06-21-2019, 01:38 PM
(05-06-2019, 03:02 PM)Yorkie Wrote:(01-07-2019, 09:00 PM)pokey Wrote: It's a darn shame that the UK's legally-operating IOPs stopped carrying diazepam last year (or year before?). Strange how that happened but weak opiates and pregabalin are still readily available above board.
Yes indeed. Also i've heard that pregabalin is dangerous stuff that can really break your mind permanently, though i've never tried it, and don't intend to.
Wise decision!
I was prescribed gabapentin (the sister drug) and it made me feel nauseous and nuked my memory. It was ridiculous the way I forgot things. Weaning myself off wasn't fun either. Doc insisted it wasn't addictive and it was just in my mind. She insisted on a rapid taper and it was horrible. I still don't know why she put me through that - why the hurry? I'd been on it a few years, so tapering for a month or two would have been better, but she wanted it done in 10 days. I argued with her method since some of the steps in the taper were just 10%, and towards the end it was 50%. This is a doctor who couldn't/wouldn't understand basic math. Anyway, I've been off it quite a while, but my memory isn't what is was. I've been feeding in B vitamins and suchlike to help.
What I really cannot understand is why people take gabapentin recreationally. It is a big thing in some homeless hostels. I sometimes see three empty blister packs on the street (i.e. what would have been 30 pills). There were people snorting it which was crazy as a normal pill is 300mg. I found gabapentin unpleasant but it helped with neural pain. I could feel it helped anxiety, but mainly by sedating you whereas benzos had helped the anxiety without making me a zombie.
Years before that I was given diazepam for a long time - that GP got me well and truly addicted, then left and no other doctor would prescribe any more. Fear of withdrawal forced me to obtain it elsewhere. Diazepam was a Faustian pact - but it really did help my anxiety and I could work quite efficiently on it (I finished a PhD and ran an internet company!). I earned money, paid my taxes, and was a law abiding citizen. It makes me angry that by taking diazepam away and offering no help to long term users, that we have to resort to alternative sources. It was bad enough that we were forced into that legal position. Now it is even getting dangerous as we can't trust what is in the pills. MSJs seem to test out ok for containing diazepam but there are many reports of them varying in strength. How is anyone going to keep their use steady (rather than increasing) or even taper from something so variable?