Doctor won't give me diazepam ..aibu?

[lucyhar]

I've been getting diazepam off my doctor for around 4 years now for when I have to travel by plane.
I normally get 7 tablets a year.
My doctor has retired now and I'm travelling to Australia in may to see my aunt and uncle.
I've just got out of the doctors (new doc) and he refused any.
Now I understand people get addictive but I get 7 tablets a year!
I have a massive fear of flying,I've tried CBT,hypnotherapy,kalms,I did a fear of flying course and nothing.
Before I was prescribed diazepam I didn't go on holiday for 7 years.
They gave me my life back (without being dramatic)
Aibu to speak to the practice manager?

@LilQuim the UK gov website on legal drug limits, used illegally, and those prescribed medicinally (limits are very different!).

link to UK gov driving legal limits

[cont/...Although only a few benzodiazepines and opioids are included in the list above, all benzodiazepines and opioids can impair driving ability. The risk of driving impairment is increased if the medicine is taken with alcohol. Warnings on the risks of driving impairment are already in the patient information leaflet.

So what I call them druggies, it’s better than junkies which is what most people call them, I’ve been into drugs myself so I’m not stupid, this is why I know all this, I’ve never been into heroin but I’ve moved in circles with lots of people that did.

My prescription for valium is on repeat and can make a request onine. It didn't start like this. The first time I asked my GP wanted to know all the details of where I was flying to for the next year. The year after that he just asked briefly, and after that just agreed. It was out on repeat the 4th year. I get one year's worth or 3 flights.

My GP knows I only take it for this purpose and show no sign of addictive behaviour. I don't even drink alcohol at all.

@Gingerkittykat I know for a fact that the people I’m talking about were on long term Valium prescriptions, my old neighbour/friend went on them in 2006 and when I moved in 2015 then her Valium had just been cut down from 8 5mg a day to 3 5mg per day, remember different doctors sometimes prescribe different things, my neighbour was one of them that told me that she got the Valium because of saying that she’d buy them on the street if she didn’t get a prescription, the woman that lived above me in that place (there was a lot of drug users where I lived) was on methadone and 5mg Valium, she spoke as if she had been getting them for years.

Just because you don’t know anyone on a long term benzo script doesn’t mean that it doesn’t go on, I also know of a man who had been getting Valium for over 15 years and the police had to be called when his doctor informed him that he was no longer going to get them!

Love how people think they know more about a drug than the qualified medical professionals who spent years in education to do their job

^^ this with knobs on

@Smotheroffive thank you! I'm going to give that a read now. I'd taken them for years but I know they changed this a couple of years ago (??). If I take them I can't drive, if I don't take them, I can't walk when I've driven somewhere. Ughhhh.

@Smotheroffive interesting, as I understood the law to be as I read it on the gov.uk site (copied bit below), but my GP said any trace of tramadol is illegal. He is wrong.

morphine or opiate and opioid-based drugs, eg codeine, tramadol or fentanyl

You can drive after taking these drugs if:
you’ve been prescribed them and* followed advice on how to take them by a healthcare professional*

they aren’t causing you to be unfit to drive even if you’re above the specified limits

People that have been taking drugs for years often know far more about that drug than the doctor @Tisseason, plus new findings come out later on don’t they.

so if people are prescribed diazepam for anxiety about leaving the house why shouldn't I for travel when it's anxiety that's causing it

Because they're not allowed to prescribe it for air travel! You've been told that a number of times but you clearly don't want to hear it.

There's your loophole OP.
Say you have a family function coming up, possibly a wedding, where you have to make a speech and you need a low dose to get you through it.

I wouldn't normally advocate being underhanded, but I have the utmost sympathy with you. Anxiety is a terrible thing and people suggesting alternative methods are living in cloud cuckoo land.

I also agree with a pp poster that the real tragedy here is that GPs are withholding medication from people who really need it and are effectively performing Defense Medicine.

@MinniesMum1606

You're right, new findings have proven that GPs need to reduce benzo prescribing and the CCG meds management teams are telling them this.

Can't wait til all GPs follow the prescribing guidelines...

This is probably why people have had their benzo prescriptions reduced/stopped altogether @Tistheseason17.

Doctors say that you shouldn’t drive and/or operate heavy machinery with lots of meds and imo they’re being overly cautious, I find it quite laughable that a GP would say don’t go to work on them, not that I don’t believe the PP, I just think this doctor was being way ott.
Me too. Mine simply asked if i drove and to be careful with machinery, certainly didn't tell me to avoid work, or that it’s a dngerous drug. Mine was quite a manual job at the time too.

I trust ppl driving on opiods and benzo's about as much as I'd trust a drunk driving just over the limit. The same arguments apply, they feel fine, in control, not too drunk to drive etc, but they are. It does affect response times, and a greater sense of capability despite reduction in capability.

There is also the argument that some tolerate alcohol better than others, or greater quantities with less impact, but, that clearly far from an objective measure.

trust ppl driving on opiods and benzo's about as much as I'd trust a drunk driving just over the limit. The same arguments apply, they feel fine, in control, not too drunk to drive etc, but they are. It does affect response times, and a greater sense of capability despite reduction in capability.

