, does it make you sleepy etc? Im just trying to figure out what symptoms to look for in the meds to see if they work for me at all.

[melissaw72]

1 hour ago, Forstyrra said:

Hmm, i see. Checking the comparison charts it seems like the dosages you take is the equalivant of 5 and 10mg of diazapam. Can i ask what you feel when you take them? Do they just dampen the anxiety some, does it make you sleepy etc? Im just trying to figure out what symptoms to look for in the meds to see if they work for me at all.

When I take klonopin, it feels like a general calm feeling.  I tried going off it at one point, but I became irritable, anxious, so the klonopin also helps with that as well as the calm feeling. And the feeling lasts most of the day.  I take some at the end of the day also to carry me over to the next without getting irritable and anxious.

Xanax at first, made me groggy.  But after maybe 3-4 weeks my body was used to it and my dose was increased as time went on, and when it was increased, it helped the breakthrough anxiety without making me groggy at all.

When I first started Ativan, I took it right before I fell asleep because I didn't know how it would affect me.  When I woke up a couple hours later I woke up calm.  Not sleepy.  I have only taken it right before I sleep (for now) because I like how calm I feel when waking up. Not sedated or anything.  I haven't taken it in the middle of the day yet, to see if it works similar to xanax during an anxiety attack (breakthrough anxiety).

[HAL9000]

On 3/11/2016 at 3:31 AM, Forstyrra said:

So whats dosage did you guys have to take to get an effect when first starting benzos? I have 5mg pills, but i feel absolutely nothing when i take them. No effect, what so ever. Took 10mg last night, still nothing.

When i read about it  says 2mg is common starting dose for anxiety, then going up to 5mg, then possibly going up to 10mg. I feel like something is wrong with me to feel barely anything on 10mg? Or is it actually common to take a lot more? And yes, i know i should ask a doc and i will but its a while to my appointment and im just curious what you guys take.

If it matters at all, my dx is ptsd, before it was panic disorder, before that GAD. I've never gotten anxiety specific meds before (only antipsychotics and antidepressants) so im kind of new to it. When i went on my last med (zyprexa) i felt it really strongly even at a small dosage, so i dont think im 'immune' to drugs in general...

I never got any euphoric feelings from anything.  My wife took a Valium once and she acted like a hippy spaced out.  So hopefully this isin't that the only one who doesn't notice it is the patient.  10mg of Diazapam is pretty strong in my case.  My Gdoc use to prescribe up to 10 mg and whatevery anxiety I had that would deal with.  I don't think I was functioning well at that dose.   *Trying to do detail work.  And the very last time I took on I just fell asleep to the point the neighbors were called over because I wouldn't wake up.   Which was dumb because I woke up the minute they arrived and thought I was ok.  When I talked to the neighbor (A nurse) she suggested we both start drinking booze instead.  *Joking but we both have external issues driving us buggy.

The drug is working right when you have to ask yourself "is it really doing anything?" and then you just sort of notice "Oh yea.   I'm not having an anxiety meltdown so its doing something."    If your flying around going "laa Laa Laa!!  Everything is beautiful" your either on the wrong drug or too much of it.   *Totally my amateur opinion.

 

[Psychomike]

My experience is limited to Xanax, Ativan and klonopin. Many years ago I took a few Valium. All I can say about them is they knock out anxiety. But they are different in the timing issue as mellisaw pointed out. I also feel a bit of a mood elevation effect with Xanax and there is a considerable amount of research to back it up. Xanax has a different molecular structure and it has been shown to have similar effects as tri cyclic anti depressants by some research although it remains very controversial, but a Cochrane review did support the notion that Xanax has some mood elevating properties. Cochrane reviews are notoriously skeptical do that is an indication that Xanax may indeed be a bit of a pleasure to be on which may also help explain its potent addictive potential along with its street drug appeal.

Bottom line for me is that they are miraculous drugs for anxiety and I have taken them for over 30 years with zero zilch nada problems.  I should add that I carefully wean off of them if I am on them for more than a week or two. 

