[FrozenYogurt]

I saw my psychiatrist today and had him tweak a little of my meds, which you can read in my signature at the bottom of this post. But this time, he took away my benzo. For the past 3 years, I've been on xanax, ativan, klonopin, valium, or some sort of benzo. I've got a couple more refills for valium and I plan on using them sparingly. I'm very scared of the idea of not having any benzos in case of emergency. I have no idea how to manage my anxiety without a benzo. They're lifesavers, and I realize I'm dependent on them, but is that such a bad thing? If they treat my anxiety successfully, then why change it? I talked to my doc about augmenting Paxil with Wellbutrin to combat the sexual side effects. He claims that valium is hurting my sexual performance too, but frankly I don't agree. So where do I go from here? Do I save my valium for emergencies? Or should I just taper down and get off them completely like my doctor wants? I'm kinda lost here.

[kaliope]

personally I would save them for emergencies. my pdoc gives me 10 a month. I don't take them because I have learned how to manage my anxiety, but I like the idea of having them just in case. but if you have been taking them regularly, you are not going to be able to just go off of them. you will go into withdrawal. I took 1 .05mg of klonopin a day for a year and it took me 3 months to taper off of it, cutting it in half and half again and again and again and I still went thru withdrawals. it was hell..that is why I don't take them. I don't want to go thru that again. I take buspar for my anxiety. it is non addicting.

[Disorder7]

I'm sorry that happened to you. I've been stockpiling because I know some day the same thing will happen to me.
Takes care.

[Ozisl]

Squirreling away some spares is always a good policy. For benzos, I've been on klonopin and xanax for years, and they jerked my xanax out and tried adderall... it took some convincing for my doctor to switch it back, so don't give up on xanax "as needed"

Doctors do sometimes take you off meds like benzos if you have been on them for a long time. kaliope is absolutely right about not being taken off suddenly, so keep working with the doctors so they can step you down properly.

[FrozenYogurt]

Well today I took my Paxil, Adderall, and Wellbutrin all in the morning, this time without a benzo. I figure some Valium is still in my system, so I'm not feeling any withdrawal symptoms. I'll most likely start with 10mg every day for a week, 5mg the next week, and then taper off completely. For not having a benzo, I don't feel as anxious as I thought I'd be. I was planning on getting off benzos completely someday. Now is a good of a time as any, I suppose.

[Angelique67]

Good luck, but that might be too blunt of a disengage from Valium. You might want to keep reducing the pills further. Again, I wish to God they hadn't forced me off. Every single day I crave them and its been over 1 1/2 years.

[FrozenYogurt]

I'll play it by ear. Valium is supposedly one of the easiest benzos to get off of. I quit Xanax in 2 weeks after taking 6mg a day for 6 months. But if I REALLY need one, I've got plenty of refills.

[Angelique67]

Oh God. You're so lucky. (At least about the pills.)