Help and advice please .

[a1jonuk]

Hi ,
I need some advice regarding medication , hoping someone may have similar experience .
Without making this a long rambling post I will try and be brief .
For many years I was taking amongst other meds diazepam (valium) .
In 2007 I was totally addicted and was taking 50mg + a day .
A new phychiatrist said "no more " we have to get you off this med .
I agreed to his help , and entered a phych hospital to slowly witdraw from the drug.
I was there for 4 weeks and it was hell on earth ( not the hospital itself but the actual withdrawing from this drug )
I have struggled terribly with the anxiety and depression since coming off the diazepam and have been on a lot of other drugs to try and cope.
This week I saw a new phychiatrist again ( old one retired the NHS to take on private patients ).
To cut a long story short , this new doctor wants to put me back on a controlled amount ( strickly as needed only ) of diazepam , with a set amount prescribed per month and no repeat until the end of the month.
So , my question : has anyone any experience of taking diazepam this way ?
Will I get addicted again ?

Thanks for any thoughts .

Andy.

[Robbed]

Whether you will become addicted to valium once again depends on you. If you can learn to use it in moderation, you will not become addicted to it. This means that it should only be used when absolutely necessary. It also means that you should look into other, non-pharmaceutical ways of dealing with your anxiety disorder.

[jusroc]

Yikes! 50mg of Diazapam a day. You must have been on a different planet!
50mg is probably enough to make most people who have not built a tollerence to od!

diazapam is highly addictive.
Perhaps look into buspar (Buspirone), as this is prescribed in some places for the medical treatment of GAD.

Buspar (Buspirone) I believe that the dosage is between 30mg and 45mg per day.

I believe that buspar works in a similar way to valium but is a bit more transparent in that you dont feel so spaced out.

I have recently started taking this myself. I am on 30mg per day, and have had some improvement. I may soon try the higher dose of 45mg to see what the effects are. (to improve my condition).

Unfortunately where I live Buspar is not recommended for long term use, however, i believe that the NHS prescribe it for conditions such as GAD.

[lawandorder]

I highly recommend you stay off valium. You have kicked the habit - now stay away from it, you don't wan't to have to go through withdrawals again.
The thing with benzo's like valium is that they are only designed for short term relief - lets say from 1-6 hours max. At your level of tolerance, im sure you were taking them once every few hours at 10mg.
Try longer term drugs like SSRI's.
Once you start taking the valium, it will only relieve you of your system until the drug starts to fade. And then you are at square one. You need to take another.
Even if you want to control it - like lets stay taking it once every three days. This will not provide enough relief. Or, once a day - in the morning. It may help, however in a months time, you'll be addicted again. Then the once a day tablet will lose it efficacy, and youll have to take another. Im sure you know...
I can take 2mg of xanax now and if i take it at night, i wake up like 5 hours later as soon as it is kind of out of my system. I used to abuse xanax too, so i know how much the tolerance goes up. If i havnt taken it in months and i take one bar, i still have a high tolerance..
anyway take care hope this helps

[a1jonuk]

Thank you for your time in replying .
I am trying to tell myself I don't need to go back on them .

I have tried everything else over the years .
Buspar did nothing for me even at high doses .
I am on a ssri , mertazapine at 60mg which I think is higher than recommeded dose and an anti-pshycotic seroquell at 350mg , a beta blocker and strong painkiller , but am still crippled with anxiety .

Thanks again .

Andy.