What is the most addictive anxiety med?

Xanax by far is the most addictive and the most difficult drug to come off of. Then comes Ativan at a not so distant second.

I want to thank all DBers for posting about this issue, I have resolved to NEVER take xanax!

where does Valium rank?

XANAX!!!!!!

Xanax for sure

I would say Xanax.

I had a seizure recently from Valium.
Took three weeks of abstinence to occur, but it has really hurt my life.
Xanax has a comparatively short half-life, and therefore can cause negative reactions much sooner (IMHO).
I don't take any other benzo's
, but believe me, Valium can be very dangerous too!

I knew a man who would ave seizures from xanex withdrawel if for some reason he didn't have it. He forgot it on a trip overseas and once to his summer house. He was prescribed 2mg 5x a day and used to call it his sleeping medicine but we would chuckle because he took his sleeping medication all day! He was on it so long and was in his 60s that Dr's didn't even try to get him off it. Actually I think he functioned pretty well on it as long as he didn't drink. He passed on a few years ago unrelated to the xanex but I think it is a pretty scary med.

You're kidding me. Surely.

I wouldn't be surprised if he's not kidding. I have a friend who was prescribed 3 bars a day for anxiety by a rather irresponsible family doctor. She had no benzo tolerance at all. She ended up in rehab after having a series of seizures and has been in for 3 months so far with no real signs of recovering any time soon.

I am definitely not kidding. I would take a quarter of a 2mg and be face down. I used to pick up his prescriptions from CVS myself sometimes. It was unreal - and I am only talking about 3 years ago - and he was on them forever. I miss the man so much.

My uncle is prescribed 6MGS per day.... He functions normal also...

tolerance builds FAST... one can go from .5 to 2 milligrams a few months
and if feels the same. i personally know someone who was up to 18-20 milligrams/day...

he was eventually put in a psyche ward for other issues.

I guess I got lucky having 1-2mg a day work for me for 2 years. Then it got bumped to 2-3mg and now I'm on 2mg of klonopin.

It may be hard for you guys to believe, but there are people out there prescribed to even more Xanax.

Just go to a agoraphobia website and you will see people prescribed to 12 & 15mg a day on top of 2mg of Klonopin plus Lexapro.

It's those people that I wonder how function.

Like Funkybreakz says, tolerance. In these cases, the doctor is more dangerous than the medicine.

My mom back in the 80's when I was a kid... Told me that her doc had her on 12MGS a day for 2 years. She had to go to the hospital to safely reduce the intake back to 2-3MGS a day. That doctor almost lost his license, because he prescribed several other clients more of the same dosage...and most of them got sick trying to reduce themselves.... I don't remember any more since I was so young. As Funkybreakz say ," the doctor is more dangerous than the medicine..."

The doctor is usually more dangerous than the meds when it comes to pdocs and family doctors.

Pdocs tend to stick you on a cocktail of things until your mind is completely dead.

Family doctors stick you on [censored] that they know nothing about in hopes that it will work, rather than referring you to someone who is actually licensed to treat you (like a pdoc).

I've taken 2mg 3x a day, took it for half a year. All depends on your body chemistry.

Im suprised at how strong people seem to thing Xanax is.
I think its weak.
I bought some recently and after reading the conversion charts and peoples opinions, I though Xanax was twice as strong as Diazepam as per 1mg of Xanax = 20mg of Diazepam.

Well I took my first 1mg and expected to feel like Id had 2 10mg diazepams. Felt more like a 5mg or slightly less of diazepam. I ended up taking 6 1mg Xanax on my first time just to feel a little bit of relaxation and take some stress away and they hardly last at all, 2 hours of pleasure 2 more hours of "I think I might be able to feel it".

Allthough Diazepam is certainly stronger, and longer lasting - Xanax did have something Diazepam doesnt, and antidepressant effect - I felt cheery and happy and able to get on with life even though its pretty hard right now - whereas Diazepam although makes me relaxed, also makes me gloomy.

For me Diazepam is FAAAAR more dangerous because it makes me very unpredictable and forgetful (which again - I noticed Xanax didnt)

I'm starting to see why you are so confused about the relative strengths of these two drugs.
If you thought that Xanax was twice as strong as diazepam, wouldn't it then be true that 1mg of Xanax would equal 2mg of diazepam?
From most estimates, Xanax is TWENTY times the strength of diazepam mg vs. mg. That is why 1mg of Xanax=20mg of diazepam.
As for diazepam making you "very unpredictable and forgetful," it's not because it is stronger as you seem to believe.
Maybe you just need to brush up on your arithmetic.

There all addictive,( benzo's anyway) but the most addictive is the one that your taking at the time.

Amen Strawberry! You are my Golden Eagle!

Xan...wait what? ...oh yeah most addictive...XANAX!





*pops another bar*

The only one I had problems with is xanax time released, I didn't have any problems with regular xanax.

rophynol.

I'm back on Xanax XR now after a 3 month stint with Klonopin. It just stopped working one day.

Wasn't it xanax the Stones were referring to in their song, Mama's Little Helper? Xanax scares me but man when I have a panic attack it sure does help. I asked in another thread about Klonopin. Does anyone have any experiences to share about it? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I want off the xanax asap.

Back in the 60's and 70's, Mother's Little Helper was Valium. I didn't know any woman over 30 or 35 that didn't have Valium, usually with several refills. I don't think xanax was that big back in those days. Soma was also given too. I don't know how any woman raisihg kids, cooking frm scratch, washing clothes in a #2 tub and doing all the ohter chores could function on valium unless they truly had serious anxiety. It just puts me to sleep or makes ne not want to do anything all day.