They say Benzodiazepines are a class of medications commonly used to treat anxiety. Do you find them helpful?
Happy Sparkles and Coffee
They say Benzodiazepines are a class of medications commonly used to treat anxiety. Do you find them helpful?
Highly addicting but they do help anxiety. Couldn't get through a work day without it. Well, can't really get through any day without it. I am a benzo addict, and I take 2 to 3 mg per day. I hate to NOT recommend them because its the only class of drugs that I think work on anxiety. But they are just so damn addicting, it's hard to not take an ever increasing dose. I started out at .5 mg PRN 2.5 years ago.
They don't do anything for depression though. I am not sure that anything does. Have tried Celexa, Wellbutrin, and Buspar--all failures.
"You can never really know a person and if you think you can, you're living in a fucking dream world!" David Fisher, Six Feet Under
Rude & Shouty
Took them prn for a while. They made me loopy and tearful, then I'd fall asleep. Not really helpful for my anxiety, but everyone is different.
Burning in Hell
Highly overrated in my opinion. I can't imagine why anyone uses the crap recreationally. They're evidently getting something from benzos I'm sure as hell not. I barely notice an effect from benzos even when I take high doses.
killer of conversations
Definitely this.WineKitty
I wouldn't say I'm an addict, although I started out on kind of a big dose of 1-2mg per day as needed (you can see how one can take the words "as needed" and run with them). I've been on them for roughly six years and I eventually developed some minor short term memory issues. That scared me into cutting my dose in half. They ARE highly addictive, so I'm not crazy about recommending them either, but they do work where other meds fall completely flat so I can't ignore that they're pretty much my miracle drug.
Likewise, I haven't found medications to be helpful at all with depression.
Best thing ever. Although I have to admit that benzos were 1/4 of the reason why I had to go to rehab... so yeah. It's good if you have self-control.
Their okay in my opinion, have been on Klonopin long term without any issues. I don't find them addicting personally, but they do cause physical dependance hence it's always strongly advised to taper off them gradually if you decide to stop taking them after a prolonged period. Their also safe in overdose, at-least if their not combined with other sedatives. They don't damage the liver or any other organs (hence why I always thought their comparison with alcohol, a statement that seems to be made by some doctors was a stupid argument).
Never used - but I have seen people on them - really should only be used short term for immediate effect
life---><---me
Benzos wouldn't be expected to help with depression. Well, I suppose they could indirectly help if you're depressed due to be anxious.
As for Buspar, that's pretty much expected to do nothing. You won't find any med more widely viewed by patients & doctors alike as useless.
^Ditto.
I remember the first time I took a benzo. It was August of 2000. I took Valium and it was the most anti-climactic experience of my life.
I'd read tales of how amazing benzos are. Valium was a drug of legend. Well, they sure don't live up to the legendary status. I'm also stumped as to why anybody would use them recreationally when if you want a downer you'd be far better served visiting a liquor store: booze is way more potent and you don't have to jump through any hoops to get it.
The reality seems to be that benzos are rarely abused, except by poly-drug user who don't represent the norm at all. They're folks who'd abuse anything they could get their hands on, so it says far more about their addictive personality than it does about the drug. The fact that benzos are only a C-IV (lowest level of controlled substance) already means the DEA deems their potential for misuse/abuse/addiction to be limited.
I take benzos daily and have for the last decade. I find them marginally useful. They better than nothing, though they leave much to be desired. I've frequently given a rant about how doctors are a bunch of p****** who care all about safety, while ignoring the issue of efficacy. I'd love to try other CNS depressants like barbs, but they're "too dangerous." This is told to a man who can lawfully wear a loaded gun, though apparently I'm far too stupid to safely handle the contents of a pill bottle.
My So-Called Self
When first put on Klonopin, it was not helpful at all. I was prescribed 0.5mg for the first year I was on it and I might as well have taken Tic-Tacs to relieve anxiety. But then it was increased and started working. Now, I take 1-2 mg's and the only way I can leave home sometimes is by taking Klonopin and it's helped me get through bad panic attacks.
And your long-term solution would be?
Much agreed. What I can't exactly pinpoint is the point in history when the medical community started to spew out all this rhetoric in relation to benzos, phrases such as 'highly addictive' and such. I'm actually curious about how this originally came about. I'm also puzzled by it since like you, in my long term experience with clonazepam I've never found it to be addictive or rewarding at all. My psychiatrist who's an old guy who's been doing his job for decades seems to agree and flat out told me that clonazepam is not addictive (physical dependance is of-course another thing entirely). This benzo stigma bothers me as it causes unnecessary suffering for anxiety (and maybe epilepsy) patients.The reality seems to be that benzos are rarely abused, except by poly-drug user who don't represent the norm at all. They're folks who'd abuse anything they could get their hands on, so it says far more about their addictive personality than it does about the drug. The fact that benzos are only a C-IV (lowest level of controlled substance) already means the DEA deems their potential for misuse/abuse/addiction to be limited.
I take benzos daily and have for the last decade. I find them marginally useful. They better than nothing, though they leave much to be desired. I've frequently given a rant about how doctors are a bunch of p****** who care all about safety, while ignoring the issue of efficacy. I'd love to try other CNS depressants like barbs, but they're "too dangerous." This is told to a man who can lawfully wear a loaded gun, though apparently I'm far too stupid to safely handle the contents of a pill bottle.
"A lie told often enough becomes the truth." - Vladimir Lenin
Seems the old hag Prof. C. Heather Ashton is the supreme leader of the anti-benzo brigade. I'd like to see her burned at the stake. She can manage to blame everything negative under the sun upon benzos.
I'm guessing benzos magically became evil only after patent expiration as is the norm in the drug industry. Once you no longer have a cheerleader earning billions a year, your support is gone. And benzos had to be evil, otherwise there'd be no reason to switch to the next wonder drug like SSRIs, right?
Anyone who reads benzo horror stories online quickly finds a theme. Substantially all follow the same script: "I went to my doc for anxiety/insomnia and the good doctor gave me these pills. I trusted Dr. God and took these pills having no idea they could do anything but help. Now I'm dependent and I'm so pissed that I demand these evil pills from hell be banned from the face of the earth." Such stories tell us very little about the med, but tell us much about the rampant ignorance that once existed, including doctors who negligently failed in their duty to inform patients.
Now many doctors prefer not to prescribe benzos at all, rather than treating patients like competent adults and letting them decide after telling them of the potential risk. If told of the risk, it would seem very few would have had a damn thing to complain about.
This part would be my guess. Big Pharma is a bit like a political party in the sense that they will sometimes run a smear campaign against their opponents (or in this case 'defenseless' old generic meds) rather than citing any actual statistical advantage which may not be there. The SSRI/SNRI and atypical antipsychotic markets in particular will bash benzos, tricyclics, MAOIs and the like.
All that said, these same doctors who are vehemently against benzos will likely still hand out Ambien and Lunesta scripts, despite the fact that at a pharmacological level they work basically the same as a benzo, but hey their still on patent so they can't be bad right!? I've heard similar notions with doctors who are against Dexedrine or Adderall IR but are perfectly fine with Vyvanse, because of some lingo about how it has less abuse potential due to having the lysine amino acid attached.
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