Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem • Hacker News Board

Re: Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem

#81

Post by peteretep » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 10:08 AM UTC

daeken wrote: post #75

I take 1mg xanax up to once a day (typically every other day) and it has completely changed my life for the better. In conjunction with propranolol taken regularly (20mg twice a day, roughly), my anxiety is finally in a fairly well-controlled state. Unfortunately, getting benzo prescriptions -- even for the low dosage and frequency I'm on -- is hard and getting harder. Ordering it online is possible but rife with sca…

Have you tried a medication that targets chronic rather than acute anxiety? You're going to start tolerating the Xanax sooner or later, so you need a plan for when that starts to happen. Escitalopram has worked great for me, in addition to propanalol as needed.

Re: Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem

#82

Post by peteretep » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 10:10 AM UTC

alkonaut wrote: post #70

jnovek wrote: post #11

Serious question: as we make opiods and now bezos increasingly difficult to prescribe, what are the alternatives for people with chronic pain or chronic anxiety? I have friends and family members with chronic pain and, through them and their communities, have become aware of many people who use opiods on a long-term, occasional basis to manage their pain. A family member of mine who suffers from chronic migraine live…

> what are the alternatives for people with chronic pain or chronic anxiety? If you look around the world, what is the solution there? The US is unique in the prescription of these drugs, but also unique in its reluctance to look around and say "what's everyone else doing that's working"? I think here the answer is that it's fundamentally a different view on chronic pain (Acute pain is a different story- you don't pr…

> The US is unique in the prescription of these drugs

The US is in no way unique for prescribing anxiolytics, benzos or otherwise

Re: Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem

#83

Post by GyYZTfWBfQw » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 10:10 AM UTC

qwerty456127 wrote: post #50

Taking 1/4 pill of Xanax occasionally together with 1200 mg piracetam + 3 mg sunifiram + another 1200 mg piracetam pill some hours later is amazing for concentration (but that's my personal experience, just sharing it, I don't recommend this to anybody, also neither piracetam nor sunifiram are approved by the FDA). Almost cures my ADHD and anxiety altogether and makes me happy and super productive (as compared to my…

"approved by the FDA"

Is that a requirement? Haven't you heard that FDA used to and still approves medications that were responsible for the death of thousands, if not more people? No, it's not a requirement, nor it should be. FDA serves its own interest and not yours [or the people's], because it can. Nothing happened to the FDA after they approved lethal medications, and nothing prevents them from doing just that again, or banning actually useful plants, such as: hemp, and kratom. They enjoy it, but do you?

I recommend listening to:

1) https://tomwoods.com/ep-1124-death-by-regulation-the-truth-a...

2) https://tomwoods.com/ep-1196-a-market-alternative-to-the-fda...

3) https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/10/business/exposing-the-fda...

Re: Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem

#84

Post by alkonaut » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 10:23 AM UTC

peteretep wrote: post #82

alkonaut wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what are the alternatives for people with chronic pain or chronic anxiety? If you look around the world, what is the solution there? The US is unique in the prescription of these drugs, but also unique in its reluctance to look around and say "what's everyone else doing that's working"? I think here the answer is that it's fundamentally a different view on chronic pain (Acute pain is a different story- you don't pr…

> The US is unique in the prescription of these drugs The US is in no way unique for prescribing anxiolytics, benzos or otherwise

The discussion is usually about opioids where the US is an outlier. For benzos I can't seem to find a good comparison, but this statistic stands out:

"In 2008, approximately 5.2% of US adults aged 18 to 80 years used benzodiazepines." [1]

Here "used" means filled at least one prescription during the year. This to me looks like an extremely high number, but I can't find a good number for comparable countries. I'd be very surpised if the rest of the OECD had a figure of even 1%

[1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269766767_Benzodiaz...

Re: Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem

#85

Post by Ftuuky » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 10:48 AM UTC

My mother had insomnia and her doctor prescribed some benzo (can't remember which) 3 times per day. She would take one in the morning and spend the rest of the day sleeping or calling random people with super weird conversations. I went back to the doctor with her demanding why he prescribed such a strong medicine 3 times per day when her problem was having difficulties falling asleep, and he says "oh she looked like she has anxiety". I wanted to punch him in the face. These doctors prescribe whatever the pharma marketeers pay them to prescribe.

Re: Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem

#86

Post by brbrbrbrbr » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 11:19 AM UTC

maddyboo wrote: post #25

I have battled with severe anxiety and panic disorders for years. At my worst, I was often unable to get out of bed for days at a time due to fear of having a panic attack outside the safety of my home. Taking an SSRI has helped a lot, but there are times where I can feel a panic attack coming and know the only way to stop it is with a Xanax. I regard benzodiazepines with a lot of respect. Their power is a blessing a…

I have to second that having a fallback tremendously decrease anxiety.

