I have severe anxiety and panic attacks. Am on 40mg citalopram for 4 month with no improvement. Doc just gave me diazepam. Its not helping and is making me have more attacks.. Anyone else experienced this...
Yes benzos have this effect. I think you need to discuss this with your dr.Citalopram has lots of undesirable side effects too.
Hi, it's very rare for benzos to increase anxiety, they are one of the most effective drugs to use to battle anxiety (only in short term or for infrequent use due to addiction potential). What dose of Diazepam are you taking? It might just be you are taking too low a dose to feel the anxiolytic and relaxant effects.
Hi again Sarah
I have sent you a PM that I feel may be useful re diazepam.
As I said previously these are opiates and NHS England is advising on their prescribing as well as on the opiods that do not alleviate chronic pain.
Hi Harriet, what opiates are you referring to? Diazepam is a Benzodiazepine and Citalopram is a SSRI, so I'm not sure what opiate Sarah has mentioned?
Sorry I meant to write benzos but was distracted by an urgent phone call!!!!!. I did refer to them as benzos in my initial postings though.
Citalopram - ssri's. These have a
bad press and have lots of adverse side effects.
I included the latest info re the opiods as they have now been proven to be ineffective in treating chronic pain . Article in the TIMES..NHS England have disclosed this info.
in the Tmes about
No worries, I just wanted to ensure Sarah didn't get confused and thought Diazepam was an opioid/opiate.
I agree that opioids need to be avoided for anything other than short term pain relief and certainly wasn't advocating their use.
SSRIs do have lots of downsides, but despite the fact I am deeply wary of them, Sertraline played a massive role in saving my life as I was suicidal beforehand and getting stable on the medication really made a huge difference. So I'd say SSRIs can still play a helpful role, particularly with severe clinical depression, but people need a holistic approach and not just take an antidepressant and think they will get better. If people have mild or slightly moderate depression and/or anxiety then I'd always recommend trying recovery options without using SSRIs or other antidepressants.
Benzodiazapines need to be treated with real caution too. They are highly effective fort anxiety, sleep disorder or muscle spasms/tension but again should only be used short term as addiction is a real risk and they are hard to withdraw from.
Hi I'm on diazepam but find them calming but it doesn't last long.i know some people feel awful on them and can make your anxiety worse. The problem is that there very addictive but saying that so are a lot of antidepressants it's a vicious circle xx
Hi Yes benzos are extremely addictive and people quickly develop an intolerance to them so require higher and higher doses . Benzos have a long list of very nasty side effects including suicide ideation, anxiety, depression, light headedness, vertigo/dizziness, paranoia spasms, nausea, diarrhoea , respiratory problems ,seizures, panic attacks, insomnia, fatigue, depersonalisation etc,etc.
That is why they are to be used very cautiously. They are terrible to withdraw from and it has to be done very, very slowly.
NHS England are trying to dissuade the prescribing of them and promoting non medication alternatives to deal with anxiety.
Benzos are terrible drugs with harmful long term effects. I personally would discourage anyone from taking them. They can cause suicide ideation, anxiety, depression, suicide, irritability, light headedness, dizziness, vertigo, spasms, neuropathy, seizures etc etc. It is all there on the PIL and internet.
Tried to send a list of side effects of benzos but gone to moderator. Do not know why. Benzos are big business for Big Pharma.
yes.
While I agree benos
While I agree that Benos are addictive and I wouldn't advise anyone to start taking them unless absolutely necessary so are a lot of antidepressants and other meds the list of things you have put can also be found on a lot of other meds to antidepressants being one of them so I think you could be frightening people
Hi Sarah
I'm sorry you are experiencing this. It could be worth trying a different antidepressant for your anxiety before trying benzos. Some antidepressants are particularly good at helping with anxiety. I believe fluoxetine is good for anxiety as is venlafaxine.
There are also other meds you could try if you haven't already - propranolol is a beta blocker which is commonly used for anxiety.
As you will be aware, benzos are serious drugs and highly addictive. BUT sometimes our anxiety can be extreme enough to warrant their use, particularly if you have tried everything else. If you are struggling with diazepam it would probably be worth trying a different one such as alprazolam (Xanax) or lorazepam (Ativan).
Only you know how badly your anxiety is affecting you so please don't feel bullied into any decision, you need to weigh up the pros and cons against your current situation.
Are you also receiving some kind of therapy or counselling? If not, please do look into this to try to get to the bottom of why you are feeling like this rather than just treating the symptoms. Mindfulness and breathing techniques can also really help and there are many good phone apps to help with this - I use one called Insight Timer which is great (and free!)
Good luck, let us know how you get on.
Just conveying info that is on the PILS and why NHS England are against them being prescribed. Benzos have wrecked lives. Other forms of non drug treatment are available that is what NHS England are saying.
What are these none drug treatments when I saw a doctor I said l know pills Arnt the answer to which he replied what is.like I said I know bensos are not good long term but also a lot of antidepressants can ruin lives
I have problems with MRIs and have had diazepam increase my anxiety so much that I began crawling out of the MRI tube. So the next attempt I was given lorazepam and along with not helping my anxiety one iota, I also began convulsing in both arms and legs once in the tube. So I'm not sure why this happens to me on benzos but I always thought I was the only one. I wonder if I need a higher dose but haven't tried that yet.