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Markellany t1_iwgnduy wrote

I find your points interesting. Would you mind sharing what your experience was like with benzos? What dosage were you on and for how long? Were you using any other treatment modalities like journaling, some form of therapy, exercise, meditation, support groups? What were some of the withdrawal symptoms you experienced?

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seejordan3 t1_iwgrpe9 wrote

I'm a caretaker, for many years, of my partner, who was on them for 15 years. Too long, right? Correct. She was incorrectly prescribed them for way too long, as many people are. A very high dose (8mg+).

Being her caretaker means I get a lot of other people needing support and advice with benzos. I can tell you, they are slowly killing us. I understand some people need them or they'll not slowly-die. It'll be fast. I get that, and I'm not saying they don't have a place. OMG, so many times we're in the ER with seizures and of COURSE the EMT's reach for benzos first, because they work. I'm no science denier. But if one in four doctor visits results in a perscription for them, there's zero chance people are being told the risks.

To answer your question about treatment routes: yes, everything you can think of and 1000 things you never thought of. Journaling, therapy, support groups (BenzoBuddies.org is incredible; and she's called SAINT Ashton in our house), daily yoga, eating REALLY healthy, Kito diet (to help with the seizures). The symptoms... there's over 100 of them. My partner could at any time list 30-80 of them. It'd be easier to write the symptoms my partner didn't experience.

We all (esp. doctors) are optimists. We say, "that won't happen to me (PAWS)". And the scrips fly. Benzos REALLY work great in the short term.. so people get hooked REALLY quick, and those "possible side effects" are forgotten about. Then the up-dosing begins for efficacy after tolerance withdraw after a couple weeks/months... and that hell I would save people from.

Benzos. They delay suffering. Prove me wrong. I am now pretty good at reading medical studies, so sources! Here's some..
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/20/health/benzodiazepines-prescriptions-study/index.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8294026/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/health/elderly-drugs-addiction.html

(let me know anyone wants more). Have a wonderful day, and thank you for coming to my Ted Talk!

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Markellany t1_iwu7xki wrote

Thank you for this information. I agree 8mg for 15 years is not appropriate. I do think they are helpful for people dealing with acute trauma, ptsd and temporary things like fear of flying etc. I have noticed that many people I know who have died prematurely were on a benzo. Clear and correct information needs to be provided to people considering any medical intervention so they can make informed decisions.

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seejordan3 t1_iwuwvb0 wrote

Oh, Benzos work, really really well. What they do, and I'm no neurologist.. is they are a crutch for your gabba factories in your brain. They flood your brain with gabba, artificially. That causes your brain to say, ".. we are good on gabba, don't need more, shut down those gabba factories". And those factories then stop working. But, you taper out pretty quickly, and need more to have the same baseline effect. So yea, they work! But only for awhile. Then you realize shit, I can't go off this or I'll die (literally, you can't just stop this drug, you have to do a many months' taper, and cross your fingers). So what's the appropriate length of time to be on them, what's the risk. Considering 20% after 2 months go into long term, I would argue its VERY VERY rarely useful. Our minds generate anxiety for a reason, to tell us to change what we're doing. Yes, it can produce so much, or so little gabba, that a person can be stuck in a hole. But, that's not time for a drug, but time to make changes in your life FIRST. Benzos will simly delay your suffering to a time when you are hopefully more capable of dealing with life stuff.

Ok now to the other end of the spectrum. Benzo deaths. About once a year we hear of someone we know dealing with depression and anxiety who was on benzos as well as SSRI's and other drugs. I realize SSRI's also have about 20% prolonged withdraw.. But its never as bad a withdraw as benzos are. So when people have a cocktail, we so often the chalk it up to "drugs", and often opiods.. but rarely do we look at the worst culprit in that cocktail: benzos.

Thanks for listening. A friend lost his brother a few months ago to suicide after being tapered out for years on benzos. People need to wake up to the danger of this drug. We simply don't understand if something works for a few months (REALLY well) that it will be very tough for people to stop taking it.

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