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Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

Exactly. I hate these "sound bite posters" who have very little knowledge about these drugs but feel the need to chime in with "benzos bad" in every thread.

Benzos are bad. Very bad. And plenty of people with vast knowledge on this will tell you that. NP.

Like who?

Like the AMA.

The AMA does not say “Benzos are bad”. Yes taking them recreationally is bad. Taking them a couple times a year for panic attacks or episodic anxiety issues (like flying, or going to the dentist) is fine.
Signed, a doctor.

This is key. They work really well for anxiety. Most anxiety sufferers don’t get anxiety only a couple of times a year, end up taking them regularly and become addicted. And there are many doctors who don’t warn patients that these are to be used only occasionally for severe anxiety.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

Exactly. I hate these "sound bite posters" who have very little knowledge about these drugs but feel the need to chime in with "benzos bad" in every thread.

Benzos are bad. Very bad. And plenty of people with vast knowledge on this will tell you that. NP.

Like who?

Like the AMA.

The AMA does not say “Benzos are bad”. Yes taking them recreationally is bad. Taking them a couple times a year for panic attacks or episodic anxiety issues (like flying, or going to the dentist) is fine.
Signed, a doctor.

Sure, doc. But, and hear me out here, how about teaching your patients some coping skills that aren't drugs, or giving them drugs that have low or no recreational value, especially if they only need them once or twice a year?

Very few people truly need these meds. Lots of people want them. Lots of people don't want to deal with reality. These things are related, and a primary cause of addiction issues.

DP, how about you eff off. I hate ignorant people like you.

Please learn coping skills next time you get an infection or your BP is high.

Aww, the benzo addict is triggered. You can't think away an infection, and while calming down (a skill you clearly lack) can help lower your blood pressure in way, it's not going to fix any physiological problem that raised your BP in the first place.

Your anxiety is literally all in your head, and there are plenty of things you can do to wrangle it that don't involve medicating away the symptoms. And that's all your little benzo does: block the symptoms, temporarily. If you know that you get anxious when you fly (which won't kill you, BTW), you can unfsck that in your own head with therapy, meditation, breathing, simple lessons in acceptance, not being a control freak, etc. But you're a lazy candyass who doesn't want to do that work, so you pop pills. If you can admit that, there's no problem. But you can't, so you make these ridiculous arguments about how benzos "save lives". No, they save intellectually lazy people from the labor required to manage their feelings without drugs.

I am tapering now after 7 years because I didn't want to go desperately looking for a new prescription if "something" happened to my 85 year old shrink who blithely told me he had absolutely no plan for his patients if he had to "retire."
He pooh-poohed my asking to stop in prior years saying my dose was "so small." Not all doctors keep up. Reader, I quit him.

Is taking three or four a month too much?

I took klonopin daily in the late 90s for debilitating anxiety. Like, numerous daily panic attacks. I took it in concert with talk therapy and an antidepressant. It saved my life.

I’m in my 50s now and my primary doc gives me an Rx for ten canax pills at my annual physical. Sometimes I take three, sometimes I take eight a year. Once I got a refill during a tough stretch. I’m not addicted and I usually take half of a .5 mg tablet. Life isn’t always easy and I think it’s ok to get help.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

What do you mean when you say regularly? Do you mean every day? Then you are benzo dependent.

You would find that out if you quit cold turkey tomorrow after taking daily benzoS for 20 years

Exactly. "I've used benzos for 20 years and have no trouble, as long as I keep taking my benzos". Quit your benzo for 6 months and then come back to this thread.

DP, maybe learn how to read. PP said "as needed" which could be a few times a month or even a few times a year. No one is addicted to benzos in that scenario.

DP, and maybe you can also learn how to read. The out-and-proud, two decade user of benzos didn't describe their dosing. Their "as needed" could be daily, at bedtime. Or it could be once a year when she gets get a root canal. I doubt the latter because she's so defiant about DEFINITELY NOT being habituated to a mind-altering drug that she's taken for half a lifetime.

But none of us know because she refused to say.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

Exactly. I hate these "sound bite posters" who have very little knowledge about these drugs but feel the need to chime in with "benzos bad" in every thread.

Benzos are bad. Very bad. And plenty of people with vast knowledge on this will tell you that. NP.

Yep. Competent psychiatrists will only prescribe benzos for very extreme cases or if they inherit an elderly patient addicted to them. My GP has offered to prescribe a very small prescription for travel. But no worthwhile psychiatrist would prescribe for anxiety or insomnia these days.

Mine prescribed a benzo for anxiety-related insomnia, and left me on it for about a year. Coming off was hell. Months and months of hell. This was about five years ago. I really hope they are no longer doing this -- they are older and I think they are still doing things the way they have for a long time, and I wonder if that played a role in the decision to prescribe for me for sleep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

Exactly. I hate these "sound bite posters" who have very little knowledge about these drugs but feel the need to chime in with "benzos bad" in every thread.

Benzos are bad. Very bad. And plenty of people with vast knowledge on this will tell you that. NP.

Yep. Competent psychiatrists will only prescribe benzos for very extreme cases or if they inherit an elderly patient addicted to them. My GP has offered to prescribe a very small prescription for travel. But no worthwhile psychiatrist would prescribe for anxiety or insomnia these days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

+1

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

Exactly. I hate these "sound bite posters" who have very little knowledge about these drugs but feel the need to chime in with "benzos bad" in every thread.