 

 

 

 

 

[aquarian]

I went on valium to get off of xanax many years ago. I eventually got down to 1mg valium in the morning, 1mg evening (I split the 2mg pills). Never really felt much of anything from taking it except when I drank and took it (not recommended but I did so on occasion for years). I did go off of valium entirely for 2-3 years or so at one point but that was because I was living a very low stress lifestyle (hermit that lived alone in an apartment, no work and only went outside 1-2x per week). Once I moved (across the country by car, alone) I had a giant meltdown panic attack on the road. Nightmare anxiety and panic returned. Then I started working a new, full-time job. Around that time my psychiatrist said go back on the valium since apparently it was doing something.

Now, years later (not working at a job any longer), still taking 1mg at night. That's it. Feel nothing from taking it, but if I stop taking it, I have more anxiousness in my life, so similar to what Hal is saying.

When I went to get my wisdom teeth removed, the oral surgeon wanted to write me a prescription for a single 5mg valium to take prior to the surgery to relax me before laughing gas and twilight sleep (that's the standard dose he writes for everyone). I told him I didn't need his prescription since I have my own and we ended up compromising on a dose lower than 5mg but higher than the 1mg I take at night and feel nothing.

I took my agreed upon dose before my wisdom teeth surgery and it just made me feel very calm and a bit spaced out but not "high" or especially "good". I would not have felt comfortable driving myself anywhere though due to the bit of spaceyness I felt. I don't think my reaction time would have been as good as it could be, plus I'm paranoid if my brain feels even the tiniest bit altered and I'm pretty sensitive to most meds and other things. I have no problem driving though after taking a 1mg dose of valium.

[melissaw72]

Since I posted Saturday AM about the Ativan ...

I have been having a groggy feeling upon waking up (I had been taking Ativan to help me sleep), no matter how long or how little I slept.  And when I woke up every time, I felt worse than I did before I slept.

So all day today I haven't taken the Ativan and my head is clearer, more alert, more with-it.  So I am stopping the Ativan.  (Pdoc never emailed me back tonight, but at least I emailed him to tell him I am not taking Ativan anymore).  It just isn't the right med for me.

[Chaotic-neutral]

16 hours ago, aquarian said:

I went on valium to get off of xanax many years ago. I eventually got down to 1mg valium in the morning, 1mg evening (I split the 2mg pills). Never really felt much of anything from taking it except when I drank and took it (not recommended but I did so on occasion for years). I did go off of valium entirely for 2-3 years or so at one point but that was because I was living a very low stress lifestyle (hermit that lived alone in an apartment, no work and only went outside 1-2x per week). Once I moved (across the country by car, alone) I had a giant meltdown panic attack on the road. Nightmare anxiety and panic returned. Then I started working a new, full-time job. Around that time my psychiatrist said go back on the valium since apparently it was doing something.

Now, years later (not working at a job any longer), still taking 1mg at night. That's it. Feel nothing from taking it, but if I stop taking it, I have more anxiousness in my life, so similar to what Hal is saying.

When I went to get my wisdom teeth removed, the oral surgeon wanted to write me a prescription for a single 5mg valium to take prior to the surgery to relax me before laughing gas and twilight sleep (that's the standard dose he writes for everyone). I told him I didn't need his prescription since I have my own and we ended up compromising on a dose lower than 5mg but higher than the 1mg I take at night and feel nothing.

I took my agreed upon dose before my wisdom teeth surgery and it just made me feel very calm and a bit spaced out but not "high" or especially "good". I would not have felt comfortable driving myself anywhere though due to the bit of spaceyness I felt. I don't think my reaction time would have been as good as it could be, plus I'm paranoid if my brain feels even the tiniest bit altered and I'm pretty sensitive to most meds and other things. I have no problem driving though after taking a 1mg dose of valium.

So you definitely felt something at under 5mgs, then? I dont feel much on 10x that, so i guess its a big difference.

 

Edited March 14, 2016 by Chaotic-neutral

[aquarian]

2 hours ago, Chaotic-neutral said:

So you definitely felt something at under 5mgs, then? I dont feel much on 10x that, so i guess its a big difference.

