Posted by Quintal on November 27, 2006, at 21:10:25
In reply to Re: Difference between Ativan and Valium? » laima, posted by ace on November 27, 2006, at 20:26:53
>I personally have never seen any evidence of this - only when Benzo's are used as street drugs. I have read a lot of clinical and anecdotal literature and the use of higher doses
does not correlate with responsible medical usage.Ace, I don't like the way this is starting to feel like an attack on you, because it isn't. Could I just add a bit of my own experience with benzos to this debate?
I got my first script for lorazepam when I was 19. It was for 4mg/day, no titration, and the doc supplied it at my request on the basis of an internet printout. She told me she had never heard of this drug before. I soon moved on to other benzos, obtaining scripts for different benzos from different doctors and taking them all at the same time - I was abusing them. Six months after I began Ativan I managed to get a script for Klonopin (actually the trade name is Rivotril here in the UK) from a locum doctor, again on the basis of an internet printout and heavy persuasion on my part.
Soon after this when my supply of Rivotril no longer kept me satisfied I forged a prescription (taking huge doses of Rivotirl to calm my nerves) and was caught. I live in a small village, so you can imagine the humiliation when the Rivotril worse off and I was left facing the hard reality of what I'd done.
Eventually I began buying my supply of benzos from online pharmacies and I think this gradually eroded my self-esteem. I considered myself an addict (which I was) and no better than a street drug pusher, so maybe this was the reason I accepted without hesitation when I was offered my first line of coke? The Quintal of old would have shied away from any such dealings.
I'm now off all meds and street drugs and hope to stay that way so long as I can be healthy and functional. I'm no benzophobe and I've written some venomous retorts to Ms. Ashton's propaganda during my benzo years. Now I find I'm left with little choice but to admit though, that benzos *do* cause dependence, they *are* addictive, and in some rare cases they *may* trigger compulsive drug taking behaviour that *may* lead to experimenting with stronger substances.
Non of this diminishes my view of people who responsibly take benzos for decades at a time. I hope they keep working just as well for all you guys who are in that position, and I hope you are able to resist the people who will try to coerce you into quitting only to create further dependence on the (IMHO) inferior SSRIs.
Q
poster:Quintal
thread:707968
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061123/msgs/708048.html