Valium: Valium is considered addictive... - Anxiety and Depre...

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Valium

marheart profile image
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Valium is considered addictive. If a med is working. isn't it considered addictive?

So gov't takes Valium away from age 70+ and leaves the most vulnerable group without help. Huh?

Sometimes a very sensitive body can only get help from one med when other meds make the patient sick. I know people who struggled for years to find a cocktail of meds that would give at least some release. Now the warning is a reality.

Be sick, waste household money so Big Pharma can pay their research costs and offer lots of other products. Welcome to 2019

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marheart profile image
marheart
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25 Replies

hi marheart! what country do you live in? are you saying your doctor won't prescribe you valium just because you're over 70? no other reason?

marheart profile image
marheart in reply to

Nothing was working. Making me feel sick all the time. Valium gives me some low dose relief. Drs. received orders in USA to not order it for patients over the age of 70. All meds that help could be considered addictive. They work, so we use them.

lorianxiety profile image
lorianxiety in reply to marheart

hello Marheart,yes its an addictive drug Valium/diazepam---and I should know as I was on 5mg for at least 30 odd years.On reflection its a tranquilliser which curbs anxiety...IM now having to ask 1 gp in a practise of 3 for when I need them---have been weaned off them for the past year and half.i now have stress ,as a result or at least partly so of the attitude from the new practice I was asked to leave as boundaries had changed--------im in the Uk and 73years--------now im having to cope with a minimum amount of tablets and 2mg 14 tabs,have you been getting them longterm too??

marheart profile image
marheart in reply to lorianxiety

Taking minimum dose Valium for less than 4 yrs. Sensitive body.

Heading for max of 2/day. Age 78. In USA.

Behavior Health Psych is the division in charge. It's them or no one. I can't afford to fill Rx outside of best Insurance plan as rated in USA.

in reply to marheart

As you may be under more than one specialist, the problem concerns your whole care as anxiety is affecting your sleep and symptoms. I would ask for a video conference or chat to the other health care specialist for help in a needed prescription. I find contacting the specialist secretary can help as the specialists realise the value of support for anxiety to improve general health.

marheart profile image
marheart in reply to lorianxiety

Taking Valium for 3+ yrs. 1 mg. due to sensitive body reactions to every med we tried for 4+ yrs. Some relief is better than none, is better than feeling worse.

A family member weaned himself off high school type drugs. Horrors!

He did it all himself. Amazing how the family didn't know all that he was hiding in order to keep his privacy.

marheart profile image
marheart

Nothing was working. Making me feel sick all the time. Valium gives me some low dose relief. Drs. received orders in USA to not order it for patients over the age of 70. All meds that help could be considered addictive. They work, so we use them.

Jeff1943 profile image
Jeff1943

Valium is no more addictive than any other medication taken for anxiety. 45 years ago I took 3 × 2.5mg half-tablets every day for a year. Then just like any other mind bending med I had to taper it off over a period of time.

It had no side effects and worked instantly every time in banishing anxiety. It was just as effective after a year of taking it as at the beginning.

My successive doctors over the past 45 years continue to prescribe me 28× 5mg Valium every 6 months and I 'm 76. I break them in half and only take them when needed. Never for more than 2 or 3 consecutive days and only 1 or 2 half 5mg tablets in one day.

Unlike other anxiety meds valium is based on a natural herbal remedy used for thousands of years in India called rawawulfa root. It's grated into a porridge - Mahatma Ghandi consumed it every day which may account for his pacific attitude.

I live in the U.K., I believe in the u.s. you have something similar called xanax which is only available on private prescription here and not on the National Health Service. Don't know how it compares to diazepam/valium.

marheart profile image
marheart

Thanks for input

in reply to marheart

Hi there..how are you? Have come across some interesting information through an article written in Health Aid .

healthaid.co.uk/health and.co.uk/benefits-of-digestive-enzymes

the benefit of digestive enzymes. The enzymes are important for elimination of waste products and toxins.

Another more detailed article is from Baseline of Health

Title Digestive Health Stomach Acid & Enzyme Formulas

Natural Health Newsletter written by Jon Barron March 12 2007

Hiatus hernia complicates the acid balance of the digestive tract.lack of digestive enzymes can create autoimmune disorders food sensitivities and vitamin deficiency which further affects your mood and health as well as arthritis and intestinal disorders. Tests for amylase deficiency may show a faulty Gene. These enzymes can be given as supplements. The blog gives information on the baking soda test and also the fresh lemon juice and water before a meal .If you have citric acid intolerance you will have high acid reflux. If you have no acid the baking soda test this will show if your symptoms improve. Deficiencies in amylase lipase and protease enzymes will contribute to gastro intestinal problems. An online contact has been able to sleep with arthritis taking probiotics. Hope you are getting on ok. Love your posts.

in reply to marheart

jonbarron.org/article/stoma...

No reply necessary.

