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Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

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Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#31

Post by sascha_sl »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #18
cwzwarich wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My brother is a pharmacist, and is constantly shocked by the prescriptions that healthy people bring in to get filled. While I definitely agree with your general point, how does your brother know that they’re healthy or don’t need to take the medication? I’ve never had any discussion with a pharmacist (in the US or Canada) where I’ve revealed this information.

What I mean is a mother of 4, with no medical history, is feeling stressed and worn out. Maybe she has trouble focussing. All of a sudden she comes in with an amphetamine prescription. A year later, she's a full blown dependent on a serious drug. She was actually just burned out and probably just needed a break from her kids and a vacation. Very common. There's no transparency, no public understanding of doctors who…

You're making a lot of assumptions here, "maybe", "probably".

"No medical history" doesn't mean shit either, it just means you have not yet seeked help. Most don't see mental health professionals at the first sign of issues, often they only do when things are starting to crumble. And that's my experience in a country with socialized healthcare, now translate that to the US where therapy is unaffordable to a large number of people.

Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#32

Post by blagie »

natly wrote: post #30
glerk wrote: post #19

Benzos are pretty terrible drugs in general. The physical addiction potential and withdrawal people are going through are enough to dissuade me from touching them. For folks dealing with anxiety, I recommend trying propranolol. It is not as powerful, but sometimes it is enough to achieve the desired effect and the side effects are way less severe.

I recommend working out, it helped me a ton with anxiety. It basically cured it (I don't work out much anymore but a short intense few months of hard workouts seems to have almost removed it from my system years afterwards).

There are sources of anxiety without clear solutions. I have a stalker. There's low-level harassment continuously, but every few months, she does something crazy, and my life is completely disrupted. I have no idea what to do about it.

It's nearing a decade....

Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#33

Post by twstdzppr »

trevorishere wrote: post #10
jmcgough wrote: post #3

Daily use of benzos is extremely bad in general - the physical addiction is not pleasant to withdraw from, and it significantly increases the risk of dementia in old age.

> dementia in old age. Spoke to a psychiatrist on this one. He was saying The Lancet longitudinal study was bunk and that Xanax use was not one of concern. I'm not saying he's correct, but he literally laughed at my objection to Xanax, including it's now very long history of use with an average dose of 6mg/day.

Xanax use is cause for concern in general. Acutely it is safe, but chronic administration is definitively not, and not something to laugh about or take lightly.

Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#34

Post by foolfoolz »

i think mental health medication has been borderline fraudulent for over 50 years. the drugs rarely beat placebos. when they work the methodologies of study are rarely replicated. this is just hanging some giant exit sign in front of desperate people saying we can get out out of this mess all the while knowing it’s a gamble. a gamble you’re paying with your health and someone else is winning by taking the money.

the “mental health movement” ignores this and is mostly lip service. clean your room. take a walk.

no one really cares about you but you and learning how to care for yourself is so hard. i hope we can train people in proper self care so we don’t need to prescribe their life away

Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#35

Post by wit22145 »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #6

The reality is many drugs have long term effects, we just can't see them yet. But if you are close to someone who is a user, over the long run you will notice differences. Sometimes its just that they don't have the same spark. Regardless, 100 years down the line we will look back in horror at the state of pharmaceutical drugs. All it takes is going to a doctor, saying you have anxiety, and the doctor pops out a scri…

> His "medical degree" and insurance demands that he "treats" his patient.

Completely lost me here. Why does the doctor have air quotes around their medical degree? And what’s wrong with treating disease? Or are you saying insurance requires unnecessary prescriptions? Because that’s definitely not the case, insurance would prefer no prescriptions financially at least and the doc is paid the same either way. Overall I think you just have an axe to grind against medicine for some reason. It’s not a perfect system but I don’t think you really know what you’re talking about and are concerned with the wrong things.

Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#36

Post by randomopining »

Was just in Mexico and took them 3-4 days in a row (0.5mg - 2mg) to sleep after drinking or the next morning. Slept amazing those few nights. Felt terrible 2 days after the last one, and even now close to a week later I don’t even feel that good. Pretty sure they are terrible for you.

Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#37

Post by natly »

blagie wrote: post #32
natly wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend working out, it helped me a ton with anxiety. It basically cured it (I don't work out much anymore but a short intense few months of hard workouts seems to have almost removed it from my system years afterwards).

There are sources of anxiety without clear solutions. I have a stalker. There's low-level harassment continuously, but every few months, she does something crazy, and my life is completely disrupted. I have no idea what to do about it. It's nearing a decade....

Sounds awful. My cause was definitely more caused by developmental period weird wiring, so definitely different. Hope you find some way to resolve it one day somehow.

Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#38

Post by kayodelycaon »

glerk wrote: post #19

Benzos are pretty terrible drugs in general. The physical addiction potential and withdrawal people are going through are enough to dissuade me from touching them. For folks dealing with anxiety, I recommend trying propranolol. It is not as powerful, but sometimes it is enough to achieve the desired effect and the side effects are way less severe.

Just a warning to anyone who has asthma, propranolol is a older beta blocker from the 1960s and has made asthma worse in various trials.

My doctor and psychiatrist recommended I use other classes of medications.

Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#39

Post by sascha_sl »

anonymoushn wrote: post #27
cstejerean wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how does he know they are healthy?

maybe my pharmacist can tell that I don't need methylphenidate because I have all my documents in order while I'm already on methylphenidate :)

"You can't have ADHD, if you had ADHD, you could not have driven here for an hour" -- real thing that happened to someone I know.

Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice

#40

Post by Commodore63 »

Jordan Peterson had a horrible time with these drugs and resorted to extreme measures to get off them (eight days in an induced coma!) Even today he might still be on them - he is pretty cagey about his present pharma situation when asked about it on podcasts.

https://nationalpost.com/health/jordan-peterson-benzodiazepi...

Horrible drug.

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