I need an alternative to Buspar?

Did you ever get off Valium and if so did you have any bad side effects? How long were you on it? Did your meiners come back? Sorry for all the questions I'm just wondering cause I'm going to ask my dr to take me off Valium since I been on it for almost a year.

Antidepressants for most people work great for anxiety despite the name that implies its only use being that for depression only (the anti-smoking pills that are commonly advertised are antidepressants as are many pain relievers). There are many many different types of these meds with variations of the variations, so if one does help but causes side effects, there is always another one to try.

I also suffer from anxiety and can't help but wonder as to why you're being taken off of the Valium. Valium is the weakest of all the benzos, and also has some more pronounced side effects in comparison to some of the others. Klonopin is very commonly used for long acting anxiety relief much like Valium, however is more commonly used for the reason above.

Many doctors have an odd fear of Benzo type drugs due to the scare in the 70's, however the fact really is that they are probably the most effective med currently on the market for anxiety. They do cause dependence, however when tapered extremely slowly it isn't an issue. It only is an issue as I'm sure that you're aware of when stopped abruptly. It is very easy to forget that all (that I'm aware of excluding saint johns wort) antidepressant drugs cause dependance. Most any drug that alters the brain chemistry will cause dependance, after all, the body starts to use the drug as a crutch, and pulling it out with no warning will always provide bad results.

I know that this very well may not be the reason as to why you're getting off of the Valium, but all to often I hear stories of doctors getting their patients off of these unfairly demonized however extremely useful group of medications due to irrational fears (Xanax however can be problematic due to it's short half-life, so if dependent on that, the drug exits extremely quickly and will put a person into withdrawals extremely quickly. This however is simply not true with the vast majority of them, and Xanax is a great med for situational anxiety, just not for around the clock type use). Best of luck to you!
Sincerely,

Jeff K