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Benzos Diazepam and Rebound Anxiety

M

Michael_25

Bluelighter
Joined
Oct 19, 2009
Messages
703
Hey all. I've been Rxed diazepam for roughly 4 years now. I don't take them daily but when I do take them I generally take about 100mg per a dose. Now, over the past few weeks I've noticed my anxiety has increased. I wake up in the morning to make breakfast and feel short of breath and can hear my heart pounding. I can either lay down or take some diazepam to combat this. I'm scared of telling my psychiatrist this as I fear he will cease prescribing the drug to me. And the fact that I would have no back up would make me very uncomfortable.

Is this a case of rebound anxiety or something else? Also, I've just started taking sertraline about a week ago.
 
Could be rebound anxiety, could be the sertraline as well. Ssri's seem to give me anxiety and make me twitchy. I can't take them.
 
oxlong27 said:
Could be rebound anxiety, could be the sertraline as well. Ssri's seem to give me anxiety and make me twitchy. I can't take them.
Click to expand...
I was Rxed Sertraline to combat my anxiety. Apparently, it alleviates anxiety.
 
Sounds like rebound anxiety.
You may want to lower your dosage as 100mg is too much imo if you don't have a high tolerance
 
kleinerkiffer said:
Sounds like rebound anxiety.
You may want to lower your dosage as 100mg is too much imo if you don't have a high tolerance
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I take 100mg because I can no longer feel lower dosages after four years of use. Do you think I should inform my psychiatrist?
 
I don't know how it works in Florida, but surely it's his responsibility to make sure you're safe and it would be totally unprofessional to just cut you off.
 
Just so you know, if you tell your psychiatrist about your little issue, he may or may not be bound by medical ethics to take you off of the controlled medication. I'm with my fellow BL'ers on this one. 100mg Diazepam (Valium) is not a low dose. I think you need to find a way to deal with the anxiety in the meantime, while your long-term goal should be to gradually lower your daily usage of Diazepam.

There are drugs that you can get fairly easily that might help with the anxiety. Clonidine is a great medication for mild anxiety and associated palpitations of the heart. Also, you could look into the Gabapentinoids (Gabapentin, Pregabalin), as they work on the body by a different mechanism than Benzodiazepines. This might enable you to effectively lower your Diazepam dose more easily.

I'm pretty certain that you're dealing with rebound anxiety related to your dependence on Diazepam. It's not uncommon to have cravings prior to your next dose, especially when you're dealing with doses of this magnitude. If you have questions, we're here for you.
 
Keif' Richards said:
Just so you know, if you tell your psychiatrist about your little issue, he may or may not be bound by medical ethics to take you off of the controlled medication. I'm with my fellow BL'ers on this one. 100mg Diazepam (Valium) is not a low dose. I think you need to find a way to deal with the anxiety in the meantime, while your long-term goal should be to gradually lower your daily usage of Diazepam.

There are drugs that you can get fairly easily that might help with the anxiety. Clonidine is a great medication for mild anxiety and associated palpitations of the heart. Also, you could look into the Gabapentinoids (Gabapentin, Pregabalin), as they work on the body by a different mechanism than Benzodiazepines. This might enable you to effectively lower your Diazepam dose more easily.

I'm pretty certain that you're dealing with rebound anxiety related to your dependence on Diazepam. It's not uncommon to have cravings prior to your next dose, especially when you're dealing with doses of this magnitude. If you have questions, we're here for you.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input, Keif Richards. I need to taper off this shit. I used to think that I was lucky as I had been taking the drug for 4 years and never noticed physical and/or psychological dependence on the drug. My use has finally caught up with after over 4 years.

Anyway, regarding the taper ... what do you or either bluelighters recommend? I'm taking 100mg twice a week. Should I cut to 90mg twice a week next week, and then the week thereafter cut it to 80mg twice a week? Or can I taper even faster?
 
It's probably partly rebound anxiety and probably intra-dose withdrawal. Right with a taper it's all about keeping your blood levels constant, so I'd auggest switching to daily dosing or towards 2/3 days your going to be suffering intra-dose withdrawal. Try find a daily dose that keeps you stabilised, I'd await others advice on this but for me if your taking 200mg a week then something like 30mg a day would be a start. Wait until your stable on this dose, then probably decrease 5mg at a time until you get down to 15mg and start either 2mg/1mg cuts depending how you feel. Its best to take these things slow as possible

It's possible 30mg might be a bit high, though it might not be. Maybe try 20mg and see how you feel there.
 
Yeah I agree, instead of taking it twice a week, maintain a steady daily dose and then you're less likely to suddenly feel anxiety once it starts to wear off a little bit. Ashton Manual is a godsend.
 
I am in a very similar situation as yourself. I also get prescribed 10mg Valium and also take similar doses. As a result I've always run out early but have avoided dependency altogether. I have on occasion gotten rebound anxiety as well, though it actually doesn't happen all that often (Xanax is much worse in this regard, IME). I may be in the minority here but it would seem to me to be counterproductive to start taking it daily to taper, since at this point you haven't developed a physical addiction. Taking it daily, rather than just fighting through a few days of rebound anxiety, is only going to lead to more problems in the form of actual physical withdrawals at some point.

I understand your fear of not having it there if you need it, despite routinely running out very early. I've been on it for about three years and I can't imagine being cut off. Personally, I would not tell your doctor you take 100mg doses since he/she will almost certainly cut you off.
 
Man i had like 20mg over the past 40 hours today i have woke up feeling like i have done 12 rounds with mike tyson and my chest is tight.


I normally only tale 10mg over a 24 hour peroid but went overboard.

Any reccomendations to stop this feeling?

Might do a covid test i feel that terrible 😫
 
At 100mg a dose that's strongly suggestive of rebound anxiety.
Outside of atypical/paradoxical responding sertraline should help somewhat over time, any SSRIs that target 5ht1a as an agonist should help with anxiety as that receptor is involved in modulating anxiety issues.

I'd try to split your doses so that you aren't pushing GABA so far down that you rebound badly.
 
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