Chroma: I don't mind you asking at all. Currently, I take 4mg/per day, two in the morning and two in the evening.

When I was first prescribed Diazepam, it was dosed at 10mg/per day and I was told to do nothing physical as all the nerves needed to calm down. Furthermore, I was also told to get no hands-on therapy as it would flare me and only do deep breathing and very limited self-care PT. As the months ticked by and I spiraled down into the back hole of the TOS abyss, my original thought was I was growing tolerance to the Diazepam. This plan was not working and I needed to find a new one soon!

I threw Plan A from the "experts" to the wayside and I started getting hands-on therapy about 1 1/2 years ago. About 4 months or so into it, I found I could easily drop to 6mg and my function stayed the same or increased. This summer I dropped to 4mg and my function increased again. The hands-on therapy allowed me to decrease the medication with a controlled taper down, and my new goal is to get to 2mg in another 6-8 months (fingers crossed).

I can't tell you if it will be problematic for you as chemicals all effect us differently. Dosage and duration of time on the medication all play a role and you can Google till your numb on the ins and outs of Benzos. I found the Ashton Benzo manual informative. Hopefully, you will naturally taper through the benefits of a good PT program.

MsPenny: Klonopin is a Benzo as well. It's not as long lasting as Valium and from my reading withdrawals can be more intense as they rear their head quicker. In fact, Valium is sometimes used to help withdraw patients from shorter half life Benzos. There are Benzo equivalency charts online (Ashton has one) that can tell you how many mg of Klonopin equal mg of Valium, etc.

At the end of the day, I have something anatomically wrong with me that is not going away any time soon. In the meantime, I need to have a little quality of life. The doctors handed me the pills and never told me the ramifications of being on the medication for an extended period. I read and educated myself online. Why is this always the case?

Dr. Internet, MD