While techniques like CBT, meditation, diet have helped me a lot to fight my fears, there have been situations which I had to rely on meds to power thru - I call it going nuclear.

Re: Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem

#87

Post by LeftTurnSignal » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 1:47 PM UTC

mnm1 wrote: post #42

stryk wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is incredibly, incredibly dangerous to mix benzodiazepines (Xanax, Ativan, etc.) with Methadone. This is common knowledge amongst opiate addicts, at least everywhere I ever went in the US back in my wilder days. I have 3 close friends whom I grew up with that all died before age 30 from abusing that exact combination of narcotics, and know of countless more just in my home state alone. Benzos are a respiratory dep…

Do you have a source for this "common knowledge"? I've seen plenty of people on methadone do just fine with benzos, especially if they take prescribed doses. I'm not so sure this isn't some bullshit pushed by doctors without evidence so that they have an excuse to stop treating their patients and leave them without benzos in a state where they are forced to either go to the black market or potentially withdraw and di…

I don't have any sources, but I've lost two people close to me who mixed xanax and methadone. They were in rehab, fell off the wagon and that was it. Blood tests showed just those two drugs in their systems.

> It's almost as if they think of methadone patients as less than human, creatures whose lives are not of value.

This is 100% what one friend who's going through methadone treatment says. They don't even want to get them off of methadone either. He had to fight to even begin going down, and he was on it at 2 years at this point. He'll be in "rehab" for 5 years early next year, and the dose is about 1/3 what it was when he started.

Re: Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem

#88

Post by code_duck » Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 2:21 PM UTC

tnecniv wrote: post #56

code_duck wrote: post #55

I’m pleased to see this getting more attention. I find the memory-erasing drug of these effects to be unpleasant, and duration disturbing. If you take three of them, the next day 24 hours later or you may still have blood plasma like one pill or more, depending on which benzo it is. Most people don’t understand drug half life and are unaware of that. Then if you mix in cannabis or alcohol, things start to get really…

> If you take three of them One should note that "three of them" is (probably) a lot. Even half a pill is often sufficient to quell panic attacks.

They are widely abused recreationally, too, typically in higher doses.

Half-life of Xanax varies between 6 and 29 hours, averaging 11.5 hours. A “pill” is an arbitrary amount and that’s not what I’m referring to. It’s the proportion that still affects you hours later and how long it lasts that matters, including that dosages can overlap.

It’s also important to note that tolerance develops of these drugs. Half a pill to you might be two for someone who is taking them every day for years. Tolerance to various effects develops to different extents, and perceived, subjective tolerance to dosages and impairment may be exceeded by measurable motor skill and judgment reduction.

If you take half a pill, you’re still on more than a quarter of a pill when you wake up the next day. If you take another half pill, you will be on more than a half pill.

Re: Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Problem

#89

Post by kls » Wed, Aug 22, 2018, 10:55 AM UTC

spamizbad wrote: post #13

jnovek wrote: post #11

Serious question: as we make opiods and now bezos increasingly difficult to prescribe, what are the alternatives for people with chronic pain or chronic anxiety? I have friends and family members with chronic pain and, through them and their communities, have become aware of many people who use opiods on a long-term, occasional basis to manage their pain. A family member of mine who suffers from chronic migraine live…

For benzos: There really is no drug alternative to benzos other than maybe SSRIs but most people perscribed them probably tried SSRIs in the past to no effect. Your other alternative is extensive psychotherapy, which your insurance is unlikely to cover. Perhaps in the future marijuana, MDMA or ketamine might prove useful. Benzos generally require you to taper off them, as I believe the withdrawal side-effects include…

Just a note, ethanol is an effective alternative to benzos, for a grown adult male 3-4 shots of 80 proof liquor in rapid succession will quell a panic attack in the same or shorter time than Xanax (which IIRC is the fastest acting benzo). Ethanol is actually a broader spectrum binder than benzos.

I actually broke free of the "have to carry Xanax on me at all times" chain that anyone with panic disorder can relate to by constantly reminding myself while driving that there is a convenience store or bar around the next corner (being stuck in traffic or a crowd sets mine off).

That being said, I am not advocating using alcohol over benzos it's health impact is far more devastating, but it is an effective tool for breaking the mental chain of having to carry benzos on you at all times, by knowing that you can end one with it if you need to. As the fear of having panic attacks in and of itself is just as debilitating.