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> I tell everyone to never take benzos for any reasons You can't generalise your experience. Everybody is different and that's the doctor's job to assess wheth

> I tell everyone to never take benzos for any reasons You can't generalise your experience. Everybody is different and that's the doctor's job to assess whether the benefits outweigh the cost, considering the patient and their problems. Personally, I've been taking benzos very occasionally for 20 years (never more than a few days at a time) and they helped me overcome difficult times. Never had the slightest addiction or side effects. > Treat the cause, not the symptoms. Easier said than done

sva_ 4y ago
I have friend who was at nursing school, and she'd get them prescribed for the few occasions where she had to do a presentation, as she would get extremely nervous. She never took them after. Maybe she could've addressed the issue differently, but it worked for her, and she never got hooked. But milage varies, and so on. She also told me that at the hospital, benzos are readily available and they kinda hand then out like candy to manage patients (there doesn't seem to be any rigorous bookkeeping about them). I also tried a few many years ago, but they didn't really do anything for me. I think they only work if you got anxiety or something, so some underlying issue which -if chronic- is probably not a good fit. Never had any cravings since.
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  I’ve reacted differently to different benzos. One did nothing. Another triggered one hell of a mood swing (I’m bipolar). Finally settled on Klonopin, which has a long half-life. It seems to be less.. harsh? Psychoactive medications are fun…
  - sva_ 4y ago
    I really only ever tried the ones with a short halflife personally. Now that I think of it, a benzo actually did help me once, when I got my wisdom teeth removed. Made me a bit more calm about it. But it was fairly tolerable overall anyways.
- nordiazepam 4y ago
  > I think they only work if you got anxiety or something Probably something to that. I didn't feel much at the prescribed dose. Being curious and foolish, I took 3x. Did feel that. Socially effusive. Good sleep. There was a physical aspect. A warm glow, muscles that felt relaxed rather than stiff. Like waking up in warm sun after a particularly good night's sleep. People without anxiety, who aren't literally and metaphorically tense, probably get far less of that. But that's what it does for a really anxious person like me, especially with a bit too much. So of course I did it again the next day. You quickly come to long for, or believe that you're just better off, in that state all the time. But there is tolerance. It stops working like that at the same dose after a few days in my experience. So, take more. I was in big trouble within a month. That's the psychological addiction in my experience, the strong desire or preference for being in that state, emotionally. I couldn't stop. No physical consequences but intolerable withdrawal mostly of rebound anxiety and insomnia. I eventually got off them with a very long taper. ~5 months with the dose adjusted weekly. No significant physical withdrawal. At the right dose of a long-lasting benzodiazepine, I felt like before I had started taking them, more or less. I did have to learn to deal with the psychological need to be more disinhibited than normal. If I could do that, and not escalate doses, getting off would be possible. It was, and I haven't taken any since the last dose of the taper. I think about that state and sometimes I do long for aspects of it, but they're not really cravings anymore. Only get those for nicotine.
  - jnovek 4y ago
    Were you receiving any other kind of therapy for your anxiety during this time? I tend to see it a bit like “medication stabilizes; therapy heals”. I tend to see the opioid epidemic (which is comparable to the current benzo problem) as a systemic failure. You were handed a loaded gun and no one taught you how to use it. Our medical system is designed to be transactional, but the experience of a chronic condition is a narrative.
- kevinmchugh 4y ago
  I've been told that benzos are a good option for someone anxious about flying. They make the flight tolerable and help the person feel comfortable flying in the future. They may only need to learn that there's nothing to fear in flying, and benzos can help them learn that. I trust the person who told me that, but have heard a lot of benzo horror stories. (I'm not afraid of flying)
  - dymax78 4y ago
    Unfortunately, I’m one of those individuals illogically terrified of flying. A small dose of a benzo (in my case, Ativan), makes the flight bearable.
pirate787 4y ago
My family was addicted to benzos by a quack doctor who hands them out like candy. He has many seniors on it long term for "anxiety" and though seniors are at particular risk and are not supposed to use more than 6 months.
- r3trohack3r 4y ago
  I got to see this side of American medicine while in high school. My great aunt unofficially overdosed on a cocktail of drugs prescribed by a group of loosely coordinating doctors. When she passed, her cocktail included 12 prescriptions. One of her doctors had prescribed her medication to lower her blood pressure while another had her on medication to raise it.
  - pkaye 4y ago
    Did she go to different pharmacies? I'd think within a pharmacy system the system would flag drugs that contradict each other.
    - tsimionescu 4y ago
