Benzos Diazepam

[GetMeOutOfThisCRAP]

Benzos are not an effect that I would call "high." It's like an alcohol buzz to a degree. Sometimes people are waiting for some euphoric rush like opiates and they are just not being delivered a "there it is!" effect in that fashion.

Sometimes benzos hit like a god damn brick and other times I feel sober (but act like a toddler and very stupid to the not high folks). I'll even slur my speech A LOT and literally not be able to tell at the time (which is weird lol). Anxiety levels also shift as they do for any person ever. Sometimes benzos are a good bandaid for a wave of anxiety but then the anxiety is MUCH stronger than the user realizes, which in turn would require more benzo dosage for that situation. Just do not develop a withdrawal if possible anyone reading this. Benzo withdrawal is notoriously worse than opiate withdrawal, and to me opie kicks is the worst feeling I know.

I have a feeling that for all, tolerance is not just about your doses and time of use. The body metabolism shifts naturally and at random. You may even find the substance to work very well again soon. I can't explain that myself but notice that happening to me a lot over the years. However with diazepam I find it to be difficult to realize when the effects are active because with stimulants and etcetera I'm always aware when my brain gets walloped by the doses that do not even have to be that significant. Some weeks in the past with other drugs I've been at high doses not feeling anything much of what I wanted to, only to be at lower doses next week and have effects stronger than the previous ineffective substance use week.

 

[burn out]

Hello everyone,

I have taken diazepam at various points over my adult life, always reliable prescription which is from a family members script. When I first took it I thought it was amazing and felt a high, I know some think it’s impossible, and just felt so chilled out and relaxed.

This was pretty much the same my whole life until I got a legit pox of 28x10mg diazepam from a family member who gets prescribed but doesn’t use, to hadn’t taken any benzos is for about two years at this point so I went for 40mg and felt nothing beyond the anxiety I have daily dissipate, now that’s not bad but it wasn’t the high I am used to from these. Don’t get me wrong I loved that anxiety leaving and worries being nonexistent but… I wanted more. Over the past week I’ve upped and not felt anything until I reached 70mg and just ended up sleeping.

Any idea why this change might have happened?

That's just how diazepam is. It's the only benzo that has given me a real high, with muscle relaxation and euphoria. However, I only got that high from it a few times and it was not predictable. SOmetimes I'd take it and just feel sedated, other times I would get high. Once I got a serious benzo tolerance I was never able to get high from it again.

 

[guy1234]

One think I hate about diaz (and benzos in general) As reported above (just adding weight), sometimes i get a nice buzz, contentedness, relaxed, happy. Others literally nothing but a bit wobbly legged and subconsciously impaired. No overt psychoativity

Weirdly this is not dose dependent. Have had the nice effect in 6mg before. Have had the zero effect on 20-30mg before

Always wondered if others had the same experience with it.

Definitely combined with weed or ONE TO THREE drinks i always feel it

 

[kjemiker]

Okay, as the title states, I have 2 questions for you guys.

1. I understand everyone is different, some take longer to taper, and some take a quicker time to taper. But just in general, how long would it take to taper off of 40mg of daily Valium use? Mind you, I've only been on 40mg for 2 months. I've only been on 30mg for 5 months. From early February 2021 to early on in 2018, the majority of my time I've been on 15mg daily. Please correct me if I'm wrong,, But I think the beginning of the taper process will be relatively quick, But then I would need to start the real deal taper at 15mg since that's where I spent the majority of my time on.

What do you guys think? Putting aside everyone being different, generally speaking, what might you guess my time frame would be? I'm in pain management, and the doctor said no to opioids because of the Valium. That's basically cutting out one portion of treatment that could actually be the answer. I suffer from crippling pain, but I won't go into those details here. He wants me to go through bullshit treatments that I've already done before. And I told him that, and he still ordered the same fucking treatments again. He did mention acupuncture but I don't like the idea of a shitload of needles in my back. I have a fear of needles ever since I was a kid.

Anyway, pain management aside, how long to get off this shit as described above?

