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709686 tn?1277432159

Xanax vs. Valium

I understand that both are benzos.  What I dont understand is the negative response I get when I ask my doctor for valium but he is quick to administer xanax with no questions.  

6 Responses
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Avatar universal
cannot get my doc to understand I get no side effects from Xanax and it works for me.None of the other drugs do the trick.i feel no side effects at all.why is this so hard for docs to understand?
Helpful - 0
654560 tn?1331854581
Klonopin has worrk for me the last 7 years. I take 0.5mgs. 3x daily.As we all know there are different kinds of anxiety,low level aggitation,hyper vilengent, panic attacks on a scale of 1 to 10.on and on.
I don't feel in my head any high going on .And for me I have never found  it necessary to take more than perscribed.Thats why I like klonopin,it feels clean.Good luck
Helpful - 0
711224 tn?1344771687
Hi,
xanax has got a short 1/2 life and is very addictive because of that. As Tropicalsoul described so well, you're in a daze within 30 minutes that's what the "high" is and that's what is addictive.
While valium having a very long half life, doesn't peak as much in your blood, so you feel relaxed without the "high".
For tapering plans xanax is mostly switched to valiun as soon as the first day.

Here is a site about benzos
http://www.benzo.org.uk/

and this is an example of a tapering plan from xanax
http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm#s7

I hope it can answer all your questions.
feel free to pm me if you need to.
xxx. sophie.
Helpful - 0
709686 tn?1277432159
It is obvious that I'm not a doctor but people in our situation seem to know the basics on stuff like this but I too thought that the longer the 1/2 life the less addicting.  Take the pain med Lortab..it has a very short 1/2 life and is currently the most abused drug in the USA but doctors hand them out like candy.

All I know is that xanax makes me feel like I'm walking around in a daze and within 30 mins of taking a tab I am out cold.  Valium relaxes me and really controls my anxiety.  guess I'm screwed anyway I look at it as I know I will always have to take someting.
Helpful - 0
2 Comments
Oh don't get DEPENDENT on these drugs, which is insane because you normally take a drug because it works. Dependent means you take a drug because it helps you in some way. Don't listen to this crap. Dependence is a total oxymoron. If the drug works you will be dependent on it. Who in there right mind would take a drug that does not work. You are dependent on your blood pressure medicine, why maybe because it works. You will probably take it until you die. Does that mean you are dependent on your blood pressure meds?  Yes, because they work. God forbid you are Dependent on taking these meds What is the insane statement that you could get dependent on a drug. If you take a drug that works do not worry about dependence....That's why you take it! IT WORKS!
Yes and no, though let me add you're replying to a nine year old post.  There's a difference between physical dependence on an addictive drug or even an antidepressant that isn't addictive but is extremely hard to quit taking if you've been on it for awhile and which doesn't actually cure the condition you're taking the medication to treat but only tamps down the symptoms of it and a drug that reduces blood pressure in those who have a high risk of dying from it and don't if they don't have it.  Blood pressure meds can be stopped at any time without withdrawal and without known long-term negative effects on brain performance, such as learning to adapt to stress and the ability of the brain to work without a drug anymore.  Different risks of different drugs and different risks of not taking them.  Now, with blood pressure, probably the vast majority of people on them don't need to be on them, as they could reduce their blood pressure through lifestyle and dietary changes but doctors don't practice medicine to do that, they largely are taught to treat everything with a drug and are mostly taught by people paid in part by the pharmaceutical industry.  But this is also true with drugs for mental illness -- some number of them, maybe most, aren't so badly affected they need to take a drug they will have a hard time stopping and that might be impossible to stop because the brain might never again be able to work without them.  So while I agree with your basic premise -- we're all dependent on food and water, too, and nobody ever warns against that -- drugs for mental illness don't get rid of the underlying problem while blood pressure meds do, assuming those who make the diagnosis and those who did the research are correct, and I don't know if they are or aren't.  Most of us might be really unhappy without drugs for mental illness but we won't die.  So there is a difference.  For many of us, including me, when nothing else works, if we want to have a life we end up on these meds because we don't know what else to do, but that doesn't mean these drugs are necessary for most of us or even work all that well and again, you have to realize the difference between life and death and quality of life.  It makes it a different choice to make and a different choice to make about which drugs to use and which to be more careful about.  
Avatar universal
This confuses me, because I have always heard that a longer 1/2 life  was LESS addicting ??? Docs seems to prefer klonopin over xanax for this reason...what am I missing?
Helpful - 0
520292 tn?1232035850
The fact is both of these medications almost have identical chemical formulas.  However, they are still slightly different in the way the body metabolizes the drug.  Xanax is fast acting, and the half life of the drug is only 11 hours.  So after less than a day the entire Xanax dose is out of the body!!  ON the other hand, valiums half life can go all the way up to 100 hours to fully be excreted from the body!!!!!!  SO basically there is more chance of dependency and abuse of valium than there is xanax.  People tend to become more addicted and dependent on valium because of the longer effect on the body than Xanax.  As you keep taking more valium, the dose in your body is constantly going up because of the long time it takes your body to excrete it.  Therefor, people on valium tend to feel much stronger effects than people on Xanax,  And that my friend is the reason why your doctor does want you to have it.
Helpful - 0
1 Comments
Of course you will dependent on valium or Xanax. To be dependent on a drug is not a bad thing. It is because they work! So don't feed this crap about dependence when you will be dependent on these drugs because they help your situation. Everyone is so worried about addiction and dependence on these drugs. Two totally different things. If you are dependent on Xanax for example, normally that's because it WORKS! It the same thing with any other drug. They just don't treat it that way. how about your blood pressure medicine? How about your Ambien? If they work you are going to take them. For years! So save me your CRAP about dependence or addiction. If they work take them! I have been taking Xanax for 20 + years am I an addicted junkie or taking a drug that works. What if I die still taking Xanax for years am I a dead JUNKIE. NO the drug works! ridiculous....



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