What is the difference between Valium vs. Ativan?

No... The FIRST Posting is NOT Correct.

It is in fact The Opposite.
(Dave's. < sorry Dave.)

Expand this post...

Perhaps he simply mixed up the two by mistake
- hey it happens and I'll give em that benefit of the doubt.
But b/c this is a rather Serious Mistake, I felt the need to also comment on it with a few facts I've come to know.
being a few rather Important things to know about them..
- Even though they are Both "Benzo's"... they do not Act in the body the same exact way. In fact the difference is quite huge between them and important to know these difference: Whether you are thinking of detoxing from one or the other - or if you need to pass a urine-drug test.
The answers to those 2 statements are very much linked to "Half-Life"...
the amount of the drug that sort of 'lingers around the body'
After the "affects of the drug" have come and gone.
That is pretty much it in a nutshell, as to what and why it is important here.
For us.

Ativan's half-life is very short, which allows you to pass a urine drug-screen test between 7-20 hours from taking it. So you can take Ativan and show up 'clean' the very next next day. However.. this is also the major reason behind it's quick and vengeful withdrawal. Yes it leaves your body in a day which is Great for drug tests... But that also means it is Out of Your Body Completely. Making the body's desire for it come more quickly.

While say Valium has a Longer half-life.
it remains in your body for a few Weeks, instead of One Day!
A big difference, and one of the reasons when faced with the stopping of an Ativan regimine, many doctors will exchange the Ativan For Valium, then dropping the Valium daily dosage down instead.
So the detox is Valiums upside, it;'s easier to get off of. Not without some discomfort, but very much less so than the Ativan brings you.

- - now after all of that I NEED to also add this:
Ativan and Valium are No Where NEAR 1mg of one equaling 1mg of the other. You can't or rather shouldn't try to do any exchange of Ativn to or from Valium on your own. For the conversions of one to the other are very tricky. Check out what internet charts on this are out there - they vary by Huge Amounts.
And if you've been on Ativan or Valium for a long while now, and often do what most of us do and disregard the dosage on the bottle and just pour a handful and take it. And those of us here have clearly lived to tell that tale, or we wouldn't be reading/writing this.

But going from One TYPE of Benzo to Another TYPE of Benzo is suicidal. That's how A LOT of us go out. One of us decides WE are going to figure out what 4mg of Ativan is in Valium mg's.
This is death to many long-term users and short time users alike.
It makes Zero Difference how much experience you've had with Your Benzo. It doesn't matter how long you've been on that one - how many days. months or even decades.

The exchange-rate so-to-speak should really be done with a doctors help. And if you are afraid to go to your Reg. Doctor and tell him exactly what dose you've been really taking - then make an appointment with another Doctor and be honest with THAT Doctor.

And please know this doesn't make you an inexperienced idiot. It makes you smart since it truly is a tough thing. We have seizures if we just stop cold turkey, and the chance - not just the desire to die because we feel so miserable - but actual Death is really there. Not a small chance but a Real High Chance of it.
And think of how they'd think of you when you let a benzo take your life, huh? Because it's so unnecessary to be 'taken out' that way. We have options. If you don't see any right now, drop me a line and I'll send you some concrete options. Because they're there for you. Like they're there for me.

And here I'll take a moment to remember all of the people that Did Not wake up today. Since we all know a lot of people didn't. Whether from heart disease.
- or bad medicine-combinations.
Regardless... Peace be with them.

and Peace and Happiness be with all of us tonight.
J.J.