Non-daily benzo use
I suffer from severe but very situational specific social anxiety. My primary care doctor asked me if I had ever considered benzos somewhat in passing and has referred me to a psychiatrist who I am going to see next week. Obviously I'll discuss this with them but I would like some idea of what I'm getting into before I put it on the table for discussion. The situations where I would want to hypothetically use a benzo to calm down happen once a week at most. Is once a week use a thing? Will it be hard to limit it to once a week? And do you get all of the issues associated with long term daily benzo use if you aren't using it every day? Thanks in advance.
Posted Jul 6, 2015, 8:16 PM UTC
413
You're supposed to take benzos as needed and most every doctor will tell you that. The reason for this is obviously because benzos are addictive and habit forming and when taken only as needed you can usually avoid all of those unwanted effects. Some people will need to take them every day or very often but luckily this doesn't seem to be the case for you. Are you having problems with just normal occasional anxiety or panic attacks? If it happens only something like once a week I imagine its probably panic attacks or sudden anxiety which a fast acting benzo like Xanax is really good for. If the anxiety you experience lasts a long time or lasts about a day then a long acting benzo like Klonopin would be a good choice. These are the things you should talk to your doctor about but don't specifically mention any of the benzos I listed above because your doctor may think you're just drug seeking. Tell him whats wrong and what kind of anxiety you're experiencing and he will most likely prescribe either a benzo like Xanax or Klonopin or an SSRI. You do not want the SSRI. It takes a long time for them to start working (weeks) and are pretty shitty to come off of. They also have a lot of nasty side effects. Benzos are also shitty to get off of but only if you take them frequently which you will not need to do. I don't think he'll try to give you an SSRI though since you don't have problems with anxiety every day. So that's just some information I think you should know before seeing your doctor. To answer your questions more directly, yes, taking a benzo once a week is a thing and is the best way to take them. This will eliminate the chance of addiction and you probably won't notice any tolerance. If you stop taking them you also won't feel any of the withdrawal symptoms if you really do only take it once a week. It isn't hard to limit yourself to only once a week. Just take them when you truly need them. If you start noticing that you take them more than once a week you should probably stop taking them before things get any worse. If you're truly just having a bad week then its understandable but if you start taking them for minor anxiety then you might be in some trouble. And of course you won't experience all the issues that a long term daily benzo user has to deal with. You probably won't have to face any issues at all with your benzo use if you take them as prescribed and only once or twice a week. You may experience side effects though which you should tell your doctor about and he will probably have you keep taking them for another week or two to make sure the side effects really are being caused by the benzo. If they are then he will simply have you try something different. Hope that answers your question, if you have any more just ask
Thank you, this was extremely helpful. I genuinely only want them as needed - when I'm in a "large" (more than about two) group of people I don't know well I panic - heart racing, butterflies so bad they make me sick, flushing face, sweaty palms. Sometimes I have to peace out so I don't have a panic attack, sometimes I have one anyway. I say once a week because I just moved to a new area and only know a couple of people, I am a social person and badly want to make friends but this is making it impossible to do so. Once I become close with people I'm fine. So it's really only whenever I am in that kind of an environment that I am thinking a benzo would help, however often that might be... I don't see it happening more than once a week. I'm pretty scared of a doctor thinking I'm just trying to get drugs though. The healthcare system I'm part of keeps track of that kind of thing very very closely. I just want to be able to calm down and make friends.
A benzo would definitively help you in that situation. I think using it to help make new friends might cause issues. You need to not overdue it
Why might it cause issues? I mostly meant being calm enough to talk to people normally at parties, etc., but I'm pretty ignorant regarding the effects of benzos.
If you keep on taking it telling yourself you're doing it just to be social and make friends then you'll eventually find yourself doing it more that once a week. Instead maybe trying getting a prescription for Klonopin and take the Klonopin on a day you think you may need it for social interactions. It lasts a lot longer and kicks in after about 1-2 hours (some people say 45 minutes)
This is known as PRN usage in the medical field (Pro re nata - use when needed), and depending on how often your panic attacks/severe anxiety episodes are are they can definitely prescribe dosages/number of pills accordingly. As long as you keep your usage on a PRN basis then you should experience little to no problems that would occur with daily use, and if your doctor sees you're using responsibly then they'll feel more comfortable with continuing your prescription.