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
#2>Experiments conducted by the researchers revealed that synapse loss in mice that were given a daily sleep-inducing dosage of the benzodiazepine diazepam for several weeks resulted in cognitive deficits.
I know it's only in mice, but it's pretty scary if it also has this effect in humans even when only taking it for a few weeks. Based on the title, I was initially kind of expecting something like daily use for years.
Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice
#3Daily 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.
Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice
#4[deleted]
Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice
#5Benzos disrupt REM sleep. Eventually you will go mad.
Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice
#6The 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 script. His "medical degree" and insurance demands that he "treats" his patient.
Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice
#7The 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…
The reality is that many doctors these days will not prescribe large amounts of benzos, certainly not just willy nilly.
Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice
#8Much of the brain is about error correction of information transfer, bc two neurons have a typical *less than ten percent* chance of a message from A reaching B.
So if I were to put on my speculator’s hat for a second, having something that destroys neural connections at a local scale would probably be compensated with increased volume of noisy communication at a global scale.
And having heard ex-benzo addicts describe the withdrawal as like having your brain lit on fire, well, that tracks..
Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice
#9The 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…
The reality is that many doctors these days will not prescribe large amounts of benzos, certainly not just willy nilly.
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.
Re: Long-term benzodiazepine use causes synapse loss and cognitive deficits in mice
#10Daily 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.