3 ms·

For benzos: There really is no drug alternative to benzos other than maybe SSRIs but most people perscribed them probably tried SSRIs in the past to no effect.

For benzos: There really is no drug alternative to benzos other than maybe SSRIs but most people perscribed them probably tried SSRIs in the past to no effect. Your other alternative is extensive psychotherapy, which your insurance is unlikely to cover. Perhaps in the future marijuana, MDMA or ketamine might prove useful. Benzos generally require you to taper off them, as I believe the withdrawal side-effects include seizures. You cannot safely "cold turkey" them.... so I hope they don't get all heavy-handed with them like they are for people who rely on opiods to treat chronic pain.

copperx 8y ago
The other long-term side effect of benzos is that they have shown to speed up dementia in older people. This may be motivation enough to quit for some people.
- icantdrive55 8y ago
  6% increase in older women. And I don't think there was more than one study?
tnecniv 8y ago
> There really is no drug alternative to benzos other than maybe SSRIs but most people perscribed them probably tried SSRIs in the past to no effect. Actually the two really serve different purposes. Benzos are commonly prescribed as a way to manage panic attacks or other acute occurrences of anxiety. SSRIs can help reduce your anxiety over time, but take a long time to build up in your system. Often people are prescribed both simultaneously.
- DanBC 8y ago
  > Benzos are commonly prescribed as a way to manage panic attacks or other acute occurrences of anxiety. That's how they're supposed to be prescribed, but in this threaad we see a few people who take a daily benzo and have done for several months.
jnovek 8y ago
For what it's worth, I have generalized anxiety and have used clonazepam as short-term treatment for panic attacks. I would love to see psychotherapy lose the taboo it carries because it's been the most effective treatment I've had (long term). As I mentioned in another response, I think marijuana is probably promising in this area as well but it will take a long time for us to derive treatment from it.
- taurath 8y ago
  Thats rather interesting, because the effect profile of clonazepam is that it takes longer to come into effect, and is longer lasting than, say, alprazolam, so I'd imagine it'd be worse for short-term treatment.
  - penagwin 8y ago
    It still starts it's effects within an hour, and this slower "start up" time gives it less of a "rush" that people like about xanax for example. The longer lasting part is IMO better too, I have bad anxiety (and potentially on the spectrum), and knowing that I can take .25 or .5 (I'm prescribed .5) and get through the stress of something new or any other activity without a full on panic attack helps me out a lot. Just as an example, the idea of going shopping at the mall with a new friend (I'm in college btw) is already making me anxious as I write this(And this is just an example!). Xanax seems like it'd be less helpful if I'm going to be hanging out for a while.
GyYZTfWBfQw 8y ago
SSRIs and benzodiazepines are not comparable at all, nor a substitute, nor it needs to be that way. Question your government instead, as it's the one doing the banning because some people abuse it, while most of us DO ACTUALLY NEED IT. People are suffering at the expense of other people, because the Government can dictate what you can put or not put in your own body. People abused and still abuse glue (inhalation), did we ban glue yet, for fuck's sake? Why do people think prohibition works? Just look at all the awful consequences of such prohibition. In France, making codeine prescription-only (from OTC) led people to the use of heroin (illegally), which is far worse than codeine. In the US, you have the War on Drugs, which clearly has failed, there is a fuckton of crimes associated with it which would cease to exist if they were legal, and then the usual argument "but all people would be junkies" clearly don't apply, because both Portugal and The Netherlands are doing just fine, and Portugal got better off by decriminalizing drug use, as in, less drug-related injuries, reduced drug use, and so on. The evidence is all there, but the FDA and anyone who supports it just wants to grab on that sweet money from the Big Pharma, hence why Kratom was both claimed to be an opioid, AND possessing no medical value (contradictory), and at the same time they are trying to extract its alkaloids to patent it and make a medicine out of it, which of course just brings them millions of USD in the end. Thank your socialist FDA, and thank your authoritarian government for all the unnecessary suffering of individuals, who are suffering for the actions of some. Or look at UK, I always laugh [not because I find the deaths of people humorous, but because whatever the Government is trying (?) to do, it backfires, ALWAYS] when I see articles of people being stabbed, I'm confused, I thought banning knives worked, apart from rising of such attacks and deaths. Interesting how that works, right? Prohibition has always failed. If you want to kill someone, you can just do it with a single punch to the throat (for which I have footage). What next? Are you going to ban showing fists? Which brings me back to City of Berkeley, where they banned rocks in a completely arbitrary zone, i.e. if you pick up a rock inside [or enter the zone with a rock in your hand] that arbitrary zone, you are committing a crime and you will be taken away somewhere more horrible, and in case you can't pay a fine, you might work it off, or sit in prison for a while, where you WILL change, and not for the better: for the worse. This is how our system works. Do you like it? If yes, you are part of the problem, and you lost the right to complain when it's your life, or your family's life on the line. Let's save us each other from double standards and affirmative actions. If no [you don't like how the Government operates, and so on], then DO SOMETHING! Regarding the FDA, I've already posted these links under this post, and I do not intend to spam, but I think education and giving people self-awareness is a good thing, so here it goes: 1) https://tomwoods.com/ep-1124-death-by-regulation-the-truth-about-the-fda/ https://tomwoods.com/ep-1124-death-by-regulation-the-truth-a... 2) https://tomwoods.com/ep-1196-a-market-alternative-to-the-fda/ https://tomwoods.com/ep-1196-a-market-alternative-to-the-fda... 3) https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/10/business/exposing-the-fda.html https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/10/business/exposing-the-fda...
kls 8y ago
Just a note, ethanol is an effective alternative to benzos, for a grown adult male 3-4 shots of 80 proof liquor in rapid succession will quell a panic attack in the same or shorter time than Xanax (which IIRC is the fastest acting benzo). Ethanol is actually a broader spectrum binder than benzos. I actually broke free of the "have to carry Xanax on me at all times" chain that anyone with panic disorder can relate to by constantly reminding myself while driving that there is a convenience store or bar around the next corner (being stuck in traffic or a crowd sets mine off). That being said, I am not advocating using alcohol over benzos it's health impact is far more devastating, but it is an effective tool for breaking the mental chain of having to carry benzos on you at all times, by knowing that you can end one with it if you need to. As the fear of having panic attacks in and of itself is just as debilitating.

