Posted by Quintal on August 12, 2007, at 20:12:46
In reply to Re: Tolerance to Benzo Anxiety Effects - suggestio » boveni3, posted by barbaracat on August 12, 2007, at 19:45:25
Well I took benzos for about five years more or less continuously (only stopped them for a week or a few days each time) and I've now been off them for a year. At the height of my addiction I took 20mg Klonopin a day (very briefly), but my usual dose was around 4mg. I also took SSRIs and related rugs for most of that time. I have no lingering problems from having been on these drugs, though I managed to get off them in the time-honoured way of replacing one addiction with another - opiates, codeine to be specific. Codeine does a much better job than all of the above put together.
I think it's possible for people to come off these drugs and make a full recovery, but the withdrawal needs to be managed carefully. It's interesting about the inverse agonist theory, and I wonder if something similar is happening when people have lingering withdrawal symptoms from SSRIs etc.? There's no evidence as yet that benzos cause permanent brain damage, but there may be functional changes at the receptors, and the same could be true for SSRIs.
Q
poster:Quintal
thread:626479
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070808/msgs/775845.html