• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Valium (Diazepam) Question...

K

kittykat

Former Member
I get physically ill before dental appointments, and I can never sleep the night before because I get so worried. My dentist gave me Valium (10 mg) to take tomorrow night before my appointment on Friday. He told me not to take it the morning of the appointment because I won't be able to drive myself there. I'm getting home late Thursday night after a concert (probably midnight), and I was wondering how long the effects would last. My appointment is at 8 am on Friday, so I'll be up by 7:30.

I was wondering if I'll be able to drive by then if I take it that late the night before. I read that it has a really long half life and that people get hang over effects... Wondering if I'll be calm in the morning or completely out of it and half asleep.

Has anyone else taken Valium just the night before, and were the anti-anxiety effects still there in the morning? I hope that it still has some sort of calming effect in the morning, but worried that my driving abilities will be impaired... :(
 
The half life for Diazepam is listed as "20–100 hours (36-200 hours for main active metabolite"

So it is one of the longer acting benzodiazepines out there. Honestly though if you are just taking 10mg's then I do not see why you wouldn't be able to drive. Any medication can affect people differently, but 10mg's is a pretty small dose. That's not a dose used for a sleeping aid, its a dose used for anti anxiety. Honestly I would take it the morning of you procedure. Because the half life is so long you definitely do not want to take one the night before and then another in the morning. Then you might be a little out of it lol. Be safe! -Cosset
 
kittykat,

The truth is that there is a VERY wide-ranging response to valium (as well as other benzodiazepines). Some people have very little effect and some are completely knocked out from it (and, of course, everything in between). If you're getting home late the night before, you may be tired enough to just fall asleep without it. If not, you may want to have a 'back-up' plan for someone who can drive you to your appt in the morning if you are still feeling the effects of the medication.

Good luck with your appt!!!
 
kittykat,

The truth is that there is a VERY wide-ranging response to valium (as well as other benzodiazepines). Some people have very little effect and some are completely knocked out from it (and, of course, everything in between). If you're getting home late the night before, you may be tired enough to just fall asleep without it. If not, you may want to have a 'back-up' plan for someone who can drive you to your appt in the morning if you are still feeling the effects of the medication.

Good luck with your appt!!!

Yes this is very true. If you have never taken any kind of benzodiazepine before it will probably affect you pretty good. -Cosset
 
I took one last night as a sort of test-run to see how it would affect me, and I actually slept worse... I kept waking up and having stress dreams. Very weird. Emailed dentist and he told me to take half of a pill tonight to see if that would make a difference... Can a lower dose make me sleep better?

Also, woke up at 7:30, no hangover (apparently some people get some sort of Valium hangover), and I felt totally with it.
 
I just did some research and there are some people (this is rare) for whom valium has a side effect of poor sleep (a paradoxical effect). So, perhaps this was your dentist's thought about cutting the dose in half. Good luck tomorrow!
 
I just did some research and there are some people (this is rare) for whom valium has a side effect of poor sleep (a paradoxical effect)

of course i would be that rare case where sedatives have an opposite effect... :cry:

i just took half of one, hopefully it'll be better for me... i'm glad laughing gas makes me feel completely ok with everything, i'm just concerned about actually getting in the office without crying again or freaking out before i get the nitrous...
 
Benzos always make me tired.
 
Back
Top