Diazepam/Valium 5mg or another benzo? Which benzo is the best for anxiety?

Any experience with valium? Is it effective? I am asking my doc for it this week to smooth my transition from seroquel to abilify. Every time I drop the seroquel dose my anxiety goes off the charts.

I’m not trying to get high, I just need a rapid acting benzo with a long half life, and valium seemed to fit this. The fact that people have abused it probably means it has some strong effects on anxiety.

Don’t tell me it is addictive. I’ll be on it every other day so I don’t get addicted. And we will definitely stop after two months.

So which benzo is the best in your experience. Anxiety and insomnia to a lesser degree are my complaints,.

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When I can get my hands on some I make it last. They don’t like people being on it for more than a few months in the U.K so I only take it when I really need it as PRN.

It works like magic for me. Even when I am in a complete state, Diazepam gives pretty fast relief from anxiety.

It angers me that because of the addictiveness they ration it, but I was told that it becomes less effective the longer you’re on it and it’s really for emergencies.

Last time I was in hospital I wasn’t even put on Lorazepam, Diazepam proved effective enough at that stage for me.

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My very experienced psychiatrist tells me that Klonopin is the best Benzo to be on.
It too has a very long Half life and is less likely to be abused than Xanax.
Valium is a decent Benzo but is currently out of favor.

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What dose do you take it at? Is 5mg enough or do I need like 30mg? Do people take 30mg valium?

Does it work? Most of the time if Xanax is stronger and Valium is weaker or whatever you just up the dose of valium. I considered Klonopin it takes effect in like 1 hour, which means it won’t be effective for my acute anxiety/psychosis attacks.

Currently I only take 2mg as it helps me get to sleep sometimes.

5mg worked really well when I was on that much, you just have to take that a few times a day if you’re bad.

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Wait, do you get really anxious after it starts wearing off? That would be the deal breaker.

Have you tried Ativan? I was put on that due to its longer half life. It tended to kick in after about 30 mins for me.

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I’ve tried ativan, at 1mg it doesn’t have any effect on me. I tried 3mg once, still no effect. I still have 4mg left in a bottle but I don’t want to be slurring my speech and whatnot and get in trouble with my parents.

Idk, just feel like ativan doesn’t do it for me.

Ativan is my second favorite Benzo before Klonopin.
It has a shorter Half life than both Klonopin and Valium, but it is a clean effective Benzo.

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You can certainly try Valium.

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Ativan made me feel nauseas and confused. I thought that klonopin was better.

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They say ativan is as effective as xanax, which is supposed to be the best for anxiety. Maybe ativan didn’t work for me because I didn’t have enough anxiety.

There is a chance my pdoc will only prescribe me ativan because it has lower abuse potential, I suppose because it doesn’t work. Then again somewhere else I read ativan has higher abuse potential because it is short acting and people want to keep taking the little pills.

When I am in a complete state I have to keep taking it as it wears off.

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I actually Hallucinated after an Ativan injection given to me in the Hospital.

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How long does this “state” last for and what are the symptoms? Also, how fast does it come on?

Docs don’t like to prescribe Valium these days.
They much prefer Klonopin or Ativan, because they are considered lower risk for abuse.

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Issue with ativan: loses effect quickly
Issue with Klonopin: takes effect slowly

Valium is like a perfect solution to these two issues. Hopefully I don’t ruin my reputation with my pdoc by asking for it. There are many hateful pdocs out there, no patience from dealing with ignorant people and working long hours.

Might ask him for klonopin instead.

If you suffer with Schizoaffective Disorder or have “bipolar” like mood Shifts then Klonopin would make the best choice.
Klonopin has strong mood stabilizing properties.

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It lasted for about a month last time and it was crippling anxiety where I was pacing in my kitchen all night chain smoking cigarettes and when I was going outside shadow people were climbing out of strangers and trying to attack me and they were being verbally abusive and the host was like a puppet under their control. I was also having suicidal intrusive thoughts and a complete feeling of helplessness and thinking it was never going to end. I wasn’t sleeping much at all as I couldn’t calm myself down properly.

After taking Diazepam things did get better and it gave some relief.

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Huh…that’s too bad…I think I was startled when first going on it since I heard benzos were so addictive I thought it’d make me feel weird or high or something when I first took it but it didn’t it just made me feel…normal. Like I was able to fall asleep without having flashbacks for the first time in years, and it could pull me right out of paranoia too. That’s rough if it couldn’t pull you out of anxiety or anything though. I guess meds work differently for everyone. It may be hard to get Valium though since it used to be housewife drug of abuse #1. Depends on your doc I guess

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