Went to the doctor the other month and said I was feeling a little low in moods and quite readily he put me on anti-depressants: Cymbalta, no psychologist stuff, no psychiatric mumbo-jumbo …here you go mate, out the door. Wow, that was a little too easy I thought.
Anyway, in the past three years I have been trying to give up cigarettes and the doctor prescribed the drug Champix which is supposed to be a miracle addiction cure drug (I think it goes by another name in the States). My first attempt was a genuine attempt to give up cigarettes but I noticed one of the affects the drug had on me was the ability to have vivid full on action packed dreams at night. Wow, I thought this is all right …so now Im on my third year but I cant help feeling I want them prescribed to me more for the dreams than giving up smoking.
Lately I’ve gone back to the doctor and said I have been having trouble sleeping and again he quite readily put me on valium only to be taken on those night et cetera. But I find an extra one or two with a few rums makes for a calm relaxing evening and I find I quite enjoy it.
I know people are going to say I’m crazy, its drug abuse, don’t do it! …but I don’t go overboard, I’m not suicidal and as far as I’m concerned I’m just as sane or insane as any other humanbeing on the planet Earth. I know there has been a lot of talk in the media lately with celebrity overdoses, Michael Jackson being a case in point (though I am of the opinion Conrad Murray should be given a medal and not four years in the can for dealing with the man in the first place). But I am not popping pills here there and everywhere. Its more recreational, like a scoob while fishing or a beer after work…
Threads about medical and pharmacological issues and the use of mind- and mood-altering substances, whether anecdotal or advice-seeking, go in IMHO, so let me move this thither for you.
I don’t know about modern sleeping pills but it used to be a big no-no to combine sleeping pills with alcohol, and a few rums in combo with Valium sounds pretty scary to me.
I’m surprised your doc prescribed Valium if you’re only wanting a sleep aid. I know lots of people (including me) who swear by Ambien. You might ask your doctor about switching to it as I think Valium is more for anxiety and so forth.
Mr. PERRETT, BEWARE of any possibility that any of these toxic potions might be addictive, or habit forming, or dependency forming, or whatever they call it this week.
Valium is in a class of brain poisons called benzodiazepines, of which there are several dozen. They are highly addictive, and commonly said to be tougher to kick than heroin. You are in danger of finding that the dose that works for you won’t keep working, and you will want to take larger doses. You may find that you may start to have some withdrawal symptoms as a dose starts to wear off, before you get your next [del]hit[/del] uh, dose. Read all about it at http://www.benzo.org.uk/
If you read up on other kinds of toxic potions that psychiatric witch doctors might give you, you will find horror stories about them all. Of course, for some people who really need it, these can do more good than harm. Or vice versa. OTOH, some people seem to not have problems with these neuro-pollutants. YMMV.
Be careful out there! You might live to regret it.
ETA: And do not!!!, repeat, DO NOT!!! trust your doctor to watch out for you regarding your use of these drugs. Trust me: They don’t.
Valium has a peculiar side-effect that happens to some users, called a “paradoxical” effect: Instead of calming you down, it causes you to get very agitated. I’m not sure if this happens (if at all) right away, or if it can happen some time later after you’ve used for a while. So even if it makes you mellow, I don’t know if that could change for the worse someday.
Valium caused me to become violently agitated. And y’know what? I didn’t realize for a long time that it was the Valium doing so. So I assumed it was calming me down, and that if it weren’t for the Valium I would be who-knows-how-much worse. So I kept using it. After a few years, I quit using it anyway. (I did major damage to my apartment during that time, never realizing that the Valium was at the bottom of it.)
Fast forward about 20 years: I tried using Valium again, still not knowing that it did that to me. This time, however, I got seriously agitated very quickly (like after one or two days) and this time, I immediately recognized the feeling. Only then did I realize that it was the Valium all along that caused that trouble 20 years earlier.
I was given Ativan (another benzodiazepine, like Valium) for anxiety. The dosage is 1 or 2 pills up to 3 times a day (i.e., a total of 6 pills per day). At first I was taking an average of about 1 pill per day; then went through a rough patch and was up to about 4 a day. I started noticing that I got rebound anxiety after they wore off, so I’m back to maybe 1 per day.
I was going to say, yes, drugs are wonderful (in regards to the anti-depressants)* but the other things sound like you’re making very unwise decisions about the use of them.
There are a lot of people on the Dope that don’t like anti-depressants. I’m not sure why, but they fixed it so I actually have a normal range of emotions, so I guess I’m biased. YMMV, etc etc.
A doc shouldn’t be starting an antidepressant on someone who hasn’t been screened for true clinical depression (i.e., the “psychiatric mumbo jumbo”). There are a lot of reasons why someone can have low moods that may not be clinical depression (such as a general medical condition like thyroid disease, or a condition like bipolar disorder where prescribing an SSRI by itself is a BAD IDEA because it could trigger an episode of mania).
Benzos like Valium can be addictive and possibly dangerous in combination with alcohol.
Sounds like you are a person who has a predilection for addiction and really shouldn’t be taking chances like this.
Thanks Lavender, the true extent to my addictions are not as bad as I make out. I created a story to get a reaction based on part truths. I myself know I have an addictive personality, that bit is true, I smoke I drink and do all the things I call Earth pleasures because in terms of personality I tend to sit back and and take life as it comes at a slower (lazier) gentler pace rather than pursuit life like say an adventurer or an explorer would. My mind on the other hand likes the company of reactions, its mischievious and enquiring… thus I tend to exaggerate on my existance to others to get them to respond…
ps - your name suggests prettiness. Is it a truth? I cannot imagine you as a turnip.
This is the sort of behavior we call “trolling” and it is not allowed here. Please familiarize yourself with our registration agreement and other posting rules.
Sorry Ellen. Will do. Trolling does sound sinister though. My intentions were genuine I can assure you there was no harm intended. Please accept my sincere apology and I will control my harmless predilections in future.