Benzos are bad. Very bad. And plenty of people with vast knowledge on this will tell you that. NP.

Like who?

Like the AMA.

The AMA does not say “Benzos are bad”. Yes taking them recreationally is bad. Taking them a couple times a year for panic attacks or episodic anxiety issues (like flying, or going to the dentist) is fine.
Signed, a doctor.

Sure, doc. But, and hear me out here, how about teaching your patients some coping skills that aren't drugs, or giving them drugs that have low or no recreational value, especially if they only need them once or twice a year?

Very few people truly need these meds. Lots of people want them. Lots of people don't want to deal with reality. These things are related, and a primary cause of addiction issues.

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Sure, I could tell my patient “just work with a therapist 3x a week for a year to get over your fear of flying- it may or may not work but it will absolutely cost you 10k or more out of pocket”. Or I could say, “try this essential oil instead”. Or I could just give them two 0.5mg tablets per flight, about once a year.

Tell me what medication I should prescribe then instead of 2 small doses of Xanax for one round trip flight per year. I’ll wait for your medical advice. Or, if you can’t come up with a different fast acting highly effective anti anxiety medication for panic attacks or severe episodic anxiety then I’ll keep practicing medicine the way that actually works

Thanks for weighing in, Dr Feelgood.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

You're joking, right? In 20 years you couldn't get therapy, address your issue or find other methods to cope with whatever occasion?

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

Exactly. I hate these "sound bite posters" who have very little knowledge about these drugs but feel the need to chime in with "benzos bad" in every thread.

Benzos are bad. Very bad. And plenty of people with vast knowledge on this will tell you that. NP.

Like who?

Like the AMA.

The AMA does not say “Benzos are bad”. Yes taking them recreationally is bad. Taking them a couple times a year for panic attacks or episodic anxiety issues (like flying, or going to the dentist) is fine.
Signed, a doctor.

Sure, doc. But, and hear me out here, how about teaching your patients some coping skills that aren't drugs, or giving them drugs that have low or no recreational value, especially if they only need them once or twice a year?

Very few people truly need these meds. Lots of people want them. Lots of people don't want to deal with reality. These things are related, and a primary cause of addiction issues.

You have no idea what you’re talking about. Sure, I could tell my patient “just work with a therapist 3x a week for a year to get over your fear of flying- it may or may not work but it will absolutely cost you 10k or more out of pocket”. Or I could say, “try this essential oil instead”. Or I could just give them two 0.5mg tablets per flight, about once a year.

Tell me what medication I should prescribe then instead of 2 small doses of Xanax for one round trip flight per year. I’ll wait for your medical advice. Or, if you can’t come up with a different fast acting highly effective anti anxiety medication for panic attacks or severe episodic anxiety then I’ll keep practicing medicine the way that actually works

Yeah, ok, as long as you are only prescribing it for patients who need it "for one round trip flight per year" ... DP

I love me my klonopin. I have been taking it since about 2009 and it is a lifesaver. I take it a handful of times a year - mostly when flying and staying overnight somewhere for work - they help me cope with anxiety about traveling. Occasionally if I have some serious anxiety at home I might take one (they are 0.5 mg). I certainly wish they were safer to take more frequently because they are amazing but knowing that they can be problematic, I am careful. It hasn't been an issue all these years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

I used them regularly as prescribed in modest dose of three 0.5 mg tabs a day. I have been tapering off for 3 months, now just 0.25 mg in the am. The physical and brain habituation is real. It takes a long time for GABA receptors in brain to normalize.

Closest thing I can think of is PPI rebound, that takes 54 days for all new proton pumps. I personally wish my doc had not prescribed them for so long.

Note: this is different from addiction.

I am this PP. My shrink prescribed them for 7 years. I can't take SSRIs, btw.
I never got "high." They did work for anxiety, particularly during DH's ICU stay and recovery from surgery and the PE complications. But I do wish I had known about GABA and long term use and I really wish the prescriber had not left me on them.

All of you who take benzos a few times a year, a day here and there, nobody is talking about you.
And I am not talking about addictive behavior. But the brain chemistry changes and need to taper after long term use are real.
So yes. A heck of a drug but be careful.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Benzos send more people to rehab than any other drug, prescription or not.

I have used them regularly for 20 years as needed with zero problems. Not everyone who uses benzos becomes an addict. It depends on a host of factors, notably genetics. For those who can use them responsibly, they can be a life-saver, so please don't paint with a broad brush.

Exactly. I hate these "sound bite posters" who have very little knowledge about these drugs but feel the need to chime in with "benzos bad" in every thread.

Benzos are bad. Very bad. And plenty of people with vast knowledge on this will tell you that. NP.

Like who?

Like the AMA.

The AMA does not say “Benzos are bad”. Yes taking them recreationally is bad. Taking them a couple times a year for panic attacks or episodic anxiety issues (like flying, or going to the dentist) is fine.
Signed, a doctor.

Yes, "taking them a couple times a year" is fine. However, most people are not taking them "just a couple times a year." The AMA advises against benzo use for more than 4 months. You know why? Because "benzos are bad," in fact very bad, for many people. But given that you are a doctor you must know this. But, oh wait, there is all kinds of stuff you folks should know that you don't (see opioid crisis).

This will blow your mind but there are databases and I can see if you’re filling scrips for benzos from multiple docs at multiple pharmacies. I don’t care if you think my 60 year old patient shouldn’t take Xanax to fly to her grandkids once a year. No one does. Get a life.