 

Yes, I felt something when I took approx 3-4mg for my wisdom teeth appointment, but everyone is different. It surprises me that you felt nothing on 10mg, but as they say, YMMV. Could be I'm just supersensitive to feeling the effects of valium. But like I said, I feel nothing when I take my normal dose of 1mg. The goal for me with valium has never been to feel anything, just to lessen anxiety.

[HAL9000]

I had been using Xanax a lot more regularly and that kind of concerns me.  Anyway when I had the latest insurance snafu my doctor asked me if I had tried other (inexpensive) stuff and what the effect was.  She suggested Vistaril which I thought "why not" I can at least afford it unlike Ambien CR.  Anyway it didn't work for sleep.  I had an overdue visit with GDoc and did one of those phone ones.  This will sound weird but its embarrassing to have your insurance screwed up.  Anyhow, she asked me about sleep and Vistaril and about my concerns about hitting the Xanax with more regularity.  She asked me if the Vistaril had helped with the anxiety and I told her I had only tried it a few times before bed.

Anyway - to shorten this - For me the afternoons seem to be more likely for problems with anxiety so I looked up how to take it for anxiety and tried it for a couple days.   In a word - wow.  It really worked well.  I tried dialing down the buspar to 10 mg 2x instead of 30mg 2x.  I wonder if Buspar has just stopped working for me and I need to go on something different for a while?  The Vistaril is really an old drug but I learned that old doesn't mean worse.  Sometimes its better in some way.  The only Con for Vistaril is you take it every 4 to 6 hours.  Anyhow, I think I'm going to ask my GDoc if I can try that.  I'm fairly sure she will happier with me taking less Xanax.   What do problems with going off Xanax look like?  Up until lately I haven't taken it regularly.  The prescription says 3 times daily but its 60 tabs with refills 2 or 3 months apart so I couldn't do that even if I wanted to.  But lately its been a daily thing.  So anyone have an experience?  How many days without any does it take and how / what happens?

[melissaw72]

6 hours ago, HAL9000 said:

  What do problems with going off Xanax look like?  Up until lately I haven't taken it regularly.  The prescription says 3 times daily but its 60 tabs with refills 2 or 3 months apart so I couldn't do that even if I wanted to.  But lately its been a daily thing.  So anyone have an experience?  How many days without any does it take and how / what happens?

I had no problems coming down off it, but I did wean down.  I don't remember how long that took (probably depends on your dosage when you start to wean down), but it was definitely not like klonopin was (very hard to wean down from).

I am not off of xanax completely at the moment (and I am only taking it occasionally because I have extras), but am down to very little. 

[uncomfortable thoughts]

I was just checking a benzo chart, those things are not reliable for many things.

I was checking for estazolam, abbott market it as Noctal here, this is my second night on it, my pdoc warned me that estazolam has little to no effect on anxiety, this would be for hypnotic purpose only.

So, I took it last night and was expecting something great to happen and I slept as usual and woke up at the same time that I'm used to.

He said I could use valium (diazepam) if I felt anxious or irritated, so today there's loud music and it's night time and I took the valium, took the Noctal and waited... waited, I looked at the abbott description of the estazolam and it said it takes 2 hours to reach pick. 

On the internet it says half an hour maximum 40 minutes and is compared to 0.25 clonazepam and 10mg diazepam.

This is wrong in many levels.

This is for hypnotic purposes and the laboratory said it is limited to 2mg at night with 24hours between dosages, how that is compared to clonazepam that has almost no hypnotic effect and takes 2 hours to peak? (at least for me takes).

For me this is personal, how you metabolize those compounds, valium/diazepam works great for mild sedation on me but isn't good to take in the morning/afternoon, I would prefer clonazepam because it doesn't sedate me. Valium starts working 40 minutes after I take it (I checked this out and it's unbelievable how it still works at the same time every time, unfortunately not the same intensity that had 10 years ago). 

So how could I compare clonazpeam with valium and estazolam?

I'm disappointed at estazolam, I thought as a hypnotic it would be fast acting, valium starts working faster than this...

