I noticed a guy in work...

There's a guy at work and I've always been convinced he was on some kind of GABAergic medication, due to the fact he seems to often come across as having severe cog fog and very slow with his reflexes and motor skills. People constantly give him stick because he's 'slow' and always making mistakes with simple tasks.

 

He was aware that I'd been off work due to problems with my medications and mentioned to me that he'd been on Valium for "20 years" but went to the doctors because he'd seen an article in the paper damning Valium. He mentioned to the doctor about his worries and they'd changed him to another med. I asked him if he knew the name of the med and he said, "Yeah, Clonazepam". I kid you not, they had taken him off a 5mg Diazepam nightly and replaced it with 2mg Clonazepam. I live in the UK, where regulations on benzos are very strict, so I was astonished to hear this.

 

I never said anything to him, other than mentioning that they didn't take him of benzodiazepines then but he had not idea what I meant. In the past year, he's had a few wobbly days and I genuinely looked at him at the time thinking, 'he looks like he's going through what I'm going through'.

 

He's 58 years old, I'm certainly not going to say anything to him, I don't feel like I'm in a position of strength as I'm going through it and if it's not causing him any issues then who am I to rock his boat. He could be on them for life with no real issues, although he definitely comes across as a benzo brain, but people think that's just him. I can tell it's medication.

 

I just found it astonishing that he went in worried about being on Valium, so the doctor switched him from 5mg Diazepam to 2mg Clonazepam 

Oh, that's awful. In the first place, I don't know why the terrible news about Valium has gotten around. It certainly seems far better than Klonopin. I've read tons of posts, and I always look at the signatures. I have found that people on K generally fare worse than people on V and, in fact, there are far less V former users in the protracted section than the other drugs. 

 

It continues to amaze me that there is so much ignorance with doctors regarding these pills!! You do NOT give 2 mg. K in place of 5 mg. V!!!

 

Even if you had said anything to him, he might not want to hear it. You can try, but at this point he might already be dependent on the K. And that's a terrible shame.

Isn't 2mg of clonazepam equivalent to 40mg of Valium?    Your co-worker is much worse off than he was before.  That is a terrible thing what the doctor has done to him, so stupid.  You could try just mentioning to him again that he's still on the same kind/class of drug and that he's gone WAY up in dose (like by 8 times) or maybe he can look it up for himself?  Poor guy.  He was on the right track, being worried about the Valium.  I hope he finds his way again.

Oh, that's awful. In the first place, I don't know why the terrible news about Valium has gotten around. It certainly seems far better than Klonopin. I've read tons of posts, and I always look at the signatures. I have found that people on K generally fare worse than people on V and, in fact, there are far less V former users in the protracted section than the other drugs.

 

I too have noticed this to be an extremely common trend, those suffering the most after (and during) withdrawal tend to have been on either Xanax or Klonopin (especially this one) and this was the reasons I was so shocked to hear of my colleague being switched over to K. He's had a couple of wobbly days over the past year, not many, but I just knew something was up. He looked like eerily similar to someone going through benzo withdrawal.

 

Isn't 2mg of clonazepam equivalent to 40mg of Valium?    Your co-worker is much worse off than he was before.  That is a terrible thing what the doctor has done to him, so stupid.  You could try just mentioning to him again that he's still on the same kind/class of drug and that he's gone WAY up in dose (like by 8 times) or maybe he can look it up for himself?  Poor guy.  He was on the right track, being worried about the Valium.  I hope he finds his way again.

 

It wasn't until I posted that I thought, even though he said to me they had switched him from 5mg Diazepam to 2mg Clonazepam, I wonder if they had initially switched him over to maybe 0.5mg and they've raised it over time. Maybe I am being to logical there because the change from V to K, given the reason, was ridiculous in the first place.

 

I want him to know but I'd hate to be the person that puts him on the benzo withdrawal path. And it wasn't until you've said it back to me benzoho, that I wasn't just shocked at the switch but the fact he had gone in there worried about these meds in the first place. It was a big moment in his life, he just doesn't yet know that it went the wrong way.

 

 

Worried about the effects of alcoholism?

 

No problem, stop drinking scotch and start drinking gin.

 

Problem solved!

 

 

Hi,

 

I'm in the UK as well.

 

I saw a GP 2 weeks ago who wanted to give me a different benzo to help with dystonia caused by the 20 years of valium.

 

Not one GP in 20 years ever mentioned that Valium was a problem or addictive etc.

 

I was initially given it for spasm due to spinal injury and have been atseveral different GP practices with many GPs over the years - each one just printed off the repeat prescription and said nothing.

 

It might be a good idea to let him know to research carefully if he ever wants to stop taking it. I wish I had known about withdrawal before I suddenly stopped the valium.

Worried about the effects of alcoholism?

 

No problem, stop drinking scotch and start drinking gin.

 

Problem solved!

 

Haha, yeah exactly. It's why it's important to take your health into your own hands as much as you can. We all need doctors but the sooner you realise that what they say is not gospel, the less unfortunate you become. 

 

Hi,

 

I'm in the UK as well.

 

I saw a GP 2 weeks ago who wanted to give me a different benzo to help with dystonia caused by the 20 years of valium.

 

Not one GP in 20 years ever mentioned that Valium was a problem or addictive etc.

 

I was initially given it for spasm due to spinal injury and have been atseveral different GP practices with many GPs over the years - each one just printed off the repeat prescription and said nothing.

 

It might be a good idea to let him know to research carefully if he ever wants to stop taking it. I wish I had known about withdrawal before I suddenly stopped the valium.

