diazepam withdrawel

[cathycooley]

hi im in a bad way here and was wondering if anyone can help.k ive been on these diazepam now nearly 2 yrs for my anxiety but ive reduced right down to the lowest they can go 2mg,the problem is ive had a wonderful 4 months with no panic or anxiety attacks and now the past 2 days i cant seem to stop crying and my mood is snappy and i feel as if there is no hope for me ,im also starting to get alot of chest tightness also with difficulty breathing in and out and a horrible feeling that everything looks unreal,my eyes also hurt alot behind my eys and bad headaches.can i just state that ive been on 2 mg diazepam 1 a day now for 5 ,6 months but my gp is weaning me off altogether now and im so scared as to might what happen to me.can anyone tell me is this anxiety and will these meds comming off them do me any harm?im at my wits end ,ive got 2 young kids and im so sick of being sick.please help?thanks in advance.

[cathycooley]

hi,just wanna say thanks for ur reply.
well for the first 2 yrs i was on 15mg a day taking 5 mg 3 times a day for the first yr then after that it was me myself who lowered my dosage as i was tired of bbeing sleepy.i did go to my gp who said that was fine.so i came down slowly over a few months each time.


so i prompted the weaning way bk then but as of now its the doc who wants me off completley.i am very anxious have been all my life i suppose but nvr had bad physical symptoms like i have had.

see ive never taken antidepressants b4 in my life ,even thou the doc wants me to ,im just too scared case i die of an reaction,sounds silly i know buts its how i feel.so the diazepam r addictive but im so in a dilemma.


is klonopin an antidepressant?nvr heard of it b4?and my med is a valium so i guess im confused in all manners.thanku for ur post and advice.


please stay intouch.takecare.

[nursegirl6572]

I'm so sorry you are going thru this....benzo w/d can be absolutely horrible...and it certainly sounds like that is what you are going thru.

Let me ask you this...you said you were taking Ativan...2 mg/day for about 2 years (?), right?  What WAS your dose and for how long? And, how exactly did your doc wean you.....from what to what over what period of time?  What were your "step down" increments?  Not sure...but it sounds like you may have been tapered a bit too fast.  Some people do okay with a quicker taper...others (like you perhaps) do not do as well.  I would definitely call your doc and tell him what is going on...

Also....what prompted the weaning?  Your doc?  Are you concerned still about the anxiety?  If so...there are some other options for you...there are longer acting benzos (like Klonopin) that don't have the same issues with tolerance (needing a higher dose to maintain the same effect) as the shorter acting ones (like Ativan and Xanax).

I think a pow-wow with your doc is definitely in order..to discuss all of the above.  If he decides with you to implement something like Klonopin (or Valium) while you're finishing your Ativan taper...that may also help with the symptoms.

As for danger?  The highest risk for complications (ie seizures) with benzo w/d is generally when someone stops cold turkey, which isn't the case for you.  Not to say that there is NO risk...but it is quite minimal compared to going CT.  I wouldn't worry TOO much about that at this point...but I would follow up with your doc.

Hope you feel better....let us know what happens...okay?