Posted by iforgotmypassword on April 29, 2011, at 12:37:27
Wikipedia references studies that seem to suggest very strongly that there is risk of cognitive decline with (not even) long term use of benzodiazepines, with it being unclear whether or not decline is alleviated after discontinuation of the benzos, even after 6 months. I know this sort of thing becomes almost political, and many people on the internet are very adamant that any such ideas are wrong, often pointing out non-existant problems in the study like that they only tested abusers taking megadoses, etc. which aren't true.
I want to avoid a competitive pseudopolitical debate about whether the studies are right or wrong, and merely go with the assumption that the studies exist. I need to know if there is any reason to believe that z-drugs, well, zopiclone would not cause the same measurable lasting cognitive impact, real or presumed. I was quite dependent on lorazepam's unique effectiveness for what I experienced as an auto-activaction defecit, which I am also not going to much further into and let more people tell me "everyone suffers from these problems", they've destroyed my life, and in a strange way I can feel are related to the movement problems I have frequently, not just the locking up but the excessive movement problems as well (like chewing, grimacing, pacing).
I thought that zopiclone was somewhat more selective than benzos, leaving gamma subunits alone but with no selectivity between alpha one to alpha 5, not being as specific as zolpidem and zaleplon. Presuming I am under the right impression, that benzos are less selective, is there any reason gamma subunits, or somewhere else they show effects that z-drugs dont, might cause cognitive deterioration while effects alpha-1-5 subunits would not?
The reason I am very concerned is that cognitive symptoms already affect me greatly, I may as well be a permanently drunk person, and I always fail at trying to work. What may be insignificant for someone else may be something I cannot spare.
The section "cognitive status" has a lot of references, but I cannot find anything confirming or denying danger with z-drugs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_effects_of_benzodiazepines
poster:iforgotmypassword
thread:984064
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110418/msgs/984064.html