Interesting article

Here is an interesting article that just came out today in the DailyMail.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5975541/Xanax-driving-Americas-drug-epidemic.html

I appreciate the article except that I don't like the word "addiction." It puts the onus back on to the patient, and the doctor can therefore be free of any wrongdoing.

I find the comments interesting. I'd like to read all of them, but some at the top stood out.

ok I have to have MILK once a day at least...am I addicted? oh and yeah my blood pressure meds....am I addicted? I thinks me am... Who is writing this crap!!!! Anything you take on a daily basis could be considered addictive if you look at it that way.

I don't get it. I took Xanax for years and stopped it a few weeks ago. I never had any kind of withdrawal. I just stopped taking it and I feel the same. (Lucky her!)

It's a shame that irresponsible doctors are prescribing massive doses & not monitoring their patients. Its also a shame that people are abusing these meds & will ultimately cause a problem for those who truly need them. (It doesn't take "massive doses" to become dependent.)

I take Lorazepam and it is an absolute lifesaver for me. I only take it when I need it. I could go days without. But when those panic attacks and extreme anxiety hit, it's a godsend. I hope the people who abuse them don't mess it up for people like me who truly need them to have some kind of a normal life. (He's probably already dependent.)

I have Xanax prescribed to me because of anxiety attacks but I might use them a handful of times a month and have gone months without using them at all. However, I'm clueless as to why anyone would abuse them. There's no out of body or floaty sensation or anything akin to a high. If it's a bad attack, it calms me down and slows my racing heart. If it's mild, it knocks me out. I experience no high...so I'm not getting how people are hooking themselves. (An argument that could be told to doctors, and they'd believe it.)

Just those comments say a lot about what we have to work with to get doctors to understand these drugs and patients, too. 

I don't understand how some people can just stop taking these pills the first or second time without withdrawal symptoms (genetics?). But at some point, if a person goes back to them, it could cause massive problems. Doctors need to be aware of this!

Thank you, Serenitee, for the article. I'm glad that Dr. Lembke is sounding the alarm. I just don't feel that addiction has anything to do with the majority of us. We have become dependent on the drug, not addicted. It makes a lot of difference. Hopefully soon she'll understand.

Here's another comment which is a popular one among people: I've taken it. Never abused it. It works very well when used as prescribed. For how long, though, did the person take it??

This is long. Sorry.

I take Lorazepam and it is an absolute lifesaver for me. I only take it when I need it. I could go days without. But when those panic attacks and extreme anxiety hit, it's a godsend. I hope the people who abuse them don't mess it up for people like me who truly need them to have some kind of a normal life. (He's probably already dependent.)

This is exactly what people think when benzos are promoted as being "addictive". That's why the FIRST thing that needs to be done to solve this problem is get the language straightened out and start making people understand how and why these drugs are so dangerous.

I saw that comment about Lorazepam. Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, I sure hope the language gets straightened out as soon as possible. These are dangerous drugs to take and while they may seem like a Godsend at first, they are just not worth it. After a while, they make people more anxious, panicked, depressed, fatigued, uninterested in life the way they used to be. They zap people's creativity, intuition, drive, motivation. They affect motor skills, cognitive skills, balance, coordination. The stress tolerance gets worse on them, and then they have one of the most painful and prolonged withdrawals known to man where all these side effects and adverse effects get intensified.

If people don't want to go off of them, that's fine. But looking back, I would argue that many people who don't want to get off of them may actually be completely physically unable to get off of them due to severe physical dependence. Or maybe they do want to get off of them, but perhaps neither they nor they doctor know how to get off of them properly. Or they are confused and don't even know anymore if these drugs are helping them or hurting them, which is very common.