I could go on on examples, like for sleeping I would rather take lorazepam than alprazolam, even sublingual alprazolam, Lorazepam start acting 15 minutes after I take it as does Alprazolam sublingual, except that Lorazepam physically relax my body and it's good for preparing myself to sleep, so if I had to choose even for something that requires stoping anxiety I would rather Lorazepam.

Alprazolam for me it's just a fast acting and short lasting Clonazpeam, can't see much difference and almost everyone that I heard about thinks different and prefers Alprazolam over anything.

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2016 by uncomfortable thoughts

[Psychomike]

Yeah well the lorazepam is pretty commonly prescribed for sleep. I think its all what you want and what works. I tend to fall asleep but wake up to soon so Xanax is great for this cause it works quick and has a short half life. As for vistaril I tried it and hated it, but that's me I hate, totally despise any anti histamine. They jus make me sick feeling. But a good friend swears by vistaril for sleep so go figure. Each person just has to figure it all out and hopefully have a doc that will work with them.

[melissaw72]

FWIW ...

I just wanted to say something about lorazepam and diazepam ... the Ativan (on a 0.5 mg dose) helped me sleep at first, but then when I'd wake up I was groggy and my head was very foggy ... for the rest of the day.  So I stopped it.  Talked to my pdoc about Valium and he said it keeps a person calm yet sometimes groggy throughout the day.  It would replace klonopin and xanax if he prescribed it to me.  He said it acts more like klonopin than xanax.  It was a med that lasts through the day.  Definitely not short acting.  I know everyone is different, but this is what my pdoc explained to me, and I told him no to the Valium.  I am not on Valium, never have been (that I know of), so I really can't comment on personal use.
 

[uncomfortable thoughts]

9 hours ago, melissaw72 said:

FWIW ...

I just wanted to say something about lorazepam and diazepam ... the Ativan (on a 0.5 mg dose) helped me sleep at first, but then when I'd wake up I was groggy and my head was very foggy ... for the rest of the day.  So I stopped it.  Talked to my pdoc about Valium and he said it keeps a person calm yet sometimes groggy throughout the day.  It would replace klonopin and xanax if he prescribed it to me.  He said it acts more like klonopin than xanax.  It was a med that lasts through the day.  Definitely not short acting.  I know everyone is different, but this is what my pdoc explained to me, and I told him no to the Valium.  I am not on Valium, never have been (that I know of), so I really can't comment on personal use.
 

Yes, in theory valium and rivotril/klonopin are long lasting so they have similar purpose, but for me valium start acting in the first hour while rivotril/klonopin starts when completing two hours after taking it.

Again, for me valium has a mild sedative effect while rivotril/klonopin doesn't. For me, Lorazepam/Lorax (Brand name here) is enough for a night of sleep without over doing while Alprazolam/Frontal or Tranquinal (Brand names for tables or sublingual here) would not sustain a sleep night.

I think those experiences just back me up on this whole potency charts as nothing close to accurate or even possible, because how can someone cross the relation between time of action, purpose, dosage and how everyone metabolizes the main metabolites and the traces of some of those drugs that breaks in others active metabolites goes beyond rocket science. 

It would take a clinical trial using a lot of people and even so, those drugs aren't designed for the same purpose so they can't be compared.

[melissaw72]

1 hour ago, uncomfortable thoughts said:

Yes, in theory valium and rivotril/klonopin are long lasting so they have similar purpose, but for me valium start acting in the first hour while rivotril/klonopin starts when completing two hours after taking it.

Again, for me valium has a mild sedative effect while rivotril/klonopin doesn't. For me, Lorazepam/Lorax (Brand name here) is enough for a night of sleep without over doing while Alprazolam/Frontal or Tranquinal (Brand names for tables or sublingual here) would not sustain a sleep night.

I think those experiences just back me up on this whole potency charts as nothing close to accurate or even possible, because how can someone cross the relation between time of action, purpose, dosage and how everyone metabolizes the main metabolites and the traces of some of those drugs that breaks in others active metabolites goes beyond rocket science. 

It would take a clinical trial using a lot of people and even so, those drugs aren't designed for the same purpose so they can't be compared.

(in bold)  These are really good points.

[Psychomike]

Yeah they sure are good points. It just is something very individual.