How long does it take to become addicted to diazepam tablets..?!
Question: How long does it take to become addicted to diazepam tablets..?
I have been taking them for the past four days and my anxiety has decreased and am now able to sleep. However, I have hear that they are highly addictive and do not want to become reliant on them for a lengthy time.
Any advice how i can play it safe by ensuring that the cons do not outweigh the benefits? Thanks.
Answers:
Time is irrelevant to weather or not you become addicted to pills. You only get addicted if you chose to be addicted, dependency and addiction are not the same thing. If you don't have insomnia, don't take them. You're apparently not dependent on them since you can sleep now. You know you're becoming dependent when the same dosage of Diazepam you were taking before stops having the same effects. For example, if two tablets puts you to sleep now, but you keep taking them, and in a month you're not able to sleep on those two pills, so you need to take 3 pills. It keeps going on like that until you end up ODing. I happen to be on the medication, Temazepam, of the same family as Diazepam. I've been taking them long-term as treatment for chronic insomnia, which I have had since I was a little kiddo. I'm dependent on them, and now take 4x the recommended dosage, combined with 2x the dose of another sleeping med in order to get about 5 hours of sleep per night. It's not fun... so be careful. Since your insomnia seems to be temporary though, all you have to do to prevent dependency is make sure you don't take too many, don't up your dosage, and only take them when you need them. It would take about 1 1\2 months or so to start becoming dependent, but as long as you're talking to your doctor and not getting out of control with them; you should be fine.
Approximately one third of individuals who take benzodiazepines for longer than 4 weeks become dependent and experience a withdrawal syndrome upon cessation.[
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diazepam