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Anti-anxiety drugs

Of course Benzo use can cause dependency. What I'm saying is that dependency isn't as big a deal as you're making it out to be. It's not like being dependent on a drug like Heroin that is detrimental to the user's health. If and when a person decides to get off Benzos they have to deal with unpleasant withdrawals for a couple weeks. In return Benzos can improve their quality of life for years. I fail to see how that's not a more than fair trade-off.
 
i fully support GenericMind's point of view.

What are a coupple of weeks of WD compared to a Hellish life in Anxiety? Nothing, a fair trade off that can be minimized by tapering and a smart schedule and communication with your doc.

If you take benzos and you don't really need to, but you feel like it, cause you think they could help you, well, that's a different thing.

// that is, if you're not a sour pussy 8)...
 
GenericMind said:
Of course Benzo use can cause dependency. What I'm saying is that dependency isn't as big a deal as you're making it out to be. It's not like being dependent on a drug like Heroin that is detrimental to the user's health. If and when a person decides to get off Benzos they have to deal with unpleasant withdrawals for a couple weeks. In return Benzos can improve their quality of life for years. I fail to see how that's not a more than fair trade-off.
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Lets take into account 2 scenarios.

A. A typical heroin addict isn't driven to take heroin by a chemical imbalance. Usually they are teens or young adults in average mental health (before their endeavor with heroin). Bad withdrawals absolutely, even sometimes leading to additional problems.

B. A typical person seeking a benzo(not an abuser) is driven to use through a chemical imbalance where they naturally feel messed up. Yes you may say the withdrawals are with rough but go away shortly. But its not like you're a normal person returning to a relatively normal state. So if you take a benzo daily for 4/8 years and taper as slow as possible you're going to be in for one rough year.

Think about it. You were bad enough before to require this drug so often. You think its not going to be missed for a long time?
 
nycrosshairs said:
Lets take into account 2 scenarios.

A. A typical heroin addict isn't driven to take heroin by a chemical imbalance. Usually they are teens or young adults in average mental health (before their endeavor with heroin). Bad withdrawals absolutely, even sometimes leading to additional problems.

B. A typical person seeking a benzo(not an abuser) is driven to use through a chemical imbalance where they naturally feel messed up. Yes you may say the withdrawals are with rough but go away shortly. But its not like you're a normal person returning to a relatively normal state. So if you take a benzo daily for 4/8 years and taper as slow as possible you're going to be in for one rough year.

Think about it. You were bad enough before to require this drug so often. You think its not going to be missed for a long time?
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You're not taking into account other things that usually accompany Benzodiazepine treatment. Co-administration with medications like Lexapro and Zoloft help to balance the neurochemicals in people with Anxiety. Other anxiety issues are partly psychological and can be worked through. People can stay on those when they stop Benzodiazepines.

No medication we currently have can cure Depression or Anxiety. The best we can hope to do is use the medications available to us to disarm those conditions until we invent something better.
 
nycrosshairs said:
So if you take a benzo daily for 4/8 years and taper as slow as possible you're going to be in for one rough year.
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better than being in for 4-8 rough years with anxiety imho...
 
Benzos

You can take benzos for years and years as long as you take it in a responsible manner. Say 1/2 xanax .5mg 3 times a day and be fine. But once you start taking it recreationally and for fun and whenever the mood hits you, you are fucked and will have a hard time getting back its intended use. Thats my take from personal experience.
 
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enoughorangejuice? said:
Keep it civil and on topic. Personal insults will not be tolerated.
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Agreed.

PS: I forgot to mention in this and other threads that gabapentin with whatever benzo my doctors give me help a LOT. Notice I said doctors, and I'm not talking about script docs...specialists graduated top of class from some of the best medical universities.

I don't want to get into a flaming war but if you do have an anxiety disorder, especially a chronic, severe case where every other class of drugs besides the front line benzos don't work, it's UNSAFE and not healthy to NOT take them daily or as-prescribed. That's why doctors give you instructions how to use them.

I think this is a good thread, mostly because I've had to go through this severe GAD and PD shit for decades. I hate to see it go down the shitter because there are people who are ignorant (of the topic at hand, not generally ignorant--had to note that so I don't piss anybody off).
 
A lot of good posts here, wowza!
Scorched Soul,

I empathize with you completely. I have paid a very high price for my introversion, self-consciousness, and social anxiety. It has gotten worse as I have gotten older. I have been fired from jobs repeatedly for my lack of social finesse and a crippling lack of self-confidence.
I am on methadone, Wellbutrin, and Depakote. I see a great nurse practitioner and we are trying to find a combination that works for my depression/anxiety. I don't much favor the benzos, mostly because I don't want to take them with the methadone. Also, I never noticed an appreciable difference when I did try them. But I respect the fact that many people are helped by benzos, while I recognize that some are hindered by them. I started using H in an attempt to self-medicate my chemically imbalanced brain- that is how many folks fall into drug use/abuse.
I guess you just have to keep plugging away at finding solutions to this enormously crappy problem.

I hope you know that you are not alone.
 
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Yeah, it's most often the case that people with these disorders self medicate. I had a friend that also used opiates to compensate for the anxiety. At one point he started taking clonazepam with methadone...a mix that I found out later is a high preferred or enjoyed more by H or other opiate users. Clonazepam synergizes opiate activity more than other benzos. Fortunately for him, he knocked the opiates altogether after one episode where he was in a nod for almost two days with the combination (methadone and clonazepam) and thought only a couple hours went by.

The reason they started to develop SNRI's like Effexor and Wellbutrin is because of the dopamine selective reuptake inhibition. It's opiates mostly (also alcohol and other drugs) that affect dopamine levels which people seek to raise in their brain to counter the anxiety and get a feeling of well-being. Unfortunately, the SNRI's are really pretty weak when it comes to dopamine regulation.

But you're right, CCM, you have to keep plugging away at finding a solution....that's the best bottom line. It's also so very important for people to know that they are not alone. Not only that, but more people have these conditions than you can really imagine. It's the ones that don't realize they have a condition and don't seek medical help that end up having really bad drug and alcohol problems, not to mention the underlying causes of the problem.

I couldn't have said it better that you have to keep working on a solution. For many it's going to be constant experimentation with combinations. For those who are able to deal with and address the underlying causes, mostly psychological there is lots of hope. Figures from numerous studies in the States and abroad show that a combination of experimental med combos AND therapy give the highest successful treatment rates.

When the psychological issues, when present, are resolved or at least addressed; you're more than halfway home. For those where underlying psychological issues are not the root cause, it gets trickier. Genetics, overactive limbic and cortical regions of the brain, and hormonal imbalances (the human endocrine system is vastly complex)--- usually are less responsive to therapy but therapy is still very important.

That was a great post CCM. I for one can really appreciate it and can bet that ScorchedSoul and others can too. It's also amazing that social anxieties have a lot of similarities to other types such as GAD, PD and OCD. They all can be debilitating. Fortunately everyone having any of these and other like-conditions don't have 'as much' of a stigma as there used to be. When about 1/5 of the American population has an anxiety and/or depression problem, it's hard to maintain the old stigmas. Better meds and treatments are out there, more to come (as the pharm companies see fit) ;-)

Has anyone in or out of the States tried Stablon? The FDA has yet to allow it in the States but is being used in the UK and EU with very good success...I have mentioned it to my doctors but only one is aware of it but of course cannot prescribe it because the FDA won't pass it to the US Formulary.
 
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