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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Valium everyday....Why not?

EEhouseEE

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 20, 2010
Messages
425
Location
Canada
So I've been reading a lot about Valium on this site and i see lots of people saying to not take em every day, but when my doctor prescribed them to me he told me to take 5mg in the morning and 5mg at night and repeat each day. So whats so bad about taking them everyday?
 
Heh seems your mind is clouded from the valium right now. It will mask your anxiety making you think everythings fine but come a year down and you want to stop the medication you will have anxiety up the ass. Basically you will become dependent on them which is a very hard thing to break/taper down with.
 
Also it will cause brain damage. So when you do eventually quit (assuming a habit has developed and/or use is semi-long term) you'll experience irritability, depression, fatigue, and various other problems that generally make life suck.

The same reason you shouldn't get drunk every day essentially.
 
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Dependence. A lot of people are prescribed benzos daily (myself included), but ideally they should be used "as needed", or daily over a short period of time - i.e. no longer than 6 weeks. Benzos are one of the few drugs that can be fatal to withdraw from once a person is physically dependent on it.
 
Where did you get this info from?

I was speaking primarily of GABA depletion. I'm basing the information off of my general understanding of benzos, not from a specific source although I'm sure you could find some if you googled it. As could I, which I will do.

Here's an article that speaks of it (at least I think it does, it just came up from a google search and I'm unwilling to spend my time reading it or others right now)- http://www.acnp.org/G4/GN401000129/CH127.html

Here's some other stuff about it- This one isn't about it specifically, but it does talk about it as well as linking to studies demonstrating cognitive impairment resulting from benzos. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_term_effects_of_benzodiazepines
 
Also it will cause brain damage. So when you do eventually quit (assuming a habit has developed and/or use is semi-long term) you'll experience irritability, depression, fatigue, and various other problems that generally make life suck.

The same reason you shouldn't get drunk every day essentially.

the first part is exactly right, with the addition of the fact that once you get those problems like extreme mood swings, depression and irritiability and you want to get off, the withdrawal can last 1-3 years or longer (even be permanent).

it's not the same as getting drunk daily though, as that tends to cause more physical and behavioral health problems but can be stopped more easily without years of tapering and withdrawal.
 
OK, yes you may have to taper, but you are under the care of a doctor. When it time come off the meds he will taper you and tapering from only 10mg/day is going to be very easy.

The stories you read here of terrible valium withdrawal are usually from people taking hundreds of mg/day over a long period of time

Talk to your doctor if you are concerned
 
A friend of mine took that much Valium (a low dose) for a few months, and said when he got off it he didn't feel fully normal for 9 months. Benzodiazepine withdrawal can be as bad as any drug withdrawals can get.

Benzos can have a lot of side effects even taken as per dr's orders. And they lose effectiveness by the time you develop a dependence on them. They're very useful medications for short-term or situational use, but as daily medications go, they're shit in my opinion. Most anxiety conditions can be treated with other drugs that have much milder discontinuation syndromes and aren't abusable. In my opinion (not that I'm a doctor or anything), benzos should only be taken daily if other options haven't worked and the condition is disabling (e.g., panic disorder).
 
A friend of mine took that much Valium (a low dose) for a few months, and said when he got off it he didn't feel fully normal for 9 months. Benzodiazepine withdrawal can be as bad as any drug withdrawals can get.

Benzos can have a lot of side effects even taken as per dr's orders. And they lose effectiveness by the time you develop a dependence on them. They're very useful medications for short-term or situational use, but as daily medications go, they're shit in my opinion. Most anxiety conditions can be treated with other drugs that have much milder discontinuation syndromes and aren't abusable. In my opinion (not that I'm a doctor or anything), benzos should only be taken daily if other options haven't worked and the condition is disabling (e.g., panic disorder).

Agreed actually... maybe see if yr doc will try somehing like gabapentin/pregabalin. people react differently but they work great for me
 
well its addictive, so taking it everyday will get you addicted faster than if you take it as needed... are you allways anxious, or just sometimes? you don't HAVE to take 5mg in the morn and 5 in the evening, if you don't feel like you need it, don't take it...
 
OK, yes you may have to taper, but you are under the care of a doctor. When it time come off the meds he will taper you and tapering from only 10mg/day is going to be very easy.

The stories you read here of terrible valium withdrawal are usually from people taking hundreds of mg/day over a long period of time


Talk to your doctor if you are concerned


not true. i've seen stories of people who only took 5 mg a day having years worth of withdrawal.
 
not true. i've seen stories of people who only took 5 mg a day having years worth of withdrawal.

Well they probably been taking it for years right?, cause thats a really small dose, I dont think taking 5mg daily could be too dangerous.
 
^ I think at this level it's more of a strong psychological addiction, certainly physically related, but not a physical addiction per se.
 
Also it will cause brain damage. So when you do eventually quit (assuming a habit has developed and/or use is semi-long term) you'll experience irritability, depression, fatigue, and various other problems that generally make life suck.

The same reason you shouldn't get drunk every day essentially.

brain damage? ummm as long as he conducts a medically supervised taper to avoid major seizures and shit you will not get brain damage. what kind of bullshit are you spewing
 
brain damage? ummm as long as he conducts a medically supervised taper to avoid major seizures and shit you will not get brain damage. what kind of bullshit are you spewing

Meh I wouldn't go as to say brain damage. But he means that with consecutive use of benzos for a long period of time the GABA depletion will be major as well as down regulation of those receptors. You will feel so out of it and fucked that you can consider it brain damage until your brain slowly builds up GABA which can take a huge amount of time.
 
If i take 5mg of Valium in the morning and 5mg at night for 15 days, will i build up a tolerance and if i stop how bad will the withdrawal effects be.
 
Everybody is different. You will have built a slight tolerance, and will have trouble sleeping for a couple of days probably. You may also have rebound anxiety, meaning since the pills took away your anxiety, when you stop taking them it makes your original anxiety a little worse. This may not happen since 15days w/ 10mg is on the lower end of the spectrum, but I wouldn't expect to be back to normal for a few days.
 
If i take one 5mg tablet every morning daily, how long will it take to start noticing tolerance effects and also would the tolerance be high or low.
 
^ We can't answer that. It depends how quickly your body adjusts to the drug. Like Tommyboy said, everyone is different.
 
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