      Especially for someone taking what was clearly a complex treatment, perhaps it was assumed that, say, the drug that increases BP was given for some other reason, and then the drug to decrease BP was given specifically to counteract the effect of the first drug. Of course, it seems that in this case that assumption (if indeed that happened) was tragically wrong, and instead the cocktail was a product of doctors disinterested in communication. But such complex treatments can be intentionally prescribed.
  - kayodelycaon 4y ago
    Ouch. People are really bad at handling their own medical care. I’m legitimately on 8 different medications and 3 supplements (not including vitamins), per doctor’s instructions. There is no way I’m going to any appointment (including my dentist) without a printed list of everything, including the dosages, instructions, and reason for being on it. Edit: I apologize for the poor phrasing. It comes off being flippant. The reality is the American system is often broken, and it’s up to the patient to manage their own care. And for many reasons, people don’t or can’t. What I was trying to say is, I have to do this and be diligent about it because no one else will. :(
ada1981 4y ago
I think literally everything from learning to play tic tac toe to quantum computing is easier said than done… It’s harder to clear trauma, teach emotional regulation and to build a life that is healthy, yes. And, it’s a path worth walking down.
mikepurvis 4y ago
This whole discussion is making me feel better than ever for choosing cannabis edibles (legal in Canada) to address stress-induced insomnia and other sleep issues for which the root cause was not something I was in a position to immediately address. I take it a few times a week as needed, small doses (2-5mg) and I feel that I am in control of it and could go off any time.
- ta988 4y ago
  The thing with most addictions is that as long as you are taking a substance and don't try to stop you feel that you are in control. As long as you have not tried to stop you will never know
  - mikepurvis 4y ago
    Fair, fair. I think the main thing is that I'm not taking it in response to a craving, but rather in recognition that my mental state in the early evening is fragile and I'm going to be more susceptible to an anxiety attack when trying to sleep. I'm also well aware of the root causes of my mental state, so if it ever became bad enough that I did feel like I was losing control (upping the dose, taking during the day, etc), then I would treat that as a sign that it was time to start thinking more seriously about exiting the situation that is the main root cause. I think it also helps that edibles take 60-90 mins to kick in, vs smoking which is pretty immediate gratification.
    - ta988 4y ago
      As long as you have a steady supply you don't really have cravings either.
    - nicoburns 4y ago
      > if it ever became bad enough that I did feel like I was losing control (upping the dose, taking during the day, etc), then I would treat that as a sign that it was time to start thinking more seriously about exiting the situation that is the main root cause. I would argue that taking a drug to cover over something like anxiety is exactly the sort of circumstance that usually ends up with people being addicted/dependant. If I were you, I'd start addressing those root causes ASAP.
o10449366 4y ago
Yeah, I've been diagnosed with chronic insomnia and benzos are the only thing that can reliably put me to sleep if I desperately need them. I reserve them for emergency situations, but just knowing I have them as an option is comforting.
outoftheabyss 4y ago
Agreed, I have pretty bad social anxiety with hypervigilance. Taking on average 3 5mg (occasionally a 10mg dose) tablets a week when needed for presentations or meetings with more weight allows me to keep my job. Even such a small dose I feel restores a sense of normality that I haven't experienced in over 10 years without them, I'm able to rationalise what I want to say, conversation flows, I feel in control. With all that said, I've been doing this for a while and have never come close to addiction and no noticeable side effects. I continue to work on the underlying causes but without them I would be much worse off.
- cj 4y ago
  For performance anxiety, try asking a doctor for propranolol. Propranolol blocks the physical symptoms of anxiety. It stops your hear rate and blood pressure from rising. It stops those uncomfortable adrenaline rushes. It stops stress-induced trembling / shaking. It's completely safe, any doctor will happily prescribe it, it's not addicting, and unlike benzos, it doesn't affect your cognition.
  - AlecSchueler 4y ago
    How can it be "completely safe" if it's affecting your heart rate and blood pressure? Those are pretty basic systems to tamper with and altering them in ways contrary to what signals your brain is sending is inherently going against the normal functioning of your body.
    - ipaddr 4y ago
      Not sure how "Propranolol may cause heart failure in some patients" is considered safe.
      - dymax78 4y ago
        And I’m not sure why propranolol would be continue to be prescribed, as it as been for 50+ years, for acute heart attacks if there was a substantial risk in the patients health deteriorating. It’s one of the oldest beta blockers in use.
jnovek 4y ago
Same here. Occasional clonazepam use for panic attacks which are secondary to post-traumatic stress disorder. Never even the tiniest sign of dependence. Sometimes I go months between uses. I am also a chronic pain patient and I worry that benzos are going to get the opioid treatment. There was a period in the mid to late 2010s where patients who depended on opioids for any sort of quality of life were taken off of their medication without any sort of alternative. It’s something that people love to gloss over when they talk about the opioid crisis, but if you knew someone personally who went through that, you know that we collectively subjected those people to torture.