Question 2: if I decide to stay on benzos, what is a good alternative to Valium? I don't feel it's working anymore. I feel most of the time I just take it to avoid withdrawals. Although I went 7 days without it and experienced zero withdrawals. Is there a legit pharmaceutical to replace Valium? No Klonopin... it works but makes me moderately depressed. And no RC benzos please, I am not nor will ever be interested in it. I mean, knowing all the US benzos, to me things are looking grim. But would still appreciate your guys' input.

Thank you for any help.

 

[kjemiker]

I have been on 30mg Valium 10mg.3x a day for 10 months. My new psychiatrist only prescribes 5mg 3x a day.

My questions are: how do I convince him I need 30mg a day and halving that to 15mg a day is a massive cut. Will I face withdrawals? He's a good psychiatrist but only prescribes the 2nd highest dose. His 3 benzos are Ativan 1mg 3x a day, and Klonopin 1mg 3x a day. And of course Valium 5mg 3x a day.

I like him because he's benzo friendly and also has me on Temazepam 30mg at bedtime. He prescribes the highest dose for sleep but not for daytime anxiety? Makes no sense.

Anyway, how do I convince him? I'm afraid of withdrawals. I see him tomorrow so any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[negrogesic]

I have been on 30mg Valium 10mg.3x a day for 10 months. My new psychiatrist only prescribes 5mg 3x a day.

My questions are: how do I convince him I need 30mg a day and halving that to 15mg a day is a massive cut. Will I face withdrawals? He's a good psychiatrist but only prescribes the 2nd highest dose. His 3 benzos are Ativan 1mg 3x a day, and Klonopin 1mg 3x a day. And of course Valium 5mg 3x a day.

I like him because he's benzo friendly and also has me on Temazepam 30mg at bedtime. He prescribes the highest dose for sleep but not for daytime anxiety? Makes no sense.

Anyway, how do I convince him? I'm afraid of withdrawals. I see him tomorrow so any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Well perhaps you can tell that once you tried taking half your dose for a week or so and experienced withdrawal symptoms, and are concerned it will happen again, etc.

 

[Xorkoth]

Yeah a 50% reduction will probably produce wirhdwaks. Your doctor should know that but sadly a lot of doctors know less real knowledge of drugs than experienced drug users. I think negrogesic had a good idea, say you tried taking half your dose for a day and you felt horrible, and see if they’ll taper you down slowly

 

[kjemiker]

Thank you guys for the suggestions and advice. I'll advocate to stay at 30mg daily because it kills my anxiety much better. 10mg tab is far better than 5mg. I don't feel any relief at all on that dose. Might be like a placebo.

I'll see what he says and go from there. I'll come back tomorrow and reply what he said.

Thank ya'll again! Take care.

 

[Fire&Water]

Its really not that bad reducing because of the half life
I was on / off diazepam for 30 years

Sometimes 50 mg
sometimes 10
Last legit script was for 3 years
maybe my withdrawals werent as bad because I took it for so many years?

Seems like it would be the opposite

But I think its mostly in your head ...I think youll be fine

 

[kjemiker]

Thanks ya'll for your great replies and wisdom. It is highly appreciated. You guys are helpful and I greatly appreciate all of your expertise. You've been very helpful and have given great advice.
I decided to switch to Klonopin 1mg 3x a day. It is far more potent than Valium. In fact, 1mg dose had me stumbling around like a drunk person. Like holy shit that shit is strong AF. I gotta say my anxiety is officially annihilated.

I didn't want to come of benzos. I plan to use K-pin as an absolute last resort. I have hydroxyzine I'll use as a first line of defense.

I've been taking benzos for 4 years so I'm definitely dependent. I'll use K-pins sparingly, but enough to avoid withdrawals.

Thanks again for all the comments. You guys are very knowledgeable and help you.

Thank you.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

I am not dependent (or minimally dependent if at all).

I always got minimal amd shitty euphoria from Valium. Nothing like etiz. Temazepam, or even Xanax which I enjoyed the high alot.

Despite that....I could feel good off 20 to 30 mg Valium.

