Posted by Alan on November 25, 2002, at 18:10:15
In reply to Re: 5 Days on Lexepro = Efficacy side effects » Alan, posted by Squiggles on November 25, 2002, at 17:23:34
> Thanks for posting the URL - are you the pretty
> girl working on this ABOUT issue, or with her?
> Anyway, i find ABOUT very helpful on a practical
> level - i don't use it that much on account of
> my Linus set up which seems to block when i try
> to go there.
>
> The Benzo group represents more than one person -
> i think it is a substantial portion of the
> population. And as we have discussed before,
> the Canadian Pharmaceutical Association, as well
> as the Canadian Minister of Health, have declared
> benzos to be addicting and added a black box warning.
> The Minister has raised its "dangerous drug risk"
> level up a notch on account of these reports and
> activism from the Benzo group and Adverse Effect
> Reports.
>
> The question is not whether or not they are addicting
> i think, as can the addiction be managed by doctors
> so as to continue taking the drug without unbearable
> effects.
>
> For my part, i have no objections to addiction at
> all - but I DO have grave concerns about withdrawal;
> and i believe it was a miracle that i survived the
> Klonopin addiction.
>
> What can i say -- you are probably writing from
> a journalists' perspective and may have a more
> objective view. But i have read stories from
> the Support Coalition International group and the
> Benzo group and know people personally, who have
> been destroyed by some of these drugs, perphas
> inadvertently. And their tale is enough to move
> the coldest statitistician.
>
> Scientific knowledge is an intellectual
> power and weapon against disease, but
> its effect on people should be recognized
> with a human heart.
>
> Squiggles
=============================================The reasons for most problems with the understanding about the prescription of bzds are related to misprescribing and, most importantly, mismanagement. This is clearly pointed out in the World Health Organisation's report on "The Rational Use of Benzodazapines". There is no report that I know of that bzds are harmful to anywhere but to the smallest minority of patients that my doctor and I are aware of. Do you know of such a credible report?
Also, a doctor that doesn't even make the distinction between "addiction" and sustained medical dependency does not understand the fundamentals of addiction and is putting a patient at risk by mistakenly putting them into "detox" centers when it is not necessary...especially in the cases of chronic anxiety where a medicine is working.
The Canadian authorities lack of distinction based on the seeming political clout of an overtly political organisation such as benzo.org (if what is said about the extent of their influence is true, but I doubt it) seems to be simply stating the obvious - but where on the pill bottle is there room for the distinction between addiction and sustained medical dependence going to go? That's the pervue of the prescribing doctor and consumer groups and advocates of consumer power and knowledge to keep the big pharm co's from using the word "addiction" as a pejorative to then turn around and promote their new ad's as non-addictive or non-habit forming or some other such nonsense.
I agree that one person having a bad reaction to a drug is one too many.
I also am of the opinion that exaggerating risk taking away freedom of choice for the patient is equally if not more harmful - denying them the very medication that has a good chance of helping them without them even knowing about it. This is especially true in the case of anxiety disorders as I described in a post earlier where the dependence/withdrawal aspect of medical dependence on either bzds or AD's is a wash - and doubly so considering that stastistics don't apply in individual cases.
Considering all of this, it makes the benzo.org group outlook seem even more out of perspective.
Alan
poster:Alan
thread:109458
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021122/msgs/129274.html