- coconut08 4y ago
  long term constant exposure to opioids will literally begin cause the pain they purport to solve. If you give a perfectly healthy person with no pain at all opioids for long enough they will be indistinguishable from a person who has an actual chronic pain issue. people should only ever take opioids VERY TEMPORARILY to get through surgeries or other such things. Opioids are not for long term pain management. Same thing with benzos and anxiety.
  - ridgeguy 4y ago
    Not correct, at least for some opioids. Nearly all opioids present the hazard of dose escalation over time to maintain their efficacy. Hence the dose escalation commonly seen with morphine, oxycontin, etc. Most opioids, in addition to interacting with mu-opioid receptors (the mechanism of pain relief), also activate NMDA receptors, which enhance pain sensitivity. So for most opioids, there's an adverse dynamic in which analgesic activity competes with nociceptive activity, leading to dose escalation. Methadone is one of two opioids that don't activate the NMDA receptor system. (The other is dextromethorphan, the OTC cough suppressant.) Methadone has been used very successfully to treat chronic pain, and does not exhibit dose escalation issues. Methadone has slow kinetics and does depress respiration, so when putting patients on it, dosages should be titrated slowly to avoid hazardous or fatal events. This is easily managed in ordinary clinical practice. A close family member has been treated with methadone for chronic refractory migraines for >20 years. She transitioned to methadone from morphine SR after experiencing the classic need for increased dose. With methadone, she's had no dose escalation, no impairment due to psychotropic effects...it's simply given her a life to live.
ipaddr 4y ago
Doctor's job is to quickly find a solution in the 10 minute appointment that insurance will cover optimizing for higher pay. A doctor runs a business. If you have been taking benzos for 20 years you might have an addiction. Parent poster was talking about cravings a year later.
- NoSorryCannot 4y ago
  Most doctors don't run a business.
  - bogomipz 4y ago
    Private practices in the US have been declining for decades. Most Doctors today are employed by a hospital or other provider network. This trend has only accelerated since the pandemic as well. As a result of this Doctors have had no choice but to run their practices as a business. This is why they now require you to have a credit card on file, why there's cancellation fees, and why you don't actually see the Doctor until almost an hour after your appointment. They are simply triple and quadruple-booked. They can not choose their volume. This trend has been well-documented. See: https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-analysis-shows-most-physicians-work-outside-private-practice https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-ana... https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/nearly-70-us-physicians-are-employed-hospitals-or-corporate-entities https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/nearly-70-us-phys... https://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/news/20210527/more-and-more-doctors-abandoning-private-practice https://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/news/20210527/more-an...
headsoup 4y ago
> easier said than done Yes but easier comes with a greater cost. This is widely true for broader society where we are all busy taking the convenient solution over the harder, proper way, because screw long-term. Sometimes, you have to realise that what pharma companies list as 'side effects' are not that at all, they're effects. Think about that.
- Broken_Hippo 4y ago
  Yes but easier comes with a greater cost. It isn't like we are choosing easier because we are lazy. The reason it is easier to say is because with a lot of diseases and afflictions, we simply do not know the cause or do not know how to treat it. And honestly, it is Much better to treat symptoms than to treat nothing at all. Heck, sometimes it might mean death - like in the case of diabetes - or more suffering and disability - like with MS. It isn't just because we are taking the convenient solution, in other words, and I find it disingenuous not to remember that we have a lot of holes in our medical knowledge and to realize that our imperfect knowledge leads to much of this. And redefining side effects isn't really helpful. Sure, the medicine causes them, but it isn't like any researcher or doctor is trying to make you have unwanted effects. They are there because we don't yet know how to do the treatment without unwanted effects, and we still do it because sometimes those are better than the disease. I don't think "big pharma" is innocent, mind you, but it doesn't help anyone to focus on conspiracy theories when you could be looking at things that actually happen and including other organizations that allow the abuse to continue (for profit medicine, for example).
markdown 4y ago
> that's the doctor's job to assess whether the benefits outweigh the cost, considering the patient and their problems. Have you been hiding under a rock? American doctors are completely corrupt and in the pockets of "big pharma". They've gotten millions of Americans addicted, and caused countless deaths and unimaginable human suffering.
bozhark 4y ago
> You can’t generalize your experience Would that not mean the same to your own?

