Benzodiazepine Permanent Short-Term Memory Loss

[donotlookdown]

Is there any research that supports this?

My old doctor offered me Ativan or an SSRI years ago and I went on the SSRI for 2 years before stopping because I failed to see any significant benefits for my anxiety.

I have a new doctor now and he is completely opposed to benzodiazepines and would only offer me SSRIs, telling me that they "cause short-term memory loss that is immediate and irreversible" and that even if I received one it could not be for more than 2 weeks.

Just wondering if anyone knows of any research that supports the permanence of short-term memory effects of these drugs?

 

[Mycophile]

Is there any research that supports this?

My old doctor offered me Ativan or an SSRI years ago and I went on the SSRI for 2 years before stopping because I failed to see any significant benefits for my anxiety.

I have a new doctor now and he is completely opposed to benzodiazepines and would only offer me SSRIs, telling me that they "cause short-term memory loss that is immediate and irreversible" and that even if I received one it could not be for more than 2 weeks.

Just wondering if anyone knows of any research that supports the permanence of short-term memory effects of these drugs?

That doctor sounds like an asshole.

I hate doctors that are opposed to benzos when they help people so much.

I too would like to hear more studies on this but the comment that they "cause short term memory loss that is immediate and irreversible sounds like bullshit".

What does that even mean?

That if you take it and can't remember some shit one day that then if you stop you'll never regain your memory?

That hasn't been the case for me and I took Klonopin for many years.

Go find a new doctor.

 

[neurotic]

Benzos do cause memory issues but more in the alcohol blackout fashion than in the marijuana loss of short-term memory sense.

That is, if you get very fucked up on benzos, you'll forget what happened during the time you're high on them, just like alcohol. That is probably what your doctor was refering to, although he does sound stupid.

I Dont know anything about benzos affecting memory in the long term - like marijuana supposedly does - though.

 

[sekio]

BZD's generally induce memory problems only when people are on them, and at high doses too - but if you get a good benzo dependency going, then you have to be on them all the time, and then that's a probem...

 

[phatass]

Benzos do cause short term memory problems, amongst other things.
Whether it is irreversible, I think is still in debate, allthough I have read some recent stuff that back's up that high dose, daily long term benzo (ab)usr could and likely would lead to irreversible damage to the GABA system, cognitivity would be affected....

My psychiatrist believes that the human brain is "plastic" and therefore can be moulded back to "normal" like it can be done after being affected by other drugs, I think this doesn't apply to benzos as it would to ie. Dopaminergics... but hey... im not a doc... just Phatass. ... lol

Peace

 

[sekio]

The human brain is way more plastic than people give it credit for... go look at the brains of recovered stroke/tumor patients sometime. People can still operate with tennis-ball-size chunks of brain tissue missing or dead, if they are given time to rehabilitate themselves.

 

[Nom de Plume]

Oy vey.

Benzodiazepines do not cause memory loss; rather, they cause temporary anterograde amnesia.

Anterograde amnesia is the inability to form new memories, whereas memory loss affects one's ability to recall a memory.

The anterograde amnesia accompanying the excessive use of, say, benzodiazepines, is temporary and wears off just as quickly as the drug.

That is why one can get themselves drunk on alcohol, say, without getting caught in some never-ending, permanent blackout.

 

[sigmond]

"cause short-term memory loss that is immediate and irreversible"

If you read this literally I would agree it's bullshit.

Whether it is irreversible, I think is still in debate

I think so..

People can still operate with tennis-ball-size chunks of brain tissue missing or dead, if they are given time to rehabilitate themselves.

Yeah, google this guy: MIT graduate student Steven Keating

Benzodiazepines do not cause memory loss; rather, they cause temporary anterograde amnesia.

I'll admit some posters in this thread certainly know more about this topic than I do- having said that - I believe it may cause both

 

[Nom de Plume]

I'll admit some posters in this thread certainly know more about this topic than I do- having said that - I believe it may cause both
[/FONT]

To this I shall respond in the form of a question, which goes something thus:

Have you or anyone you know ever experienced the loss of a memory—namely, a memory acquired and solidified whilst sober (say, your maternal grandmother's maiden name, the hand with which you masturbate, or the PIN to your 7th active credit card) as a direct result of the amnesiac effects of a benzodiazepine?

That is to say, simply: have you or anyone to which you're acquainted ever lost a memory created before the use of a sedative/hypnotic as a direct consequencence of using the aforementioned sedative/hypnotic?

For example, have you ever forgotten your girlfriend's name as a sole consequence of alcohol or other sedative/hypnotic (specifically, GABAAR PAMs or agonists) intoxication and did the forgetfulness continue after the drug wore off?

If yes, then you experienced memory loss. If no, you experienced a mere "blackout", a state of consciousness best defined as a temporary anterograde amnesia.

