urgent question about anti-anxiety medication

[olanda]

i have a dental appointment on monday morning and my dentist prescribed diazepam in 5mg tablet form. he told me to take one tablet 30 minutes before the appointment but i'm extra extra nervous! would it be ok to take two tablets? i just don't know how i'm going to get through this next batch of treatment

 

[FearfulInMA]

First, I am not a dentist...

Different people respond differently to anti-anxiety medication. For some people like me, 5mg Diazepam would nearly put me to sleep (even at my most anxious), for others, it wouldn't even touch them. Most people are somewhere in the middle. You may well find that 5mg Diazepam is enough to get you through.

I think that you have a few options -- The first is that you could call the dentist first thing Monday to ask if s/he thinks that you could take 2 tablets. The second is to just take 1 and if you are still super anxious when you get to your appt, you could ask then if it's ok to take another tablet. If the dentist has recommended that you take it 30mins before your appt, it's because he expects it to work relatively quickly. The third option is to call your Primary Care Provider (not sure if you are in the US, if not, call your regular doctor) -- there is probably at least someone on-call over the weekend -- to ask her/him if there is any reason to believe that taking 2 tablets would be harmful to you.

I would not take 2 tablets without consulting your dentist or medical doctor.

Best of luck to you!

 

[sharon]

Hi - I take diazapem/valium both for dental appts and for a vertigo problem I have. I can only speak from my experience - you do need to talk with your dentist about this.

For my last major dental appt I took 5 mgs the night before and 5 the morning off. I also took meclizine because I have a problem with motion sickness and because I was taking the valium had to have someone drive me. This was plenty for me. Valium has a long half life so I probably had 10mgs in me at the time of the appt. I almost wish I hadn't had so much because I was pretty zonked.

The only times I have taken 10 mgs at once is when I have suffered acute vertigo attacks. For me that is a lot to take.

Personally, what I would do, again I'm only speaking for me, you do need to talk with your doctor, is take 5 mgs about 2 hours before the appt. Then get there 30 minutes early. If you are still feeling anxious when you arrive you can take another 5 mgs in plenty of time for your appt.

Are you a big person or a little person? Will you be having someone drive you? I would not attempt to drive with 10mgs. At 5 mgs I'm right on the line. I certainly wouldn't attempt until it is well into my system. For me there is kind of a nice feeling that hits me about 20-30 minutes after taking it, I suddenly become very "loose" and relaxed and wobbly. I would not want to be behind the wheel when feeling like this. It lasts about 20 minutes and then I feel more normal, but still, depending on how much I take may not be up to driving.