Question for Veteran Experts in Benzo Withdrawal

[[ws...]]

I am 14 months off Valium.  I have not had a dose of any benzo in that time period.

 

I have an important meeting set up in the near future.  The anxiety the night before keeps me from sleeping properly...Thus cant function properly.

 

Heres my question:

 

What would be the consequences if i was to take  10 mg of valium for sleep the night before my meeting?  Would it screw me up?  Would it damage the progress I have made thus far?  Any problems with this possiblity?  Any downside risks?

 

I have no plans to use Valium on a regular basis ever again but was wondering if on occassion perhaps once a month if taking a emergency dose of valium will affect my recovery process in any way?

 

Thanks

 

Andy

[[ve...]]

I am 14 months off Valium.  I have not had a dose of any benzo in that time period.  I have an important meeting set up in the near future.  The anxiety the night before keeps me from sleeping properly...Thus cant function properly.

 

Heres my question:

What would be the consequences if i was to take  10 mg of valium for sleep the night before my meeting?  Would it screw me up?  Would it damage the progress I have made thus far?  Any problems with this possiblity?  Any downside risks? I have no plans to use Valium on a regular basis ever again but was wondering if on occassion perhaps once a month if taking a emergency dose of valium will affect my recovery process in any way?

Thanks

Andy

 

Hi Andy.  What you are thinking about doing would be very risky in my opinion.  I wouldn't call myself a benzo expert but I've been around forum a few years and have read many incidences where a rescue dose was done and in some cases set people back quite far in recovery. Also, due to the slow build up of valium, it might not have a large effect that you intended right away and worse, it could actually cause you to have the opposite, a huge withdrawal type reaction that would probably be the last thing you'd want in an important meeting.  In short, there are no guarantees how it might impact you in the short term timeline and in general, it would not be best for the longterm in my humble opinion.

 

You've come very far at 14 months.  Your CNS is close to healed.  Most say it's 6-18 months to heal.  Would it really be worth it to take a benzo at this stage, knowing that it could set you back months if not longer? 

 

If sleep is the issue, why not consider something else that is non GABA like melatonin or perhaps Silenor which is supposedly an antihistamine that can help with sleep.  Ask your doctor.  I've not taken it yet but plan to try a sample when I travel next month.  If I were concerned about sleep before a big meeting though, I'd probably try whatever I was hoping to help, some period of time before the meeting so I knew what to expect.

 

As far as taking emergency doses on a regular basis, this would also be unadviseable as kindling could build up, making it more and more difficult to rid yourself of the dependency on it, according to my understanding.  I'm over two years off valium and know I will never ever get caught up in the benzo cycle again.

 

Good luck,

 

Vertigo

[[ma...]]

The year I was off Klonopin (16 months to be exact) I had a similar dilemma. Looking back I would have used anything OTC, if i had it to do again. Or at least tried what the previous person  mentioned first, to see if they work.

 

Not an expert. I've just been there.

 

Good luck on whatever you decide.

[[ws...]]

Ok Vertigo and Martian.....not sure what to do....the problem is anxiety the night before meeting casues the insomnia....I dont see how one  Valium pill...10 mg is going to undo 14 months of no usage.  Just one pill.  Then none for a long time or never again.

 

it comes down to the importance of the meeting.....if i dont sleep i could lose my job becasuse i MUST PERFORM.  So i MUST sleep.  It is so important to keep the job.  Critical and this is why i am considering taking a dose.  Then the next time I take a dose may be months away....so i think it will be ok but not without some consequence.

 

i feel better at 14 months off but maybe 70% healed.  It is just that my mind starts speeding once i hit the bed and i cant sleep...this is dangerous for me and my career.

 

So i have to weigh it out.....which is more important....my livlihood or one damn pill to sleep on the rare occassion???

 

Andy

[Guest [Pf...]]

No one can give you a precise answer as to the effect it will have, and you have to make up your own mind as to the importance of this meeting versus the potential risk of using one pill.  Here are a couple of thoghts:

 

1)  In terms of the effect of the pill, there is no exact answer.  One area in which doctors are off-base is when they say that a pill WILL do X, or if you only use for a period of time X will happen.  The bottom line is it is not an exact science.  People here can chime in with their experiences of one-time or occassional uses after going off, but there is no way to know for sure.

 

2)  I would guess that one pill is not likely to be a complete setback for you, but since you are sitll in withdrawal, this is tricky.  There are people in withdrawal who have had very bad reactions to what would seem like a minor thing.  One can try and say it is "Only one pill"  but the brain does not work like that.  There are complex reacitons going on, so you may be fine after only one pill, or you may have a setback.

 

3)  You say that this is a one-time event.  But presumably there are going to be other situations in which you will have anxiety.  So you have to ask whether you will start having to use the occassional doses more often, and what effect that will have on your recovery.  Generally, it seems that for one not in withdrawal, the once in a while use of benzo is fine, but in withdrawal, using it now and again probably will be a negative.

 

4)  If you have not been taking a benzo, the valium will probably not last that long, and you may have rebound.  Valium has a long half life, but if it hasn't built up in your system, a single dose is only going to be effective for a couple of hours or so.  So you might take it at 10 PM, and by 1 PM you may get rebound axiety or insomnia, or you may have rebound anxiety the next day.  So the entire thing may backfire on you, and you may then feel that you want to take more pills to get through this meeting

 

5)  As far as the importance of this meeting versus your overall healing, that it not somethign that someone else can judge for you.  No one is in a position to say how important each of these things are to your own life.  You may reasonably decide that it is better to go back on the pills all the time in order to be able to get through things like this, or you may decide it is better to lose your job and focus purely on getting over withdrawal.  That is goingt to depend on your own circumstances

[[Wi...]]

I'm certainly no expert as I'm still tapering.  But there may other options out there you might consider.  There is an antihisimine, hydroxizine, which has anti-anxiety properties and can be obtained by prescription.  To be candid, it didn't induce sleep for me, but on the occasions I used it, it calmed things down considerably.  If sleep itself isn't the problem, but in fact the anxiety that keeps you awake, this might be an option.  Additionally, there are others here who's sleep was induced by this med and unlike valium, doesn't touch the gaba receptors.

 

[[ve...]]

Just to reiterate. Why not try the Silenor which has been approved for sleep and is an antihistamine that supposedly doesn't impact GABA.  Isn't that worth a shot first before taking valium again as a rescue dose? Rescue doses reinforce dependency.  Even suggesting that you might "need" it again in the future, does not bode well for long term benzo freedom.  Once you start down that road, it will be very easy to get addicted again.  You're off now and I recommend staying off.  As others have posted, there really is no guarantee that this won't stir up problems in a negative  way, such as bring on cog fog the next morning, possibly during your meeting!  When is the meeting?  I'd try to get some other non GABA sleep aid and try one or two different ones before your meeting to see if any work well enough for you without going back to the benzo. Your doctor might be able to help get the Silenor or something else.

 

Vertigo

[[sw...]]

I understand why you are considering this.  For whatever my opinion is worth, I don't think it's worth the risk, and I am very much a veteran of withdrawal related insomnia (though I have never taken a rescue dose, so I am not an expert on that beyond what I have read on the forum).  Even if you were to take a rescue dose, 10mg seems extremely high if you haven't taken in over a year.  But from everything I've read about rescue doses, more times than not they do not produce the desired effect but do produce very negative consequences.  I'd say let sleeping dogs lie, especially as there are so many other alternatives.

 

What you might want to look into are things like melatonin and benedryll if you have not, already.  More than anything, though, if you feel that it is anxiety that is keeping you up, please consider getting a home blood pressure reader that will also check your pulse.  Many times when I am unable to fall asleep I take my pulse only to realize that it is in the 100's thereby making it impossible for me to fall asleep and I am able to treat this by taking a beta blocker that I was rx'ed for this reason.

 

Best wishes, whatever you decide.

 

[[Wh...]]

Alternatively you could project positivity on this future event and trust that you will handle the meeting with ease.  The biggest thing I've learned to do is stay in the moment and relax.  A meditation practice is very beneficial to change the old mind patterns of fear.  You don't need to depend on anything outside of yourself to see you thru life.

