How long does take to work?

[Carina]

I took a ridiculously tiny dose (2.5mg) about five minutes ago. Before taking it I felt twitchy and had little chest flutters and felt like my insides were knotted but already that is ebbing. This is a placebo effect right? There's no way that tiny amount could possibly be working so quickly.

[fred_h]

In 5 mn this is definitely the placebo effect, the real one will follow soon ;)

[Anxious_gal]

It has to digest and enter your blood stream so at least 20 minutes.
It doesn't give you a sensation as much as you'll notice the anxiety has gone.

[spawn]

I find 2.5mg works in about 15-30mins

[josh1987]

how did you go with it.

[Carina]

how did you go with it.

Not too well. I took another 2.5 and fell into a doze, then woke up again in the small hours of the morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I'm thinking of taking the full 5 at once tonight but I don't want to get into the habit of taking valium. What do you think?

[TJSMITH]

Even 5mg very low it will be fine. My 8 yr old was prescribed 2.5mg after an operation x

[Carina]

I decided to go with a compromise and went to bed with a 5mg tablet sitting on my bedside table in case I needed it. Thankfully, I found that last night I didn't need it. Slept through the night and woke up feeling okay.

A bit keyed up right now because I'm about to start work for the day but I have the packet in my bag and I can take half a 5mg if I need to (I feel like the full 5 would make me feel too drowsy to do my job, which involves a lot of running around finding files and organising things).

Thanks everyone for your advice so far.