Benzos Librium for anger blackouts?

[maxalfie]

A woman I know at work is going to be starting a course of Librium prescribed by her doctor. I don't know what her daily dose will be as have forgotten.
The reason she is getting it is because she is having a lot of stress at home and has been losing her temper big style and has no recollection of the things she has said or done while in this temper, so her doctor said she will prescribe these pills to help calm her down.
She has no interest in recreational usage of drugs but would like to know will Librium actually make much difference to how she feels or would she be better off asking if she could have diazepam instead?
Thanks in advance for any helpful replies.

 

[Mora Fiend]

One of my relatives has a similar condition but was put on Depakote instead. As far as asking for diazepam I am not too sure that it is prescribed for that condition. I know that diazepam is sometimes prescribed for helping to lower blood pressure so maybe it would be helpful for that, but her best bet is to follow her physician's advice and take the Librium as directed and see how it works. If she doesn't feel any better after a period of time then perhaps she could bring up the diazepam question with her physician.

 

[wooger]

^^ Are you sure they prescribe diazepam for blood pressure?! I don't think it has much of an effect on blood pressure unless its elevated due to anxiety and besides there are other medications much more effective but thats beside the point...

I think Librium is great to be honest, however it is less potent than diazepam so the dosage is likely to be higher and if her stress levels are causing sleep disturbances (they often do) then I believe diazepam is a much better hypnotic and if that is the case then she may be better off with diazepam(tho its only a short term solution).

 

[Alex000]

Use of any benzo with that behavior could swing either way. She could be relieved of the stress and tension, and not be thrown into a rage. OR she could become even more disinhibited in her rages and agression, and suffer even more amnesia because benzos are known to cause some amnesia. It could swing either way. Taking a benzo for what she is experiencing/doing doesn't sound like the best course of treatment to me, but if it is indeed the stress and tension and that making her act out, a benzo might help calm her down so she wouldn't even act out. Like I said it could swing for the worse or the better.

 

[Vaya]

Use of any benzo with that behavior could swing either way. She could be relieved of the stress and tension, and not be thrown into a rage. OR she could become even more disinhibited in her rages and agression, and suffer even more amnesia because benzos are known to cause some amnesia. It could swing either way. Taking a benzo for what she is experiencing/doing doesn't sound like the best course of treatment to me, but if it is indeed the stress and tension and that making her act out, a benzo might help calm her down so she wouldn't even act out. Like I said it could swing for the worse or the better.

Great thoughts, these.

~ Vaya

 

[Mora Fiend]

Wooger, yes her symptoms (my aunt) were related to her anger issues. My family is Irish, we all have anger issues it seems, but her's were causing her blood-pressure to skyrocket so her doctor put her on diazepam, it helped calm her down thus lowering her blood-pressure.

 

[OpiYum]

I thought librium was weaker than valium. The only way to know is to try. Although, I have heard as Alex000 said, benzos could disinhibit behavior, but mainly for ppl with borderline or histronic personality disorders.

Im curious to see what works. because in the recent past, I was hit with opiate w/d rage so severe that I called and threatened and blackmailed ppl and cursed them out big-time. I was hanging up the phone and calling and cursing ppl out. Awful. Then I apologized and got forgiveness. Whew!

 

[Vaya]

Librium is weaker than Valium by weight, but then again so is Restoril; as long as equivalent doses are taken, Librium (and Restoril) has/have the potential to overpower Valium in several regards - for one, sedation. But, yeah, generally chlordiazepoxide is used today primarily for the treatment of acute alcohol withdrawal, and sometimes in conjunction with an semi- or fully-synthetic opioid as part of opioid withdrawal protocol. Afterall, it was the very first benzodiazepine from the late 1950's/early 1960's, and diazepam was next in line. We use both all the time at the psychiatric hospital I work in.

~ Vaya

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

when i think of blackouts (especially *anger* blackouts).. the last thing i would expect to be prescribed would be a med that can cause blackouts itself (Librium).. It also can lower your inhibitions so you could do something you will regret later.
I think a mood stabilizer would be much more helpful, less dangerous, and a better course of action.
There are many mood stabilizers that all work in different ways (bad part is most of them take a couple weeks OR MORE to start working).
Maybe a low antipsychotic dose such as 5mg olanzapine (Zyprexa) I'm on 30mg/night which is a huge dose but 2.5mg or 5mg (they make pills in both small amounts since those dosages are therapeutic because it is such a powerful drug) should deffinately help stabilize and chill someone out.

 

[Vaya]

^Good thoughts... haloperidol (Haldol) is a "typical antipsychotic" we use to calm down patients who have lost control and need to be stabilized. Most often (and I disagree with this somewhat) it is used in conjunction with diphenhydramine (Benadryl) at doses not to exceed 100mg, but more often 25-50mg.

~ vaya