VALIUM

[winding_road]

I looked for Valium on this site and internet and couldn t find the answers to my questions, so I thought you guys might help. sorry for my english again and again.

Valium is giving me a QUICK relief, like 70% relief after 20 min !
- is this a pill effect (psychological) or is it that quick ?
- is it gonna have some addictive effects on me ? any side effects studied ?
besides Valium is making me less worried.
I felt as if Valium makes you accept things. So anyway I know it sucks to be needing this thing but at least its good that it helps.

this is truely a muscles problem then...

[norprost]

If I'm right you have mainly urinary symptoms/your previous posts/.Does Valium help you with frequency/urgency?I'm disturbed by these symptoms and I used to take Xanax occasionally when symptoms are worst or stressful situation.I used to feel its positive effect after about an hour taking it,but it does not help me that high percentage!Remember everybody is different but in my opinion getting better after 20 min. is at least partly placebo effect.Unfortunately benzodiazepines like Valium/Xanax are highly addictive drugs.
I had my fourth PT session/more internal work/ and I'm convinced that my problem at least partly related to pelvic floor muscles.I was amazed how painful some TP was/I think on levator ani and pubococcygeus muscles/.At a certain spot I had extreme burning feeling.However my urinary symptoms improved a bit, they are creeping back after two weeks.
Sorry for my english and best wishes!

Norprost

[MastCells]

Valium is giving me a QUICK relief, like 70% relief after 20 min! - is this a pill effect (psychological) or is it that quick ?

The peak plasma concentration of oral diazepam is achieved within 1-2 hours. Yeah, you could feel Valium kicking in within 20-30 minutes, especially if you're taking a high dose and/or taking it on an empty stomach. But 70% relief 20 minutes after taking a dose? That quick, dramatic improvement might be due at least in part to the placebo effect (Placebo is Latin for "I will please.").

- is it gonna have some addictive effects on me ?

That's not a question we can answer. Whether or not you'll get addicted depends on numerous factors.

any side effects studied ?

Now, I know that is something easy to find on the internet. Start with the prescribing information: http://www.rocheusa.com/products/valium/tabspi.pdf

besides Valium is making me less worried.
I felt as if Valium makes you accept things. So anyway I know it sucks to be needing this thing but at least its good that it helps.

Someone in another forum once said that you're still in pain while on benzos, but you just don't care about it as much. I think there is some truth to that.

[londoner]

Diazepam is HIGHLY addictive. Like heroin, it has ruined many people's lives - unlike heroin it's very hard to overdose on it.

Use it frequently and regularly and you WILL become addicted.

However, used carefully, and sparingly and it can be a useful prop.

I feel the main effect it has is to temporarily reduce stress but it is also a muscle relaxant.

If you want to make use of it, try breaking the tablets up too in order to minimise the dose to begin with.

I disagree with MastCells in that I'm sure you can feel a powerful effect from even a small dose after 20 minutes, particularly if allowed to dissolve under the tongue.

Make sure you have good medical supervision.

[MastCells]

Use it frequently and regularly and you WILL become addicted.

That's not necessarily true. If a person takes a benzo at a high dose for an extended period of time, he will become physically dependent on it and will need to slowly taper off the drug under the close supervision of his doctor, but addiction and dependence are two completely different things.

However, used carefully, and sparingly and it can be a useful prop.

Agreed.

If you want to make use of it, try breaking the tablets up too in order to minimise the dose to begin with.

I would advise him to follow his physician's advice. I don't think we laymen should be telling patients over the internet to change their medication regimens.

I disagree with MastCells in that I'm sure you can feel a powerful effect from even a small dose after 20 minutes, particularly if allowed to dissolve under the tongue.

If you reread my post, I actually said it was possible for him to experience the effects of Valium within 20 minutes of taking it. However, we can't rule out the placebo effect as part of that quick, dramatic 70% improvement in his symptoms.

[londoner]

Well, I bow to your superior knowledge on the above - but physical dependency or addiction or whatever you want to call it, valium is an insidiously powerful drug to be used with caution.

Tapering off for heavy, regular users is no simple matter. After the early, hey-day when valium was prescribed for everything a lot of people became cripplingly and chronically tied to the drug.

For me, no label mitigates that.

[winding_road]

thanks for your replies. just to reply to NORPROST who possibly misunderstood. I do have urinary frequency, but my main problems are pain and ED.
so yeah Valium is taking care of the Pain. especially the one that goes down to the legs. I was in a class and had this pain I couldn t go on. I also felt very much leaving the class couldn t stand one more minute.
I went out, took Valium, and registered the time.
THe pain started to decrease and yeah in 20-25min I was very well relieved. I was also surprised that I felt I could go on with the class for 2 mroe hours, which is not common for me even in perfect condition and I guess this Valium thing help also.

My doctor by the way gave me Valium to make a diagnosis and see wether or not this is muscular. ( he s very familiar with Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol).

[alprost]

Valium is giving me a QUICK relief, like 70% relief after 20 min !
- is this a pill effect (psychological) or is it that quick ?
- is it gonna have some addictive effects on me ? any side effects studied ?
besides Valium is making me less worried.
I felt as if Valium makes you accept things. So anyway I know it sucks to be needing this thing but at least its good that it helps.

this is truely a muscles problem then...

Apparently, Valium has good muscle relaxant properties, so this might point to your pelvic floor as the cause of your symtoms.

