2013 Survey of BB Members: "Social Networking and Benzodiazepine Withdrawal"

For those who may not be aware, a survey was prepared for, and presented at, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America in 2013. Written by Catherine Pittman, William Youngs and Elizabeth Karle, the survey was based on information provided by a sub-sample of BenzoBuddies members who agreed to participate. It's described as "a nonrandom sample, and should not be taken to represent all benzodiazepine users or those who wish to discontinue benzodiazepines."

 

I thought I'd post it here in the News section for anyone who hasn't come across it before. It's great to see how  the valuable information provided by BB members' experiences can be used to educate those in a position to help.

 

https://www.adaa.org/sites/default/files/Pittman121.pdf

Thanks for posting this.

 

I have a recommendation for the "What can be done" section. Benzos scripts should be for no more that 7 days worth of medication. A new script would require another doctor visit.

 

I don't know of any other way to get the attention of the people who are prescribing this poison as if it was candy.

 

One other thing. I think I'm probably the only person ever prescribed a benzo for a urological problem. After years of visiting urologists seeking relief with no success ("It's a UTI. Here's 3 months of Cipro"), one 1mg. Ativan prescribed by my PCP cleared up my problem overnight. Too bad he didn't tell me not to keep taking it for six stinking years!

Thanks, Lapis. I'm giving this link to my pdoc. Not happy about seeing him but I'm running out of what I take to sleep. Hopefully he will become more informed but he wasn't a believer in the severity of wd before. ARgh.

Thanks for posting this.

 

I have a recommendation for the "What can be done" section. Benzos scripts should be for no more that 7 days worth of medication. A new script would require another doctor visit.

 

I don't know of any other way to get the attention of the people who are prescribing this poison as if it was candy.

 

One other thing. I think I'm probably the only person ever prescribed a benzo for a urological problem. After years of visiting urologists seeking relief with no success ("It's a UTI. Here's 3 months of Cipro"), one 1mg. Ativan prescribed by my PCP cleared up my problem overnight. Too bad he didn't tell me not to keep taking it for six stinking years!

 

A lot of doctors continue to prescribe these medications for long periods of time, despite the indications of the medications for short-term use only. I think both the doctor and the pharmacist should be educated about the harms of long-term use, if they're not already aware. As well, they should be educating patients. "Informed consent" should be just that -- informed. Then, and only then, can people make proper decisions about their health.

For those who may not be aware, a survey was prepared for, and presented at, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America in 2013. Written by Catherine Pittman, William Youngs and Elizabeth Karle, the survey was based on information provided by a sub-sample of BenzoBuddies members who agreed to participate. It's described as "a nonrandom sample, and should not be taken to represent all benzodiazepine users or those who wish to discontinue benzodiazepines."

 

I thought I'd post it here in the News section for anyone who hasn't come across it before. It's great to see how  the valuable information provided by BB members' experiences can be used for education of those in a position to help.

 

https://www.adaa.org/sites/default/files/Pittman121.pdf

 

I have to admit I didn't fill in my questionnaire for this survey as throughly as I could have done.  I also found some of the questions hard to answer properly. 

 

If there were other respondents as sloppy as me then the survey results should not be read in too much detail but for a broad brush picture instead.

 

 

 

 

Interesting point, Braban. Thanks for that.

Braban, I too found it confusing. I realized too late that I was confusing their word "withdrawal" with being off the benzo when they meant tapering. There were some other questions that were confusing too.

Lapis2-Thanks for posting this study. Yesterday I was finally able to convince my Aunt who is 73 years old to taper off of Xanax. She was on it for years and she went off of it when she was 50 years old (she tapered said she never had one w/d s/x). She went back on Xanax this past Jan. She is very smart and a know it all however she refuses to read The Ashton Manual or log onto BB. Long story short she started having terrible sharp knee pain out of the blue and feeling anxiety. I told her that she probably hit tolerance. She claims that she was only taking 1/4th of .25 per day and it was a crumb. I told her a crumb is still a Benzo! Her internist did not want to prescribe her Xanax but she begged him.