From The Lown Institute: Opioids aren’t the only drug being dangerously overprescribed. The overprescription of benzodiazepines, a psychoactive drug with potentially excruciating side effects and debilitating withdrawal symptoms, is quickly becoming a crisis.
No surprise here. Withdrawal from even the old-time sedative-hypnotics was always more difficult and dangerous than withdrawal from heroin. Being fat-soluble, the newer ones are more difficult than their older relatives, making it harder for your body to clear them, than their water-soluble ancestors.
It’s beyond ‘clearing’…it’s about the changes to structures in the brain, which for me, 48 months later, still have me severely impaired.
Gah.
It’s not just about the brain, either; the prevailing wisdom on the support sites (BenzoBuddies, Surviving Antidepressants) talk about changes also occurring in the HPA axis…I know I have adrenal issues/thyroid issues…
gaba receptors have been ‘reabsorbed’; gaba is used all over the human body
There’s some pretty technical stuff talked about over at BB, unfortunately, my comprehension levels keep me from grok-ing it fully.