In recent days I've gone up to 60 mg and Iiterally feel no high, and minimal anxiolytic effect. No loss of inhibition like I get with etiz. I'm also adding methadone (20nto 30 mg)

Maybe my tolerance has gone up and I'm finally dependent on this drug (oh shit if that's the case).

Anywho...this sucks. I have a stockpile of Valium and it seems like nothing better than melatonin to.make me sleep at this point.

....now add alcohol and that's what I'm looking for. Even 20 mg of Valium with 2 beers and I'm on cloud 9. But I can't really drink alcohol due to some organ damage from.drugs...so i can't keep doing that.

Anyone else find Valium to be the least euphoric or recreational benzo, doses normalized across benzos?

 

[Mr.feelgood]

How long have you been a user of benzos for?

No matter your answer, as someone who went through ungodly (sustaining an intake around 12mg Xanax a day for a year at my worst) amounts of benzos in my mid teens, I'm going to say ween off and don't take them daily. I've always preferred valium. Xanax hits a bit harder with shorter duration, sure. Are you prescribed the valium or buying them another way? Buying off the street can result in huge variations of potency per pill. Maybe that's what is happening with you?

I wish you luck, and stay safe.

 

[Vastness]

This has happened to me before. When I am almost entirely abstinent from benzos, 10mg diazepam even will give me a kind of light good feeling, 20 or 30mg a definite "good" feeling and beyond that I start to get sloppy. However when I take valium too often, I develop tolerance to the acute euphoric sensations before the sedating effects which makes it not enjoyable anymore really. However - even though I don't get euphoria from it, when thinking back to how I've acted while tolerant even on low doses, I can identify that I am still somewhat more relaxed... although this could maybe be just getting myself back to some kind of baseline after mild benzo-tolerance-induced-anxiety.

I haven't tried temazepam and alprazolam is not euphoric at all for me but dangerously disinhibiting. However etizolam I do agree the actual perceptible euphoria is much better. But, I've taken a lot less etizolam in my life than I have diazepam.

IME diazepam is a pretty forgiving benzo as far as dependence/tolerance, so it's maybe easier than it seems to develop a mild tolerance to some of the more enjoyable effects even if you're not physically dependant in any serious way. That said I do recall thinking diazepam was actually one of my, if not my actual favourite benzo at one time. I don't consider myself dependant in any serious way right now, just recently didn't take any for a week, but before that was using it almost every day to kick a daily clonazepam habit that must have gone on from 6 months to maybe even up to a year... not a huge habit (although I know it's relative), was taking 2-4mg clonazepam a day and switched to 20mg-10mg diazepam. The anxiolysis is nothing compared to clonazepam after that and the sedation was actually a little annoying but, that's what I get for abusing clonazepam I guess. Anyway personally I'm pretty sure it is just low grade tolerance, even taking 10-20mg just a few times a week for a while - and I'm hopeful it'll go away entirely with a proper period of abstinence and I can actually enjoy it properly again. Hopefully the same is true for you.

 

[Vagabond696]

Benzos have a cross-tolerance so you need to cut back on all of them to feel something.

 

[LucidSDreamr]

How long have you been a user of benzos for?

No matter your answer, as someone who went through ungodly (sustaining an intake around 12mg Xanax a day for a year at my worst) amounts of benzos in my mid teens, I'm going to say ween off and don't take them daily. I've always preferred valium. Xanax hits a bit harder with shorter duration, sure. Are you prescribed the valium or buying them another way? Buying off the street can result in huge variations of potency per pill. Maybe that's what is happening with you?

I wish you luck, and stay safe.

About 1 year. I took a 2 week break a month ago and felt pretty good. No withdrawal really.

I've also taken Lyrica for years at medium doses and cold turkey no withdrawal.

I am prescribed for pain. So I kinda have to take it almost everyday. 15 mgs or so. Sometimes I can just take methadone and skip the Valium. But the Valium is actually more effective than methadone for my pain

(15 mg Valium gives more relief than 15 or 20 mg of methadone)....but the Valium relief lasts only 4 hours of so (for the pain)....while the methadone..when it works, lasts longer
While the

 

[AutoTripper]

Add good strong kava on top then see what happens.

