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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Need some facts on Valium and Xanax

BabyGurl3171

BabyGurl3171

Bluelighter
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May 25, 2010
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1,616
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In my mind. The choices are many, the consequences
So, I need some facts to prepare myself...
Anyway, I can't remember how many mgs of diazepam it takes to equal the alprozolapam (sp)? The half lifes, the onset, etc. Anything you can throw at me to be prepared.
My psych treats me like an idiot half the time and I want to get on the right meds! I finally got off Abilify, after screwin up my legs! And I got off Geodon, just ick! I know about my other meds for the most part so I'm prepared there.
Anyway, thanks for the help!
 
please, dont get into the world of drugs. i am fucking 6feet deep in drugs and even with rehab i cant seem to escape.

please, please, i beg of you, don't continue using drugs. people might glamorize them on this site, i am even guilty of so, but realize there is so much more to life
 
Some people need drugs. I took my mothers advice and gave them up. Now I have nothing to manage break through anxiety, which I am experiencing in spades due to all the caffeine they put in these OTC codeine pills I have to take since they are the only thing that takes the edge of my chronic wrist pain. So I will likely need alcohol to get any sleep tonight, which I have to pour on top of 4.5gs of APAP and 500mg of naproxen that I took today (and everyday this week). On the bright side life is so miserable right now acute liver toxicity would be a blessing in disguise. But yeah, this beats oxycodone and the occasional .5mgs clonazepam because drugs are always bad and nobody needs them.

Sorry for the rant, but sometimes drugs reduce harm. Particularly when taken on the advice and under the direction of a doctor. Of course my mother thinks the three psychiatrists, two surgeons and GP who suggested my treatment regime are all idiots...
 
laCster said:
please, dont get into the world of drugs. i am fucking 6feet deep in drugs and even with rehab i cant seem to escape.

please, please, i beg of you, don't continue using drugs. people might glamorize them on this site, i am even guilty of so, but realize there is so much more to life
Click to expand...

SPC123 said:
Some people need drugs. I took my mothers advice and gave them up. Now I have nothing to manage break through anxiety, which I am experiencing in spades due to all the caffeine they put in these OTC codeine pills I have to take since they are the only thing that takes the edge of my chronic wrist pain. So I will likely need alcohol to get any sleep tonight, which I have to pour on top of 4.5gs of APAP and 500mg of naproxen that I took today (and everyday this week). On the bright side life is so miserable right now acute liver toxicity would be a blessing in disguise. But yeah, this beats oxycodone and the occasional .5mgs clonazepam because drugs are always bad and nobody needs them.

Sorry for the rant, but sometimes drugs reduce harm. Particularly when taken on the advice and under the direction of a doctor. Of course my mother thinks the three psychiatrists, two surgeons and GP who suggested my treatment regime are all idiots...
Click to expand...

I can see where you are both coming from. On one hand, drugs have dug me into somewhat of a hole, which makes me suggest that people try other types of treatment before resorting to drugs.

On the other hand, it may be better to be medicated by a doctor than to be self-medicating on your own. For a lot of people if it's not one substance, it's another. When I didn't have access to opiates, I was drinking just about everyday. When I use opiates only a couple times a week, I don't drink. The 2x a week opiate use is a lot better than daily alcohol use.

OP, the conversion chart says .5 xanax = 10mg valium, but I don't agree with that. I was switched from 1mg of xanax to 10mg of diazepam, and was fine. The equivalence might be somewhere between the two, but I had been tapering already so was used to a slightly lower dose than before.
 
I've got in pretty deep with Benzos and start a taper from 120mgs of Diaz daily on Monday it's due to finish in mid May by a schedule I've put together.

I'm also on a prescribed AD and getting CBT for my anxiety and depression, the CBT has made more difference than anything else. ADs generally make me really ill, this one is OK but I want off ASAP but need to get off the Benzos first.

The discussion about ADs could go round and round for ever but Benzos are definitely not a long term answer to anything, long term use will lead to tolerance and increased dosage and getting off is a bitch.

I don't know anything about your current situation so I'm not judging your current usage, you may well need it at this time but I'm guessing you have been diagnosed Bi-polar ? if thats the case then I guess you are going to need some kind of medication its just trying to find the one that works for you.

I know the warm comfort Benzos bring but there is a very darkside once your tolerance rises and you start to dose higher and higher and there is no quick way out, you can't just cold turkey and face the shit down you have to taper slowly or risk some ugly consequences.#

Hope things get better for you, stay safe and keep them doses low
 
I definitely agree that regular benzo use is a bad idea. I have had a scrip for one or more of diazepam, clonazepam, temazepam, lorazepam and alproalprazolam over the past few years. I have never dosed more than 2-3 days in a row, generally taking as needed, and I've never been dependant. So it is possible to use responsibly. With benzos, I'd say responsible use is imperative. I have been through opiate WDs, and when smack addicts say H wds are nothing compared to benzo detox, it makes you notice. I want nothing to do with that.
 
