5 mg Valium twice a week for a year. How severe is this?

[emr123]

I have used Valium twice a week in 2016. Each time I would take 5mg and it would do wonders for sleep and anxiety from work. However, I want to stop. I got carried away this last week and tripled the dose of what I typically do and have had bad insomnia for a few days now after this "binge" if you want to call it that.

Is my situation very bad? truth be told, I would go weeks without using it. Then there would be weeks I would use 5-30 mg in an ENTIRE WEEK. I did my calculations though. And up to this day in 2016 I have consumed 105 5mg tablets, which came out to to 10mg/week.

Any advice or thoughts?

 

[howhiami777]

These medications effect everyone differently. I was prescribed Valium 5mg for headache relief due to muscle tensions. Roughly 30 5mg every 40 days. I never experienced withdrawal or negative side effects.

It surprises me to hear your having insomnia from only one upped dose, if you resumed your normal dose hopefully the insomnia would pass.

One thing you should keep aware of is sleep deprivation. If this has caused you to stay up for over 24-48 hours I would go to the doctor for an expert evaluation. It doesn't sound like you had abuse your medications so you have nothing to 'hide' so to speak.

Keep us posted?

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

welcome to bluelight. your situation isn't bad if you stop taking valium. you're not physically dependent if that's what you're asking. if you continue taking valium, you will eventually become a daily user and end up physically dependent. i used to say i've been taking benzos as prescribed for over half a dozen years with positive effects; it can be done. in reality it's just a mater of time. even if that journey takes 10 years. and 10 years of valium use is not worth ending up addicted. it's a terrible situation that usually includes the symptoms you originally started the medication to suppress being much worse than before you started (even long after you quit). once you've been hooked once, it's so easy to fall back into. still years after you've quit. maybe forever. probably forever.

i assume your prescribed this valium? don't fool yourself into thinking doctors won't guide you into benzo addiction. because many will.

2017 is a great year to give it up. you're definitely not in too deep to quit or anything like that. not trying to belittle your addiction if one does exist; a year is plenty of time to develop an unhealthy taste. still, whatever caused you to start taking valium in the first place is likely more of a problem than any sort of benzo habit you've developed so far. keep it that way. replace valium with exercise, a sleep schedule you stick to, and/or a healthy diet. or a hobby if you're already a health nut. best of luck.

 

[ghostandthedarknes]

^ really good advice. you are in a good spot to jump off and shouldn't have any physical w/d.

 

[Keif' Richards]

From a physical standpoint, you're using the Benzodiazepines exactly as they're intended to be used. What I mean by that is you're not using them daily, frequently or with compulsion. You're not at risk of developing a dependence to these drugs at the rate you're consuming them. You really have nothing to worry about in my opinion. I wouldn't see a problem with using Diazepam (Valium) twice per week for the rest of your natural life. Benzodiazepines are actually very safe and predictable drugs when properly used. When misused, literally anything can happen.

My point is, that unlike say, Alcohol, consuming Benzodiazepines over long periods of time is not inherently dangerous. A lot of the "danger" of these drugs come from the severe dependence/withdrawal syndrome. Withdrawal from high-dose/high-frequency Benzodiazepine use is harmful to the brain and body in general but can also provoke epileptic seizures. You don't have to worry about any of this though. I just stated it to hilight the relative safety of what you're up to.

Kudos for using your medications properly and living HR. I just want to say, I'm not implying that anyone should do anything, I'm just saying that they could.

 

[razordesignz]

Really low dose, and valium is prescribed often to taper off benzos such as xanax or kolonopin or ativan it is the most minor and 5mg is very low. I myself was on 1mg xanax and 30mg valium a day. The dose you are discussing is extremely low, should not be rough coming off, if it does wonders for you at this dose your receptors are also much less used, still a low dose

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

... you're not using them daily, frequently or with compulsion. You really have nothing to worry about in my opinion.

However, I want to stop. I got carried away this last week and tripled the dose of what I typically do and have had bad insomnia for a few days now after this "binge" if you want to call it that.