As demostrated in this thread people are effected in different ways
As demonstrated some people can have severe side effects from 2mg and others can take them just to get gone with their day and not be effected in any way

As demostrated in this thread people are effected in different ways

True - but i wouldn't let my kids in their car either.

I know of a high functioning addict (it doesn't affect me, they said) who recently crashed their car with young children inside. Thankfully low speed.

We are all different but there has to be a guideline for all.

How do you know tgey crashed because they were on medication that affected their driving?

Of course your right not to let your kids in the care of people you don't trust but how do you know your kids teacher hasn't been taking some valium this morning as this is the only way they face coming in?

I hope gps who are stopping long-term benzo prescriptions are doing so safely i.e. allowing for a very slow taper.
Stopping too quickly can lead to very poor outcomes and people left in permanent distress.

@MinniesMum1606

Just because you don’t know anyone on a long term benzo script doesn’t mean that it doesn’t go on, I also know of a man who had been getting Valium for over 15 years and the police had to be called when his doctor informed him that he was no longer going to get them!

Stopping a benzo prescription like that is dangerous, the withdrawals would make someone really ill, can cause seizures and death. It sounds like there is something really dodgy going on if GPs are prescribing like that and then withdrawing suddenly.

I hope gps who are stopping long-term benzo prescriptions are doing so safely i.e. allowing for a very slow taper

They should be. The ones I work with are.

That sounds frustrating and realistically 4mg diazepam is not going to affect your risk of DVT (as you can still move on it!) or of moving/acting safely on the plan as suggested by another poster; nor is it expensive to the NHS and anxiety is a medical need.

You could try Phenergan, which is a drowsy anti-histamine and travel sickness med, it is likely to reduce your anxiety but might well make you more out of it than diazepam would.

In your shoes I'd probably change my GP.

Oh and you can buy Phenergan over the counter.

Out of interest, how do Americans cash their prescriptions in, just the same way as us? I know that in America you pay to see the doctor and people sometimes pick doctors way out of the area, we have to join the practises that are in the catchment area for where we live.

Also, better drugs are available in America, Xanax, Vicodin or something that sounds similar, and many more that right now, I cannae remember off the top of my heid

I think Americans do have the ability to Dr shop a lot more than we do, sometimes a good thing but I can see how it can be abused.

Vicodin (hydrocodone/acetaminophen) is a combination of the narcotic hydrocodone and non-narcotic pain reliever acetaminophen used for the relief of moderate to moderately severe pain. Vicodin is available in generic form. Common side effects of Vicodin include

I've no idea what hydrocodon is, by better drug do you mean something that is better to get high on or more effective as a painkiller?

Similarly xanax which is massively abused, there are actually loads of benzos here for example lorazepam, which I've had as an inpatient, is exceptionally strong and fast acting. I'm really surprised it's not a drug I've heard about being abused, but that's maybe because it is not commonly prescribed so people can't get their hands on it as easily as diazepam.

@Gingerkittykat your right. I've only seen it prescribed in extreme cases & palliative care.

Wow! Extremely appalled by some of the professional GP's replies here!

So, it has been proven over and over again that mental health problems are chemical. To my understanding, this refers to an imbalance of chemicals in the brain? (Please feel free to correct my stupidity 'Doctors') but if this IS the case, then doesn't this essentially mean that a panic disorder is actually 'physical' - seeing as how your brain is part of your body? And yet, those of you who are 'qualified' to comment have called the OP out on her desire to receive medical intervention for an affliction that she suffers from due to the imbalance of chemicals in her brain?

Perhaps those GP's who have been so unprofessional, and tactless should recall the oath that they made. The patients welfare should come before your own; so explaining how much you value YOUR wellbeing over OP's is disgusting! And while we are on the subject, don't pretend that you fear for your livelihood and wellbeing, court etc. because we all know that when you mess up, you and your colleagues stick together and hardly ever see justice for the wrongs that you have done!

If someone came to you requiring a cast on their leg because they couldn't walk, or needed an inhaler to help them breathe you would provide it (I hope)? And yet a lady who is struggling with her anxiety is ripped apart and ridiculed by you and your superior, self righteous attitude as a 'qualified' human being.

Your colleagues will hand out huge doses of proparanol to a suicidal child that they have met once (who ultimately commits suicide); or give blood transfusions to someone with DVT. Send youngsters home after visiting surgeries untreated (again DVT - with all the classic symptoms) and yet you think you can sit on this throne? For those who don't know what I mean Google it. Especially a certain girl in Glasgow, whose death could have been prevented.

Either get an education or refrain from causing further damage by devaluating a person with mental health issues. And if you can't be bothered to learn your 'trade' then please retire; because the last thing we need in the UK is doctors like you.

I would just like to make it very clear that I am not suggesting that the GPs who have contributed to this post (in particular the earlier replies which I am mainly refering to), are in any way responsible for the tragedies aforementioned; however, it is clear from these attitudes why such tragedies occur...I hope the OP is ok, and has not been affected by your comments in any negative way.