Posted by ed_uk on November 22, 2004, at 10:07:08
In reply to Re: can benzo be re-instated successfully?, posted by Paul Smith on November 22, 2004, at 7:49:54
Hi Paul,
If your withdrawal symptoms are intolerable I think you should probably go back on the Valium (not Xanax). I get the impression that your quality of life is very poor without it. The main reason for not going back on the Valium would be if you were having serious side effects such as memory loss. Did you have any major side effects?
If you were to go back on a benzo, Valium would be a better choice than Xanax because Valium has a longer half life and is less likely to be associated with anxiety between doses.
If you restarted the Valium at a dose of 20mg/day your symptoms would not go away immediately, this is because it would take several weeks for the Valium to accumulate in your body to reach a steady level.
Although some people can control their anxiety by taking their Valium as a single daily dose this is not true for everyone, many people need to take their benzo several times a day to maintain a constant amount of drug in their blood stream. I would suggest that you could take 5mg Valium four times a day.
When someone has taken a benzo long term, fluctuations in the concentration of the drug in the blood can cause mini-withdrawals between doses. Because you said that your anxiety was sometimes worse than before you had ever taken a benzo I think this could have been a problem for you eg. the breathlessness etc. This is why I suggested that you take the Valium four times a day.
After your first dose of Valium, many of your current symptoms would probably improve, but you would not be 'back to normal' straight away. After several weeks on the Valium you would probably be feeling much better.
Regards,
Ed
poster:ed_uk
thread:418855
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041118/msgs/418923.html