[LightningTree]

I have had two key experiences with Diaza like drugs (Klonopin)

1) For a while, a decade ago, I took large amounts of Klonopin on a daily basis, to overcome extreme anxiety problems--I spent a summer on a high dose of the stuff while doing research at a university.
Basically, I was much more outgoing as a person and enjoyed life more. But it was also like being drunk all of the time although with good motor control. Hence, I did some very stupid things I am embarassed about while taking a heavy regimine of the stuff. I don't recommend getting on a high daily dose.
To get off of the drug, I quit cold turkey, and had the shakes and felt ill and sweaty for a month. The nasty part is that it is bad for the first two weeks, and then gets even WORSE in the third week of withdrawal, instead of dying down.
I have a supply of Klonopin and Diazepam, but I only use it when I am about to have a panic attack, which is a rare event, so I do not use it regularly.
This leads to my second, and more relevant point/rant

2) Klonopin and muscle/nerve pain
When I first had prostatitis symptoms I went to The Urologist (tm) who pushed on my prostate. This caused me more pain and for three weeks I could barely urinate. At that point my symptoms were awful and I would have daily panic attacks. I tried to avoid drugs, but my wife would sometimes convince me to take Klonopin or Diazepam. This greatly relieved my symptoms of pain in the perineum, and would keep the perineal muscles from twitching violently (which they would do on most days.)

At first I was very excited, because I figured it was a muscle problem due to the help that diazepam or klonopin would give. I would also experience relief within 20 minutes, including an end to my muscle twitching. Then I read on medical web sites that these drugs suppress the central nervous system, and thereby help alleviate nerve pain. At that point I became afraid that my symptoms were nerve damage related.

Soon after, I began the Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol,and have had significant reductions in my symptoms, as a product of everything in the SP, and in my case, time. I believe that diazepam helped in three ways

(0) Placebo effect. This is just always there. There is no way to avoid the connection between belief in improvement, and feeling improved.
(1) I knew that I would soon be calmer, and this relieved body tension. Something I only later learned to do without drugs through the Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol and through somehypnoticimagery I did with a psychologist ( I was a total non-believer in this until he "tricked" me into an anlternate state during one session.)
(2) I believe that muscle/nerve reactivity was significantly influenced by the drug rather rapidly. Since the effects of the drug generally only lasted about 2 hours, I cannot explain why the curve does not follow digestion/absorption studies. I think, however, that the mind is highly relieved by a reduction in symptoms, rather than by attaining the minimum of symtoms.

In any case, I think diazepam is a great tool to keep in your bag of tricks, especially (1) when you have a good doctor who you can talk to about using the drug, and (2) you are having a flare up that you want to control, and you can't seem to relax your muscles by trying relaxation.

And if you do have a muscle tension-related disorder, make sure you get plenty of sleep!

That is my layman's opinion.

[LightningTree]

addendum: I should add that when I say get sleep, I am assuming you tense your muscles while you are awake. This is the opposite of a syndrome like TNJ, where people clench their teeth while they sleep.

[lupus]

Benzodiazepines technically are NOT analgesics.
These agents have shown in some studies to demonstrate superior analgesia to either acetaminophen or aspirin, although sounds logic that muscle spasm is a prerequisite to their effectiveness as analgesics.

Sooner or later, chronic inflamation leads to muscle spasm aggravating the condition,but IMHO muscle spasm is A CONSECUENCE not an initial cause .........

[CppsDad]

If muscle relaxants help you, then it's a good bet you have chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome due to muscle tension and trigger points. I think that point got lost in the discussion of addictiveness of the benzo's.

There are lots of things you can do to reduce muscle tension and relieve some of the symptoms, from drinking cammomile tea, to kava kava herb pills, to taking warm baths, to taking relaxing walks, listening to relaxation tapes, listening to relaxing sounds (listening to ocean sounds really helps me), getting a massage, yoga, stretching, etc... ALL of these things can have a positive effect on your condition, and NONE of them are addictive. Of course, none of them by themselves are as effective as taking muscle relaxants. But if you incorporate a few of these into your daily routine, their effect will add up. Also, a lot of the above strategies are all part of the Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol (stretching, relaxation, reducing stress and anxiety), so they are all recommended.

I take Xanax now for the occassional muscle tension (when it starts to cause a flare up I draw the line and don't let things get too bad), but I also suffer from high anxiety and so I take 2-3 per week because of this. I find that after 2 days of Xanax in a row, I start to have withdrawal symptoms the next day. So I fight through that when I can.

Like everyone else here, doctor or not, I strongly recommend getting treatment for your chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome and not become reliant on muscle relaxants. Eventually, if you don't treat your symptoms, your problems will get worse and muscle relaxants will be of less help.

Michael

[londoner]

Not sure I entirely agree with the first part of that posting. Valium is likely temporarily to alleviate most pains simply for its anxiety-reducing properties. One of the hallmarks of Valium is that it gives a passing sense of mild well-being. I don't think it's straighforward to say that because diazepam acts as a muscle relaxant it means you are likely to have a muscular problem if it temporarily ameliorates the pain. It is possible though.

[webslave]

Well let's put it this way then: Valium has never been known to lessen the pain of an infection.

[londoner]

Valium might lessen the anxiety associated with ANY pain - and anxiety is a real component of the subjective experience of pain. Because Valium helps with anxiety AND is a muscle relaxant means that you can never tell whether its good effects are due to anxiety or muscle tension/spasm. I wouldn't be comfortable with using Valium as a diagnostic tool.