Lol, that's maybe bad advice. Safe as houses, physically except raises potential for benzo overdosing and blackouts by direct potentiation, also increased disinhibition and dream state.

Or just bring kava in, bring benzos down if kava actually gives more than the diazepam does, now.

 

[AutoTripper]

Plus kava is non toxic on liver unlike alcohol,non physically addictive. Just never mix with alcohol.

Same thing mixing with benzos, effect wise. Better by far IME it has way more longevity, sustainability and much lhysically healthier, or less unhealthy practice, but I've not drunk alcohol for decades.

 

[BourbonMac]

It's honestly baffling, and concerning, that's reached this point. But it makes sense. I haven't been able to use cannabis due to a chronic sinus condition that requires surgery in July. It was supposed to be by May or June, but of course, nothing ever works out as planned. So that basically kills off most of my summer plans.

Why he didn't re-fill it? Beyond me. He's been cool with re-fills the whole time, but suddenly he ghosted me today when I need it the most. One day when he was out I called the office myself because he'd accidentally put in a 5 day supply instead of 10 (he never gives more than a 10 day supply, and it's only 5mg ffs), someone else filled it for me. So I tried the same thing here, was working all day but couldn't get service, so on my way home (I left a bit early), I called at 3:55, they close at 4:00. For whatever reason I'm directed to the off-duty people who say they're closed, they can't refer me to a doctor, is this an emergency, etc. Like wtf, you're not closed, there are doctors still there.

I tried reaching out to them on patientportal and now I probably seem like a druggy. I kind of feel like I am at this point, but what other options do I have? Nothing has helped me get through the anxiety attacks like valium has, I've been on it for 3 months now. I realize I shouldn't be having any withdrawal but the fact the guy just ignored my messages on the portal anyway is very odd to me. I know he was in today, he delivered results from a small bowel test I had yesterday which shows delayed gastric emptying. This is one thing the valium has really helped with. When my stomach cramps and bloats up horribly, valium cures it like magic, and then suddenly I can eat. But aside from delivering those results he ignored everything else I had to say about what's been going on, how my surgery was delayed, ENT ignored getting back to me about nosebleeds ever since he'd stuck metal rods up my nostrils, etc. I'm legit feeling left in a position like he's my drug dealer and he flaked on me. This is how it used to feel when I'd want weed but couldn't get it, that's what's so ironic.

I happen to have weed and multiple carts, and I ought to just try some tonight, it's been months. But I'm more worried about my throat at this point which has become inflamed from all the post nasal drip coming from my sinuses. I've had intermittent episodes of feeling like I can't breathe, but I think that's from how much I was aggressively hacking it up rather than just letting it go down. To be honest I'm practically scared to smoke, my tolerance is zero, but I'd barely pack anything, and I'm sure it would help take the edge off so much. But I'm not ready to come off the valium either, I want to at least taper and be off by June. I hate feeling tied to it, and kind of hate that my doctor has been relatively generous about handing it out... although should I be? It genuinely helps. I just have a stigma against benzos and that's why I turned them down whenever he suggested them in the past. Until it all became too much to bare by the start of the year.

I do have gabapentin as well but I take that daily (for pretty much no reason, tbh), other than placebo effect. I kind of hate the point I've reached, like this is what not being able to smoke weed for months has led me to. A total nightly ritual involving valium to calm me down enough to sleep and maybe put more in my stomach so I don't become malnourished from the paranoia induced anorexia. Thank you kindly to everyone at the office for ghosting me. If this was xanax or something that'd practically be malpractice. I don't use up my med supplies early, I've always used them past the point where insurance can allow a re-fill again. So it's not like I'm out of control with it, taking high doses, going to the streets for it. But is sure is annoying as hell to be shoved to the side like this out of nowhere.

It honestly seems like I'm more addicted to the ritual or the idea that it helps me as much as it does. I've been through this with multiple different things. Like one night not taking it isn't gonna be the end of the world, I clearly have deeper problems to tackle. But if the physical health issues weren't part of that, I wouldn't be on this in the first place.