Jeff1943 profile image
Jeff1943

You've missed the point. You can become dependant on ANY drug that works successfully and you have to taper off valium if you've been on it for any length of time just like ANY other psychoactive drug.

Why do people just go on repeating parrot fashion that valium is 'addictive' and you can become 'dependent' on it?

Are you saying that other anti anxiety meds that work are NOT addictive and liable to dependency?

In the one year period that I used it every day I didn't require MORE valium to achieve the same level of tranquillisation. The same is true during the last 44 years when I use it occasionally as needed.

These criticisms of valium are myths and the banning of their use by people over 70 in the U.S. is blatant age discrimination and should be challenged in Courts of Law.

I'm 76 and it still works as well for me when I need it as when I was 32.

marheart profile image
marheart in reply to Jeff1943

Sounds like you and I are thinking alike.

Bumpy road ahead. Advice on how to follow Drs. weaning advice and still feel "human" without the addiction terror stories.

Jeff1943 profile image
Jeff1943 in reply to marheart

Here in the u.k. Valium is still prescribed whatever your age for short term high anxiety or for sparing use 'as needed'.

Whenever my doctor changes I tell him/her that I am a responsible user and understand the addiction problem etc etc

So what are they handing out as an alternative in the U.S? Xanax maybe?

marheart profile image
marheart in reply to Jeff1943

Don't know the rules as to what comes next. Psych was clear that as long as I continued with their talk therapy and followed a weaning process which we will set up, it will be a slow gradual process.

On the physical side I have to decide if I want meds, processes, surgery, etc. On the Humor Behavior Anxiety side, they decide and I follow their instructions.

The rules are the rules from the biggest Insurer in USA.

Jeff1943 profile image
Jeff1943 in reply to marheart

You have another option. Spend a few dollars on 'Hope and help for your nerves' by Doctor Claire Weekes, available new or used from Amazon. There are many self-help books but this one has been in print for 50 years. There must be a reason for that? Nothing to lose.

Jeff1943 profile image
Jeff1943

If you use valium only as needed and those episodes of need are reasonably spaced out this weakening of the beneficial effect should not take place I would have thought.

Jeff1943 profile image
Jeff1943

"Proactive" means preventing people over 70 taking advantage of the benefits of valium and treating it as dangerous as rat poison for the rest of the population. I for one don't support this demonisation of a drug that the World Health Organisation categorises as one of the safest and most essential medications.

I have known many people over the last 50 years who take valium and none of them experienced this reduction of efficacy. If they had their doctors wouldn't agree to increase the dosage to compensare for this surely.

It certainly hasn't got out of hand in the U.K. over the last half century. Certainly not when taken as needed like one or two tablets a week. So I don't consider myself lucky that I've never experienced this weakening of its effectiveness.

In the U.S. xanax is more freely dispensed than valium whilst xanax has not been authorised for general use in the U.K.

Are we sure we're not being manipulated by the big pharmaceutical companies who maybe find xanax more profitable than valium?

Jeff1943 profile image
Jeff1943

There's absolutely no need for me to take care with a med I have been taking safely and without problems for 45 years and is considered one of the safest and most essential drugs by the World Health Organisation (see Wikipedia). Indeed we must disagree.

Jeff1943 profile image
Jeff1943

I'm reminded if actress Tallulah Bankhead's comment on cocaine in the 1930s: "This idea that cocaine is habit forming is absolute nonsense and I should know, I've been taking it for 15 years!"

NeuronerdDoaty profile image
NeuronerdDoaty

I’m still going to take it. It controls my seizures and helps me sleep which I need to control my seizures. I don’t care if it’s addictive if I need it to stay alive. I’m bothered how they keep jerking us around. I’m not a kid on the street shooting up with no job. That kid needs help with addiction. I need sleep and no seizures. I will get my meds.

Have you tried propanalol tablets for anxiety or an alternative to the drug you have been taking such as lorezepam? Propanalol is a different type of drug but helps sweating and other symptoms as blood pressure and heart. Patches for propanalol are available in boxes of 140 . If you have had this drug before may be you could have it now?

Depends on sensitivity to drugs and drug interactions as well as just taking a drug. If you have been prescribed a drug by a specialist for a reason and it is a minimal dose it is not a question of addiction. Believe the care team will come up with an alternative drug which is not an arbitrary age related prescription.

Specialists have discretion over their patient's needs in relation to their age and health.

Can see your point of view. Everyone is different. Quality of life is important as you get older so every little helps. It's when new rules come in which don't make a lot of sense, as no one has a cut off date which says they are going to drop down dead from taking a minimal dose of Valium aged 73. Folk drink whisky until the day they die - helping to sleep. No worries on this front - can't see any signs prohibiting the use of alcohol anywhere when you are 73 can you? Ha!

? It's the question of a cut off age for withdrawal of drugs. It is a rubber stamp of officialdom which people people cannot argue with. Agree with Jeff here.

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