My point is, that unlike say, Alcohol, consuming Benzodiazepines over long periods of time is not inherently dangerous.

what are we telling people over here in BDD these days?

 

[Slow_Mobius]

Personally, like most things, I think this is a case where OP needs to evaluate his benefit vs potential consequences of continued use and side effects. I think it's a bad sign that you tripled your dose over the course of the past week, and it sounds like you're experiencing some rebound symptoms. IMO, you should take a break for a few weeks to see how you do without the meds. Re-evaluate from there.

I also think that both keif and hydro are correct... Continued use can eventually lead to addiction, but at the rate you've been using them, it's highly unlikely that you'll struggle with memory, WD issues, addiction, etc. In fact, you've done yourself a HUGE service by coming here after you're "binge" instead of just continuing to take more diazepam. That's a trap many have fallen into with many addictive substances.

IMO, it sounds like you've been able to manage your use for the past year very well, and research has shown that benzodiazepines can be very effective short term treatments for a wide variety of health issues. The trick is avoiding regular use over the long term, whether that be sufficiently spacing out your doses or using them on/off. Again, I think you just need to take a break, try to get by without any diazepam for awhile, and then you can make better informed decision about whether you should continue to use this medication.

If you're already set on quitting for good, you really don't have much to worry about in the way of physical WD symptoms. You caught yourself before you ended up too deep. I would try to get some OTC sleep meds to help with the insomnia or a gabapentinoid to take for just a few days if you need it.

Good luck!

 

[emr123]

Thanks for all the replies everybody! Such a supportive board. Yeah I've never been dependent on them. I have a stressful career and my doc originally prescribed them 5 years ago to help me sleep on occasion when I worked the overnight shift. It wasn't until this year that I went through 105 5mg tablets and noticed my usage started increasing. Not at an alarming rate, but enough for me to take
notice. But I'm going to be cognizant of it now and don't want to use them at all. As I've said, I've gone weeks without using them, then a big stressor would hit and I'd pop 1 or 2. But I want to just stop altogether

 

[Slow_Mobius]

Thanks for all the replies everybody! Such a supportive board. Yeah I've never been dependent on them. I have a stressful career and my doc originally prescribed them 5 years ago to help me sleep on occasion when I worked the overnight shift. It wasn't until this year that I went through 105 5mg tablets and noticed my usage started increasing. Not at an alarming rate, but enough for me to take
notice. But I'm going to be cognizant of it now and don't want to use them at all. As I've said, I've gone weeks without using them, then a big stressor would hit and I'd pop 1 or 2. But I want to just stop altogether

Have you tried OTC sleep aids or non-addictive sleep aids such as trazadone? It sounds like the diazepam is overkill, but those might help you get some sleep when you need it.

 

[emr123]

Yeah I bought some NyQuil. It helps a little

 

[Keif' Richards]

what are we telling people over here in BDD these days?

If you'd like to debate it. I would be down for that. Benzodiazepines have a wide therapeutic index and it would practically be a challenge to kill yourself using Benzodiazepines as the sole ingredient in a cocktail. If someone uses Benzodiazepines in a responsible manner, that is, not compulsively, daily, without control, then why can they not use this medication if it improves their quality of life in such a way?

I stand by my point, if someone takes a Benzodiazepine twice a week at such a comparatively low dose, there's no reason to tell them that they are on the verge of imminent misery or death. I also stand by my point that taking Benzodiazepines in such a fashion would be not only healthier and safer than consuming an equipotent dosage of Alcohol, it would be significantly moreso.

 

[emr123]

The insomnia was at its worst today. Should I taper the dose of Valium or continue to tough it out?

It occurred to me that I didn't specify what dosing scheme triggered these withdrawals.

Thursday dec 15: 1000 mg phenibut

Friday night: 2 shots tequila (I don't drink. Was out on a date)

Saturday morning: 5 mg Valium

Sunday morning: 15 mg Valium

Monday: nothing

Tuesday: 10 mg Valium

Wed: nothing

Thurs: nothing

Friday morning: 2 mg klonopin

Nothing since then

Prior to this, I went weeks without taking any benzodiazepines and was sleeping great

But I did average 10 mg/week in 2016

Should I taper?