copperx 8y ago

The other long-term side effect of benzos is that they have shown to speed up dementia in older people. This may be motivation enough to quit for some people.

icantdrive55 8y ago
6% increase in older women. And I don't think there was more than one study?

tnecniv 8y ago

> There really is no drug alternative to benzos other than maybe SSRIs but most people perscribed them probably tried SSRIs in the past to no effect. Actually the two really serve different purposes. Benzos are commonly prescribed as a way to manage panic attacks or other acute occurrences of anxiety. SSRIs can help reduce your anxiety over time, but take a long time to build up in your system. Often people are prescribed both simultaneously.

DanBC 8y ago
> Benzos are commonly prescribed as a way to manage panic attacks or other acute occurrences of anxiety. That's how they're supposed to be prescribed, but in this threaad we see a few people who take a daily benzo and have done for several months.

jnovek 8y ago

For what it's worth, I have generalized anxiety and have used clonazepam as short-term treatment for panic attacks. I would love to see psychotherapy lose the taboo it carries because it's been the most effective treatment I've had (long term). As I mentioned in another response, I think marijuana is probably promising in this area as well but it will take a long time for us to derive treatment from it.

taurath 8y ago
Thats rather interesting, because the effect profile of clonazepam is that it takes longer to come into effect, and is longer lasting than, say, alprazolam, so I'd imagine it'd be worse for short-term treatment.
- penagwin 8y ago
  It still starts it's effects within an hour, and this slower "start up" time gives it less of a "rush" that people like about xanax for example. The longer lasting part is IMO better too, I have bad anxiety (and potentially on the spectrum), and knowing that I can take .25 or .5 (I'm prescribed .5) and get through the stress of something new or any other activity without a full on panic attack helps me out a lot. Just as an example, the idea of going shopping at the mall with a new friend (I'm in college btw) is already making me anxious as I write this(And this is just an example!). Xanax seems like it'd be less helpful if I'm going to be hanging out for a while.

