Benzodiazepines in the media http://wp.me/p5nnb-7XQ

[GiaK]

I did a round-up on the blog of the latest media blitz on benzos...too many links so please just visit the blog if you're interested.

 

Benzodiazepines in the media http://wp.me/p5nnb-7XQ

[Skyler]

I did a round-up on the blog of the latest media blitz on benzos...too many links so please just visit the blog if you're interested.

 

Benzodiazepines in the media http://wp.me/p5nnb-7XQ

 

Good compilation Gia, thanks. Just one comment on the obvious. I am very tired of making the necessary qualification that Ashton is sometimes wayyy too fast. .. This because, in a knee jerk fashion interested MDs cite her work as if there have been no credible updates since. Her work was based on observation, not scientific fact, and two decades have passed during which ad hoc reports suggest modifications are badly needed.

 

In the meantime, for those seeking more information on how to taper benzo treatment slowly and with great care, the best I can do is recommend Dr. Heather Ashton’s detailed advice here, following her extensive study of the drugs over the years.

By contrast, suggested protocols for AD tapers are more recent and seem to be slowly shifting in the direction of Alto's research. More nuanced, more individualized and slowwer. (the 10% solution if you will..)

[GiaK]

where is that quote about Ashton from? My benzo page? I did that a long time ago...my blog states everywhere...that it is often necessary to go slower than the professionals suggest...Ashton is included in that.

[GiaK]

well...my benzo page says this about Ashton...

 

Benzo Withdrawal—Heather Ashton Manual Not the final word on benzo withdrawal as some would have you believe, but her tips work for a lot of people. Some people really need to go MORE SLOWLY….and valium backfires for some.

 

so I guess you got that from somewhere else...some of the stuff on that Benzo page is many years old, so I wasn't sure where the quote you cited was from

[Skyler]

well...my benzo page says this about Ashton...

 

Benzo Withdrawal—Heather Ashton Manual Not the final word on benzo withdrawal as some would have you believe, but her tips work for a lot of people. Some people really need to go MORE SLOWLY….and valium backfires for some.

 

so I guess you got that from somewhere else...some of the stuff on that Benzo page is many years old, so I wasn't sure where the quote you cited was from

 

The article I linked to is in your blog compendium. I thought those links were what we were discussing?.. I redid the post for almost an hour to try to make this clear, sorry I'm challenged with this sort of post.

[alexjuice]

I've always found it interesting that the US medical establishment considers the benzos vastly less harmful than others in the anglosphere. It's very unusual. From what I've read and even people I've known who had resources to seek out help it seems Australia, the UK, New Zealand and Canada frontrun the US on the issue.

 

I don't know why. The benzos are all generic, there's really no huge pharma movement to protect benzos... Is there?

 

I thought this doctor, writing for psychcentral, represented a "compassionate" version of the mainstream US assessment:

 

There is a split between what you will read on the internet* vs. what you will be told by most physicians. Horror stories about permanent structural damage to the GABA receptor complex have little or no basis in scientific research.

 

The common medical opinion is that benzodiazepines act at GABA receptors in a reversible manner, and that while withdrawal is very unpleasant for some people, there are no permanent symptoms caused by benzodiazepine intoxication or withdrawal. Benzodiazepines have been prescribed fairly commonly for 40 years or so, and the collective experience suggests that they are quite safe, beyond an increased risk of miscarriage in the first trimester of pregnancy and the well-known problems of tolerance, dose escalation and addiction. That said, I am no fan of routine use of benzodiazepines, as I point out here.

....

Back to your case… from a scientific, evidence-based perspective it is difficult to see how withdrawal would cause permanent damage to neurons, provided there were no seizures or lack of oxygen at some point in the process. While some people have long-term symptoms like you describe, the vast majority of people suffer insomnia for several weeks, but then return to normal as the receptors lose their tolerance. Why would your brain be different? Realize that dividing physical vs. mental causes for symptoms creates an unnatural dichotomy. Mental symptoms are caused by physical changes in the brain. If you are having depression and anxiety, there are neurons in your brain that are firing in a certain pattern to make you to feel that way.

 

EDIT: Cut out doc's explanation for unusual cases of benzo withdrawal and my comment.

[Becca]

"I've always found it interesting that the US medical establishment considers the benzos vastly less harmful than others in the anglosphere. It's very unusual. From what I've read and even people I've known who had resources to seek out help it seems Australia, the UK, New Zealand and Canada front run the US on the issue."

 

There's little doubt that big Pharma has more of a lock on US healthcare than in other countries such as in Europe. For ex., Canada and most of Europe has some form of universal healthcare. Obama’s deal with big pharma is what took single payer health care off the table in the U.S. before it was even debated. It's hard to overstate the influence of money in American policy. In Germany, alternative medicine such as TCM and herbal medicine have greater credibility than in the U.S. I think the film "Wag the Dog" is a really good portrait of how advertising and media impacts public perception. When I hear other countries' views of the U.S. I sense that other countries are able to be more objective about just how good at myth making the U.S. is. Hence, as a major player in America's money politics, big pharma controls the discussion of the safety of their drugs. A recent coup: Convincing doctors that opiates are free of unwanted side effects--with skyroceting RXs for these drugs. In 2000, retail pharmacies in the U.S. dispensed 174 million prescriptions for opioids; in 2009, 257 million prescriptions were dispensed, an increase of 48 percent. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ondcp/policy-and-research/rx_abuse_plan.pdf

[Skyler]

I've always found it interesting that the US medical establishment considers the benzos vastly less harmful than others in the anglosphere. It's very unusual. From what I've read and even people I've known who had resources to seek out help it seems Australia, the UK, New Zealand and Canada frontrun the US on the issue.

EDIT: Cut out doc's explanation for unusual cases of benzo withdrawal and my comment.

 

Alex, the only one of the other country in the anglosphere to allow adverts of prescription drugs is New Zealand. This alone would make for a public that is more open minded about medication perils. I've seen articles to the effect that the NIH is just as influenced as our system, but from what I've seen here and in other places, this is not the case.