Dementia risk with Zopiclone and Clonazepam

[paranoid android]

I am prescribed 7.5mg's of Zopiclone at night (though i often take way more then this when i wanna get high. I'm prescribed .5mg of clonazepam as well. The worry i have a family history of Dementia and getting it scares the shit right out of me.
I know both Clonazepam and Zopilone carrry this risk.

I guess what im asking is is the risk something i have to worry about or is it overblown? Also would a benzo such as Temazepam be any less risky for causing Dementia then Zopiclone?

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

I don't think you're at risk with .5mg clonazepam, personally, but I don't know for sure. Usually they give 1.5-2mg. Many have been on it since it's inception in the 80's. If you were taking 6mg, then maybe. But if you actually need it, I'd think you're fine.

I can't imagine there being that big of a difference. Both are given for insomnia. But they can't work well if they are abused.

 

[cdin]

you should absolutely not be medicating long term/regularly with GABAergic drugs if you have a family history of dementia. current doctor recs have been reduced to two week runs at max. the withdrawal from benzos makes heroin look cute. if you are using these once every couple weeks for a bad night, OK. regular use brings life changing problems sadly. because they work for sleep and anxiety.

 

[cdin]

CBN has been an extremely effective/on par w benzos sleep aid for me. just found recently.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Different views exist.

 

[arrall]

I would consider the risk with Zopiclone to be a lot more serious than benzos.

I have a relative who has taken large nightly doses of Zopiclone for almost two decades. I've noticed a significant decline in their cognition and memory, and they're only in their late 40s. Their sleep also doesn't seem to have gotten any better. Based on talking to them, I get the impression that the Zopiclone is doing far more to get them high than to treat their insomnia.

Zopiclone is also shown to be less effective for insomnia than CBT in multiple studies [1, 2]. I find its overprescription to be quite disgusting given the efficacy of other safer drugs such as cannabis.

 

[paranoid android]

So would Temazepam be the safer choice as a sleeping pill?

 

[arrall]

So would Temazepam be the safer choice as a sleeping pill?

From personal experience, no drug I have ever taken has felt as brain-damaging as taking one (7.5mg?) pill of Zopiclone (though high-dose DXM comes close) and benzodiazepenes most likely are safer in terms of the negative impact on cognition (However, keep in mind that benzos are likely more physically addictive.) But that does not make medium or long term benzodiazepene use at all safe.

I'm not knowledgeable about Temazepam itself, but long-term use of benzodiazepenes is also correlated with dementia. Given the high likelihood of severe physical dependency, benzodiazepenes generally should not be used for insomnia outside of short-term treatment. I don't see an issue with taking Temazepam to sleep for a few nights a month. But if you're using it daily/near-daily, you're going to ruin into some major issues fairly quickly.

 

[CFC]

There are a lot of theorized mechanisms by which Benzos and related drugs may increase the risk of developing dementia, and a fair few studies claiming that the patterns observed are not merely correlations and represent fairly significant risks. The most obvious mechanism may be as simple as the damage they cause to sleep architecture, the glymphatic system and memory formation (which requires carefully coordinated adrenergic pulses during certain sleep phases etc). Personally, and given your concerns and background - and thus out of an abundance of caution - I'd avoid them as much as possible if you don't truly need them, as it's highly unlikely we're going to be able to know enough about the long-term effects any time soon, given the complexity and temporal nature of potential mechanisms involved.

Read more here:

Frontiers | Benzodiazepines and Related Drugs as a Risk Factor in Alzheimer's Disease Dementia

Benzodiazepines (BZDs) and Z-drugs are compounds widely prescribed in medical practice due to their anxiolytic, hypnotic, and muscle relaxant properties. Yet...

www.frontiersin.org

 

[cdin]

Z drugs, benzos -- none of these are safe for daily consumption. The addiction is life changing, worse than opioids, the dementia risk is very real. Daily GABA PAM dosing is NOT a safe treatment for sleep, anxiety or anything else. It damages the same systems it's trying to assist. CBN (Cannabinol) in tincture at 20mg is the BEST non-GABA sleep aid I have ever found.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

There are a lot of theorized mechanisms by which Benzos and related drugs may increase the risk of developing dementia, and a fair few studies claiming that the patterns observed are not merely correlations and represent fairly significant risks. The most obvious mechanism may be as simple as the damage they cause to sleep architecture, the glymphatic system and memory formation (which requires carefully coordinated adrenergic pulses during certain sleep phases etc). Personally, and given your concerns and background - and thus out of an abundance of caution - I'd avoid them as much as possible if you don't truly need them, as it's highly unlikely we're going to be able to know enough about the long-term effects any time soon, given the complexity and temporal nature of potential mechanisms involved.

Read more here:

Frontiers | Benzodiazepines and Related Drugs as a Risk Factor in Alzheimer's Disease Dementia

Benzodiazepines (BZDs) and Z-drugs are compounds widely prescribed in medical practice due to their anxiolytic, hypnotic, and muscle relaxant properties. Yet...

www.frontiersin.org

Appreciate the evidence and explanation!

 

[Robomarley1]

I was wondering if you had to take one of the AEDS that act on GABA, not just a benzodiazepine. Is their the same risk?