sva_ 4y ago

I have friend who was at nursing school, and she'd get them prescribed for the few occasions where she had to do a presentation, as she would get extremely nervous. She never took them after. Maybe she could've addressed the issue differently, but it worked for her, and she never got hooked. But milage varies, and so on. She also told me that at the hospital, benzos are readily available and they kinda hand then out like candy to manage patients (there doesn't seem to be any rigorous bookkeeping about them). I also tried a few many years ago, but they didn't really do anything for me. I think they only work if you got anxiety or something, so some underlying issue which -if chronic- is probably not a good fit. Never had any cravings since.

kayodelycaon 4y ago
I’ve reacted differently to different benzos. One did nothing. Another triggered one hell of a mood swing (I’m bipolar). Finally settled on Klonopin, which has a long half-life. It seems to be less.. harsh? Psychoactive medications are fun…
- sva_ 4y ago
  I really only ever tried the ones with a short halflife personally. Now that I think of it, a benzo actually did help me once, when I got my wisdom teeth removed. Made me a bit more calm about it. But it was fairly tolerable overall anyways.
nordiazepam 4y ago
> I think they only work if you got anxiety or something Probably something to that. I didn't feel much at the prescribed dose. Being curious and foolish, I took 3x. Did feel that. Socially effusive. Good sleep. There was a physical aspect. A warm glow, muscles that felt relaxed rather than stiff. Like waking up in warm sun after a particularly good night's sleep. People without anxiety, who aren't literally and metaphorically tense, probably get far less of that. But that's what it does for a really anxious person like me, especially with a bit too much. So of course I did it again the next day. You quickly come to long for, or believe that you're just better off, in that state all the time. But there is tolerance. It stops working like that at the same dose after a few days in my experience. So, take more. I was in big trouble within a month. That's the psychological addiction in my experience, the strong desire or preference for being in that state, emotionally. I couldn't stop. No physical consequences but intolerable withdrawal mostly of rebound anxiety and insomnia. I eventually got off them with a very long taper. ~5 months with the dose adjusted weekly. No significant physical withdrawal. At the right dose of a long-lasting benzodiazepine, I felt like before I had started taking them, more or less. I did have to learn to deal with the psychological need to be more disinhibited than normal. If I could do that, and not escalate doses, getting off would be possible. It was, and I haven't taken any since the last dose of the taper. I think about that state and sometimes I do long for aspects of it, but they're not really cravings anymore. Only get those for nicotine.
- jnovek 4y ago
  Were you receiving any other kind of therapy for your anxiety during this time? I tend to see it a bit like “medication stabilizes; therapy heals”. I tend to see the opioid epidemic (which is comparable to the current benzo problem) as a systemic failure. You were handed a loaded gun and no one taught you how to use it. Our medical system is designed to be transactional, but the experience of a chronic condition is a narrative.
kevinmchugh 4y ago
I've been told that benzos are a good option for someone anxious about flying. They make the flight tolerable and help the person feel comfortable flying in the future. They may only need to learn that there's nothing to fear in flying, and benzos can help them learn that. I trust the person who told me that, but have heard a lot of benzo horror stories. (I'm not afraid of flying)
- dymax78 4y ago
  Unfortunately, I’m one of those individuals illogically terrified of flying. A small dose of a benzo (in my case, Ativan), makes the flight bearable.

pirate787 4y ago

My family was addicted to benzos by a quack doctor who hands them out like candy. He has many seniors on it long term for "anxiety" and though seniors are at particular risk and are not supposed to use more than 6 months.

