It's maybe just an urban myth but where I live it's become the gospel truth that long-term use of benzodiazepines "destroys your memory." And so but then I can't find any decent study on the long-term effects of benzos viz memory, be it their putative role in irreversible amnesia or in the brain's loss of ability to form new memories. What rock have I yet to overturn--and if none, then whence the widely-held belief that benzos annihilate memory, a belief I hear propogated not just by patients but also by doctors? Is it just a misinterpretation of anterograde amnesia (a real effect of the stronger benzos) or a corruption of the causation-chain that links a surfeit of GABA to diminished anxiety and therefore heightened latent inhibition and therefore decreased awareness of detail and therefore the illusion of forgetfulness? Or is it, rather, a method of getting the undereducated to shy away from benzos?
I had a long and probing talk with my private psychiatrist today, mostly about my concerns over the possibility of my being on a therapeutic dose of alprazolam indefinitely. For the past 5 years I've managed to control (more or less) my outsize social anxiety with alprazolam 1 mg tid. I haven't abused it, except occasionally for acquiring new poon (booze is better for this but I can't go into class or work redolent of Appleton's).
Doc basically told me he doesn't like scripting benzos long-term but that in my case they were medically necessary and that I shouldn't worry about long-term effects because I'm not elderly and therefore am not likely to fall down a flight of step due to ataxia. "So you're saying the only significant risks of long-term use have to do with benzos making me more accident-prone and that half a century of Xanax will not cause any direct tissue damage?" I honestly can't remember his answer because his receptionist interrupted our session at this point and she is half-Greek half-Palestinian and is the face that launched a thousand rockets.
And so but then if anyone can point me to a study that supports the safety of long-term benzodiazepine use, I'll be most grateful.
I had a long and probing talk with my private psychiatrist today, mostly about my concerns over the possibility of my being on a therapeutic dose of alprazolam indefinitely. For the past 5 years I've managed to control (more or less) my outsize social anxiety with alprazolam 1 mg tid. I haven't abused it, except occasionally for acquiring new poon (booze is better for this but I can't go into class or work redolent of Appleton's).
Doc basically told me he doesn't like scripting benzos long-term but that in my case they were medically necessary and that I shouldn't worry about long-term effects because I'm not elderly and therefore am not likely to fall down a flight of step due to ataxia. "So you're saying the only significant risks of long-term use have to do with benzos making me more accident-prone and that half a century of Xanax will not cause any direct tissue damage?" I honestly can't remember his answer because his receptionist interrupted our session at this point and she is half-Greek half-Palestinian and is the face that launched a thousand rockets.
And so but then if anyone can point me to a study that supports the safety of long-term benzodiazepine use, I'll be most grateful.
