Posted by Mark H. on April 13, 2000, at 16:34:38
In reply to ativan vs. valium vs. xanax, posted by lynny2 on April 12, 2000, at 19:24:25
Cam and Kazoo consistently make me smile! I wonder if palindromes in general are anxiolytic in nature? MedLib could probably help here.
To Cam and Kazoo's good observations, I would only add that the different benzodiazepines not only affect different people differently, but (at least for some of us) they also affect the same people differently at different times in their cycles.
For instance, during my "up" cycles, Xanax tends to have an anti-depressant effect for me. However, at the bottom of my cycle, it simply makes me more depressed. Valium is similar in that regard -- but it is still the "best" muscle relaxant if you are prone to back spasms from stress. Ativan, which I've only recently tried (in a low part of my cycle) seems to cheer me up and make me feel like I *remember* Valium making me feel in my 20s. However, if I take Ativan for even two days in a row, I have some withdrawal symptoms when I don't take it the third day, so I'm very careful not to use it much.
Another idiosyncratic quirk (is that like a needlessly redundant, repetitive tautology that is unnecessarily said over and over again?): while Valium is notorious for potentiating alcohol, for me it was just the opposite. I haven't consumed any alcohol for more than 18 years, but when I did drink, Valium had the effect of sobering me up -- but that was just me, so don't try this at home.
After being on Valium (15mg/day) for several months, it took me *weeks* before the withdrawal symptoms subsided. For the past 20 years, I've been very careful not to take any of the benzodiazepines every day (with the exception of clonazepam, which was surprisingly easy to stop and is used by some doctors to help people withdraw from the more addictive benzodiazepines).
I hope this additional information helps round out the picture some.
poster:Mark H.
thread:29766
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000411/msgs/29873.html