Don't you just love Diazepam?

[newbie76]

I woke up at 4.30 with the usual anxiety and today I decided not to put up with it so I got up and went out running! Came back home, took a shower and got ready for work. It was all going more or less fine but when I got to the office the anxiety started to creep up again!

I didn't really wanted to admit defeat against it today, so I took 5mg Diazepam and now I'm on cloud 9! Feel very woozy and a bit spaced out, bit like being drunk, but it's not a bad feeling. At least I don't feel the knot in my stomach and managed to eat a chocolate croissant!

I am very aware of the addictive nature of Diazepam so I try to take one every other day or so, but when I do I feel so much better! I just thought I'd share.

[popsy]

I wish diazepam worked for me like that, it just takes the edge off for me, but i still get panic attacks etc whilst ive taken it. Be careful though it is very addictive and if it works like that for you, you are evn more likely to find it so. However i dont bloody blame you, i would love a break from my constant anxiety and panic attacks even if it was just for a few hours. Enjoy!

[joannap]

mmmmm - i don't really agree with heavy duty meds like this - the cloud 9 feeling is what makes them so addictive but they are not the answer. far better to float through and then when your mood lifts you know its "yourself". good idea to go running though!

[newbie76]

I wish diazepam worked for me like that, it just takes the edge off for me, but i still get panic attacks etc whilst ive taken it. Be careful though it is very addictive and if it works like that for you, you are evn more likely to find it so. However i dont bloody blame you, i would love a break from my constant anxiety and panic attacks even if it was just for a few hours. Enjoy!

Yeah, unfortunately it doesn't work like this for me every time either. Especially early morning it doesn't seem to have any effect.

But if I can resist until I am at work and then take one at around 8.30 or so, the rest of the day is a breeze!

I asked my psychiatrist about the addictive nature of Diazepam and he told me that you get addicted to it if you take it every day for longer than 3 weeks (he was very specific about it!). So I take it every other day or less and only once a day and I hope that by the time I get to 3 weeks my Escitalopram will have started doing its magic so that I won't have to rely on it anymore... but for now I am enjoying a bit of peace and quiet!!!

[newbie76]

mmmmm - i don't really agree with heavy duty meds like this - the cloud 9 feeling is what makes them so addictive but they are not the answer. far better to float through and then when your mood lifts you know its "yourself". good idea to go running though!

Hi Joanna,

why do you consider Diazepam to be heavy duty? I never considered it to be that way...

[joannap]

hi newbie

i used the term heavy duty because of the extremely addictive nature of them - they are very powerful meds - not many gps like to prescribe them. they were hailed as the wonder drugs for anxiety in the 60's and then so many people ended up seriously addicted to them for years and suffered terrible withdrawal so gps only like to prescribe them for a few weeks now.

the thing with these meds is that they literally tranquilise you whereas antidepressants work with the chemicals already there in your brain.

i suppose i am of the thinking that meds are not really the answer for a flight/fight response that is natural but got out of hand. they do not enable you to learn coping stratedgies or acceptance. i have come through a terrible set back just staying on my 10mg ssri and the odd beta blocker - i am on the road to recovery but having a lot of bad days still but i prefer to do the work myself - i am not anti meds but personally would not take valium etc. there is no quick fix out there and i would be worried that i would end up with a dependancy on top of my anxiety condition!

[joannap]

ps - my gp has never even offered them to me and i have been in terrible states at times! so it looks like it depends on the gp x

[newbie76]

Yes I understand what you are saying Joanna. I guess you need to be very self-disciplined to take Diazepam, and so far I think I have been good.

My GP only prescribes 14 tablets at a time. When I am "fine" they last me for about 6 months; during a bad period like this one, they probably last me for 6 weeks, but still, I don't believe I am addicted to it... crickey, that's probably the motto of the addicted eh? "I am not addicted to it!" Lol

[joannap]

hi newbie

i am sure you are not addicted lol and i didn;t mean to frighten anyone! i have always been a bit anti meds!

my next door neighbour used to take them (she went through a bad break up and couldn;t sleep). the first one she took - she could not even make it downstairs to brush her teeth! she was so out of it! she got used to them v quickly and had to take more and more to get the same effect which frightened her - she takes nytol now and has 3 packets in at a time she is so paranoid at running out!

[jothenurse]

I take Klonopin, which is also a benzodiazepine, for panic attacks. I did not do well on SSRI's (anti-depressants). I take .25 mg 3 - 4 times a day. My MD said that the SSRI's are not for everyone, and yes they are addictive, but as things calm down (and I was extremely tensed), that you can taper off of them. About 30 years ago I had panic attacks (I am 56), and used Serax for a year or two, and I did taper off of those and was fine. I do worry now though about the addiction power of them.