 

[AbbeyLee]

Nothing has helped me get through the anxiety attacks like valium has, I've been on it for 3 months now.

I've been on it for 30 years. Last year they cut me off cold turkey and within a month I was in ICU because I took to alcohol. In and out of hospital for months.

Benzos are a good, clean drug and they kick ass when it comes to anxiety. I don't care if I need them for the rest of my life (I'm 48 ). The problem is indeed getting them, because they are so vilified as "addictive". Yes they are addictive, but what do they think alcohol is? Benzos were invented to replace barbiturates, which are way stronger and did kill people.

Obviously being sober is better than being on benzos. Even weed is better, but that doesn't help my anxiety. But I just think the anti-benzo bandwagon needs a bit of counteracting.

I went through the rigamarole yesterday trying to get 5mg Valium. For a long time I was on 10mg/day nitrazepam (Mogadon). A psychiatrist *and* a GP said it wasn't a lot for someone with my level of C-PTSD. But apparently it is now

Good luck..

Abbey x

 

[BourbonMac]

Jesus, CT after 30 years is malpractice if I've ever heard of it. So alcohol helped your withdrawal from it then? Not that I plan to go that route, I used to drink a lot but at some point I just grew to hate it. This is coming from someone who used to down whole bottles when they were 19/20 (I'm 28 at the moment). How bad were your withdrawals otherwise or before the alcohol? I'm just curious.

Valium is really mild, it provides minimal sedation or intoxication for me when I take 10mg at night (it's prescribed 5mg every 8 hours, but I very rarely take any in the morning or daytime). But it really does help me wind down and, for the last few months, has literally kept me from dying of anorexia, largely induced from paranoia in regards to stress induced G.I issues. I mentioned delayed gastric emptying, this is most likely due to being put on prilosec when I complained of mild heartburn to my doctor. It's a common side effect, and is at least definitely responsible to a certain degree.

Otherwise, turns out it was mostly my own doing hacking up mucus from my sinuses pouring. I did have *some* heartburn but only because of the chronic headaches from my sinuses and being put on and off antibiotics, steroids and NSAIDS, all while not eating great or well at all. I should've had the surgery done in the spring and I'd planned to go back home to Nebraska in the summer to visit relatives (a tradition I try my best to keep up with). I'll plan for September now, but I'm still kind of devastated because we'd all planned for July a whole year in advance.

But yeah, I'm only now starting to eat more, but gradually. I work in retail, a very high stress, understaffed, underpaid job, and every day I'm there, if I eat anything, anything at all, my stomach is destroyed with cramps and bloating. On my days off? I can drink THREE BARIUM MILKSHAKES and not even be as bloated as a piece of plain toast while at work. Stress appears to slow down the emptying even more. I ate all day today and was fine. I know tomorrow, when I go back, I won't be fine. If I were to take a valium, of course I would be, it kills off all of the stomach issues become of its muscle relaxant properties. But the last time I took a valium before work I felt like I was going to pass out, even though it's actually mildly stimulating in the evening.

I'm with you as a C-PTSD sufferer. It's a horrible, horrible condition, and through months of chronic head/face pain, trouble breathing and stomach problems, I've needed valium more than ever. I don't want to stay on it but I honestly have to for the time being. I'm traumatized just from how bad the last 4 months have been. I'll never forget how fucked up Christmas was. I tried so hard to have a good one and it just backfired on me miserably. I began my first doses of valium 5 days later.

Weed personally helps my anxiety a lot, but it's a rocky road. I don't have a tolerance right now, so if I took a puff, I could very easily leave the planet and get totally paranoid, heart racing, all that fun stuff. If I smoke it during the day it's almost always anxiety because I begin to feel useless and lost. But at the same time, I was more creatively functionial, at least during the evening. For the sake of my health I just can't smoke right now, but maybe I'll puff a cart one time just to say I had some THC on 4/20. It'd be my 10th in a row and I can't break the cycle and not indulge. At the end of the day, weed helped me more when I was HAVING anxiety or depression. If I wasn't, then it could give those to me. It could be a very inconsistent drug.