Mental Health are benzos safe if used for their actual purpose?

[morphineoxysbenzos]

I always had massive stress/anxiety overload even over the smallest stuff. Just knowing I have something small to do the next day can keep me up for hours with my heart racing. Even something small like having to make a phone call or talk to someone can trigger it. school was hell because i couldn't stop stressing about the next day staying up all night and never got any sleep and i could rarely nap because of my anxiety. i had so much anxiety i would stress about stuff that was 180 days away.

everything stresses me out and i used to use alcohol for it but that it was horrible and i was just covering the symptoms and i was vomitting, acting like an idiot, runing my life, the physical effects, hangovers, the disgusting taste. a small dose of benzos helps but i still kinda feel anxiety on them but it feels like it prevents panic attacks and it saves my life in some situations. ive tried exercise and other meds and everything but my anxiety is so bad that my heart just beats out of my chest uncontrollably all the time and it gives me nausea and drains me. It just feels like i have no energy left from all my anxiety draining me.

i kept telling everyone i needed alcohol to get out of bed or talk to people or feel relief and people just called me an alcoholic even though i didn't like alcohol and i couldn't even stand the taste. It was like i had no urge to use alcohol i just wanted anxiety relief I started using alcohol to relax and sleep and i just couldn't even stomach or look at it anymore. i quit alcohol and tried benzos on their own and it was like a miracle cure. only problem is benzos making me really tired the next day like almost nodding off. i have zero desire to black out on benzos or touch any really strong ones.

 

[morphineoxysbenzos]

It really depends on the individual and their genetics

Withdrawal seizures have occurred after 2 weeks of use at therapeutic doses

What kind of benzos are you talking about?

Etiz .5 usually 1-2 times a day sometimes one more before bed and a few days off once in awhile

 

[polarthedog]

no matter the dose, you will withdraw if you take it for long enough then stop

that being said, they also increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's

 

[morphineoxysbenzos]

no matter the dose, you will withdraw if you take it for long enough then stop

that being said, they also increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's

i feel like it already did

 

[polarthedog]

i feel like it already did

did what?

 

[deficiT]

There's a reason benzos are considered dry alcohol. I've found that they are slightly less abuseable and reinforcing than alcohol. But they still can hold dangers. If used as prescribed, I think they are generally safe enough.

Although long term daily use can cause a possibly fatal withdrawal so you've gotta be very careful.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Withdrawal seizures have occurred after 2 weeks of use at therapeutic doses

Please post your source for this. If anecdotal, the kind, amount, and frequency of use, along with relevant other factors, if you don't mind. Gotta keep MH up to date. Not to be a jerk.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Thanks.

Since most people here have a proclivity for looking up their own literature, I think that some things should be said.

Firstly, one source really isn't good enough to make a reliable point.

It's good that the source is within the past decade. That just checks out.

Then there is just one author, from one affiliation. It's good that he's affiliated with a hospital, and with the US, which tends to be minorly pro-benzo, but he's the only author. He isn't connected to an academic institution. My snobbishness can't pick up that hospital on the radar of accreditation.

Another big deal is that we just have the abstract. This is perhaps my biggest gripe. Without the methods section, the real empirical body, we have to just rely on where he's researching out of, which is US hospital but which isn't enough to convince me of the truth by just hearsay. Maybe he has real data, but there is no way to ensure it, and he does really have the burden of truth. The rule with benzos is not more than four weeks.

So let's consider what he says on the matter:

"Seizures have also been reported with less than 15 days of use and at therapeutic dosage. "

I don't see a lot of specificity in that claim. If he wanted to be sly, he could include cases whereby the user had been using doses for years before, but for under 15 days increased their dosage, then stopped. He could include cases that just relied on the what the user said, as people oftentimes play down their use under addiction. Maybe he's including cases whereby alcoholics were stabilized on benzos for two weeks, then went cold turkey. It's just a very vague statement when you're trying to be straightforward, and my guess is that he knew it. Lots of ways to contort the truth with this one.

 

[poisongirl]

Thanks.

Since most people here have a proclivity for looking up their own literature, I think that some things should be said.

Firstly, one source really isn't good enough to make a reliable point.

It's good that the source is within the past decade. That just checks out.

Then there is just one author, from one affiliation. It's good that he's affiliated with a hospital, and with the US, which tends to be minorly pro-benzo, but he's the only author. He isn't connected to an academic institution. My snobbishness can't pick up that hospital on the radar of accreditation.

Another big deal is that we just have the abstract. This is perhaps my biggest gripe. Without the methods section, the real empirical body, we have to just rely on where he's researching out of, which is US hospital but which isn't enough to convince me of the truth by just hearsay. Maybe he has real data, but there is no way to ensure it, and he does really have the burden of truth. The rule with benzos is not more than four weeks.

So let's consider what he says on the matter:

"Seizures have also been reported with less than 15 days of use and at therapeutic dosage. "

I don't see a lot of specificity in that claim. If he wanted to be sly, he could include cases whereby the user had been using doses for years before, but for under 15 days increased their dosage, then stopped. He could include cases that just relied on the what the user said, as people oftentimes play down their use under addiction. Maybe he's including cases whereby alcoholics were stabilized on benzos for two weeks, then went cold turkey. It's just a very vague statement when you're trying to be straightforward, and my guess is that he knew it. Lots of ways to contort the truth with this one.

Thanks for all this.

I think a lot of the time people (myself included) see an academic article and treat it as gospel. Sometimes it's valid, but it's good to remember that without seeing the methods it's hard to say. It could've also been a case with underlying causes, too, like other medical conditions, or with other medication involved. I'm going to go ahead and send the author an e-mail to see if we can't get the full paper.

I'll share my anecdotal experience in case it helps -- I was prescribed .5mg clonazepam at first, then up to 1mg for a long time while drinking only socially and no other substances. I took it both for insomnia and daily anxiety for over 3 years, and sometimes I'd take 2 a day. Over time my life situation got better and with psychotherapy progress it became easier to go without it, and nowadays I rarely take it anymore, to the point where I was okay with no medicine for over 6 months. The withdrawal wasn't really there for me and I've never had any seizures or anything serious. YMMV.

 

[Robomarley1]

I think if you use them two or three days a week it would be fine. It depends how long the half-life of the drug is. However they are really easy to abuse and take every day. I did for years and just got off 2 mg of clonazepam and 1 mg of alprazolam daily. If you end up taking them every day you will probably go through serious withdrawals.