Benzodiazepine Use Disorder
These drugs are responsible for more pain, unhappiness and damage than anything else in our society - Phil Woolas MP, Deputy Leader, House of Commons
image by: Benzodiazepine Dangers
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Benzodiazepines: our other prescription drug epidemic
The dozen or so different types include Ativan, Klonopin, Valium, and Xanax. Most people have heard of them. More people than you might think are taking them (three benzodiazepines are in the top 10 most commonly prescribed psychotropic medications in the United States). Yet few people realize how many people get addicted to and die from them…
Highly potent drugs like these designer benzodiazepines are a growing trend among those seeking a new high, fueled in part by doctors overprescribing benzodiazepines without appreciating their addictive potential. Just as overprescribing opioids contributed to the use of heroin and illicit fentanyl and related deaths, overprescribing benzodiazepines…
Resources
Now I've quit benzodiazepines, this year will be the first I can remember for a decade
Long-term use of benzodiazepines, described as use lasting just six months or more, results in marked cognitive impairment, and can cause anterograde amnesia, in which the ability to make new memories is lost.
This Is What Five Generations of Benzo Addiction Looks Like
From Xanax to valium, people of different ages talk about how they became reliant on a benzodiazepine.
A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly
Despite warnings from experts, older people are using more anti-anxiety and sleep medications, putting them at risk of serious side effects and even overdoses.
Benzodiazepines: America's 'Other Prescription Drug Problem'
The problem with benzos, as they're also known, is that they're highly addictive medications, both physically and psychologically. Abruptly stopping them can lead to withdrawal symptoms...
Korn's Jonathan Davis On Xanax Addiction: 'Benzos Are The Devil'
For the first time ever, Davis agreed to a detailed conversation about addiction, mental health and his family life.
Opioids aren’t the most dangerous drug to go through withdrawal from
“Withdrawal can kill you,” Joshua Lee, an addiction specialist at New York University Langone Medical Center, said. “Alcohol withdrawal is the classic example, where you can have autonomic instability, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, your heart’s working overtime, your circulatory system is going haywire, your brain freaks out, and you can have seizures that are unstoppable without treatment.” Withdrawal from benzodiazepines—a class of drugs including Valium, Ativan, and Klonopin used to alleviate anxiety...
Teens Describe Kicking Their Xanax Habit
Young former addicts from across the UK relay their experiences of trying to get off counterfeit Xanax.
The Deadly Worst-Case Scenario for America's Xanax Obsession
Cracking down on the legal supply is not a solution. In fact, it could spell disaster.
The Mystery of the Terrifying Xanax Resurgence in America
Pharmaceutical marketing is often said to be a key cause of the opioid crisis. That doesn't explain the deadly rise of benzos.
The Story of a Blackout Benzo Addict
The blissful escape of benzodiazepines helped me cope with depression and anxiety, but my life ended up falling apart around me.
Well-Known Mechanism Underlies Benzodiazepines' Addictive Properties
Like opioids and cannabinoids, diazepam and other benzodiazepines take the brakes off activity of dopamine-producing neurons.
Xanax Turned Me into a Walking Ghost
And trying to get off of it was even worse.
Benzodiazepines: our other prescription drug epidemic
Benzodiazepines work well to ease anxiety or insomnia when used intermittently and for less than a month at a time. When taken daily for an extended period of time, they stop working and can make anxiety and insomnia worse. Most doctors don’t realize how addictive benzodiazepines can be for some people and, because they don’t know better, prescribe them long term and without safety monitoring,
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