 

What really gets me, and it's evident in my original post, is the lack of support actively given out to people like yourself and my work colleague. You're left to go see your GP on your own accord. Nobody is calling my work colleague in to discuss the fact that the medication he has been taken, is no longer prescribed for more than 3-4 weeks these days and associated with severe dependency. He has just been left to take them for 20+ years.

Indeed,

 

If I wasn't feeling so unwell I would be furious.

 

I hope one day I will be well enough to feel furious and do something constructive with it.

There's a guy at work and I've always been convinced he was on some kind of GABAergic medication, due to the fact he seems to often come across as having severe cog fog and very slow with his reflexes and motor skills. People constantly give him stick because he's 'slow' and always making mistakes with simple tasks.

 

He was aware that I'd been off work due to problems with my medications and mentioned to me that he'd been on Valium for "20 years" but went to the doctors because he'd seen an article in the paper damning Valium. He mentioned to the doctor about his worries and they'd changed him to another med. I asked him if he knew the name of the med and he said, "Yeah, Clonazepam". I kid you not, they had taken him off a 5mg Diazepam nightly and replaced it with 2mg Clonazepam. I live in the UK, where regulations on benzos are very strict, so I was astonished to hear this.

 

I never said anything to him, other than mentioning that they didn't take him of benzodiazepines then but he had not idea what I meant. In the past year, he's had a few wobbly days and I genuinely looked at him at the time thinking, 'he looks like he's going through what I'm going through'.

 

He's 58 years old, I'm certainly not going to say anything to him, I don't feel like I'm in a position of strength as I'm going through it and if it's not causing him any issues then who am I to rock his boat. He could be on them for life with no real issues, although he definitely comes across as a benzo brain, but people think that's just him. I can tell it's medication.

 

I just found it astonishing that he went in worried about being on Valium, so the doctor switched him from 5mg Diazepam to 2mg Clonazepam 

 

Thanks for posting this.  This is truly a horrible story.  I hope he is spacing out the 2 mgs of clonazepam during the day.  The worst thing would be if he hit tolerance or got kindled on Clonazepam.    It's a shame.  He could have tapered from the  5 mg Valium and have been done with it.  I have trouble believing that the doctor wasn't aware of the conversion differences.  He was effectively switched to 40 mg of Valium.

 

I agree, anecdotally, I have also noticed that chronic users of Valium seem to have less of an issue when it comes to getting off the benzodiazaphine, and kindling seems to be less frequent.  Lorazepam,xanax and clonazepam, the very potent benzodiazaphines, seem to cause more severe issues, especially when single dosed on a daily basis. 

Oh, that's awful. In the first place, I don't know why the terrible news about Valium has gotten around. It certainly seems far better than Klonopin. I've read tons of posts, and I always look at the signatures. I have found that people on K generally fare worse than people on V and, in fact, there are far less V former users in the protracted section than the other drugs. 

 

It continues to amaze me that there is so much ignorance with doctors regarding these pills!! You do NOT give 2 mg. K in place of 5 mg. V!!!

 

Even if you had said anything to him, he might not want to hear it. You can try, but at this point he might already be dependent on the K. And that's a terrible shame.

There's a guy at work and I've always been convinced he was on some kind of GABAergic medication, due to the fact he seems to often come across as having severe cog fog and very slow with his reflexes and motor skills. People constantly give him stick because he's 'slow' and always making mistakes with simple tasks.

 

He was aware that I'd been off work due to problems with my medications and mentioned to me that he'd been on Valium for "20 years" but went to the doctors because he'd seen an article in the paper damning Valium. He mentioned to the doctor about his worries and they'd changed him to another med. I asked him if he knew the name of the med and he said, "Yeah, Clonazepam". I kid you not, they had taken him off a 5mg Diazepam nightly and replaced it with 2mg Clonazepam. I live in the UK, where regulations on benzos are very strict, so I was astonished to hear this.

 

I never said anything to him, other than mentioning that they didn't take him of benzodiazepines then but he had not idea what I meant. In the past year, he's had a few wobbly days and I genuinely looked at him at the time thinking, 'he looks like he's going through what I'm going through'.

 

He's 58 years old, I'm certainly not going to say anything to him, I don't feel like I'm in a position of strength as I'm going through it and if it's not causing him any issues then who am I to rock his boat. He could be on them for life with no real issues, although he definitely comes across as a benzo brain, but people think that's just him. I can tell it's medication.

 

I just found it astonishing that he went in worried about being on Valium, so the doctor switched him from 5mg Diazepam to 2mg Clonazepam 

 

Thanks for posting this.  This is truly a horrible story.  I hope he is spacing out the 2 mgs of clonazepam during the day.  The worst thing would be if he hit tolerance or got kindled on Clonazepam.    It's a shame.  He could have tapered from the  5 mg Valium and have been done with it.  I have trouble believing that the doctor wasn't aware of the conversion differences.  He was effectively switched to 40 mg of Valium.

 

I agree, anecdotally, I have also noticed that chronic users of Valium seem to have less of an issue when it comes to getting off the benzodiazaphine, and kindling seems to be less frequent.  Lorazepam,xanax and clonazepam, the very potent benzodiazaphines, seem to cause more severe issues, especially when single dosed on a daily basis.

 

I absolutely agree with this!! There aren't many in the protracted section who had taken Valium, but there are a lot on the other drugs.

I took almost any shit on earth - so I can tell you the "old products" don't do so much harm as the newer ones.

No matter if its a benzo or AD - just my experience...