Study in British Medical Journal (BMJ) [might be upsetting to some members]

If, like me, you have ever questioned the wisdom of going through a severe withdrawal, or of enduring a lengthy and problematic post-withdrawal syndrome, then a new study published in the prestigious British Medical Journal may ease your mind.

The study shows that over the seven year period they examined, that people on benzos have higher rates of mental ill health, physical ill health, and are more likely to die:

"Conclusions: In this large cohort of patients attending UK primary care, anxiolytic and hypnotic drugs were associated with significantly increased risk of mortality over a seven year period, after adjusting for a range of potential confounders."

http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g1996

Hi Joe,

This is true but not as a direct result of taking benzos, per say, I will try to explain. What you will usually find is people on benzos usually are experiencing some form of tolerance/interdose wd. If a person is in tolerance wd and they see their Dr asking them for help, yes they will be suffering from quite serious mental and physical pain, which is reported in these studies. I do not refute the fact that these pills have the potential to kill, you would however need an extremely high dosage to cause a fatal overdose, usually alcohol plays a big role in an overdose.

What happens next is what causes the death in my opinion. The patient returns to their Dr, feeling very ill, they are prescribed more pills, possibly a further prescription of benzos, possibly some anti depressants. Their symptoms will improve for a short period, then, of course they will worsen, the patient then once again returns to their Doctors and once again more or different pills are prescribed, all the time merely masking what is really going on with this ill person.

The patient then continues to suffer due to undiagnosed benzo wd, maybe they turn to alcohol in search for relief or maybe they just stop looking after themselves, not washing, not eating, they can not sleep and so on. As you can probably imagine they are now in pretty bad shape, life is falling apart as they know it, they return to their ignorant and usually very clueless Dr and once again more pills are prescribed.

The patient is by now not in good shape at all, in this shape, this sick, maybe they do die, they have no hope, their mind wants to die.

I mean its only natural, if you are in really bad shape due to wd and I mean really bad, you then you add more pills and alcohol and other factors into the equation it is sure recipe for death and remembering that this person thinks they are actually sick, so suicide is a real possibility too. Sadly, all along this persons life could of been saved.

If they discover benzobuddies and they have lady luck on their side, a life is saved. If they find a benzo wise Dr, they stand a real chance, if they continue to seek bad advice from a system that has well and truly failed, well, unfortunately, they may die as a result of the stress of wd being untreated.

The system is corrupt and this is what is causing these deaths, not the benzos themselves, at least not directly. Therefore this study is very misleading and should be ignored. These poor people were victims of a failed system, in every way.

Thankfully in this day and age, people have access to the internet and more lives are being saved.

I think this thread will be to much for new members to read, if maybe you include a warning in the title, that would be best.

Thanks for posting.

Hi Bring-it-on,

I agree with some of your analysis. However, I don't think the study is misleading in the way you suggest it is in that it doesn't ascribe direct causality. It describes a strong relationship between benzo use and ill health, which we both agree is the case.

Also, any study that should impact positively on the over prescribing of benzos is, in my view, welcome.

Thanks, best wishes,

j.

I agree, it is welcome in the sense it shows benzos in a bad way, which is how they should always be viewed. If you are reading this study whilst under the influence of benzos, it would scare the bijezuz out of you! Particularly so, if you're just starting your taper journey.

If the study mentioned that there is a real possibility that the ill health is caused by the after effect of wd, then it would be viable, though, due to the complete lack of input surrounding bad health care and bad advice given to wd suffers which is contributing if not completely causing these deaths, I think, in my opinion, it is misleading, and I personally, I will ignore it. These people just didn't get sick, they were in wd and they died as result of poor health care. Lives that could of been saved, nothing in the benzo caused them to actually die, it was the whole sorry situation.

The study just could of been clear on why its subjects got ill in the first place.

If, like me, you have ever questioned the wisdom of going through a severe withdrawal, or of enduring a lengthy and problematic post-withdrawal syndrome, then a new study published in the prestigious British Medical Journal may ease your mind.

 

The study shows that over the seven year period they examined, that people on benzos have higher rates of mental ill health, physical ill health, and are more likely to die:

 

"Conclusions: In this large cohort of patients attending UK primary care, anxiolytic and hypnotic drugs were associated with significantly increased risk of mortality over a seven year period, after adjusting for a range of potential confounders."

 

http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g1996

Thank you for posting this.

Thank you for posting this.

You're very welcome.

I think it's a crucial study, especially as its in such a heavy-hitting journal.

I was on 24 years and I wasn't suffering any ill effects... benzo's maybe should not be taken long term but people do and are OK on them... in my opinion, often the problems start with withdrawal.