Posted by yxibow on January 17, 2006, at 17:08:44
In reply to BENZOS....Can you become Addicted or Dependant, posted by tepiaca on January 17, 2006, at 15:00:42
>
> Big Question
> I have read that Benzos are dangerous
> medicines. Everybody is talking that
> if you can , you have to avoid them.
> I also have read that there is a difference
> between becoming addicted and dependant to a
> drug. When you become addicted you need more
> dose of the same med to achieve the same relief
> And when you are dependant you obtain the same
> benefit all the time at the same dose but
> you just can stop taking the med.
>
> What happen on benzos ? Addiction or Dependance
>
> or what is so dangerous about them?
> why leave them , why not taking them forever
>
> Hope someone can clarify my mind a little bit
Everyone will have their own opinion, I think I posted this a little while ago. Benzodiazepines have been around for 46 years, so they are among the most safest of psychiatric medicines purely by the nature that they have been observed in patient populations.There is a difference between dependence, habituation, and addiction, and it isn't completely political although sometimes the words are used interchangeably.
Habituation and habit-forming describe the potential for a particular drug agent to become less useful over time. For some, benzodiazepines become less useful over time. On the other hand, there are people on low doses of them who've had the same prescription for like 30-40 years, no joke.
When they have become completely "less useful", yet there is difficulty coming off of them without a gradual taper, one may say the patient is dependent on them. But regardless what some may say, eventually over time if you want to discontinue them, you can withdraw and stop with a gradual discontinuation so there is no actual "withdrawal" effect.
Addiction is the use of a substance that has little or no medical useful value to a person. It doesn't mean they're bad people, they may have genetic disposition to things like alcoholism and the like. An example would be getting fake prescriptions for substances that would have legitimate value for someone else.
Finally, though benzodiazepines have what is known as a high "LD50", which is a fancy clinical term for how much you can stuff a rat or a monkey before 50% of them are dead (I know, not the most pleasant idea, but thats how drugs are required to be tested), too much of very potent benzodiazepines have the potential of respiratory depression. That is, they relax the muscles of the body so much, that they relax the lung as well. This is not a good situation, so doctors are careful to prescribe not to have this happen.
But in general for the millions of people who have anything from minor phobias to full blown panic attacks, medications like Klonopin can be life savers and allow them to venture out of the house and have a productive life as possible. One just has to get used to the medicine and be sure to allow the reflexes to get used to it while driving.
Hope that clears up, at least from my view
-J
poster:yxibow
thread:599991
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060115/msgs/600035.html