Posted by mattye on April 6, 2007, at 19:07:39
In reply to Doctors irresponsible with Xanax, posted by Cynthia_Greene on April 5, 2007, at 13:04:32
Taking a benzo as directed without continually escalating the dose is a very therapeutic and effective way for a lot of people to mitigate the suffering of panic and anxiety. For some people an SSRI just doesn't cut it. They need something more . . . so why let them suffer?
Furthermore, I don't think benzos are as addictive as some people make them out to be. If you are responsible with benzos and don't escalate the dosage, then tapering off your prescribed amount shouldn't be so horrible. I'm steady on 1 milligram of Klonopin, and when I'm ready, I will go down to .75, then .5, and so on.
I mean, they give adderall and ritalin to little kids like Pez, and those meds act directly on dopamine and require tapering as well. They can stunt your growth and cause heart problems. My sister takes adderall and Xyrem (GHB) for narcolepsy and she doesn't have a problem with addiction. So why are benzos made out to be such an evil drug.
I have my own theories . . . I think drug companies don't make much money off them anymore so they push the new SSRI's and the neuroleptics.
> I'm nowhere near being one of those anti benzo zealots who thinks they should all be banned, but I'm really concerned about something.
>
> The other week when I went to get a prescription for Valium, my doctor lectured me for a long time about how addictive it is and dangerous the withdrawel is, etc.
> This is the same doctor who once gave me an unbelievable amount of Xanax without telling me once that it was addictive at all.
>
> Luckily I already knew how addictive Xanax is because I've had to study anxiety meds in psychology classes before and have already heard all the addiction horror stories, but I just realized how many people out there who don't know anything about benzos are being prescribed Xanax without being told that it's addictive.
>
> I know a lot of people taking benzos every day that don't even know what class of drugs they belong to. When I ask my friends on Xanax what they're taking it for, a lot of them don't even know why it was prescribed and didn't even ask the doctor why before taking it.
>
> Sorry if my post offends anyone, but I just think the whole Xanax thing is really scary and there would be less people addicted to it if the doctors or pharmacists would actually warn them first.
poster:mattye
thread:747227
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070402/msgs/747664.html