Just been prescribed Librium, dreading my kids coming home

[Bigphil]

Hey all, just having a continuious freak out feeling, can't get out of bed most days, had to call the psych clinic yesterday and got a prescription for Librium as they reckon my GAD is down to detoxing from booze and cannabis (17 years of heavy use) i'm 37 now,

My amazing wife I can tell from today is starting to resent the whole situation as she is exhausted from dealing with our two high energy kids (4 and 2 yrs old) they are brilliant kids but lately I just can't handle being around them when they start their screaming fits and when my wife and I are together they want to be in the middle of it all, talking over the top of use. We literally can't have a conversation without them starting on us. My wife works daytimes and I work at night so time together is rare at best.

I have little to no appetite and have lost a load of weight. I went for psychiatric assessment yesterday morning and felt pretty ok when I went in so the docs just said continue on the meds my GP had prescribed me and that they should take 2-4 weeks to work, when I got home the kids started and within minutes I was a nervous wreck. on my way to work at teatime I pulled in the car and called the hospital and asked to speak to the doc I had seen earlier and pretty much broke down on the phone with him. He said to call in to the late doc on call and get a cert for Librium, apparently its very good at reducing the anxiety.

I don't know what to think cause I've been off heavy cannabis use for 6 weeks now (bar 3 or 4 occassions where I literally had a drag of a joint but it didn't agree with me so I'm done with it now) but in the last six weeks I've been having 1-2 pints most nights of the week. I know this doesn't class as a complete detox but if anybody out there has done this before could they tell me their experience. I'm going drink free now that I have the course of Librium. the worry has me pretty much housebound except for work, lethargic, no appetite, no interest in anything. Is this normal? My original thoughs were health anxiety which are starting to creep back in.

help!

[Mermaid16]

Hi BigPhil! I have a 'kind of' similar situation, but a little different, so I don't know that it will help. I have never smoked cannabis (well maybe once or twice), but it didn't agree with me so I never smoked it. I have taken Sertraline for over 10 years which has helped greatly for me anxiety. I split with my ex husband about 10 years ago. Started smoking cigarettes and would have a drink or two of scotch at night after the kids went to bed to help me relax and sleep. This went on for 10 years, obviously I didn't get the same feeling of relaxation from one or two drinks, so it increased to about 5 or 6 during that time. I decided that I wanted to get healthy, so quit cigarettes cold turkey (never touched one again) and decided to cut down drinking. This is when my anxiety and panic attacks returned full force. To cut a long story short, I ended up at the a&e on 12th of July and did a 5 day detox using valium. All went swimmingly until about a week after I stopped the detox. I ended up seeing a psych and he thinks that Sert had pooped out a long time ago and the alcohol had been used as self medication for the anxiety. So I haven't had a drink since 12th of July and don't miss it. Definately, do not drink alcohol with any type of benzo. In any case, I can totally relate to how you are feeling. Your system is trying to readjust to not having the relaxants there...the cannabis and the alcohol. It sounded like you may have been prescribed an anti depressant from the start of your post. Hopefully once this kicks in you will feel better and the librium should help also. It may take a few weeks, but hope it all works out for you. If you ever need someone to chat to you can message me. Good luck on your journey. Tracy

[Scaredlady]

Hi Phil.

I see you're Irish too, small world!

To be honest I have never heard of Librium but in all truth I am not surprised that you're feeling overwhelmed with the kids and life at present, detoxing and battling anxiety is surely double the hell.

If you've been smoking Cannabis for two decades of course it's going to be tough now that you're getting used to being free from it; But I think you should look at the positives, you've done amazingly well to get this far in a detox, 6 weeks, fair play to you.

I couldn't give up nicotine for an hour so I genuinely can't imagine the strength you must need to kick a Cannabis dependency but I don't think you should replace one substance for another; Alcohol and anxiety aren't a good mix and with medication on top it's certainly a recipe for disaster.

I hope things start looking up for you soon, good luck!