 

[Relapz]

I'm with Keif on this one, not every person who uses prescription drugs is going to become addicted to them. If someone can find the medicinal value in a drug such as Valium without abuse or a view of a "need" for them, I don't see a problem. The problem is that if you were to increase dose and use them daily, you would be in more of a risky situation. If you're worried about taking them too often, I would possibly suggest taking a break. But 5 mg of valium twice a week is not problematic at all.

 

[Keif' Richards]

The insomnia was at its worst today. Should I taper the dose of Valium or continue to tough it out?

It occurred to me that I didn't specify what dosing scheme triggered these withdrawals.

Thursday dec 15: 1000 mg phenibut

Friday night: 2 shots tequila (I don't drink. Was out on a date)

Saturday morning: 5 mg Valium

Sunday morning: 15 mg Valium

Monday: nothing

Tuesday: 10 mg Valium

Wed: nothing

Thurs: nothing

Friday morning: 2 mg klonopin

Nothing since then

Prior to this, I went weeks without taking any benzodiazepines and was sleeping great

But I did average 10 mg/week in 2016

Should I taper?

I wouldn't see anything wrong with breaking your tablets into smaller pieces in order to do a slower, more precise titration. Have you considered this?

 

[emr123]

I have considered it.

I wouldn't want to dose everyday since I've never done that with any consistency

How would you lay it out if I was averaging 10 mg/week over 1 or 2 doses

 

[hydroazuanacaine]

clearly there are varying opinions on benzodiazepines, likely all coming from plenty of experience. my personal opinion is you should flush them down the toilet. or give them to someone you trust to hold if really you can't force yourself to trash them. you have the opportunity for a clean break here. not saying it won't be tough; i'm saying it can only get harder the longer you wait/continue. it would be a medical anomaly for you to be physically addicted to benzos in any significant manner given your past use. that said, psychological addiction can come through in physical symptoms.

maybe consider melatonin for sleep while you adjust. it's a supplement on the shelves of every grocery and drug store, no prescription. i've never taken melatonin; it's good for shit for all i know. but people regularly recommend it here on bluelight and describe it a non-addictive. i'm actually going to try some this week. as i recently relapsed on benzos, and even with a very gracious taper schedule insomnia is still a major problem. i'll let you know what i think.

edit: did more reading on melatonin and it does not sound appropriate for this situation. it's for people deprived of sunlight to regulate sleep cycle.

while i don't know about melatonin, i do know that 30 - 60 minutes of grueling cardio everyday is a fantastic benzo replacement for those who are not in withdrawal so significant as to prevent them from being able to work out. even once you get past the benzos, whatever led you to them in the first place will still be there. i highly recommend replacing benzos with something positive, not just giving them up and leaving a void.

it's great you don't drink. not only does alcohol usually worsen symptoms of the ailments benzos are commonly prescribed for, but alcohol makes it much more difficult to let valium go.

if you feel you need to taper, maybe allot yourself 5mg a week. take it in whatever doses you want, during that week. try not to saturday 5mg then sunday 5mg, or you're not moving in the right direction. don't do that for too many weeks. i'd consider that way less ideal than just being done though.

 

[emr123]

Not sure if I mentioned That I've been prescribed these for 6 years. This was the year I noticed getting carried away with it. Especially the week that I outlined above.

I've read stories of people with situations more or less worse than mine and 5-10 days seems to be the duration of the sides after last dosage.

This is really impacting life right now. I'm a gym rat and haven't been able to workout intensely like I typically do

Hydro, what did your taper scheme look like?

 

[emr123]

Also, bad idea on the propranolol. I just looked it up and insomnia is a side effect. Haha explains last night then

Are OTC sleep aids ok? Doxylamine succinate etc

 

[Mracid]

When you are done with benzo if you want a sleep aid that works probably as well as 2.5mg Valium mabe a little more, there is a combo of plants to use in extracts or tea; Chamomile, spearmint, hops, Valerian, Lemon balm. And some others. I used those alot before using benzo and without a benzo tolerance they work great.