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Benzos Do you worry about benzos causing dementia?

S

sacsky

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 20, 2015
Messages
131
There's a new study out there which links benzos to dementia. What do you think about this? Have you heard about it? Obviously they don't even know if occassional benzo use is safe or wether all that matters is the total amount of benzos you consumed. This really sucks.
 
yeah i have thought about it a coule of times and yeah it does scare me a bit... i allways thougt they would make such illness more prone but your confirmation dont surprice me... it does scare me a bit tho... :(

ive eaten more benzo's then i could count,,, this is not good news but ive allready believed it did that to some degree,,,

but i cant stop my benzo's without em i would go nuts i dont take em every day but stay non addicted and use when i have and then ill go for weeks without
i have quit em when addicted some years ago and that was no fun i tell you! no sleep for about a half year or more

i still sleep shitty but i switch between zolpidem, imozop and Quetiapin if i really need to sleep
 
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I think we as a species have a lot more to worry about than benzodiazepine-induced dementia.

In fact come to think of it, when the zombie horde is chewing your intestines having dementia may be ironically blissful.
 
I wonder if benzos, which have been around for decades now turn out to cause dementia, then what about other drugs which are supposedly safe? What about ritalin or lyrica? What if they damage the brain, too?
 
I just read a bit of the BMJ article on this topic. They definitely found some plausible (yet not definitive) evidence that benzodiazepines can cause AD. Their data is backed up by the fact that for the groups studied, longer use of benzodiazepines was correlated with a relatively higher prevalence of AD. However, keep in mind that does not prove a causual relationship between benzodiazepine use and AD. I.e., Benzodiazepine use may be an early marker of a condition associated with an increased risk of AD. That very last sentence is taken directly from the article.


Edit: here's the link to the study if anyone is interested http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g5205
 
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I've never had a big benzo habit, in fact the only "benzo" I've taken daily was actually the "theinzo" etizolam. Only 1mg a day though, and I've taken breaks. I think severe benzo abusers are the ones who need to worry. 2-3+mg of Xanax (or 20-30mg+ diazepam) daily for years is what I consider severe.

And then there are the poor souls using 20mg + of Xanax or 200mg+ of Valium daily who are living in the hell that I imagine truly severe benzo addiction
 
sacsky said:
I wonder if benzos, which have been around for decades now turn out to cause dementia, then what about other drugs which are supposedly safe? What about ritalin or lyrica? What if they damage the brain, too?
Click to expand...

All drugs carry a risk when abused. Ritalin or adderall have been around for a lot longer then benzos I believe. In prescribed doses they seem relatively safe with over half a century of medical use and studies that haven't shown any longer term side effects that are serious like dementia. Benzos on the other hand really just stepped in at like the end of the 70's because they are so much safer then barbiturates were, OD potential wise. So benzos have been prescribed for many years less then Ritalin or adderal, and also are never prescribed for use year round like ADHD stims are. For the most part, 3-6 weeks is all the time they are prescribed for unless it's for severe anxiety. So probably a lot less people have used benzos for long periods of time, thus less patients have decades of experience using benzos which may have made dementia a long term side effects years and years ago but they just weren't studied enough.

Lyrica is new though, only a few years old so maybe it will cause side effects in the long term.

I'm rambling, sorry
 
I don't know how many people there are who are on benzos full time, but some are. I thought as long as you don't become addicted to them and don't have to increase the dose their a safe anxiolytic.
This sucks. Now there's nothing left against anxiety. SSRIs are a joke. Lyrica is also no option. From what I read lyrica is an anti-nootropic and interferes with learning new things. I took it for a short time and felt like it messed with my memory. I also don't like how doctors act like it's totally safe and non-addictive.
 
Thats what I was thinking Seiko...all the older people I know one whatever benzo they are taking knocks them out and they forget shit(if I remember it says this medication may be stronger in elderly patients) and valium has been around forever...seems like if it did cause something like this it would be more well known by now, I'm sure there are people who have been taking valium by the handfulls everyday since the 60s,mothers little helper, now like grandmas get her relaxation on helper.
 
Benzos cause dementia? who knows ... but on the other side... benzos are pretty damn safe, cause they've been around for many years. and from my personal experience, I take benzos regularly for years now, got a good memory and pretty decent conversation-skills, I read stuff, learn new things and memorize with ease. My memory was much worse when I smoked ganja on a regular basis!
Even when I drank heavily, I was able to improve my skills on calculating with a training program, so the learning abilities are maybe deminished, but not destroyed. and since I don't drink any booz no more (and use no thc no more), my memory is even more accurate and reliable. So I would not worry too much. maybe just kick em off in a year or in several months to keep safe.
 
Do they not do brain autopsies? In this case they would see if it was real dementia or not.
 
sacsky said:
I don't know how many people there are who are on benzos full time, but some are. I thought as long as you don't become addicted to them and don't have to increase the dose their a safe anxiolytic.
This sucks. Now there's nothing left against anxiety. SSRIs are a joke. Lyrica is also no option. From what I read lyrica is an anti-nootropic and interferes with learning new things. I took it for a short time and felt like it messed with my memory. I also don't like how doctors act like it's totally safe and non-addictive.
Click to expand...

Lyrica and its lil brother gabapentin are not good anti anxiety drugs..well, they are the first week or so and they give you a profound high in that span but after that, they caused extreme lethargy, blurred vision, a mind so muddled i couldnt even figure out basic tasks..so yeah, and then u have withdrawals which luckily i didnt get but yeah for now, benzos are still the most successful but they have nasty side effects as well..theanine seems to show some promise..
 
How much lyrica do you need to get high? I felt nothing from 100 mg.

Theanine didn't work for me. I tried 100mg and 200mg on different days on an empty stomach.

Benzo side effects? This is weird. I get no side effects from 1mg ativan. I have also gotten 2mg ativan injections before a MRI scan and got no side effects.
 
I thought benzodiazepines (and many other GABA-ergics) had neuroprotective properties? Even daily consumption of alcohol is supposed to be good for you in small amounts.
 
even though benzos are great for social situations.. after quitting with a moderate addiction (heavy to most people around where i live)... i of course, am still an anxiety-freak but I stutter a lot more (un-anticipated stutters). I can of course... do benzos and gain this control back :P
 
I thought they already did? I swear I only took three but my whole stash is gone? How did that happen? Why am I walking along a motorway?
 
This totally sucks. Now you can't even take a benzo without bad conscience. Why do all good things have to be bad? Dammit!
 
Sometimes after only taking 5mgs of Valium, the next day my memory is way off, so this makes 100% sense that dementia could be caused by benzos.
 
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