Benzos valium how many times a day for therapeutic use?

[Robv5]

i can't really deal with it in any other way..

ssri's = bad reaction, suicidal, uncaring
antipsychotics = ssri's x10
wellbutrin = great med but too expensive
adhd meds = great as well but too short acting and i have a fast developing tolerance to stims
epilepsy meds (at one point it was my DX) = make me foggy and gain weight


i have a generalized anxiety and around the clock ruminating thoughts that are debilitating, sometimes even disturbing, vivid mental imagery. i have had to rely on some kind of med since i was 14 and have had anxiety since i was 8. so really... benzos seem like my only solid choice.

i was the same, first time i took valium was the first time in a long time that i could think of nothing, and close my eyes and relax, i actually cried at how peacefull i was.haha

 

[VerbalTruist]

I would strongly advise against taking a benzo daily. Instead, take it as needed. You don't want to find yourself addicted to a benzo, it's a shitty road.

 

[Supeudol]

Heavy smoker, Heavy benzodiazepine tolerance. I take my diazepam (20mg) four times a day, it's like methadone for chronic pain, it may have a long half life but it's anxiolytic and all it's other 4-5 properties all have varying lengths of efficacy. For example, the reason you hear most doctors order Ativan 4mg IV STAT patient is seizing, is that IV diazepam which used to be to Ativan what Hydromorphone did to Morphine, essentially making it the new gold standard, just like Ativan/Lorazepam is because it is able to keep seizures under control for a longer amount of time and they have more room to work with it, I've seen 12mg lorazepam given, but I've never seen any doctor who thinks they won't raise eyebrows even for a seizing patient if they used the equivalent amount of diazepam, which would be 10mg per 1mg of ativan, so 120mg diazepam seems like a lot even though it's IMO a moderate dose given the circumstances. So like methadone, which only kills pain for the same amount of time as oxycodone basically, it needs to be dosed at least 3-4 if not more times a day when taken for chronic pain.

Lorazepam/Ativan is the gold standard in most ER rooms in North America because it has longer duration of action than Diazepam does. Diazepam has a much longer half life and metabolites unlike Lorazepam/Ativan. Thus making Diazepam more effective for benzodiazepine dependant users..

 

[Lopez]

i was the same, first time i took valium was the first time in a long time that i could think of nothing, and close my eyes and relax, i actually cried at how peacefull i was.haha

yeah, thing is, i have little other choice. it's a baseline panic attack throughout the day. benzo's seem to be the only medicine other than pot that can help me out. i can ask for a long acting barbiturate since they're still in use in mexico, but i don't want to end up ODing during a depressive phase.

also, i took my 10 mg valium this morning and it feels twice as potent. i didn't smoke pot yesterday. does THC counteract its effects or anything?

 

[MagickalKat777]

THC definitely has a subjective effect on the potency of benzodiazepines as well as their duration. Nicotine does as well.

 

[RTrain]

Lorazepam/Ativan is the gold standard in most ER rooms in North America because it has longer duration of action than Diazepam does. Diazepam has a much longer half life and metabolites unlike Lorazepam/Ativan. Thus making Diazepam more effective for benzodiazepine dependant users..

Thats the thing I always found weird about Valium, it has this incredibly long half life, similar to clonazepam, but if I take 10 mg I am not feeling it after 4 hours. But clonazepam is a good 8+ hours. Though I think there is action form the valium that you don't feel, but it is there. I remember taking 10 mg of valium one night and didn't really feel anything the next day, I was at the dr and they took my BP, it was real low, particularly for me. I think it was around 110/70. I was also in oxy w/d at that time, so I expected it to be high, maybe it was the exhaustion of not eating sleeping for 3 days that was lowering my bp, but I figured it was the valium from around 12 hours prior.

 

[MagickalKat777]

Valium lasts a good 11 hours for me... higher doses more like 14 hours. Klonopin always gave out around 8-10 hours, Ativan is completely worthless orally, and Xanax... 3 hours before I started to rebound.

 

[Lopez]

THC definitely has a subjective effect on the potency of benzodiazepines as well as their duration. Nicotine does as well.

not nicotine, but the PAH's in cigarette smoke. i smoked 5 cigs last night and fell into an anxiety spell, totally counteracted the effects of the valium.

wonder if marijuana smoke does this same (speed up elimination of benzo's).

 

[Lopez]

PAH's = polyaromatic hydrocarbons or something like that.

the carcinogens that INDUCE liver enzymes.