I'll give a "heck yeah!" (oh bother is right) to what the above couple of posters have said. I've been down that road and have been thrown into unintended w/d's from them (described above about as accurately as i can imagine, yet the horror truly can't be captured in words, like describing a rainbow to a blind person. An EVIL rainbow!), whether it was the first time when I just ran out and didn't bother to schedule for a refill because I didn't know better, to the times (more than once) that I ran out because the "best of plans" failed me and my expected orders from this op or that op didn't show up in time and I was forced to taper very quickly and still suffer w/d effects. I've been taking these things off and on for a decade or more and hate them with a passion, but it seems that at this point nothing takes care of my medical needs like benzos. My best suggestion to anyone considering useing them would be to try to use them as infrequently as you can, and try to get prescribed one of the less-addictive benzos such as bromazepam instead of xanax or ativan. None of them are fun to stop taking, but some are not quite as fearsome as others are. Ativan and Xanax were the worst for me, although a long-term smallish dose Valium usage was one of the worst quitting experiences in my life, far worse than any opiate w/d i've known, and that was from just taking 20-30 mg a day for a year or so, then tapering slowly down to 5 mg twice a day which sounded reasonable enough to me at the time (doesn't it always). When that "low" dose ran out after a lengthy taper, I still suffered from nearly every benzo w/d symptom in the book. Whatever anyone does, please go into it fully informed and aware, otherwise you may find yourself in a situation you don't understand, feeling more weird than you could ever imagine. I'm not insane, but I now think I have experienced a small dose of what that must be like. I sure thought I was losing my mind... for 2 weeks straight! That long diazepam half-life can be a blessing and a curse!

Take care everyone...

L