GAD and Valium and withdrawl

[bbuhlman]

Hi,
I am a first time poster, I've been diagnosed with GAD and I also have a bad back. My back doctor gave me Valium which I took for about 3 weeks (2.5mg at night and maybe 1mg during the day).

I quit taking the Valium about 2 weeks ago and really hadn't had any side effects till this morning I woke up shaking badly with anxiety. I took an herbal calming pill I had around and this helped but this is still scary.

Could the withdrawl symptoms have taken a couple of weeks to start?

Thanks,
Bill

[Nana4&cntn]

Hi Bill and Welcome to BT,

I am so sorry about your attack this morning.

You were on a very low dose of Valium for a very short period of time. I doubt very seriously it was withdrawl, but it is possible.

Perhaps you should call your doctor, just to be sure. I am sorry I didn't see this earlier. I hope you can put this episode behind you and have a good nights sleep and a great weekend.

You also said you have a bad back, have you thought of joining in the Spinal Disorders Forum? There are a lot of very experienced and knowledgable people there.

I usually check in there daily sometimes more often.

Take care,
Kathy

[bbuhlman]

Thanks Cathy,
I appreciate your email and reassurance. I do look at the spinal forum pretty often, I just had a facet block last week too and the doc didn't tell me that he added steriod with the test, I'm sure that hyped me up a little too. Is the anxiety forum the correct one to ask about anti-depressants?

Thanks,
Bill

[houghchrst]

Bill you can go ahead and ask in any of the mental health forums. Go ahead, if no one here knows then you can post on depression or Bipolar, there is also a Medication forum.

You will eventually get an answer or at least an idea of how to find out your answer.

[tic chick]

hey bill!

from what i read, daily doses of valium build up in muscle and especially fat tissue, so that concentrations become greater than what you are taking daily. also, when valium breaks down, it breaks down into a chemical that takes a longer time to be excreted from your body than the original valium. this chemical can be in your body for 200 hours or more (almost 9 days) and is, in itself, considered a long acting benzodiazepine (class of anti-anxiety drugs).

so, you could have had withdrawal symptoms 2 weeks later. your brain doesn't begin withdrawal until the chemical is out of your system enough time for your brain to recognize that it is missing it.

usually it is best to gradually taper off from drugs taken for pain, anxiety and depression, because they affect the chemicals in your brain and thus could cause problems if they are rapidly withdrawn. also, drugs in the benzodiazepine family are considered highly addictive.

i hope you're feeling better by the time you read this. it's great that your herbal pills help you. i would take them until you feel calmer.

glad you found our forums,
jeannie

[bbuhlman]

Hi Jeannie,
Thanks for more explanation, more always helps. I'm doing better but not so much as if I hadn't taken the Valium. I felt more normal while taking it than I have in the last few years. Too bad taking it makes you go down a slippery slope. Right now I'm trying the herbal calming pills from " the road back". I've also tried Wellbutrin but I took one and had a bad headache and nausea for 10 hours straight. I didn't take another, I have to be very functional for my job so anything I try has to pretty much work right out of the gate.

talk to ya later,
Bill