GyYZTfWBfQw 8y ago

SSRIs and benzodiazepines are not comparable at all, nor a substitute, nor it needs to be that way. Question your government instead, as it's the one doing the banning because some people abuse it, while most of us DO ACTUALLY NEED IT. People are suffering at the expense of other people, because the Government can dictate what you can put or not put in your own body. People abused and still abuse glue (inhalation), did we ban glue yet, for fuck's sake? Why do people think prohibition works? Just look at all the awful consequences of such prohibition. In France, making codeine prescription-only (from OTC) led people to the use of heroin (illegally), which is far worse than codeine. In the US, you have the War on Drugs, which clearly has failed, there is a fuckton of crimes associated with it which would cease to exist if they were legal, and then the usual argument "but all people would be junkies" clearly don't apply, because both Portugal and The Netherlands are doing just fine, and Portugal got better off by decriminalizing drug use, as in, less drug-related injuries, reduced drug use, and so on. The evidence is all there, but the FDA and anyone who supports it just wants to grab on that sweet money from the Big Pharma, hence why Kratom was both claimed to be an opioid, AND possessing no medical value (contradictory), and at the same time they are trying to extract its alkaloids to patent it and make a medicine out of it, which of course just brings them millions of USD in the end. Thank your socialist FDA, and thank your authoritarian government for all the unnecessary suffering of individuals, who are suffering for the actions of some. Or look at UK, I always laugh [not because I find the deaths of people humorous, but because whatever the Government is trying (?) to do, it backfires, ALWAYS] when I see articles of people being stabbed, I'm confused, I thought banning knives worked, apart from rising of such attacks and deaths. Interesting how that works, right? Prohibition has always failed. If you want to kill someone, you can just do it with a single punch to the throat (for which I have footage). What next? Are you going to ban showing fists? Which brings me back to City of Berkeley, where they banned rocks in a completely arbitrary zone, i.e. if you pick up a rock inside [or enter the zone with a rock in your hand] that arbitrary zone, you are committing a crime and you will be taken away somewhere more horrible, and in case you can't pay a fine, you might work it off, or sit in prison for a while, where you WILL change, and not for the better: for the worse. This is how our system works. Do you like it? If yes, you are part of the problem, and you lost the right to complain when it's your life, or your family's life on the line. Let's save us each other from double standards and affirmative actions. If no [you don't like how the Government operates, and so on], then DO SOMETHING! Regarding the FDA, I've already posted these links under this post, and I do not intend to spam, but I think education and giving people self-awareness is a good thing, so here it goes: 1) https://tomwoods.com/ep-1124-death-by-regulation-the-truth-about-the-fda/ https://tomwoods.com/ep-1124-death-by-regulation-the-truth-a... 2) https://tomwoods.com/ep-1196-a-market-alternative-to-the-fda/ https://tomwoods.com/ep-1196-a-market-alternative-to-the-fda... 3) https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/10/business/exposing-the-fda.html https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/10/business/exposing-the-fda...

kls 8y ago

Just a note, ethanol is an effective alternative to benzos, for a grown adult male 3-4 shots of 80 proof liquor in rapid succession will quell a panic attack in the same or shorter time than Xanax (which IIRC is the fastest acting benzo). Ethanol is actually a broader spectrum binder than benzos. I actually broke free of the "have to carry Xanax on me at all times" chain that anyone with panic disorder can relate to by constantly reminding myself while driving that there is a convenience store or bar around the next corner (being stuck in traffic or a crowd sets mine off). That being said, I am not advocating using alcohol over benzos it's health impact is far more devastating, but it is an effective tool for breaking the mental chain of having to carry benzos on you at all times, by knowing that you can end one with it if you need to. As the fear of having panic attacks in and of itself is just as debilitating.