Posted by sukarno on December 30, 2013, at 13:42:38
In reply to Re: Valium settles the stomach » sukarno, posted by ed_uk2010 on December 30, 2013, at 13:23:29
I don't really know why, but diazepam consistently (no matter how long I take it) produces a good subjective sense of sedation in me along with a lot of muscle relaxation whereas alprazolam did neither appreciably.
Being on alprazolam was like being emotionally numb and apathetic with very little sense of sedation.
Right now I feel "buzzed" pretty deeply on diazepam. One dose lasts at least 12 hours and the whole time I feel doped.
I'm sure that will go away in a few days but I remember years ago when I was on 5mg 4x/day as maintenance for panic attacks, I always felt a "buzz" in the morning when I'd take that first 5mg tablet before breakfast.
Diazepam always felt stronger than alprazolam but alprazolam prevented almost all panic attacks.
On a few occasions, despite subjective sedation, I experienced panic attacks on a long term maintenance dose of diazepam but never (or very rarely) on alprazolam.
Either way I'm not a big fan of alprazolam because of the withdrawal symptoms should I lose my pills. Scary.. what a nightmare (or medical emergency) that would be.
I think diazepam is much easier to taper off but I've been on BZDs for 23 years now so I suppose I should allow 2 years of tapering at the very minimum to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
I definitely don't like being on BZDs. Life just seems to float by.. time passes by very fast on these drugs. Don't get me wrong though, they are very useful and the downsides may be a lot better than having a full blown panic attack.
Panic attacks are the scariest thing I have ever experienced in my life.
diazepam 10mg BID, famotidine 40mg BID, cetirizine 10mg BID, GNC Ultra Mega Gold, Vitamin D 1200IU, probiotics, quit smoking 19/4/2013
Dx: panic disorder with agoraphobia, OCD
poster:sukarno
thread:1031701
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20131209/msgs/1057198.html