Posted by Sad Panda on January 21, 2004, at 22:06:55
In reply to Benzos not Alcohol! » TheOutsider, posted by mattdds on January 20, 2004, at 14:10:23
> >>Your lucky that your not living in the UK were many doctors will not prescribe a benzo for love nore money.
> Funnily enough the UK now has a massive alcohol problem! I wonder if there could be a connection.............
>
> This is an excellent point. People need relief for anxiety, and doctors are doing their patients a huge disservice by not prescribing effective medications.
>
> They are being so cautious by only prescribing SSRI's or Buspar for anxiety (especially, I'm told, in the UK, but also in the USA), that people get the idea that medications don't work. SSRI's and Buspar only work for a very small fraction - while benzos work for nearly everyone! What gives?
>
> So what do people turn to? Alcohol! It's a great anxiolytic, but unfortunately also carries some very serious side effects. Also the social burden of alcohol is tremendous (car accidents, domestic violence)! You never hear of somebody taking a Klonopin and beating up their wife! Similarly, I'd much rather drive on Klonopin than have my head spinning with anxiety or alcohol.
>
> It's time to give benzos a break! The alternatives (e.g. alcoholism, chronic anxiety) are so much worse!
>
> I feel for my anxiety suffering friends over in the UK.
>
> MattIf you don't need to escalate your benzo dosage to maintain their effectiveness then I can't see the harm in using them. A person that doesn't need a dose increase after 4 years of use could probably be on them for ages without much problem.
Cheers,
Panda.
poster:Sad Panda
thread:302622
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040118/msgs/303975.html