Thanks for all the answers!
I've been rx'd benzos for 4 yrs now. Needless to say, I'm hooked. But I went from 5 mg a day of Xanax to a lousy 15 mg a day of Valium. BIG difference. Totally noticable! I noticed quickly that the onset wasn't happenin as quick, actually I don't know anything that takes longer, and the general calm feelings I had were gone. I hate it!
Someone asked and yes I am bi-polar, or so this psych said about a year or two ago. I think it could be other things...
As for no one "needing" drugs. Well, no one needs to abuse them but we'll have to agree to disagree bc some people do need meds. I know from many years of not takin any of my meds left me a mess! I was the bitchiest, crazy person you'd ever meet lol. I went from zero to 60 in under a second. One minute I was the nicest person, I mean sickening nice lol, and in a second I would be fighting, goin off, doin something crazy! So, I'm glad I have my meds but definitely not glad about havin so many and havin the tolerances I do to benzos and opiates.
I have quit the opiates for about 2-3 weeks now. But benzos? I took all 450 mgs in 3 days and been supplyin them other ways til it's script time again.
Anyways, I tend to go astray ;), thanks again!
 
BabyGurl3171 said:
So, I need some facts to prepare myself...
Anyway, I can't remember how many mgs of diazepam it takes to equal the alprozolapam (sp)? The half lifes, the onset, etc. Anything you can throw at me to be prepared.
My psych treats me like an idiot half the time and I want to get on the right meds! I finally got off Abilify, after screwin up my legs! And I got off Geodon, just ick! I know about my other meds for the most part so I'm prepared there.
Anyway, thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
i'm living with a great deal of anxiety. most meds just seriously mess with my head. it seems like benzos are the only thing i can use to just slow down without weird side effects sometimes. so i get why you want on the "right drugs."

this is what you need to know, if you get on benzos: the tolerance will eliminate nearly all anti-anxiety effects if you take it daily for more than, say, a year or two. the dependence is like no other drug, i've gone off 100mg methadone but i can't get off 1.5mg clonazepam despite trying my best. so, it's best to keep benzos for breakthrough anxiety. i would only recommend daily use for more than a couple weeks for the most severe mental anguish, and even then cautiously.

however, it's quite possible that a one-two week regimen of benzo's is just what you need to slow down and take a break, to assist you to learn to relax. just beware.
 
OP: The experience of benzo gets really weird if you've been on them for more than a year as you might have noticed. My former dealer for example imagined the valium 10s to be just as strong as the 5ers, ("They are fucking with me!!!") thought the nitrazepam were stronger that diazepam and so on.

5mgs of xanax is quite a heavy dose. I doubt you are gonna find something that equals that in anxiety relief actually, and trying to add more benzo on top is probably is gonna give minimal aid and maximal tolerance. My tip (for all its worth) would be to tamper and kick them, maybe with some help of Hydroxizin.
 
0.5 mg alprazolam = 10 mg diazepam or about that. I can't believe you went from 5 mg alprazolam to 15 mg diazepam without any taper! That is a huge, and dangerous reduction.
 
I'd confront him when you do. Do it for all of the suffering patients whose doctors have fucked them over. Of course, make sure you have another psych doc lined up to switch to.
 
Alex000 said:
I'd confront him when you do. Do it for all of the suffering patients whose doctors have fucked them over. Of course, make sure you have another psych doc lined up to switch to.
Click to expand...
My fam dr said he'll help me out med wise till I get a psych I'm comfortable with if I choose to go this route. He did my daughter's psych meds very well till I had set her up with a new dr.
Anyway, yeah imna lay into this dick. I mean seriously, I have to go to a msg board to find out how dangerous the switch was?! Moron. And this isn't the only med argument I'm preparin to have, he's seriously put me in a dark, depressed place...
 
10mg diazepam = 0.5mg alprazolam

However, some posters claim that 10mg diazepam = 1mg alprazolam.
 
^ Remember that everybody reacts differently to different medications, so that chart is just a guide really. In my previous post in this thread I said that I found 1mg xanax = 10mg valium, which some conversion charts actually say as well. The majority seem to say .5mg xanax = 10mg valium, but I know that I'm not the only one that disagrees with that.

If you are switching meds then you should play it safe so that if you are in the group that finds .5mg xanax = 10mg valium you will have enough to be covered. I think that you should try the lower amount at first (using the 1mg xanax= 10mg valium conversion) to see how you feel at first, and if it's not cutting it then you can take the remainder of your dose. I just thinks it's better to try to get by on a lower dose due to all the issues with benzo dependence.
 
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