I feel worse on increased dose of diazepam

[chrissie1]

Having been suffering from severe anxiety, delusional thoughts and hallucinations for over a year I finally found out I was in severe tolerance and withdrawal from diazepam which I have been using on an "as needed" basis for about 15 years.
After taking advice from B.A.T. I increased my daily dose which varied between 2.5mg per day to 5mg per day to sometimes nothing - in order to stabilize before starting to taper it slowly. I settled on 8.75 per day as on anything less I was falling apart.
I felt horrible when I started taking it all the time and three weeks on I still do!
I have been told it can take a while for the body to adjust but I still feel terrible when I take it! I get ringing in my ears, increased anxiety, headaches, weird head sensations and my thoughts start to spin.
When I used it on an "as needed basis" it never caused this reaction, and I am quite worried that it isn't going to settle down.

One day whilst trying to stabilise I tried taking a larger dose at bed time and I was awake nearly all night with muscle spasms in my stomach, tingling and increased anxiety. I went back to spreading my dose out but it still makes me feel awful.

Has anyone else had this experience with diazepam? I can't be allergic to it as I used it for about 15 years but only on an "as needed" basis.

I have a long taper ahead as I am doing small cuts-I started three days ago and have felt pretty bad with that but I was hoping I might feel ok in between cuts.Now I am wondering.....

[Chem]

It sounds like you are trying to do this alone, which is not a good idea with Diazepam. If I were you, I'd see your doctor and work out a properly supervised withdrawal.

[chrissie1]

No I am not actually. I have the help of my GP and an online benzo support group. I am doing a properly structered taper,
I just seem to be having an unusual reaction to the increased dose and wondered if anyone else has, as I could not seem to get any satisfactory reply from either of them...
Thanks any way-I shall battle on!

[GlenyD]

I've never had this reaction to a dose like that - sorry. :-( Sounds awful though, maybe some of the symptoms are anxiety-related. Maybe anxiety to do with the thought of increasing the dose? Anxiety causes loads of weird stuff as we all unfortunately know. I really hope this has settled down. I'm on 10+ mgs a day with no trouble in divided doses. 15 years is a long time to be on it though I think. Although I know of people who've been on it almost all their lives. All the best. Gleny.

[chrissie1]

I have found out it is due to tolerance-my brain can't use it in the way it is supposed to any more because it has become too accustomed to it.
I have found the best thing for me is to take my whole dose in the evening and sleep through it.
It is a very different experience when you are in tolerance.It does cause anxiety when the dose is increased which sounds bizarre I know-but it is true.
I don't want to scare you but after two weeks continious use you will be addicted. Even on an as needed -intermittent basis I got dependant-and when you go into tolerance, your body goes into withdrawal even if you are taking the drug.
Believe me it is not something to be brushed aside. I have been in hell for over a year -with hugely increased anxiety, depersonalisation etc.
Benzo addiction is a hidden epidemic and GPs are not experts in dealing with it. There are no clinics even though it is more addictive than heroin and harder to withdraw from...so anyone who is using it on an "as needed" basis be very careful!

[GlenyD]

Sorry to hear this Chrissie. I know what you mean about it being hellishly addictive. I've been on it now for about a year. And I'm getting a call from my shrink today as I have to confess to her that I've been taking slightly more than I should be according to my prescription. BIG mistake on my part I feel. I'm meant to be reducing too. The more I've been taking has remained consistent for a year though and hasn't increased. So I think I may have a way out still. I'm extremely grateful they gave me the drug when they did as I was in hell, but goddamn they need to do something about how addictive it is.

[chrissie1]

If it is still working for you then I recommend you try to taper off it gradually as soon as possible. You probably won't be able to just stop. Because of the long half life of the drug you may feel okay for a while but then the withdrawal will kick in big time!

In my situation it has stopped working as a tranquilliser-but if I don't use it then I have terrible withdrawal symptoms. It is not that easy to reduce-you need a structured plan. You need to stabilise on a set dose every day for a few weeks and then make a reduction every three or four weeks.

You could be lucky and not find it too hard.I hope I am not scaring you but it needs to be taken seriously. Good luck.

[GlenyD]

No you're not scaring me. Infact that was what was meant to be happening for me until I got dumb and took more. :-s :-( I'm just an idiot really. I know I'll get a major telling-off. But hey ho. That's the way it goes. I have a bit of an addictive personality type I think. :-(