 

[sigmond]

Not sure why you chose to refer to your grandmother and jerking off in the same sentence.

Perhaps you're correct, the memories are not lost, they're simply inaccessible for an undetermined duration.

 

[phatass]

↑↑ would that not imply that anyone on a medium to long half life benzo daily will constantly be affected by anteretrograde amnesia?

 

[dopamimetic]

Depending on dose, tolerance and individual response. Don´t know if the effects of an usual benzo dose on which you are able to cope with daily life are strong enough to call them amnesia at all (wikipedia specifies it as severe memory impairment)... on overdosing, yes. In anyone, certainly not.

 

[sigmond]

↑↑ would that not imply that anyone on a medium to long half life benzo daily will constantly be affected by anteretrograde amnesia?

Well, not exactly but my intent was to imply something of that nature. At the time I thought I was giving a semi-sarcastic response, to a semi-sarcastic response. I think a cognitive impairment which is similar to temporary anterograde amnesia but not as severe would be a better way of putting it. Of course this would all depend on the individual...some odd working brains out there.

 

[Nom de Plume]

Perhaps you're correct, the memories are not lost, they're simply inaccessible for an undetermined duration.

No, they are not inaccessible. They simply never formed. The mechanism responsible for the formation of memory is impaired, not the memories themselves!

Consider the vharacter Mark Hanna, in The Wolf of Wallstreet, where Hanna says thus:

Yeah, fugazi, fogazi. It's a wazi, it's a woozi. It's...fairy dust. It doesn't exist, it's never landed, it is no matter, it's not on the elemental charge. It's not fucking real.

And, like stocks, so too are the “memories“ of a person in the midst of a drug-induced blackout.


To put it succinctly, there are no memories whatever to either remember or forget. Experience never solidifies into memory; rather, an experience occurs and is never recorded into a distinct memory.


Think of it this way :


Envisage a tape recorder that is broken. It is still perfectly able to receive audio, but is broken such that the mechanism with which it stores and replays received audio is somehow unworkable. That is somewhat how one's cognition operates after administration of sufficiently high quantities or doses of the drug (usually an intoxicant/nepenthe/anodyne/minor tranquilizer/somnifacient—e.g., downer, depressant, hypnotic, sedative, anaesthetic (usually general, but especially high doses of volatile or inhalational ones, and some others).

Not sure why you chose to refer to your grandmother and jerking off in the same sentence.

Do you really care why, or do you simply like asking questions (probably with a sophomoric attempt to seem witty or comical, but instead coming across as foolish and more preoccupied with flattering others than increasing their knowledge. Though I do hope you aren't one of these loathesome oafs) without the faintest interest in learning their answers?

Anyway...


It was a combination of two similar rhetorical or literary devices.


The intent was to juxtapose the mundane with the profane. The reason the grandmother is mentioned before masturbation serves two purposes, which I shan't squander my time lecturing you about. I'd only be chastised and lampooned for it, anyway.

 

[sigmond]

Thanks...sorry, I thought you were the one trying to be witty or comical.

 

[Nom de Plume]

Thanks...sorry, I thought you were the one trying to be witty or comical.

That wasn't an insult. Your is too fragile. Geez, for a drug forum, people are so stuck on themselves. Can you or can you nit address any of my comments not explicitly about you? You have no argument.

 

[sigmond]

 

[Nom de Plume]

Sigmond,

A pot calling a kettle black is an observation; the pot's blackness does not invalidate or effect the truth value of the pot calling the kettle black—it is black regardless if something black says it so.

Hypocrisy is not conditional, nor is hypocrite X's accusations of hypocrite Y's hypocrisy an extenuating circumstance for hypocrite Y.

 

[sigmond]

^This message is hidden because Nom de Plume is on your ignore list.

I have no idea what you said in that last post...

Anyway, I basically agree with you on the topic.

If you look at what I posted prior:

I'll admit some posters in this thread certainly know more about this topic than I do- having said that - I believe it may cause both

I was clearly trying to impress people with my superior knowledge here.

they're simply inaccessible for an undetermined duration.

I should have avoided "inaccessible for an undetermined duration" To reiterate, I did say I was being semi-sarcastic.

I think a cognitive impairment which is similar to temporary anterograde amnesia, just not as severe, would be a better way of putting it.

In closing, I prefer your explanation. The memories are simply never formed. Although this whole topic is more complex than that.

I would have avoided the 'jerking off' comment if I had known you would be so offended by it. Was just an off the cuff remark.

take care

 

[Nom de Plume]

[ Unsolicited, inane drivel pathetically glossed with substance and slewn together as meretriciously cogent and consequential language]

Blocking: the final recourse of a man nearing defeat and on the defensive, lest he sustains another blow or contusion.