My experience with diazepam (Valium)

[boyo4202]

I recently tried diazepam to treat HPPD/DPDR at both 5mg and 10mg doses. It was only a 3x5mg prescription intended for "medical procedure anxiety" but I figured it could indicate whether or not benzos could be useful for me. Unfortunately, I didn't see any benefit from the drug, in fact, I saw hardly any effect from any of the doses at all. My understanding is that 10mg is a pretty substantial dose, however, I probably wouldn't have noticed any effect from the drug if I wasn't looking for it. For those who see a benefit from diazepam, what is your dosage, and did it take a longer period to see effects?

I hope clonazepam will still have some effect and this isn't indicative of some inherent benzo resistance (if that's even possible). I also don't suffer from anxiety so maybe the effects were just far less pronounced than those who do?

[AF44]

On 6/7/2024 at 2:49 PM, boyo4202 said:

I recently tried diazepam to treat HPPD/DPDR at both 5mg and 10mg doses. It was only a 3x5mg prescription intended for "medical procedure anxiety" but I figured it could indicate whether or not benzos could be useful for me. Unfortunately, I didn't see any benefit from the drug, in fact, I saw hardly any effect from any of the doses at all. My understanding is that 10mg is a pretty substantial dose, however, I probably wouldn't have noticed any effect from the drug if I wasn't looking for it. For those who see a benefit from diazepam, what is your dosage, and did it take a longer period to see effects?

I hope clonazepam will still have some effect and this isn't indicative of some inherent benzo resistance (if that's even possible). I also don't suffer from anxiety so maybe the effects were just far less pronounced than those who do?

I never tried Valium for it. I’m on Klonopin and that is what has worked for me.

[brake]

On 6/7/2024 at 5:49 PM, boyo4202 said:

I recently tried diazepam to treat HPPD/DPDR at both 5mg and 10mg doses. It was only a 3x5mg prescription intended for "medical procedure anxiety" but I figured it could indicate whether or not benzos could be useful for me. Unfortunately, I didn't see any benefit from the drug, in fact, I saw hardly any effect from any of the doses at all. My understanding is that 10mg is a pretty substantial dose, however, I probably wouldn't have noticed any effect from the drug if I wasn't looking for it. For those who see a benefit from diazepam, what is your dosage, and did it take a longer period to see effects?

I hope clonazepam will still have some effect and this isn't indicative of some inherent benzo resistance (if that's even possible). I also don't suffer from anxiety so maybe the effects were just far less pronounced than those who do?

I did Valium from a friend like 2 times and it definitely improved my symptoms. I'm sorry it had no effect on you. I tried the sober life for many years and now I'm all up for benzos and other cutting edge treatments because it was too many years of suffering without a crutch.

[AmitV]

On 6/25/2024 at 10:37 PM, brake said:

I did Valium from a friend like 2 times and it definitely improved my symptoms. I'm sorry it had no effect on you. I tried the sober life for many years and now I'm all up for benzos and other cutting edge treatments because it was too many years of suffering without a crutch.

Do you get complete relief from Valium?

[brake]

20 hours ago, AmitV said:

Do you get complete relief from Valium?

No because it was a low dose and it was like 11 years ago so I don't remember much. It did give me that mini vacation from HPPD feeling though. It loosened me up as well and made me more happy. I would have to do it again in a more clinical way.

[brake]

I take Klonopin now everyday twice a day and mix it with herbal teas and or supplements and I seem to be doing a lot better. It also decreased my visuals but not a full cure or treatment. I was doing very bad with my mental health so I don't care. Doing it everyday is probably necessary and worth it for me.

[AF44]

On 8/2/2024 at 4:57 PM, brake said:

I take Klonopin now everyday twice a day and mix it with herbal teas and or supplements and I seem to be doing a lot better. It also decreased my visuals but not a full cure or treatment. I was doing very bad with my mental health so I don't care. Doing it everyday is probably necessary and worth it for me.

It’s true that Klonopin is a miracle worker for HPPD! I take it every day as well. I’ve been on it every day for damn near 14 years or so. I’ve built up a tolerance so it doesn’t work as well as when I was first on it, but definitely WAY better than when I first got HPPD. But now I’m scared that if I’m taken off of it (for whatever reason) it will END my life as I know it. I’ve heard that the withdrawals are AWFUL even for people without HPPD, and ugh…I don’t even want to think about it. It’s so stressful. But I don’t care at this point either. Or at the point I started taking it. Back then, it was a lot easier to get prescriptions for benzos, etc. I had a mental health practitioner who immediately believed me about HPPD and said that I could take Klonopin for the rest of my life because it was a safe drug to be on. Now they say it’s dangerous and should only be used short term. Funnily enough, when I was 33 and diagnosed as Bipolar, I had a meds prescriber who had not heard of HPPD. I explained what it was and said it was in the DSM. She looked and said, Yes, it sure is. (When I first went in to see her she asked why was I on Klonopin every day and that’s how the whole thing started.) She completely believed me and continued to prescribe it, and started me on the Zoloft and lamotrigine. One day I went in for an appointment and she said she wanted to say thank you. I was taken aback and asked why and she said she had a patient who had come in with symptoms of HPPD (probably not knowing what the hell was wrong with them) and that because of me, she knew what it was and what to prescribe them for it (Klonopin.) That made me feel really happy because that poor person was miserable and probably thought they were nuts, especially when all the tests the docs ran on them came back showing nothing, then to go to a mental health prescriber and be told she knew exactly what was wrong with them and prescribe Klonopin. I would’ve been so damn happy and relieved back then if that had happened to me. Like imagine walking in to some mental health clinic trying to explain your symptoms, no one head ever heard of it or believed you, then suddenly this prescriber is like, “Hey! I totally know what the issue is! You have HPPD and I’m going to prescribe something that will provide some relief for your symptoms.” 

[yarkadin]

That's a good story on helping the other patient out.  I must say that I am still hesitant to tell most people that I have this problem, to this day.  The stigma around drugs has abated a bit, but it's still an uncommon condition.  I never told my family doctor.  I told my eye doctor once and he looked at me like I just landed from Alpha Centauri on my space ship.  The other problem is the insurance companies and privacy rights.  Increasingly, doctors are not self-employed but employees of large institutions and hospitals.  I don't want to share my information with any institution, private or public, with concern with what they do with that information and how it will impact me in the future.  Maybe that's ironic that I write this on the internet but I am at least (more or less) anonymous here, lol

Edited August 4 by yarkadin

[brake]

3 hours ago, yarkadin said:

That's a good story on helping the other patient out.  I must say that I am still hesitant to tell most people that I have this problem, to this day.  The stigma around drugs has abated a bit, but it's still an uncommon condition.  I never told my family doctor.  I told my eye doctor once and he looked at me like I just landed from Alpha Centauri on my space ship.  The other problem is the insurance companies and privacy rights.  Increasingly, doctors are not self-employed but employees of large institutions and hospitals.  I don't want to share my information with any institution, private or public, with concern with what they do with that information and how it will impact me in the future.  Maybe that's ironic that I write this on the internet but I am at least (more or less) anonymous here, lol

My eye doctor actually told me that he has a few other patients with visual snow. I'm very open about it because I want scientists and doctors to look for cures and treatments and we never will find that if everyone hides it.

[AmitV]

I wish people and clinicians around me were as understanding. I also have tinnitus, all thanks to an SSRI that I was forced to make that choice, when all I wanted was a Benzo 4 times a month for flying. I got unnecessarily dragged into SSRI nonsense. And then again denied Benzo when I ended up with HPPD.