 

A Veteran Expert LOL

[[...]]

No expert, but had many long, and painful withdrawals.

 

I want to wish you the best no matter what you decide.  I am not in a position to advise, or tell you what you should, or shouldn't do, but is is obvious that your anxiety is all ready starting to ramp up over your job issues, who's wouldn't?

 

You need that job, so do what you gotta do to keep it, and deal with what may, or may not happen later.  Just an opinion from someone who wishes he had the right answer for you.

 

the best to you

 

pj

[[ws...]]

All excellent comments....I will respond later more fully...when i have time.  This is a subject that i think a alot of us have thought about.....more downside risk than upside perhaps.  Imprtant stuff here.

 

More later

 

Andy

[[ws...]]

Ok heres what happened after I took a 10 mg Valium after not having any for 14 months.....I took it at midnight and slept for 6 hours and woke up and was hit with huge anxiety related symptoms.....racing pounding heart and nervousness and tension off  the charts....i guess it is called rebound anxiety.  WOW.,...awful stuff ...lasted until noon and subsided perhaps becaasue i took 1000 mg of Passion Flower to calm me down,and then I drove to my business meeting at 2 pm and I did well and performed up to expectation.....so all in all it was worth it to me to use this rescue dose to ensure my employment but certainly there was aprice to pay. Valium insured the necessary sleep.

 

If i had not taken the Valium for this important meeting.....i may not have slept...and no sleep means my personality and brain would not have worked adequately to function during the meeting....so in retrospect I am glad I took the valium....it helped and I dont think that it took me off track or set me back really too much anyway.

 

When i dont sleep i cant even drive a car (had to drive 100 miles to these meeting and 100 miles back home) cant talk and respond intelligently, cant laugh, cant think, I am a different person and should not be in public when I dont sleep so as a professional sales rep. i MUST sleep...it is not an option.  I am expected to be the bright dynamic ray of sunshine on the cloudy day for my prospects...an entertainer of sorts....so i have to sleep of the show wont go on.....probably the worst and most difficult profession to have in withdrawal.....I am forced to socailize at a high level....very difficult for sure.

 

I will not take Valium again until I have another situation were sleep is critical.....absolutely imperative.  I hope that is months away.  I want to stay off the Valium as long as possible but it is not worth losing my job over....so i think that I did the right thing for myself and my future and my life.  In benzo withdrawal we can lose everything in our lives that means anything....family, house and job can be destroyed....so it is a delicate balance of priorities that we must juggle at times and hopefully get thru this nonsense.  It just take a long long time.

 

If I had to do it over YES I would take the emerengency dose that i did...it was worth it overall...even though the anxiety the next morning was horrible....but it all depends on ones personal situation.  it is a personal decsion I made and the right one for myself.

 

I would say to others that they need to evaluate the pluses and minuses and proceed with caution.,,,,based on their own personal circumstances.... 

 

Andy

[[Ga...]]

Andy,

I am like you I can NOT function if i dont sleep.

 

Im so happy you got thru that meeting ok 

[[ws...]]

As a sales rep. when I have to give a personal face to face presentation...sleep is NOT OPTIONAL...is is a MUST.  Cant do my job if i dont sleep.  i can get away with no sleep if i can conduct business over the internet or phone....BUT NOT IN PERSON...NO WAY!

 

Luckily most of what i do for a living can be done without face to face meeting.

 

But taking a dose of valium comes at a price....the withdrawal symptoms fire up and there is a minor set back of sorts but it was all worth it...i can handle the symptoms and they will subside in the next few days. And importantly i get to keep my job and income which is critical.

 

But the rebound anxiety was intense....it really sucked.  Taking the valium does was Like waking up the evil sleeping giant....better to let him sleep if at all possible.

 

So if others are thinking about taking a dose after a long time off...it comes down to what is more important personally.....for me the job was more important and this important successful meeting ensured my employment thru the year at least.  Now i am back on track with NO Valium.....

 

Andy