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Benzos Avoiding valium dependence

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Pine93

Greenlighter
Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
22
I'm currently taking 2.5 mg of valium every ~48 hrs, one of the doses each week is 5mg. Is this going to run any risk of dependence? I heard that the half-life of valium is rediculously long...:8o would the drug build up in one's system at that dosage and frequency leading to dependnce, considering one's high metabolism and healthy lifestyle? Would switching to the equivalent dose of ativan pose less of a risk?%)
 
Why are you taking it every other day? The rule with avoiding benzo dependence is to never take them. If you have a severe anxiety problem you probably will get addicted or you might realize you enjoy life better with the medication and there is nothing wrong with that. But if you don't have a severe anxiety problem then there is no need to take them. Benzos are no joke man. And if your just trying to get high get some percocets like everyone else. Benzos are not very recreational unless used to potentiate strong narcotics such as heroin.
 
yes switching to ativan would be less of a risk. You'll become dependent on valium this way but it'll probably take at least a month and your doses are so tiny that it'd be a very small dependence, but either way, why are you messing around with valium like that? what's the point in such a small dose? If it's for a tiny amount of anxiety, you're going to cause yourself a bigger anxiety issue. If you have severe anxiety, then you'd probably be taking far higher doses. I feel like i'm missing something here.

yes it will build up in your system and your body will become dependent. High metabolism or not.
 
Ativan isn't much safer. Ativan has more addiction potential than valium because it hits the system quicker and leaves pretty abruptly (there are no active metabolites to ativan). Also what you are taking is equivalent to .25mg of ativan so you would need to get a pill cutter if you go that route or your effectively increasing your dose. But really talking about which benzo is pointless because you can get addicted to any one of them and everybody prefers a different benzo.
 
Yes, even with a drug with a short half-life (which is not valium), taking only one day off in between uses, if that pattern is done for weeks/months, you will develop a psychical dependency. You have to take a lot more days off using it than that.
 
alright thanks for the warnings guys, I've been taking around this amount for many months, prior to that I was using 10mg twice a week for about a year. to help with my anxiety and high stress response. maybe I should stick to kava and valerian root. Do you think I can stop CT with likely no problem? I have a stressful summer job I am about to begin but I really don't want to be dependent on benzos.
 
Pine93 said:
alright thanks for the warnings guys, I've been taking around this amount for many months, prior to that I was using 10mg twice a week for about a year. to help with my anxiety and high stress response. maybe I should stick to kava and valerian root. Do you think I can stop CT with likely no problem? I have a stressful summer job I am about to begin but I really don't want to be dependent on benzos.
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If you are psychically dependent now then stopping cold turkey can be very dangerous. Benzo withdrawal is no joke.

You need to taper slowly if you plan on stopping.
 
Mr.Scagnattie said:
If you are psychically dependent now then stopping cold turkey can be very dangerous. Benzo withdrawal is no joke.

You need to taper slowly if you plan on stopping.
Click to expand...

so I need to taper even at this dose? My doctor told me he thought cold turkey would be a complete breeze at this dose, but he has a very old school view of tranquilizers.
 
it depends: have you been dependent before?


at 2.5mg of diazepam with the odd 5mg here and there, yeah honestly withdrawal will be a breeze compared to a real benzo withdrawal. If it's only been under a month, you'll get rebound anxiety and insomnia, however if you've been doing this for a couple of years i'd expect a bit of a withdrawal.

you have about the lightest physical dependency possible if you have only been doing this for a few weeks at the dosages you mention and the frequency you mention. A taper may actually worsen your dependency if that is the case.

If it's been anything over a month, you should probably just cut your doses in half each week and stay at the same frequency of dosing and after 2 weeks jump off and you'll probably be okay. If you feel like shit then take it as needed at that point at the lowest dose possible and as infrequently as you can handle.
 
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Pine93 said:
so I need to taper even at this dose? My doctor told me he thought cold turkey would be a complete breeze at this dose, but he has a very old school view of tranquilizers.
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If your doctor said that than go with his advice. He knows you and your history better than any of us do.

Consulting a doctor is always going to be the best thing to do..
 
^i've had Drs tell me to cold turkey off huge doses, not many of them appreciate the risks involved in benzo withdrawal, however light they may be. The best Dr i had with benzos, had been a benzo addict. The rest were assholes who would actually refuse to taper me.
 
RobotRipping said:
^i've had Drs tell me to cold turkey off huge doses, not many of them appreciate the risks involved in benzo withdrawal, however light they may be. The best Dr i had with benzos, had been a benzo addict. The rest were assholes who would actually refuse to taper me.
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Yeah, I remember being checked into a detox (against my will) to kick a 160mg/day OxyContin habit. The Doctor said because I was 17 years old (at the time) no weaning was necessary. I was not even given an anti-histamine or sleeping pill at night (Purest Hell).

Doctors do not always know what's best, often they are down right clueless. That said I would still trust your doctors opinion over that of a fellow BLer. If he says you should go CT then I think you should give it a shot. If it's possible that will be the best way. Especially at your low dose. And yes, it is entirely possible to become addicted to benzos taking only a small dose every other day.
 
Yeah I don't know if I trust my doc, he thought I'm on 5mg twice per day when he said I wouldn't w/d :sus:

How long after ct could I resume taking benzos for anxiety attacks without restarting w/d? I would probably only take them once every 1-2 weeks at that point... also which benzo would be safest for once per week or so use?
 
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yeah shit at 10mg/day you'd definitely have some rebound issues if nothing else.

you could probably just transition right over to using a short acting benzo as needed and just not use the diazepam without having much of a problem.

Once you have had a severe dependency then even a few days of benzo use will give you terrible rebound symptoms no matter the length of time but i don't think you're anywhere near that point.

IMO etizolam is the most effective and least detrimental drug for panic attacks. Short half life, even compared to xanax, hits very fast sublingually, only problem is that you have to get it yourself and use it responsibly unless you live in a country where it's a pharmaceutical. Other than that, the shortest acting benzo you can get will be your best option.
 
its not very much your on if it helps u alot u could just stay on it,but otherwise yeah maybe mostly just use kava and valerian root and u should probly taper the valium.
 
Use your brain and do a taper bro, better safe than sorry, believe me benzo seizures are painfull.
 
If you're using them to sleep becoming dependent can happen very quick, not necessarily physical dependence but you can very easily have trouble sleeping when you're used to the beautiful relaxation of benzos.
Be careful, benzos don't always seem like the most fun or best feeling of a high but they can be highly habit forming, often without you even realizing it
 
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