r3trohack3r 4y ago
I got to see this side of American medicine while in high school. My great aunt unofficially overdosed on a cocktail of drugs prescribed by a group of loosely coordinating doctors. When she passed, her cocktail included 12 prescriptions. One of her doctors had prescribed her medication to lower her blood pressure while another had her on medication to raise it.
- pkaye 4y ago
  Did she go to different pharmacies? I'd think within a pharmacy system the system would flag drugs that contradict each other.
  - tsimionescu 4y ago
    Especially for someone taking what was clearly a complex treatment, perhaps it was assumed that, say, the drug that increases BP was given for some other reason, and then the drug to decrease BP was given specifically to counteract the effect of the first drug. Of course, it seems that in this case that assumption (if indeed that happened) was tragically wrong, and instead the cocktail was a product of doctors disinterested in communication. But such complex treatments can be intentionally prescribed.
- kayodelycaon 4y ago
  Ouch. People are really bad at handling their own medical care. I’m legitimately on 8 different medications and 3 supplements (not including vitamins), per doctor’s instructions. There is no way I’m going to any appointment (including my dentist) without a printed list of everything, including the dosages, instructions, and reason for being on it. Edit: I apologize for the poor phrasing. It comes off being flippant. The reality is the American system is often broken, and it’s up to the patient to manage their own care. And for many reasons, people don’t or can’t. What I was trying to say is, I have to do this and be diligent about it because no one else will. :(

ada1981 4y ago

I think literally everything from learning to play tic tac toe to quantum computing is easier said than done… It’s harder to clear trauma, teach emotional regulation and to build a life that is healthy, yes. And, it’s a path worth walking down.

mikepurvis 4y ago

This whole discussion is making me feel better than ever for choosing cannabis edibles (legal in Canada) to address stress-induced insomnia and other sleep issues for which the root cause was not something I was in a position to immediately address. I take it a few times a week as needed, small doses (2-5mg) and I feel that I am in control of it and could go off any time.

ta988 4y ago
The thing with most addictions is that as long as you are taking a substance and don't try to stop you feel that you are in control. As long as you have not tried to stop you will never know
- mikepurvis 4y ago
  Fair, fair. I think the main thing is that I'm not taking it in response to a craving, but rather in recognition that my mental state in the early evening is fragile and I'm going to be more susceptible to an anxiety attack when trying to sleep. I'm also well aware of the root causes of my mental state, so if it ever became bad enough that I did feel like I was losing control (upping the dose, taking during the day, etc), then I would treat that as a sign that it was time to start thinking more seriously about exiting the situation that is the main root cause. I think it also helps that edibles take 60-90 mins to kick in, vs smoking which is pretty immediate gratification.
  - ta988 4y ago
    As long as you have a steady supply you don't really have cravings either.
  - nicoburns 4y ago
    > if it ever became bad enough that I did feel like I was losing control (upping the dose, taking during the day, etc), then I would treat that as a sign that it was time to start thinking more seriously about exiting the situation that is the main root cause. I would argue that taking a drug to cover over something like anxiety is exactly the sort of circumstance that usually ends up with people being addicted/dependant. If I were you, I'd start addressing those root causes ASAP.

o10449366 4y ago

Yeah, I've been diagnosed with chronic insomnia and benzos are the only thing that can reliably put me to sleep if I desperately need them. I reserve them for emergency situations, but just knowing I have them as an option is comforting.

outoftheabyss 4y ago

Agreed, I have pretty bad social anxiety with hypervigilance. Taking on average 3 5mg (occasionally a 10mg dose) tablets a week when needed for presentations or meetings with more weight allows me to keep my job. Even such a small dose I feel restores a sense of normality that I haven't experienced in over 10 years without them, I'm able to rationalise what I want to say, conversation flows, I feel in control. With all that said, I've been doing this for a while and have never come close to addiction and no noticeable side effects. I continue to work on the underlying causes but without them I would be much worse off.

cj 4y ago
For performance anxiety, try asking a doctor for propranolol. Propranolol blocks the physical symptoms of anxiety. It stops your hear rate and blood pressure from rising. It stops those uncomfortable adrenaline rushes. It stops stress-induced trembling / shaking. It's completely safe, any doctor will happily prescribe it, it's not addicting, and unlike benzos, it doesn't affect your cognition.
- AlecSchueler 4y ago
  How can it be "completely safe" if it's affecting your heart rate and blood pressure? Those are pretty basic systems to tamper with and altering them in ways contrary to what signals your brain is sending is inherently going against the normal functioning of your body.
  - ipaddr 4y ago
    Not sure how "Propranolol may cause heart failure in some patients" is considered safe.
    - dymax78 4y ago
      And I’m not sure why propranolol would be continue to be prescribed, as it as been for 50+ years, for acute heart attacks if there was a substantial risk in the patients health deteriorating. It’s one of the oldest beta blockers in use.

jnovek 4y ago

Same here. Occasional clonazepam use for panic attacks which are secondary to post-traumatic stress disorder. Never even the tiniest sign of dependence. Sometimes I go months between uses. I am also a chronic pain patient and I worry that benzos are going to get the opioid treatment. There was a period in the mid to late 2010s where patients who depended on opioids for any sort of quality of life were taken off of their medication without any sort of alternative. It’s something that people love to gloss over when they talk about the opioid crisis, but if you knew someone personally who went through that, you know that we collectively subjected those people to torture.

