Benzos New Shrink Wants to Reduce my Diazepam

[Michael_25]

I'm seeing a fill-in psychiatrist because my current one is on long service leave. She saw, from my file, that I've been on diazepam -- 56 tabs for 4 weeks -- and wants to taper down till I don't need diazepam prescribed. I'm not happy about this. Valium helps me relax when I'm extremely stressed, and it works but I need to take doses in the 100mg range. I'm not happy about her proposed changes but what can I do?

 

[deos68]

100mg per dosing? yikes thats quite a hefty dose i can see the cause for concern from your temp psych doc
in all reality you cant do anything unless you source them by other means so you can continue your normal dosing

 

[Mad Dash]

56 tabs for 4 weeks is only 20 mg a day. So if you require 100 mg doses you are only gets 4 doses a month. If you are taking that much only 4 times a month, then you likely do not have a real high tolerance to it and that would mean you are getting pretty messed up every time you use it (as in euphoric, loss of inhibition, loss of motor control). So it is clear to conclude you are abusing this medication. Did you go to the meeting while on your dose? Because if so they likely saw how messed up you were (with benzos even if you can't tell you are slurring everybody else can, I promise). She must have had some indication that something was not right.

Also I see that you are in Gainesville like me, I hate to tell you this but Florida is under TIGHT scrutiny these days. Benzos are no longer approved for long term use because of the association of abuse, also because a new study came out that said any benzo use for longer than 4 months leads to dementia. I have severe anxiety, Major depressive disorder, PTSD, and a lot of other shit going on with me and they only allowed me to be on for 4 months, I started at 20 mg/day and I have now been tapered to 7.5 mg/day over the course of my time at the VA. This is happening everywhere and there is not really much we can do to stop it. Did you tell her straight up no that you did not want to do it? Or did you just agree in order to not seem confrontational? Because if you agreed to it, then it is on you. If you did not and she is forcing it, I would say try finding another doc, but the way it is here in the ville I don't think you are going to find a doctor that will write it long term any more.

Now, you could play it smart, I agreed right away to get off of it, but I made a condition. I said I would taper off, as long as I could get 15 1 mg lorazepam / month for the rest of my life for emergencies. Knowing for a fact that no matter what I or anybody else does (because my dad is a doctor here and he gave me the low down on why this is happening) I was going to be eventually forced off the diazepam I agreed up front and managed to secure a lifetime RX for lorazepam through the VA. So I definitely managed to bypass the system. If I fought it, I would have been labeled a user, but since I agreed to one condition I made it work for me. It sucks that this is happening because I was a real user, I never abuse my RX. It helped me so much, and is a real shame I am going off it. I have a lot of anxiety about it because my anxiety attacks are not like most. I have PTSD induced anxiety driven flashback/panic attacks where I get extremely violent. This has happened at Publix once and if it were not for having my lorazepam I would likely have been arrested.

 

[OlympicSwimmer]

What you do is tell her that you are comfortable with your current dose of valium. You are the patient and you are in charge. Tell her that valium is the only thing that prevents your dehabillating anxiety and without it you'd be struggling to function in day to day life. If she refuses and insist that the doses be lowered and you be tapered then you get a new doctor. In the mean time before you find a new pyschatrist go to your GP and tell him that your pyschatrist is currently away doing service and you need a new prescription for your medicine and can't get it because your prescribing doctor has left. Hope this helps!

 

[Rybee]

You are the patient and you are in charge.

I'm sorry but if you're getting stressed and the only answer is 100mg Valium, then you are absolutely not in charge, and the only thing that is, is the Valium.

OP, heed the *shrink's* advice and start to reduce your dosage.

 

[Mad Dash]

OP you make threads all the time, but as of yet I don't think I have see you return to one. What is the deal?

 

[Screaming_Skull]

Have you thought about changing to another benzo...such as Klonopin, although not as long a half life will requre less than 100mg a day... I don't get them prescribed(get klons and xanax off the street, which gets to be priecy btw and also have small amounts of valium once or twice of month because of it's super long half life, and I am on a Suboxone program.) My insurance is going out soon on my my Subs, and I have been buying off the street since the get go, because I tested positive for valium/klonopin on my first visit which I used for sleep because I quit taking any opiates two days before my appointment and wanted some damn sleep. If the doctor doesn't agree, I will mention Gabapentin or Hydroxyzine, and if that doesn't work I'm going to Methadone, becuase, well, I started using opiates for Anxiety really, and Full-agonist got rid of that..Subs and benzo's get rid of that for me also,clinics are a pain in the ass though. Had plenty of access to tons of 90 count valiums but they didn't give me the euphoria, except "I'm not worreied about everything and can socialize!!!!!!" which was a releif...but if you are taking 100mg it's just gonna go up from there....ask about another long lasting benzo, and Klonopin will most likely come up...if no doctor will treat you go online and treat yourself, ton's of benzo's outthere that are not scheduled.... And damn Florida sucks...4 months of a script and thats it...thanks doc, right back where I started at,lmao.

Edit: And I know we have a prescription epidemic or whatever, took away The OG OC's, and now Heroin Epidemic. If they start cracking down on benzo's like opiates, welllll, thats just fuckin ludicrous. I partly blame rappers(shitty rappers such as Lil' Whyte, ya know the one "oxycontin xanax bars percocets and lortabs valium morphine patches it's all up for grabs", fun song while fucked up though,lol. But if benzo's get CRACKED down on like Pharm opiates did(which led to everyone on H) I wonder what will replace them on the street...Mandrax??? Now instead of having people poppin a few benzo's with their opiates their gonna be shooting or smoking that with there dope...and to the people who need them, well, just shit outta luck not wanting to leave the house and socialze, getting outtaa bed everyday becomes a chore when you relazice the one thing that helps you can't get, sooo, just suffer, ya druggies.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

I'm sorry but if you're getting stressed and the only answer is 100mg Valium, then you are absolutely not in charge, and the only thing that is, is the Valium.

OP, heed the *shrink's* advice and start to reduce your dosage.

This. You're eventually going to have to stop taking all of that valium, so do it slowly under a doctor's supervision. Good luck.

 

[Hodor]

I'm sorry but if you're getting stressed and the only answer is 100mg Valium, then you are absolutely not in charge, and the only thing that is, is the Valium.

Haha, too true. Been there, done that and all.