Posted by Elizabeth on April 7, 2002, at 23:06:34
In reply to Re: Benzo Preferences anyone?? » colin wallace, posted by Ritch on April 5, 2002, at 13:54:02
Ativan is the preferred benzo for people with liver disease. To the best of my knowledge, people with healthy livers don't need to be concerned. Benzos are pretty safe, in the long term as well as the short term.
Some people do find that Ativan causes more amnesia than most other benzos do (I personally never had a problem with it). Interestingly, Ativan and Halcion both have an extra chlorine atom in the same place. This might just be a coincidence, but Halcion is another benzo known for causing memory problems.
Sometimes you'll hear of somebody saying that benzos made them depressed. I'm not convinced that this is all that common; but anyway, Xanax is probably the best benzo to take if you have a history of getting depressed on benzos.
Klonopin is nice and long-acting, which makes it more convenient than most benzos. Valium isn't very long-acting for the reasons I mentioned, even though it's metabolized into nordiazepam, which is very long-lived.
For panic disorder and generalized social phobia, the high-potency benzos are preferred: Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan. I'm not sure if they're superior in other conditions.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:101944
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020402/msgs/102331.html