what is the main difference between valium and xanax?

Question

I was switched and get the 5 mg valium 60 count the 13th.....will i have xanax withdrawel if i was on xanax a year...........i wasnt tapered off either......
And what benefit will valium have for my panick, anxiety, and sleep?

Answer 1

benzodiazepines have very different effects from person to person but in my experience xanax is a lot like valium only more powerful. I don't like xanax for anxiey because it makes me quite drowsy compared to valium which eases anxiety without much drowsiness. Xanax is good when i am anxious at night/late evening as its easy to sleep on. I am not sure about withdrawals, i used xanax a bit too much over the last 2 weeks and my withdrawals where hell. The positive effect of Benzos have very little effect on me but i feel the negative side of them quite sensitively.

Valium for me are great for anxiety, i used to drink a beer or 2 when i felt a panic attack coming on and i would be ok for a while but a 10mg valium keeps the panic attacks away for hours. I dont get to sleep easily on valium, xanax is better but strangely even on powerful benzos like nitrazepam and temazepam i cant sleep. Weird.. but like i say, everyone reacts differently to benzos. I wish i was my cousin, 5mg valium knocks him out cold!

I think benzos are a nasty drug tho, my light w/d was extremely unpleasant. You will think you are going mad.

Answer 2

there should be no withdrawal. You usually are only taking .5- 1 mil at a time. Take much more and you will be knocked on your a.ss. So there is not much way to taper yourself off. I also took it every day for months and had no withdrawal so I think you should be fine. It is also used for anxiety. It is very similar to xanax and the scientifc names are similar. Diazepam is the name for valium and I can't remember if lorazepam is xanax's name or ativans name. But they are all in the benzo family so they all work in a similar way. But something to remember is to have these questions in mind when visiting your doctor. They are always ample to answer questions so after the prescribe something, think really hard if you have something to ask. Don't just leave and come on yahoo answers later. I'm sure any time your doc feels the need to taper you off of something he will. After all, he did go to medical school.

Answer 3

Generally your doctor and more importantly you would be the best judge of how the new medication is affecting you. I would strongly suggest either you see your doctor and ask the question in details or you can get a second opinion from another doctor. Please see the link with the conversion table, but you may be aware that different medications have different effects on different people. I hope this is of some help.