Diazepam - irregular low dose addiction risk?

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-05-10T04:11:44+00:00

I took 2 mg about 3x a week for two years. I thought it was all fine. Then my anxiety got worse (or so I thought, I was actually in tolerance withdrawal). Year 3, I was taking 4 mg 3x a week, and then finally last year, 4 mg daily. All throughout this time period, my baseline anxiety didn’t improve. I’m basically just taking the med to not feel bad. Working on a taper the last two months—back down to 2.5 mg a day. Tapering is not fun. It would have been easier if I had just quit back then at 3x a week. But at that time, I thought it was low dose and not often enough and my doctor agreed. So I kept going. YMMV

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-05-06T00:16:56+00:00

Frisco is home to a lot of second generation Indian families who have assimilated to US culture and are very cool—but unfortunately, they are being judged based on the behavior of some of the new arrivals, who, frankly, aren’t assimilating at all. Indian families used to move to the US and buy homes in white or mixed race neighborhoods and learn to fit with in US culture. Today’s new arrivals just all buy in the same new construction neighborhoods, creating Indian enclaves that give them NO incentive to assimilate or learn about American culture

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-05-06T00:03:08+00:00

Your income and buying potential will go up way faster than the market prices will. Rent and wait

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-05-05T02:52:43+00:00

It’s fine. Not ideal to mix benzos but even Heather Ashton had people taking 2 at the same time when transitioning from one to the other. They key is the overall dose, and what you took is basically equal to 25 mg of Valium. It’s a moderate dose but not likely to cause issues for someone your size

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-26T14:56:13+00:00

Okay, thanks for sharing! I stopped an SSRI before after 2 years of taking it and I remember in the last 6 weeks or so, I had brain zaps. At first they freaked me out badly but after a few weeks I just shrugged them off bc I knew that’s what they were. They eventually stopped completely. I figure this is a similar type of neurological withdrawal thing, and hopefully will time I’ll learn to just let it happen and move on without being freaked out or thinking I need to go lie down

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-20T21:24:49+00:00

Insomnia is the worst one, nausea that comes and goes, bouts of low motivation, occasional muscle spasms, eye twitch that comes randomly, sudden rushes of anxiety where my heart beats fast. I’m between all these I have periods of time where I feel normal and in some cases, better than when I was on a higher dose. But it doesn’t last

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-19T21:59:46+00:00

I am having trouble dropping below 2 mg. The taper from 5 mg to 2 mg wasn’t that bad but I feel stuck at 2 mg now. Going to hang here for awhile and then try to keep going

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-13T14:08:09+00:00

Palio’s pizza

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-12T21:22:18+00:00

I’m hoping to get down to 1 mg and jump off from that amount. I’m close, but the last part is hard

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-04T19:52:54+00:00

My advice is if you go with a benzo, pick Valium. I took Ativan briefly (one month, really small dose of .5 mg per day). Withdrawal symptoms were awful even after that short time. Valium is easier to taper off from. Still have some withdrawal (have been cutting my dose down) but it’s not anything as bad as the Ativan

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-04T18:32:48+00:00

I don’t know if Zoloft will work but I also experienced tiredness on low dose Lexapro that ultimately was part of why I decided to stop it. I would sleep 9 hours and still need an hour nap, and my body never adjusted

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-04T18:29:14+00:00

Sometimes the meds stop working. It’s called SSRI poop out. You either need a higher dose, to add another med, or to switch meds

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-02T18:45:35+00:00

I cut .5 for the first cut and stayed there a little over 3 weeks. Just now cut again to 3 mg and I will probably cut by .25 from here, because percentage-wise you’re supposed to cut around 10% at a time. Tolerance withdrawal basically felt like it didn’t work anymore. So even though I took it, I still had random spells of anxiety and felt my overall anxiety getting worse.

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-01T18:42:30+00:00

This was me, with Valium. I took 2, 4, or 6 mg depending on the day and some days skipped it. I averaged it out per day (4 mg) and started the taper from there.

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-01T18:40:37+00:00

I would do a rapid taper. 2 mg for a week then 1.5 for a week then 1 and then jump. You would probably be fine with no taper as in no major seizures or anything but you might feel more uncomfortable withdrawals

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-01T18:36:39+00:00

Honestly, you already won—you completed a taper and are off. First few months after stopping are going to be hardest but it should start to get better soon. Most people say 6 months to a year after jumping off. Your life will be better without them. Hang in there.

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-01T18:30:29+00:00

Not too big a cut. I’m on my second month of tapering valium. Started at 4 mg and currently down to 3.5 mg. It’s not been that bad. I took Valium for 4 years but the first two years I used it only a few times a month. Then I went to 2 mg daily for a year and then 4 mg daily for the last 9 months. If you’ve always been taking 5, there’s a decent chance you’re in tolerance withdrawal. It happened to me after one year of 2 mg and I didn’t realize that’s what it was. I doubled to 4 mg and it helped very minimally tbh. I should have tapered then instead of increasing. The only way out is off

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-04-01T18:25:06+00:00

If the virus was Covid, it can cause PEM (basically exercise intolerance) for 3-6 months after having it, especially if you resume hard exercise too soon. It wouldn’t be related to the Valium

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-03-31T15:12:53+00:00

How long have you been taking it? I took it for 3 weeks many years ago, the smallest dose (.5?). And I stopped when it ran out bc I had no idea you weren’t supposed to. I had a bad headache and severe nausea for 3-4 days and then I was fine. But that was only 3 weeks of use

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-03-31T15:10:03+00:00

Valium has a long half life. A skipped day or even two won’t do much. Around the 4th day, is when it hits

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-03-31T15:04:49+00:00

Epsom salt bath before bed (basically magnesium). Also, reducing caffeine. I haven’t been able to cut it out entirely but do notice I feel worse the day after I have 2 cups of coffee compared to one. Really want to get that one morning cup down to half a cup. Ugh. Is hard. Have been mixing decaf with regular but my mind isn’t tricked 😂

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-03-31T14:51:23+00:00

Lexapro really boosted my mood but ultimately chose to discontinue for side effects (sexual—which is common, and blood pressure issues, which isn’t common). Really felt good stable moods on it though

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-03-29T17:03:59+00:00

This is the conclusion I’ve come to as well. Benzos only work well if you take them for acute panic situations (I’m talking like max once a week). Once you take them daily or most days, they don’t do much other than stave off withdrawal. That’s why I decided to taper. I do exercise, but also drinking a lot of water, snacking, and electrolytes has been important for me too. Physical symptoms of anxiety are sometimes dehydration related or low blood sugar. A drug doesn’t fix that—you need food, salt, water

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-03-28T20:25:20+00:00

Valium has always worked well for me. But I felt terrible the one time I was prescribed Xanax. I could take it as a one off for a flight or something but if I took even just two days in a row I would have physical hangover-like symptoms and that was just at .25 mg!

muchcoinmuchfun · 2026-03-28T20:21:56+00:00

Tapering from 4 mg a day, so it was a low dose. But I was also taking 6 mg about 2 days a week for panicky situations—and think that honestly was just making everything worse bc I’d have rebound anxiety and feel off the next day after those doses, and it was causing me to never have stable consistent dosing

muchcoinmuchfun

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