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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

#51

Post by rhexs »

anonymoushn wrote: post #25
ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I sort of expect that the psychiatrist spends more time with the patient each month than the pharmacist.

It's sort of a sad indictment of our system, but odds are the pharmacist sees the patient far more than the psychiatrist does.

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

#52

Post by zosima »

This is quite interesting as for a long time there has been some evidence that Benzodiazepine usage can increase the risk of Alzheimer's diseases and it has often shown up as a risk factor when doing large-scale database studies. Summary here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6960222/

I won't jump to the conclusion that this is the mechanism, or be certain that the we are talking about causation rather than correlation, but evidence like this certainly tilts the weight towards causation.

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

#53

Post by SemanticStrengh »

rhexs wrote: post #47
SemanticStrengh wrote: post #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…

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.

here's 438 studies for you https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Emoxypine&sort=date the marketing name is mexidol. Emoxypine is a wonder drug for health, it is one of the most potent superoxide antioxidant and has an incredible range of body protective effetcs see e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoxypine#Mechanism_of_action

look at the pictures and admire the amount of saved brain volume https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221738761_Evaluatio...

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

#55

Post by cameronh90 »

SemanticStrengh wrote: post #49
shepardrtc wrote: post #29

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.

I have a small pack of prescribed diazepam in my backpack in case I have a panic attack. Haven't used any of them so far, but just having them there makes me a lot less anxious.

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

#56

Post by shepardrtc »

SemanticStrengh wrote: post #49
shepardrtc wrote: post #29

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.

My eventual treatment for my underlying anxiety was Lexapro. It's worked wonders. I can't say enough good things about it - as long as you stick with it. Old SSRI's are terrible, but newer ones work like they're supposed to. At least in my opinion.

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

#57

Post by rhexs »

SemanticStrengh wrote: post #53
rhexs wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

here's 438 studies for you https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Emoxypine&sort=date the marketing name is mexidol. Emoxypine is a wonder drug for health, it is one of the most potent superoxide antioxidant and has an incredible range of body protective effetcs see e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoxypine#Mechanism_of_action look at the pictures and admire the amount of saved brain volume https://www.researchgate…

Interesting. What's the quality of Russian medical research versus western? What journals are considered prestigious? (Not trying to troll -- I honestly have no idea and can't judge it accurately).

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

#58

Post by SemanticStrengh »

shepardrtc wrote: post #56
SemanticStrengh wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My eventual treatment for my underlying anxiety was Lexapro. It's worked wonders. I can't say enough good things about it - as long as you stick with it. Old SSRI's are terrible, but newer ones work like they're supposed to. At least in my opinion.

SSRIs do not work for everyone. It's good that they work great for you.

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

#59

Post by SemanticStrengh »

RGamma wrote: post #44
shepardrtc wrote: post #29

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?

is that a question? Benzos are not safe despite what many doctor believe. I'm in EU.

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

#60

Post by gzer0 »

sedeki wrote: post #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...).

As zolpidem is associated with drug tolerance and substance dependence, its prescription guidelines are only for severe insomnia and short periods of use at the lowest effective dose [1].

Zolpidem increases risk of depression, falls and bone fracture, poor driving, suppressed respiration, and has been associated with an increased risk of death [2].

I would recommend you to seek a second opinion from another medical professional about whether this family member should perhaps slowly taper off of the Zolpidem.

[1] https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta77/chapter/1-Guidance

[2] https://escholarship.org/content/qt08d9f3d5/qt08d9f3d5.pdf?t...

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