Are you addicted to tranquillisers? Poll.

[Piglet]

I put 'other' as its my mum, not me, who has been taking valium for the past 30 years (she's now 77)!!

I did take the odd one the first week I started with panic attacks 8 years ago but was so frightened of becoming addicted to them like my mum that that's all I ever took.

Course the up side to this is that by my mum taking them she managed to hold down a fulltime job until she retired, go on foreign holidays on her own and never became agoraphobic like me. So like everything there are up and downsides.

Love Piglet

[Southern_Belle]

I've always thought of addiction as something that you need to increase the dose due to your body's tolerance of the medication. Let's say you have diabetes and have to take insuline every day, is that an addiction? I have thyroid disease and have to take synthroid every day, I don't consider that an addiction either. I do take klonopin 1 mg a day cut into quarters by my choice. I have been on it for 1 year. I have been able to do things like fly and go places I never would have been able to do without this medication. For me, if I feel it stops working at the current dose and I need to increase the dose that is when I will fill I am in trouble and need to come off of it. Then I will have to face what I will do without it and I hope to never have to face that fear.

For those of you on benzos what kinds are you on and the doses?

Piglet if you don't mind me asking, do you know if your Mum every had to increase her dosage throughout the years?

Laura

[Alabasterlyn]

I see an addiction as when you are taking a medication and even though it's no longer helping you are chemically addicted to the medication and coming off it would be very difficult. It's a known fact that benzos only work short term and that if you take them every day you will develop a tolerance to them.

With something like Diabetes the medication is working all the time and doesn't lose it's benefits. I guess the same goes for medication for thyroid disorders too.

I've taken 20mgs of Librium which equates to about 8mg Valium since the early 80's. I've never increased the dosage but by the same token I don't feel that my anxiety is under control at all.

My mum has taken Nitrazepam since she was 38 and she is now 84. She has never increased the doseage but she cannot sleep and is lucky if she gets 3hrs sleep a night. To me this once again just shows that benzos don't work long term.

[Piglet]

Laura not as far as I know hun - but I think over the years she has tried to reduce the dose just a little, she tells me she is on one of the lowest doses.

Love Piglet xx

[pete69]

I've always thought of addiction as something that you need to increase the dose due to your body's tolerance of the medication. Let's say you have diabetes and have to take insuline every day, is that an addiction? I have thyroid disease and have to take synthroid every day, I don't consider that an addiction either. I do take klonopin 1 mg a day cut into quarters by my choice. I have been on it for 1 year. I have been able to do things like fly and go places I never would have been able to do without this medication. For me, if I feel it stops working at the current dose and I need to increase the dose that is when I will fill I am in trouble and need to come off of it. Then I will have to face what I will do without it and I hope to never have to face that fear.

For those of you on benzos what kinds are you on and the doses?

Piglet if you don't mind me asking, do you know if your Mum every had to increase her dosage throughout the years?

Laura

laura,
i take klonopin for my social anxiety.im given 3 x 0.5mg to take daily-but sometimes i take more depends what situation i face and other days i wont have any.
gp kinda wants me to try n cut em down but she aint pushing me to hard-i told her its quality of life-they get me out working,and give me some kind of life-without em i would be like many people i know sat indoors on incapacity benefit-it doesnt bither me now that i need em i used to take valium maybe 2wice a week and never needed em for work but things kinda got worse sa wise so now i just see it as summin i need dont harm me and i could be using alcohol as my prop which is 20 times worse.
i was originally given the klonos by a neurologist who i went to see cos of my shakes n tension-thought it might be summin more than nerves-it wasnt and he prescribed the tabs and my gp has been giving me em for about 2 years now..also i get valium from other sources but it doesnt do much for me now-got to used to it-unless i take 20mg i dont feel anything.

anyway my motto is "whatever it takes"
good luck all of you who are on benzos and dont feel guilty-we have nerve problems some people have other problems that need daily medication-i wont lose sleep over my usage.

[Southern_Belle]

Hi Pete,

I agree with you that I do need this medication and maybe I'm just trying to convince myself but I do think it is helping with my anxiety even if I have been on it for a year. Lyn, when you tried to off your benzo did you do it with the supervision of a doctor and try very very slowly? I have heard that over here in the USA doctors give patients librium to wean them off other benzos under supervised conditions in clinics. That may be why you couldn't go off of it yourself. I guess the reason I am discussing this at length is because I was once addicted to a pain medication called fioricet for migraines. It got to the point I was taking 4 pills to what should have been 1 or 2 to get the same effect. I do not get an europhic feeling from the benzo, it just takes the edge off so I can do things I otherwise wouldn't do.

Pigelet, thanks for your response.

Laura

[Ellen70]

I take clonazepam and I need minium of 6mg in one dose in order to to reduce my anxiety to a managable level. I am only supposed to take 2mg at a time.

I am with Pete in that I have spent years and years fretting over being addicted to tranqs but I could be fretting until my last day on this earth and still be addicted to them. So I take them as I need them (about 4 times a week) and hope I don't need to up the dose. If I do I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I have packed in all my pills now except the benzo and the beta blocker (which is prescribed for high bp) as I was on anti deps, mood stabilisers, anti psychotics etc and they weren't worth a toss. Depression is as bad as ever.

Sometimes you have to go your own way.

Eibhlin

[mkeeley]

You don't become addicted you become depenadant, slightly different. An addiction is basically when you crave for a substance, that's not the case with tranquilisers unless you abuse them, for example taking them with alcohol to get a "high". Dependancy is simply that your body becomes accustomed to them and therefore you will feel withdrawal symptoms if you stop taking the, That's not restricted to tranquilisers, you also become dependant on SSRI's for example but I've not seen posts asking if you're addicted to them, it's just that tranquilisers have bad press.

[josephine]

I have tried valium and i found it very helpful, but i was only prescribed them for about 3 weeks, for a bad patch( my whole lif is a bad patch!!!!!!)

How do you all manage to be allowed to take them for so long? My gp wont give them to me again as she says they are only for short term use.

Josephinex

[Phill2]

My GP says she doesn't mind giving them to me cause she knows I don't abuse them.
Been on 10mg/day for about 4 years
Phill