Diazepam

Cheers puma

To be entirely honest it was a job,I was hoping to get,& I can't get whilst on them,& I thought I'd manage to do it,there was no other way around it,than to come of them,but my health is more important in the end,I underestimated what they have done,&now realise I need them,so iv learned a lesson,still upset that I couldn't do it,but I tried

Sorry Pat, didn't see this post (another senior moment).

That would be fine apart from its a blood test,I have to take,so there's no way round it,but il think of something else. Once my head gets back to normal,we'll back to being settled on my correct dose again, when I can think again,brain is still scrambled,a bit

Hi Pat, I don't know what your experience is with this drug but being on 5mg is not "negligable". I have been trying to taper off 3mg after being on higher doses for 14 years, each time I have gone into meltdown even cutting by a small fraction. I was a moderator on a Benzodiazepine Withdrawal support formum for about ten years and came into contact with hundreds of people struggling to get off this drug, in my experiece we are all different and had different reasons for taking it in the first place, this has obviosly some bearing on how we cope with withdrawal. I know of many who are still struggling to get off the last 1mg! 

Hi puma..sorry if I sounded complacent ..any dose of Valium is difficult to withdraw from ..I know of the Aston approach and Shirley Trickets book "coming off Tranquillisers"...neither appreciate the true nightmare that happens in withdrawal..have done it once but never again ..the dose I am on keeps me normal......I have no side effects .my brain seems normal to me ."so maybe I'm lucky ?..

Hi Pat, if you are stable on 7 mg a day is it? Then thats brilliant, so I guess you are lucky. When I was on a higher dose I had terrible rages and had to taper to my present dose, I'm OK on 3mg but I know I'm not how I should be and often wonder how much better a person I would be if I had never taken this poison. Now I have a new doctor who wants to stop my prescription, this is frightening!

Surely the doctor can't do this ?...I had this problem a few months ago ..I said I was involuntarily dependent on Valium and couldn't do without them..some people are better off taking the tablets ...withdrawal can cause strokes and all sorts of problems which you will know..please tell me he can't stop your medication !!

Pat and Brandon, the doctor has asked to see me on Monday to review my prescription. I will update you on the outcome, in the meantime don't worry too much, I'm fairly certain they can't force me off, but I know they will try!

Oh Dear, when you see him remind him of his DUTY OF CARE, tell him you  have looked into this even print of some information on how one can die going cold turkey, this just may change his tune into helping you, not cutting you off.  It's a legal thing you could take him to court over that if he did it, and he knows THAT!   GOOD LUCK, LET ME NO, only when your able. 

Thanks for that Nicola, I'll be back here to let people know on Monday.

How did you get on at docs,hope all is well 

Just wondering how you got on ?

Hi Brandon and Pat. First of all I forgot to go on Monday, another side effect of this drug, my short term memory is shot to pieces! A very understanding doctor......but she is only running the practice for two weeks, so i'm going to have to go through it all over again

She worried me a little when she said that being on diazepam wasn't doing me any good, OK fair point, but being off it isn't going to help me either! But that she wouldn't know. So basically I still have that feeling of being under threat which is making me even more anxious than usual. If I have to start tapering then I want to do it in my time and at the pace I can cope with, I hate the idea of someone else setting the pace.

Hi Pat, I've answered your question below.....

Its above not below

Glad you hot back to me ...yes memory loss is all too common ...her opinion is that it's not doing you any good id probably true BUT to come off it is more dangerous So ..staying on is the lesser of the two evils..remember you are INVOLUNTARILY DEPENDENT on them ..you did not choose to become addicted as people do who take illicit drugs..you took them in good faith ...it's your body and your decision 

Puma, I always wonder what my life could have been without these drugs, they consume everything in your life.  I have even considered moving to another country, alot of counties let you buy them over the counter.  Australia has the strictest prescribing laws in the world.  Beautiful place to live but if your so involintary dependant on these things you dont really enjoy life and the beauty.  If we could just get what we need or be tappered extremly slowly, like 2 years our anxiety would not be as bad.  I regret ever taking them, my life now is so different to what it was before all this crap.  It is Frightening.  I find even when I have a small amount left and waitng to see if they will keep prescribing that im so anxious that my central nervous system is on overload and feel really bad even though I have enough in my system.  What a rollercoaster, we really should be able to take this whole issue to court but who has the money, time and patients for that and the anxiety thaat would go with it.  We are up against the whole medical profession and they are not going to let one case win or they would be up for millions of cases.  All just so wrong an it's our life they are playing with.  Sorry had to get it out feeling mad.  Hope your as OK as you can be.

Hi Nicola, i am new to this forum and you caught my eye as a fellow Australian.  I am curious to know i have noticed alot of people saying that it is the doctors fault that they have become addicted to valium. Why?  Did a lot of these people approuach a doctor for help for a medical condition and was prescribed Valium and then became involntary addicted?  My case is so different and i am the one to blame not the doctors, i am ashamed to say when i was younger i was a profesional doctor shopper but that said i was completley unwell in the sence i was depressed severley but also living an awful lifestyle.  And yes Australia is cracking down even more, i read in the newspaper the other day that doctors have been assigned to not prescribe as most aussies "liers and docror shoppers"and that the elderly are selling them off as well.  Not everyone is like that and i think its going to be controversual.  Have you heard about this? .I have one more question for you.  when i take valium,  its like a kickstart to my day i am able to do my house work and zoom around with my life, the complete opposete effect of what the drug is suppost to do.  Also i notice i can stop taking it for years even but the minate i pick it up again it is like my tolerance has not changed abit..  Are you or any of the other forum peeps familiar with this.  Thanks Nicola and i hope to hear from you.  Jazimondo