Posted by bassman on February 6, 2007, at 8:39:38
In reply to Re: Just a question, posted by Squiggles on February 5, 2007, at 20:27:59
Thanks, Squig! Did I miss something? It seems like most of these articles say, "benzos cause dependence". Of course, we all know that. The point of the articles that I posted was that sure, you become dependent on benzos, but very few people become "addicted", in the sense that they have drug-seeking behavior and just take more and more. So anyway, I'm genuinely confused. Maybe I just misunderstood; but I do appreciate the articles.
Different topic:
I couldn't find it, but somewhere on this board Quintal tells his/her experience with benzos, which include apparent addiction, and if I read it right, the idea that Quintal might have done some stuff under the influence of benzos that he/she would not have done-like stealing. All this followed by a less-than-kind abrupt withdrawal. If you can find the post, read it. It is a terrible story and I can see how Ashton being an advocate for tapering would sound really good to Quintal.
By comparison, benzos have helped me from being so agoraphobic that I would cry if I were 20 miles from my house or my car was being worked on...finally, it would take 30 minutes at work to be up the nerve to walk across the office floor to the mailroom. When I found an SSRI helped more than the benzos (because I was depressed, too), I dropped the benzo dosage abruptly. I stil take benzos daily, at a low dose, with AD's. The combination has worked wonderfully in terms of me being functional-and when I've reduced the benzos to zero 9which I can do without any withdrawal, and have done so several times throughout the years), back comes the agoraphobia. So the doc says, "you'll probably have to take a benzo at low doses with your AD for the rest of your life"-and I don't like it, because I don't want to take ANY meds, but I also don't want to spend the next 30 years hiding under my sofa with my cat.
Here's my point: reading Quintal's and my story, you can see why we might view both benzo use and Dr. Ashton differently. If a person thinks that benzos are a dangerous med, by all means, avoid them-but please, for those of us who's lives have been enhanced by them, please don't fuel our already guilty feelings about taking them.
poster:bassman
thread:729587
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070201/msgs/730296.html