Posted by yxibow on January 10, 2008, at 4:35:25
In reply to Re: benzos as a necessary good zo, posted by gilbert on March 9, 2002, at 20:42:06
I've been on a high dosage of Valium for some years -- in the beginning it did rather good things for me. It was in part a journal and practice theory (I'm not psychotic by the way, no offensive meant to those who are diagnosed primary)
that it aids in helping psychosis
(I have a rare visual somatiform disorder -- anyone out there with one speak up..... anyhow)
but as the amount piled up over the years, I ceased to get any "aahhh" from it.Oh its still doing something, I know, because its at least a double if not a triple edged necessary agent, but when we go down on it, theres an adjustment period and odd visual symptoms come back, dissociation comes back. The target is to mostly eliminate it (I may go Seroquel->Clozaril but thats a different issue) but it may take a long time of up and down to get away from it. Diarrhea, etc (just had to put that in, sorry).
Anyway my final point is that as noted from someone else we've been using them since 1962, and the last one (Xanax) came out around 1985. Due caution is certainly a prudent thing, but if Xanax works for you long term, then the benefit outweighs risks.Others habituate (I prefer that term because addiction is more needless craving of pharmaceuticals, e.g. Valium on the streets -- now there are cases where addiction and habituation can occur at the same time) very quickly and should only take them for around 4 weeks.
The best strategy is to take long acting (and not immediate response) benzodiazepines with in mind to trade off to some other non-benzodiazepine agent, as long half life benzodiazepines are easier to withdraw from (e.g. Valium, Klonopin) rather than Xanax or Ativan -- but then its an individual thing just like all case reports here.
So there's my dissertation :) on benzodiazepines -- with a warning that if you start to notice there's no "aaahh" at all to them (we're talking hours), you may be starting to habituate, in part, depending on your situation. Just personal experience unfortunately.-- Jay
poster:yxibow
thread:96969
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080105/msgs/805505.html