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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

#41
Is it reasonable to assume that the same thing applies to the Z-drugs too, specifically Zolpidem?

I have a family member that I'm worried about, that has taken Zolpidem for several years straight (apart from minor breaks in between prescription refills because of overconsumption during the previous refill...).

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

#42

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.

Benzo after drinking? Jesus...

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

#44

I was prescribed benzos because of sleeping issues, but I was also taking phenibut at the same time. After about 3 weeks of using large doses of the benzos every night, I stopped taking them, but a year later I still feel pangs of withdrawal sometimes when I get stressed. It took me another 4 months to get off the phenibut and a month or so after that before my sleep returned to normal. There were months where I mayb…

Doctors prescribe benzos for sleep issues and tell you they are safe? Do you live in the US?

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

#45
The world of medecine is degenerate. Sustainable, non addictive and non neurotoxic anxiolytics exists: the #1 being opipramol the sigmaergic. emoxypine (which btw cure hangover) and guanfacine are worth mentioning. Maybe beta blockers to some extent. NMDA antagonists such as memantine have side effects but are not neurotoxic to my knowledge and there are milder ones such as mg-lthreonate. afobazole is interesting but its pharmacology is too weird to be sure. Etifoxine is revolutionnary, it double axon length growth rate so ironically a great cure to benzo neurodamage. its acts on the mitochondria benzodiazepine receptor. It's unclear to me wether it is subject to a tolerance effect and if so if it is lower. Also etifoxine can interact badly with other drugs on the liver. Note that there exists ultra-atypical mechanisms, such as inositol megadose or tofisopam but they are not firstline.

So yeah, basically opipramol and guanfacine should be what humans take as first line. Glycine is a nice obvious augmentation (kinda absurd that people forget about the second inhibitor neurotransmitter in the brain, especially since the effect feel nice and doesn't really lead to tolerance). if you have benzo neurodamage, take magnesium lthreonate which is a very potent synaptotrophic.

also fun fact: the benzo cartel was so strong it was the most prescribed drug in the world, all classes, in the 70s

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

#47

The world of medecine is degenerate. Sustainable, non addictive and non neurotoxic anxiolytics exists: the #1 being opipramol the sigmaergic. emoxypine (which btw cure hangover) and guanfacine are worth mentioning. Maybe beta blockers to some extent. NMDA antagonists such as memantine have side effects but are not neurotoxic to my knowledge and there are milder ones such as mg-lthreonate. afobazole is interesting but…

Emoxypine doesn't seem to have any English studies, or has incredibly few. So it may or may not be useful, but I sure as heck can't tell.

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

#48

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…

>"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." The loss of a spark can happen regardless of drug use. Work in an unsupportive environment over a long period of time, a breakup, or the failure to achieve a long-sought goal can cause a person to change over time. In addition, the underlying condition that the medic…

As someone who has had a long time relationship with Xanax, it quite literally saved my life. I was prescribed it for chronic nausea, and was 40lbs below my ideal weight.

I've never been tempted to take any more than my prescribed dose, and so it's been a "healthy" relationship, but I'm working to discontinue my prescription for reasons other than this article.

Not to be one of those "well, I use it and I'm fine and aren't tempted", on the contrary - I understand fully why people would feel the tugs of addiction.

It's hard because I know I have an uphill battle to go. I use therapy and have seen benefits from psychedelics and medicinal cannabis, but it's literally a "pick your poison" battle.

But also, it's hard to have a spark when you're not able to live a normal life without assistance.

But in hindsight, I can see that this route has had it's costs and I'm excited to see who I am independent of it.

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

#49

I was prescribed benzos because of sleeping issues, but I was also taking phenibut at the same time. After about 3 weeks of using large doses of the benzos every night, I stopped taking them, but a year later I still feel pangs of withdrawal sometimes when I get stressed. It took me another 4 months to get off the phenibut and a month or so after that before my sleep returned to normal. There were months where I mayb…

there can be legitimate uses for acute exceptional benzo use for e.g. panic attacks but yeah for anxiety or sleep they are a slippery slope that ruin lives. As I said in my other comment, there exist effective, saner solutions.

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

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not just talking about benzos, but also anti psychotics, amphetamines, statins, and basically the whole gamut. My brother is a pharmacist, and is constantly shocked by the prescriptions that healthy people bring in to get filled. The medical field has been unjustly given too much prestige.

antipsychotics are horrifying. do therapeutic doses of stimulants cause problems other than heart disease over the long term?

No, long-term stimulant use is totally A-ok! /s
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