NeighborhoodThreat
Bluelight Crew
Alprazolam was the first benzo I was ever prescribed for anxiety (I'm diagnosed with panic disorder). Anybody who has experienced a full-blown panic attack understands that the benzos are the only drugs that really, really stop panic dead in its tracks. I have since been switched to lorazepam and now I'm on a low dose of clonazepam. SSRIs did nothing for me but turn my healthy sex drive into complete uninterest in sex. Sorry, but that's an unacceptable side-effect for a drug that doesn't even work in the first place.
YMMV. Benzos aren't for everybody. But they work for me. I use them as tool, because that's what they are. If you chase a "high" from benzos, you will find yourself addicted much faster than somebody that uses them as a medical tool for a very real medical condition. When my doctor asked if I wanted Xanax or Ativan (lorazepam), I chose Ativan because Xanax, well effective, makes me chase a high. I've had a handful of experiences with temazepam, and I can say that is quite euphoric. I could see the addictiveness in that benzo after one use.
I think kokaino's comparison with chronic pain patients is a good one. Yes, high dose benzo withdrawal is an order of magnitude worse than opiate withdrawal. But I don't see anybody telling me to "avoid opiates at all costs". I certainly know that nobody would say something like that if I had, say, a broke back or had just been in a car wreck. Well, a panic attack is a broken leg of the mind. They'll give you morphine in the ambulance for your broken leg and they'll give you lorazepam in the ambulance for your panic attack - but the second somebody talks about long-term benzodiazepine therapy...there's always a bad side to it. There's a bad side to chronic opiate use as well.
Which would you rather have? A life of pain or long-term opiate usage? A life of panic and anxiety or long-term benzodiazepine usage?
YMMV. Benzos aren't for everybody. But they work for me. I use them as tool, because that's what they are. If you chase a "high" from benzos, you will find yourself addicted much faster than somebody that uses them as a medical tool for a very real medical condition. When my doctor asked if I wanted Xanax or Ativan (lorazepam), I chose Ativan because Xanax, well effective, makes me chase a high. I've had a handful of experiences with temazepam, and I can say that is quite euphoric. I could see the addictiveness in that benzo after one use.
I think kokaino's comparison with chronic pain patients is a good one. Yes, high dose benzo withdrawal is an order of magnitude worse than opiate withdrawal. But I don't see anybody telling me to "avoid opiates at all costs". I certainly know that nobody would say something like that if I had, say, a broke back or had just been in a car wreck. Well, a panic attack is a broken leg of the mind. They'll give you morphine in the ambulance for your broken leg and they'll give you lorazepam in the ambulance for your panic attack - but the second somebody talks about long-term benzodiazepine therapy...there's always a bad side to it. There's a bad side to chronic opiate use as well.
Which would you rather have? A life of pain or long-term opiate usage? A life of panic and anxiety or long-term benzodiazepine usage?
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