Resulting symptoms of sudden stoppage of 50 years of diazepam usage?

I’m sorry you’re going through such suffering, I can’t understand why you were so abruptly taken off your meds after so many years and such a high dose…did you’re doctor retire without helping you to find another doctor or were you forced into a rapid withdrawal? It’s just a horrible thing to hear this and you are obviously very strong but still you deserve help, if you’re unable to find someone yourself then perhaps there’s people here that will be able to assist you with getting the well needed care that you deserve. I hope that your message will get other people on board to help you out, I wish you the very best of care and good health

I’m so sorry this is happening to you! You absolutely deserve much better treatment than you are receiving. What city do you live in? I can probably find someone who can help you.
Let me know,
Mery

I have been told it is downright dangerous to stop benzodiazepines abruptly. People even go into hospitals or rehabs for this. Some doctors will say "cut in half and then go off." They just don't seem to know much about this. A pharmacist would.

I would take months to get off 15mg. The hardest part is the last 5mg.

If you had just stopped I would have said check with your doctor about going back on and then tapering. After a year and a half I have no idea but your brain is still asking for it, it sounds like! Can you talk to a really good psychiatrist?

Thank you for your comment.
If it were my decision I would still be taking the diazepam. Unfortunately it was not. Every expert I have spoke with says my brain chemistry will never recover. I was taken off the diazepam after a massive back surgery while being given hydrocodone for pain management. The hospital doctors and staff made the decision to stop the diazepam against my neurosurgeons' standing order. It was then restarted just before I was discharged only to be stopped permanently four weeks later by my PC physician. I almost died from seizures during that two month period. I was left wishing I had.

I live in Gastonia, NC.

I am not surprised but very sorry you had seizures. I am a lay person but if I were you I would try to find a doctor who would re-prescribe it and help you get to a lower dose. Fifty years is a long time. Doctors used to prescribe benzos that way back then and tell us to "keep it in our system." Nowadays doctors are paranoid about prescribing it too much.

I would think your brain might need a certain amount long term but I don't know. Perhaps you could talk to a psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, addiction specialist or even a functional/integrative medicine person.

Keep us posted. I almost went on Xanax 50 years ago, three times/day every day, but luckily it did not agree with me. Years later it would have been practically criminal to prescribe that way.

My doctor is still practicing medicine. He was being Red Flagged on his computer concerning a conflict between the diazepam and pentazocine, a refillable pain medication. I had been prescribed both for over ten(10) years.
Prior to that I had been prescribed a daily dosage of 15 mg of diazepam and 15 mg of hydrocodone/apap or equal/more, of schedule two(2) narcotics, for thirty plus years. Now the doctor and clinic decide it's a problem? He stopped prescribing both meds abruptly. I now have major health issues and also a mental mess.

Have you tried to get help from another source, someone who has experience in helping you to withdraw slowly and safely, it’s totally beyond my comprehension that they just abandoned you, it could have been fatal if you weren’t strong enough to handle this, I know very little about benzodiazepines with opioids except that it can cause overdose and death, now they are forcing innocent people to go into forced or rapid withdrawal causing even worse outcomes. Everything is totally screwed up, the government wants us off the drugs and doctors are being pressured to do so. I’ve researched about this disaster and there are places that will try to help you with other medications to help alleviate some symptoms or even help you go through a proper withdrawal that you can cope with. I wish that I can offer you more information but I believe you’re in the right place to start getting the help you deserve, you can set up an appointment with the Mayo clinic for information on where to go. I sincerely hope that you will find your way back with the right help.

Try going to https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/psychiatrists/nc/gastonia
There’s a lot of Nurse Practitioners on there as well as Psychiatrists. I’ve always found NP’s to be more compassionate than a lot of doctors. Some even do everything remotely.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you want me to do more research.

P.S. Nurse Practitioners can prescribe medication.