Posted by Viridis on July 29, 2003, at 1:30:13
In reply to Re: Conversation on benzos and the pharm industry, posted by Psychquackery on July 28, 2003, at 21:27:08
It's a sad situation, and it took me years to find a pdoc who uses benzos as a first-line treatment for anxiety disorders. I took various SSRIs etc. and suffered a lot with numerous side effects, insomnia, increased anxiety, etc. Whenever I could get a short-term prescription for Xanax I'd improve tremendously, but various doctors insisted that use of benzos for more than two weeks would cause "addiction". Well, I've been taking Klonopin at the same dose for two years now and doing fine, and have all the Xanax I want, yet only take it occasionally.
I suppose there are some people who do abuse benzos (and my pdoc is very alert to signs of this) but for those with real anxiety disorders, these are the most reliable drugs with the longest history of safety. Sure, you can become medically dependent on them, but this is true (probably more so) for many ADs and other drugs. Dependence is not the same thing as addiction, and I wish more people (including doctors) could grasp this.
poster:Viridis
thread:246165
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030728/msgs/246383.html