Xanax to Valium Rapid Cross Over

I had no other choice from my original dose of Xanax 4 mil a day for 8 years. I switched over to Valium right away because Dr can’t and won’t prescribe Xanax anymore, well anyways I was on 50 mil Valium and felt way to sedated, I dropped to 40 and it helps but still feel sedated. At that dose I’m tapering per Ashton but totally different feeling than Xanax, the sedation makes me more anxious so I feel a little loss on what to do

I relate to feeling anxiety over something intended to cause sedation. You feel kind of out of control so it can be a physical to mental trigger for anxiousness. I've experienced this myself with a few different medications and never touched them again because of it. Like Remeron for example - it's supposed to "knock you right out" but that is not the experience I had personally because feeling different completely triggered a panic attack.

 

Try to work with the sedative effects and accept them right now. Fighting it just makes it worse, and the drug could be whackier too, like Sequel where you're literally stuck in place for hours or truly knocked out all day.

 

I think what you need to consider is that number one, at least you're still taking something in the same field, a benzo, and you know what a benzo is going to do. You're on a high dose and you might need to figure out the adjustment. What might offer some relief is realizing you will get used to the Valium. What you should also try to remind yourself of is that your body is going to trip out a little bit when transitioning to something it's not used to, and things will eventually adjust. I had a strange experience crossing from ativan to klon to valium, then to xanax and back to valium. Overall I like the the valium is at least better to be on to prepare for a taper. Tapering using xanax is much tougher and not the first choice.

 

You will eventually find the balance and then there's the tapering process from there. It's a PROCESS alright.