I’ve been using Valium 5 mg. just for my bad attacks. I take 1 pill maybe once every 2 to 4 weeks, sometimes I can go 2 months and not use any. Over the past 8 months, I have used maybe 10 doses and 4 of those were for dental visits, so I definitely haven’t built up a tolerance or anything.
Previously when I took the Valium, I would get calm, the vertigo wouldn’t stop but it would slow, which in turn would dumb down my nausea and vomiting, and it would release all the tension in my neck and shoulders and decrease the pain level of the migraine (I’m not sure how but it did). It would also help with my motion intolerance - A LOT! And it would help me sleep if I felt like sleeping, but I could also stay up and fully function if I chose to as well.
Last two times I have taken it (last night and about a month ago) I got extreme panic and anxiety, sweats, agitation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and my spins became worse.
Question I’m asking you guys is have you ever had a benzo do this to you after working very well previously? I called the pharmacy and she said maybe it’s doing something to my brain chemistry where it’s making the attack progress worse instead of helping it. She said all of that can happen with a benzo, but they don’t usually cause anxiety unless you are having tolerance/withdrawals and then it absolutely can, but she agreed that I haven’t taken enough for that to happen…
Very confused and panicking because I at least had something where if I knew the spins and the attack was going to be God awful, I had my magic pill to at least help. More of a mental thing where I could carry the bottle around. I can’t even say how terrified of vertigo I am. I’d rather lose a limb, seriously. I don’t want to take more just to test and see what happens but I’m thinking that might just be the only way to tell. scared
I asked a doctor friend of mine, a pharmacist and both said maybe a paradoxical reaction. I don’t use Valium excessively and I never had this issue before so I’m just confused why now all of a sudden and looking to see if anyone else has had this happen.
Hi, sorry to hear this is happening to you. I wonder if the brain has simply stopped responding to the valium. I say this because in my newest relapse I find they are not doing the job. I wonder if you might up the dosage and see if that does the trick.
Just wanted to do a little follow-up. I tried eating crackers and took a full dose and then just rested and they worked! I made a 180 mile car trip to NY and back and it was great! It relaxed me and got rid of most of the motion sickness (I’m so motion intolerant normally that I get sick moving my head, having someone sit on the couch next to me, or walking to the next room). So I think the not working wasn’t that, it was just that I was having an attack that was greater than the ability of the meds to take care of it. As for motion sickness prevention, it did the trick! I used them for the ride there and then home last week and I’m so glad I did. They do help the attacks some, but I think in order to really curb them and give me relief I would probably need a higher dose than the 5 mgs. and I don’t think my doc would go for that, so I’ll just continue to suffer through.
HI
'For motion sicknes prevention, get yourself some phenergen…also called promethazine. It had really helped me. I take it nightly and it has been a great addition to my meds. Really got me over the last of my symptoms.
Benzos can be tough in that the body builds tolerance to them. Even though I take Klonopin daily, I never increase the dose. I am told I may not have to as I’m taking it for different reasons than most people…I’m taking it just to calm
the brain activity, not offset panic or anxiety. Every once in a while I take a holiday from it to make sure I don’t get all wacky, but it’s been fine so far. I only take 1/4 of a pill at .5mg.
Kelley
does anyone know what causes motion sickness? why the heck are we all so sensitive to it? if someone could explain it, that would be awesome…(i do know the inner-ear and panic center are right next to each other)
does anyone know what causes motion sickness? why the heck are we all so sensitive to it? if someone could explain it, that would be awesome…(i do know the inner-ear and panic center are right next to each other)
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That’s a great question and I’ve wondered it myself. I read somewhere that it’s caused by low serotonin in the brain. However, I took Cymbalta for 3 months and it didn’t help me with motion sickness…
I’ve been using Valium 5 mg. just for my bad attacks. I take 1 pill maybe once every 2 to 4 weeks, sometimes I can go 2 months and not use any. Over the past 8 months, I have used maybe 10 doses and 4 of those were for dental visits, so I definitely haven’t built up a tolerance or anything.
Previously when I took the Valium, I would get calm, the vertigo wouldn’t stop but it would slow, which in turn would dumb down my nausea and vomiting, and it would release all the tension in my neck and shoulders and decrease the pain level of the migraine (I’m not sure how but it did). It would also help with my motion intolerance - A LOT! And it would help me sleep if I felt like sleeping, but I could also stay up and fully function if I chose to as well.
