…cripts per patient in one year. More than 1 in 10 Oregonians were taking a benzodiazepine last year. Moreover, 45 percent of those taking benzodiazepines refilled their prescription for at least three consecutive months. “Oftentimes, these are prescribed first when there are other alternatives,” said Todd Beran, program coordinator for the monitoring program. “Maybe 1 percent of the population is receiving it on a monthly basis over time, but 1 pe…
Read More ➔Search Results for: benzodiazepine
‘Benzodiazepine Guidance’ by djmac
July 29, 2014 by
…r prolonged use, which will resolve within 6 months or a year of stopping Benzodiazepines may also aggravate depression and can precipitate suicidal tendencies in depressed patients Use of benzodiazepine and Z-drug hypnotics is associated with an increased risk of many physical health conditions and death Fits are rare. The guidance is solid, based on evidence or experience and is certainly the best and most robust piece of work I have seen on th…
Read More ➔Marta’s Story: Recovering from benzodiazepine addiction
June 11, 2014 by
…search on diazepam. I did not know that my meds belonged to a group called benzodiazepines… when I typed benzodiazepine that’s when I accidentally found Benzo Island. It was a support forum and I could not believe how my story was so common. People like me with the same complaints! It was sad but also a huge RELIEF to me. I could hardly see with the floods of tears in my eyes… I wasn’t going mad. It wasn’t all in my head. I managed to type a few w…
Read More ➔‘Prescribing Influences in Mental Health’ by Heather Ashton
June 14, 2014 by
…e effects of prescription drugs on the mind. Professor Ashton’s manual for benzodiazepine withdrawal is available worldwide at no financial benefit for the author but of great emotional and personal benefit to many thousands of people who have accessed this detailed manual. The manual is available on benzo.org.uk and many other web sites. Professor Ashton ran a benzodiazepine withdrawal clinic in Newcastle for several years and helped hundreds of…
Read More ➔‘Why Don’t They Know? A Letter to My Doctor’ by Lisa D.
October 2, 2014 by
…ated, depressed, insecure, angry, confused shell of a person. These drugs, benzodiazepines especially in my case, were soul-sucking, and I believe this happens to most people in time, causing a descent into the world of psychiatric diagnosis and drugging that many never escape from. After our relationship ended, I was hospitalized twice at Rogers, completed two extensive partial programs there, and was given more diagnoses and even more drugs. I w…
Read More ➔What Works in Treatment?: Sapphire’s Story, Part 2
November 6, 2013 by
…therefore a bit easier to taper from. Moreover, as they are a long-acting benzodiazepine, they are supposedly easier to come off than the shorter-acting benzos, although they certainly didn’t feel ‘easy’. I started on 40mg/day of diazepam and reduced by 1mg a week. The detox from benzos was one of the worst things I have ever been through. I continued being reduced by 1mg a week until I got to 2mg a day of diazepam, and then my GP stopped the scr…
Read More ➔‘A Caregiver’s Story – And How I Became an Addict’ by Madeline Goldstein
January 9, 2014 by
…Caregiving and Minnetonka, MN: Evercare. (2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine_dependence Madeline Goldstein has been a dance and fitness instructor for over 10 years. She is also a freelance writer and community activist. She presently resides in Boulder, CO and is in the process of forming a psych med support group in her area.’ I am amazed and touched by the courage that Madeline has shown during her experiences. Her Story will help…
Read More ➔‘It Gets Better!’ by Bertel Rüdinger
July 7, 2014 by
…writing the letter. That process is bogged down in a neuroleptic mist and benzodiazepine-induced haze but somehow I had both the strength and the insight to write this letter to my future self. I remember seeing the envelope when I moved to a supported living facility in 2006 and again in 2009 when I moved into my own apartment and lastly when I bought my current home and moved there in 2011. In 2006 and in 2009 I was still heavily medicated so I…
Read More ➔‘Recovery and Renewal’ by Baylissa Frederick
January 12, 2015 by
…don ‘This book gives warm-hearted understanding and practical advice about benzodiazepine and antidepressant dependence and withdrawal. It is based on personal experience, since the author has herself been through withdrawal. She is an experienced counsellor who has already helped many others through her support group, Recovery Road; this new edition will extend her proved success and will be a help to many others.‘ Professor C Heather Ashton, DM,…
Read More ➔Factors That Facilitate Addiction Recovery
March 14, 2023 by
…ample, abrupt withdrawal from long-term use of Valium (diazepam) and other benzodiazepines, drugs which are prescribed to alleviate anxiety and insomnia, can lead to pronounced anxiety, insomnia, agitation, intrusive thoughts and panic attacks. In addition, people withdrawing from benzodiazepines can experience physical withdrawal signs, such as burning sensations, feeling of electric shocks, and full-blown seizures. The duration and strength of t…
Read More ➔What Works in Treatment: Sapphire’s Story, Part 2
September 29, 2021 by
…therefore a bit easier to taper from. Moreover, as they are a long-acting benzodiazepine, they are supposedly easier to come off than the shorter-acting benzos, although they certainly didn’t feel ‘easy’. I started on 40mg/day of diazepam and reduced by 1mg a week. The detox from benzos was one of the worst things I have ever been through. I continued being reduced by 1mg a week until I got to 2mg a day of diazepam, and then my GP stopped the scr…
Read More ➔My Journey: 3. Learning About Addiction Treatment – My WGCADA Experience, Part 2
March 6, 2023 by
…symptoms. Monitoring the latter is particularly important with alcohol and benzodiazepine dependence, since seizures that can occur during withdrawal from these substances can be life-threatening. Periods of abstinence; past treatment, nature of services and what happened. Lifestyle and social stability (e.g., accommodation; vocational and financial background; interests and hobbies); past psychological, physical, or sexual abuse. Family backgroun…
Read More ➔Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 1: Why a Critical Textbook of Psychiatry?—Peter Gøtzsche MD
February 11, 2023 by
…refore not surprising that a Cochrane review found that alprazolam, an old benzodiazepine, performed better than placebo for depression and similarly to tricyclic depression pills.23 Psychiatric drugs work more or less in the same way, either by suppressing emotional reactions so that people get numbed and pay less attention to significant disruptions in their lives, or by stimulating them.2,5,21 I shall therefore avoid the conventional nomenclatu…
Read More ➔Psychoactive Drugs and Their Effects
March 14, 2023 by
…whilst under the influence of amphetamine. Users may use depressant drugs (benzodiazepines, alcohol, opiates) to take ‘the edge off’ the effects of the stimulant. These depressant drugs can help them feel less anxious both during and after the amphetamine experience. Research suggests that users who abuse stimulants and depressants experience more psychological and physical problems than those who only abuse stimulants. In general, the behavioural…
Read More ➔My Journey: 16. A Major Life Change
February 29, 2024 by
…nymous (NA). We also started receiving stories from people recovering from benzodiazepine (e.g. Librium) addiction. These stories revealed how severe the physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms could be after withdrawal from long-term use of ‘benzos’. 2. Anxiety When I had arrived back in the UK after my latest trip to Australia in January, I immediately started to experience strong anxiety about returning to the toxic environment in which…
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