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Benzos Can Rapid Tapering Valium cause permanent brain damage

A

Alexander16

Bluelighter
Joined
May 18, 2014
Messages
62
I'm prescribed 30mg/day and although it does its job, keeps anxiety at bay I just don't feel like me anymore. I've become depressed, lost interest in everything I was passionate about and my cognition has slowed quite a bit. Prior to this I was on xanax .5-1mg/day for 1.5 years, then 3-4mg xanax for a bit less than a year. I crossed to valium as xanax caused interdose withdrawals too much and about 20% of the time I had worse anxiety than if I had no medication at all. I've been on 30mg for about 5 weeks now and I'm planning on dropping to 20mg as of today...Is this dangerous? What can I expect? If I do not experience anything excruciating I plan to drop to 15mg in 7-10 days time. Thoughts?
 
Basically what I'm asking is jumping from 30mg to 20mg too much of a cut? Is it dangerous?
 
Lol no dude that wont cause permanent brain damage or any brain damage for that matter. Good luck with getting off. I wouldnt even call that a rapid taper tbh. A rapid taper would be like droping from 30mg to 0mg in a week.


Your on a pretty low dose so it wont be to bad. Expect discomfort and increased anxiety each time you go down.
 
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I dont think you will notice anything other than some minor irritability, insomnia and possibly some increased anxiety until you adjust to the new dose, but everybody is different. I have a fair amount of experience with Valium, if you cut at a lower rate the effects will be less noticeable. I wouldn't consider the cut you propose to be dangerous at all.
 
I once got heavy with valium and went through 1000 in a week. Once I got out of my "coma" I appeared like a crack addict would. Looked like I had a bobble head as I was constantly looking around. Heart attack inducing anxiety, paranoia, the works. Came to know this as benzo withdrawal. They would take you down faster than you already are at a hospital. Do give yourself time to acclimate yourself to the new dosage as the slower you do it the less apt you are to have benzo PAWS. I was on 8mg of klonopin for 5 years the rehab used phenobarbital (which gives me anxiety in its own) to reduce complications. I felt mildly insane for a month and now have zero anxiety.
 
Thanks for the responses guys, my main reason for cutting down is that diazepam seems to make me quite depressed, also my memory is very poor on it...Should these symptoms worsen or get better once I make the cut?
 
Alexander16 said:
Thanks for the responses guys, my main reason for cutting down is that diazepam seems to make me quite depressed, also my memory is very poor on it...Should these symptoms worsen or get better once I make the cut?
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Every person is different but i think most would say that ghe symptoms will only get worse the more you taper.
 
itsonlyme123 said:
Every person is different but i think most would say that ghe symptoms will only get worse the more you taper.
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Really? So my memory will get worse if I cut this dose? Also, it's diazepam that brought on and has brought on depression in the past, taking less of it would make me more depressed?
 
If I remember correctly an excessive amount of glutamate during benzodiazepine withdrawal can cause neurotoxicity due to excitotoxicity and toxicity of oxidative glutamate.
 
itsonlyme123 said:
Possibly. How did diazepam make you depressed
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It has lowered my mood, although I rarely feel anxious I feel the kind of depression I rarely get when I drink too much alcohol. Xanax did not cause such depression, if anything it did the opposite
 
itsonlyme123 said:
Every person is different but i think most would say that ghe symptoms will only get worse the more you taper.
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Short term. Longer term they get better. And thats only the depression. Memory will get better quite quickly. If you stay dependent on benzos it will just keep getting worse.
 
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