Toronto Star: Doctor's Notes-Sleeping Pills and Aging Should Not Go Hand-In-Hand

https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2016/05/16/doctors-notes-sleeping-pills-and-aging-should-not-go-hand-in-hand.html

 

Okay, I stand corrected from my earlier post today.  It looks like 1 in 3 seniors may be on either z-drugs or benzodiazepines according to this GP's review of their datbase.

 

 

Ali

 

It's a good, simple article on the topic. I hope it got some people to question things and delve a little deeper when it ran (about a month ago). I keep hoping for a more comprehensive article on benzos in the Star, Globe & Mail or National Post, but I'm glad to see even a short article, as long as it contains good info.

I know Lapis, I thought so too.  I'm going to see if I can find an email address for this doctor.

 

I'm really still angry about the withdrawal protocol though, have you had a chance to look at it?

 

Gosh, there is so much to do.  I'm trying to get some media coverage for my inperson group and the World Benzo Day next month.  Slowly.  I've just come out of a month long wave, in a great deal of pain and very exhausted again.  Tide turned last week so hopefully I can put in some real effort in and around my other things.

 

 

Ali

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing all these excellent articles, SS.  Am slowly making my way through them.

 

This one speaks volumes.  We all ask those desperate questions, how/why does this happen, are doctors really that clueless, what's behind all this, all these years and years later, what's going on ... etc, etc.  And in many cases, it's just this simple, as this doctor so honestly declares ... She just didn't have the time. 

 

 

A week after his wife’s death, my 72-year-old patient “Mr. S.” comes to see me. He can’t sleep. He has anxiety, racing thoughts and tremendous sadness — all part of grieving. To help him function better in the daytime, I prescribe a “sedative-hypnotic” called lorazepam.

 

I tell him about the risks: dependence, increased falls and car accidents — and that these drugs are a short-term solution. But in the haze of his grief, I sense he’s not taking much in.

 

Soon, Mr. S. is back in the office. He has used the pill most nights, and asks for another 30 tablets. Another month passes, and his pharmacy requests a repeat.

 

My waiting room is jammed, I have results to check, and I have phone calls to make. It takes about 10 seconds to authorize the repeat. Declining it would take longer: it would mean calling in Mr. S, having a risk/benefit discussion, trying to negotiate over several visits. I make a note to discuss it at his next appointment. Two years later, he still uses the lorazepam every night. He can’t sleep without it.