I am 55 years old. Have been on Valium for 20 days now. I decided to get off of all benzos after much reading and having a friend who was abusing Xanax kill himself (may have been other issues, too). I was taking about 4 mg of Klonopin daily. I read a lot of the reseach on benzos by Dr. Heather Ashton, one of the world’s leading authorities on benzos. I was shocked to see her equivalency table for Klonopin and Xanax. 1 mg of Klonopin or Xanax is equel to 20 mg of Valium. That’s right, 20!! Plus, Klonopin and Xanax have nasty side effects. That did it for me. No more benzos!! Because Valium has the longest half-life of any benzo and the least side effects, I’m using it and water-titration to get off Klonopin, a method widly used in Europe. 10% reduction every 10-14 days. So far so good.

I have experienced some of these side effects -
Headache, drowsiness in the morning. Hard time getting my Dr. to prescribe and go along with treatment program. Valium supposedly is far less addicting than some other benzos, with far fewer side effects. I hope that turns-out to be true.

I hope this information will be useful to others,
Paul Harris

Miss you!

I too am quite familiar with Versed (it’s a pretty common drug given for surgeries and other procedures that don’t require you being fully unconscious). I have gotten to the point that it doesn’t affect me as strongly. I still stay down for the procedures, but I find myself waking up earlier, and remembering more from the time in the recovery areas.

I can think of several occasions where Shilo has told me that I asked her the same question at least a dozen times. It’s gotten to the point that when I am coming out I preface every question I ask with the phrase

“I know that I have probably asked you this a bunch of times already but…”

Anyway, I hope you get feeling better. More importantly I hope the second procedure goes better than the first. Enjoy the trip