coconut08 4y ago
long term constant exposure to opioids will literally begin cause the pain they purport to solve. If you give a perfectly healthy person with no pain at all opioids for long enough they will be indistinguishable from a person who has an actual chronic pain issue. people should only ever take opioids VERY TEMPORARILY to get through surgeries or other such things. Opioids are not for long term pain management. Same thing with benzos and anxiety.
- ridgeguy 4y ago
  Not correct, at least for some opioids. Nearly all opioids present the hazard of dose escalation over time to maintain their efficacy. Hence the dose escalation commonly seen with morphine, oxycontin, etc. Most opioids, in addition to interacting with mu-opioid receptors (the mechanism of pain relief), also activate NMDA receptors, which enhance pain sensitivity. So for most opioids, there's an adverse dynamic in which analgesic activity competes with nociceptive activity, leading to dose escalation. Methadone is one of two opioids that don't activate the NMDA receptor system. (The other is dextromethorphan, the OTC cough suppressant.) Methadone has been used very successfully to treat chronic pain, and does not exhibit dose escalation issues. Methadone has slow kinetics and does depress respiration, so when putting patients on it, dosages should be titrated slowly to avoid hazardous or fatal events. This is easily managed in ordinary clinical practice. A close family member has been treated with methadone for chronic refractory migraines for >20 years. She transitioned to methadone from morphine SR after experiencing the classic need for increased dose. With methadone, she's had no dose escalation, no impairment due to psychotropic effects...it's simply given her a life to live.

ipaddr 4y ago

Doctor's job is to quickly find a solution in the 10 minute appointment that insurance will cover optimizing for higher pay. A doctor runs a business. If you have been taking benzos for 20 years you might have an addiction. Parent poster was talking about cravings a year later.

NoSorryCannot 4y ago
Most doctors don't run a business.
- bogomipz 4y ago
  Private practices in the US have been declining for decades. Most Doctors today are employed by a hospital or other provider network. This trend has only accelerated since the pandemic as well. As a result of this Doctors have had no choice but to run their practices as a business. This is why they now require you to have a credit card on file, why there's cancellation fees, and why you don't actually see the Doctor until almost an hour after your appointment. They are simply triple and quadruple-booked. They can not choose their volume. This trend has been well-documented. See: https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-analysis-shows-most-physicians-work-outside-private-practice https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/press-releases/ama-ana... https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/nearly-70-us-physicians-are-employed-hospitals-or-corporate-entities https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/nearly-70-us-phys... https://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/news/20210527/more-and-more-doctors-abandoning-private-practice https://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/news/20210527/more-an...

headsoup 4y ago

> easier said than done Yes but easier comes with a greater cost. This is widely true for broader society where we are all busy taking the convenient solution over the harder, proper way, because screw long-term. Sometimes, you have to realise that what pharma companies list as 'side effects' are not that at all, they're effects. Think about that.

Broken_Hippo 4y ago
Yes but easier comes with a greater cost. It isn't like we are choosing easier because we are lazy. The reason it is easier to say is because with a lot of diseases and afflictions, we simply do not know the cause or do not know how to treat it. And honestly, it is Much better to treat symptoms than to treat nothing at all. Heck, sometimes it might mean death - like in the case of diabetes - or more suffering and disability - like with MS. It isn't just because we are taking the convenient solution, in other words, and I find it disingenuous not to remember that we have a lot of holes in our medical knowledge and to realize that our imperfect knowledge leads to much of this. And redefining side effects isn't really helpful. Sure, the medicine causes them, but it isn't like any researcher or doctor is trying to make you have unwanted effects. They are there because we don't yet know how to do the treatment without unwanted effects, and we still do it because sometimes those are better than the disease. I don't think "big pharma" is innocent, mind you, but it doesn't help anyone to focus on conspiracy theories when you could be looking at things that actually happen and including other organizations that allow the abuse to continue (for profit medicine, for example).

markdown 4y ago

> that's the doctor's job to assess whether the benefits outweigh the cost, considering the patient and their problems. Have you been hiding under a rock? American doctors are completely corrupt and in the pockets of "big pharma". They've gotten millions of Americans addicted, and caused countless deaths and unimaginable human suffering.

bozhark 4y ago

> You can’t generalize your experience Would that not mean the same to your own?