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I too get a very good result from taking a benzodiazepine as a rescue drug. I don’t think it is widely used for Visual vertigo nor for MAV. However I suspect that in my case at those times I am going into states of confusion (clincal delirium) and benzodiazepines are known as a way of reducing the severe confusion.
It’s not as simple as that because excess benzodiazepines can be the actual cause of confused states although I think relatively high doses are needed for that. Some docs advise the use of a low dose of the old style antipsychotic, haloperidol, as a rescue drug for severe confusion in preference to a benzodiazepine. In acute medicine these meds would be given intravenously but I find an oral tablet of benzodiapine can work wonders on quelling the storm-like feeling in my head and accompanying marked difficulty concentrating within about half an hour. The benzodiazepine I happen to use is Loprazolam 0.5mg but there was nothing scientific about its choice. It’s what I have available.
In such circumstances I sometimes wonder if the benzodiazpine might not be working as an anxiolytic or quelling some hyper-activity in the brain but instead it may be acting to reduce some muscular stress or some trigger-point pain elsewhere. As you probably know, any pain occurring at times of confusion will make the confusion markedly worse and, in a vicious circle, one’s perception of the pain will become more heightened when you are confused than you would usually experience.
Hi… I find xanax helpful at work. After about an hour of starting work my head feels full and floating. I experience some spinning even while sitting. Sometimes it even feels like my eyes are crossing. So I take 0.25 mg xanax and within about 15 minutes I can function better. It was my neuro who prescribed this for my anxiety but she also said it should help with the dzziness, spinning and the full head feeling. . Of course my neuro also says “you will get better”. It’s been since March of this year…not so sure now.
Wexan, my neurologist said that the benzo’s definitely are a muscle relaxant and when I get a lot of my migraines it’s because I’m slouched over my computer working. This causes everything in my neck, upper back, and lower part of my skull to be tight and triggers attacks for me. (I have brainstem/basilar migraines). The benzo’s calm my confusion as well a bit. I get severely confused, slur, faint, vertigo, anxiety, vomiting, paralysis on one side of my body etc. and the benzo med helps with a lot of that. Well not the paralysis and twitching, but it helps with the confusion, the pain, the anxiety, the spins. Even if it doesn’t totally go away, I’ll take whatever help I can get.
Rockysmom, I’m allergic to Phenergan. They tried that one time in the ER and it was NOT pretty. Because of that, they won’t give me Compazine anymore either (which I used to use for nausea). I’ve tried Reglan, Tygan, Zofran… Nothing works for my nausea except the Valium and Meclizine, but I found these ginger candies at Whole Foods which help. They only work for 20/30 minutes at a time, but when you’re THAT nauseated, you’ll try anything. I do have a friend that has similar issues as mine and the Phenerghan is a life saver for her though.
Wexan, my neurologist said that the benzo’s definitely are a muscle relaxant and when I get a lot of my migraines it’s because I’m slouched over my computer working. This causes everything in my neck, upper back, and lower part of my skull to be tight and triggers attacks for me. (I have brainstem/basilar migraines). The benzo’s calm my confusion as well a bit. I get severely confused, slur, faint, vertigo, anxiety, vomiting, paralysis on one side of my body etc. and the benzo med helps with a lot of that. Well not the paralysis and twitching, but it helps with the confusion, the pain, the anxiety, the spins. Even if it doesn’t totally go away, I’ll take whatever help I can get.
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Shelly, I get some of the symptoms you describe and I too find that benzos help me a lot when I go into a confused state.
I’m very interested to know how you and your doc managed to diagnose brainstem/basilar migraine as opposed to insufficient blood getting to the brain due to a constriction in the arteries going to the head. (Perhaps from some sort of physical impingement happening within the upper chest or neck). My symptoms seem awfully like a condition called “vertebrobasilar insufficiency” in which not enough blood gets through the vertebral artery leading to the head.
Thank you or anyone else for any information about this.
I’m very interested to know how you and your doc managed to diagnose brainstem/basilar migraine as opposed to insufficient blood getting to the brain due to a constriction in the arteries going to the head. (Perhaps from some sort of physical impingement happening within the upper chest or neck). My symptoms seem awfully like a condition called “vertebrobasilar insufficiency” in which not enough blood gets through the vertebral artery leading to the head.
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Wexan, they have other tests they do to diagnose that (TIA’s). I was tested for them at the ER and nothing was found. I’ve gone through CAT scans and MRI’s and I’m pretty sure if you have TIA’s, it shows up on their testing.