The benzodiazepine family of drugs are mostly the same in the area of the brain they act upon. Your unpleasnt experience with Verced is most regretable. The procedure you had is not one that doctors like to use general on, nor do they like to use general on a colonoscopy. Did you tell your doctor that you were addicted to valium prior to your procedure? My main concern at this point is your addiction to valium. You say, 'Benzodiazpenes have no effect on me whatsoever', well clearly this is not true. I say this, because you also say, 'thanks to addiction by prescription by doctors for panic attacks for over 30 years. So, now the doctors who put me on Ativan (benzo), could not get me off of it and I am stuck taking it in a very high dose daily, probably for the rest of my life.' You seem to indicate you were given valium for 30 years for panic attacks, then then doctor moved you to Ativan on a reduced basis to get you clean. You said you were able to get down to 4mg a day. Well good for you, this is NOT a high dose. If you can be maintained on 4mg of Ativan a day you are in good shape. After 30 years on valium, your brain chemistry changes. Most people experience depression from such long exposure to valium. You can get completely clean from benzodiazepines with another try. Good for the doctor who did try. Try again. Gradual low doses over a 12 week period. If you are having convulsions, you need to see a specialist. It is unlikely that gradual reduction therapy for coming off benzodiazepine are the primary cause of your convulsions. As for the colonoscopy, talk to your doctor; there are a number of substitutes for versed.