Valium and Xanax

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to address an issue I been wondering about for some time now. I know that some of you say that your dizziness goes away when you take Xanax or Valium . I found that strange becasuse I don’t find that is true. When I take Xanax for example, it just makes me groggy and let me tolarate the dizziness more, but it doesn’t take it away…

How many of you find that Xanax or Valium etc. takes your dizziness away? and how many of you don’t?

Please let me know,

Sincerely,

Emma :slight_smile:

I have found that xanax helps me to tolerate the dizziness. It may lessen it a little but not significantly. Valium, on the other hand, at only a 1 mg dose totally takes the dizziness away. (I have only taken it twice and it helped both times). Unfortunately, valium makes me very sleepy so I do not take it regularly. Kristen

Both these drugs can work as vestibular suppressants. In fact all drugs in the benzodiazepam class technically suppress the vestibular system. Valium and clonazepam in particular can be used to treat true vertigo. Doctors often prescribe them for a short time after a vestibular neuritis episode for example to tone down the vestibular system and allow the patient to stop having spinning. That being said, from my understanding, these drugs may not work well to dampen dizziness caused by MAV.
Lisa

Valium makes me worse :frowning:

I haven’t noticed any result for dizziness but find Valium excellent for anxiety and pretty good for general weird feelings (de-realisation, spaced out etc). Only need 2.5mg, doesn’t make me tired or groggy but sure makes me more chilled out :slight_smile:

Victoria

They chill me out initially, but sedate me a lot which makes the dizziness worse. Tiredness is a trigger for me.

H

I would like to know how many of those who feel better from valium or xanax also feel better in a car? I think it works better for those, but would be nice to see if anyone has the dizziness “taken away” (by valium etc.) and feels worse in a car.

Hi,

My dizziness is much better in a car, thats when I get a brake.! I also feel better when I’m in water.

Emma

Hi Emma,
My dizziness hasn’t gone away using any benzo’s, but I did find it lessens the symptoms of the migraine.
My Dad uses Valium in conjunction with other anticonvulsants for his epilepsy.

About 6 months before my diagnosis of mav, I was told by a neurolowitch , that my illness was only stress, I asked her for help as I couldn’t take it anymore, I was at the end of my rope, so to speak .
She gave me a script for xanax, a (huge dose) ever since that day I’ve had constant tinitus,
I blame a too high dose of xanax for my chronic tinitus.
But I found using smaller doses (much smaller), helped get me through the intensity of a migriane attack.

I prefer Valium, if I ever need it.
I always find after using it for more than 2 days in a row, that I would become dizzier after stopping it.
Having said that! I still love my Valium for those stressful days. :shock:

Jen
Every one is different.

Neurolowitch - love it! Close relation of the psycholobitch perhaps?

I sometimes feel “funny” the day after taking a valium. As such, I try to ride it out (any anxiety or other weridness) and only use Valium when absolutely necessary, and then only small doses.

Victoria

Xanax used to tone things down a little dizzy-wise and make me relaxed enough to go somewhere. It made me very sleepy though as well. It definitely only masks MAV symptoms and doesn’t fix it…but is necessary at certain points of MAV for some of us. It can be very addictive though, so be careful. Try not to take it every day unless prescribed by your doctor. I started doing that and when I found myself wanting two in a day I went right to the doctor to find a different solution. Thus the Lexapro, which thank God worked!!

I’ve taken lorazepam and it did nothing for me. Yesterday the doctor prescribed Valium. Today I feel like I have less dizziness but still feel not quite balanced and like I’m not all ‘there’ in the head- or ‘brain fog’.

Hopefully the Valium will start to work soon. I’m just about at the end of my rope with this.

Coffeegirl

Xanax helps to lessen the motion/dizziness so it’s more manageable and then I can work a part-time job, go to movies, concerts, etc. Remember, the medication doesn’t take the motion away completely. If it did, I wouldn’t be on this board. :slight_smile:

Joe

I only take Xanax before going to sleep at night. I find that the next day I feel great and have no dizziness or related symptoms; but they do start again 36 hours after I take the dose and actually are worse than they were before. Xanax can also serve as a trigger for me so I don’t take it anymore for that reason. I find that a good aerobic workout relaxes me and reduces the symptoms better than anti-anxiety medications.

Neither work for me and I wonder if sometimes the dizziness gets worse because they both make me drowsy! Yes I LOVE being in a car! That is the only time I feel normal. I jokingly told my husband I was going to look into being a big-rig driver!

— Begin quote from “emmasaga”

Hi,

My dizziness is much better in a car, thats when I get a brake.! I also feel better when I’m in water.

Emma

— End quote

This is an old post, but I will reply anyway…
I was googling something about dizziness and feeling better in water and this came up. :slight_smile:
I feel better when Im driving, walking and in the water. I think the water has something to do with being more weightless and somehow muscle related.
Or I was checking to see if being in the water has some kind of effect on hydrops…

Kristina

Just read a post about feeling better when driving and that is totally me. I actually thought that worst case scenario I could become a big rig driver as well. I have been forcing my self to work out and it seems to help. I am currently on 120mg of Verapamil extended release at night. Had this issue last year for 4-5 months and then it just disappeared. It came back same time this year while I was under a lot of stress with work. I have found out that caffeine definitely seems to trigger the dizziness. Great forum by the way. Thanks!

Valium is the only thing that helps when I am having a severe vertigo attack. It relaxes me somewhat, helps with the nausea and pain from the migraine, and lessens the dizziness. If I’m not in a bad attack and I take Valium, like for a long car ride or for the dentist, I sometimes feel almost “normal” dizziness-wise. I am severely motion intolerant to the point I get sick if someone sits next to me on the couch or from myself just walking across the room or moving my head or lying down. I don’t ever feel better in the car or in water, I feel much worse - the more motion the worse I feel.

Lorazepam just makes me sleepy - doesn’t take away the vertigo or fuzzy head. Diazepam works like a Sudafed for me - heart racing, jittery. Don’t remember if it helped the vertigo/dizzies, as I apparently can’t take it, anyhow. Needless to say, I don’t really use either.

This is an old thread, but I have been searching for this kind of feedback; for me? Valium needed for the spins. Definitely. Xanax for the anxiety that won’t go away with deep breathing or relaxation techniques.

Whenever I change a med, I get waaaaayyyyy more anxiety.

My valium dose is usually 2.5 mg, xanax start at .25 mg and then another .25 in an hour if it’s a really bad attack. I think those are pretty low doses.

I realize they are addictive drugs but I have to live my life somehow :smiley: