Any long term use of a mind altering substance causes long term changes. Particularly as we age our bodies become more fragile. A huge mistake that young people make is to think that their invincibility will last forever.
Theres a lot of research regarding alcohol abuse. So much that it’s easy to pick any combination of use/time/age and know the probable outcome. The Benzo research has been done but the specific long term effects to an elderly person’s mind after decades of heavy abuse are not as cut and dried as it seems.
However, there is no question that heavy Benzo abuse for years does permanently alter the chemistry of one’s brain. Sort of like a smoker having wrinkled skin even if they quit. In my opinion it is more dangerous than alcohol, specifically at low doses. I have used both at different times in my life and for me, benzos are much scarier and more dangerous than alcohol.
I totally disagree.
First off, you basically cannot deny that it is easier to overose and die from alcohol by itself than benzos by itself. I mean the studies have already shown that it is extremely hard to overdose on benzos without mixing them with anything else.
We also know that alcohol is far worse for the liver, and I believe there are also studies showing that heavy alcohol abuse can sometimes lead to certain types of cancers yet there aren't any showing that benzo use can.
Finally, although it would probably be unlikely that very heavy benzo use for years would ever be something that your brain would literally ONE HUNDRED PERCENT recover from if you stopped...meaning like as if to your brain you'd NEVER taken that am all....yeah, that's unlikely in that at least SOME changes to the brain will probably persist, but how significant those changes to the brain are or how damaging is going to differ dramatically between different people based on all sorts of factors and I definitely think that some people can use benzos even heavily (MEDICALLY, NOT recreationally) for many years and then stop and have their brains MOSTLY recover and not have serious horrible long term effects.
I have been taking 1.5mgs of Klonopin for about 15 years and generally feel ok but I bet I am the sort of person who you would say is DEFINITELY going to have HORRIBLE long term after effects, when that is NOT NECESSARILY TRUE AT ALL.
It COULD happen, and IMO most likely my brain has been permanently been changed in certain ways TO SOME EXTENT even if/when I stop, but I'm not going to believe that my brain is destroyed beyond repair unless it happens, and frankly, it REALLY pisses me off all the people who have told me that my brain is basically fucked because of my benzo use when they have no way of knowing that.
Now I do also drink alcohol, but I bet your anything that if instead of taking any benzos I had drank 4-5 beers a day everyday (I'm picking that number cause it's probably equivalent to me for 1.5mgs of Klonopin) every day for 15 years I'd be in FAR worse shape than from taking benzos.
Also, not all benzos are created equal and a moderate dose of Klonopin like I take, because it's a long acting benzo, is probably not damaging to the extent that a short acting one like Xanax is.
Of course, you are entitled to your opinion, but I think there is no question that alcohol is overall a more toxic substance to the body than benzos, and frankly all the "benzos are going to destroy your brain hysteria" that I have had to endure over the years pisses me off to no end.
I mean sure, they are FAR from harmless and can have significant dangers, but there are a lot of people, many on this forum but also elsewhere, who have told me over the years that my brain is already fucked beyond repair and I think that they just don't necessarily know that that is true at all, and that the hysteria over long term MEDICAL usage of benzos is really over exaggerated.
