"What Rehabs Get Wrong: Benzodiazepine Detox"

The owner of this publication (The Fix) is Clean and Sober Media, LLC and the CEO of that company owns a detox/rehab facility so I'm not sure about the legitimacy of this source but the article has some good points in it so wanted to post.

 

You can access the article here:

https://www.thefix.com/living-sober/what-rehabs-get-wrong-benzodiazepine-detox

This is a good article. Finally an article about the blunders of detox centers when it comes to benzos! It's about time. I've read so many horror stories in BB on going to rehab centers for benzos, unknowing people thinking that they'll be given help when most of the time they're treated very poorly, as addicts (they may not be addicts at all!), and given nothing or very little for the long road ahead.

 

I did take issue with this statement, though: So if you’re addicted to benzodiazepines and wish to get off them by all means speak to your doctor and have them help taper you off slowly and gently. It’s a process that takes a while, but I promise the alternative is not something you want.

 

Number 1, people assume that if you have a problem with benzos, you must be addicted. But benzos, targeting the CNS, foster that kind of thinking. How can one navigate the world without a good, working brain?? The people who begin taking benzos are usually trusting and believing in their doctors. They have NO IDEA what awaits them. Sure, you may be one of those who can get off benzos easily the first or second time, but eventually they'll get you.

 

Number 2, having a doctor help you to taper off slowly and gently?? I've never heard of such a thing. I've only read of doctors either wanting to c/t a patient or give a patient a very rapid taper. What doctors think is slow could be very, very damaging, or life-threatening, for the benzo patient.

 

I wish more articles of this type were out in the open. How these detox places remain in business "serving" benzo compromised people is beyond me. The patients, at the outset, must have to sign a paper stating they won't sue or something. Innocent people are being damaged for years by stepping into these centers for benzo withdrawal.

 

 

Go to a doctor and say, "Doc, I am addicted to benzodiazepines. Can you please help me taper off them veeeerrrrrrryyyyyy slowly?" and see how that goes.

Go to a doctor and say, "Doc, I am addicted to benzodiazepines. Can you please help me taper off them veeeerrrrrrryyyyyy slowly?" and see how that goes.

 

I'm curious, are you being sarcastic or serious?

 

It's been my experience that suggesting to a prescribing physician that someone is addicted to a substance will lead to a fairly rapid taper or a recommendation that the patient find another prescribing provider.

 

I'm only guessing that the behaviors I've observed by prescribing providers in such instances may be due to liability issues regarding the continuation of the prescription(s) &/or the possible adverse effects from withdrawal and cessation of the substance(s). 

Go to a doctor and say, "Doc, I am addicted to benzodiazepines. Can you please help me taper off them veeeerrrrrrryyyyyy slowly?" and see how that goes.

 

I'm curious, are you being sarcastic or serious?

 

It's been my experience that suggesting to a prescribing physician that someone is addicted to a substance will lead to a fairly rapid taper or a recommendation that the patient find another prescribing provider.

 

I'm only guessing that the behaviors I've observed by prescribing providers in such instances may be due to liability issues regarding the continuation of the prescription(s) &/or the possible adverse effects from withdrawal and cessation of the substance(s).

 

Definitely agree and I'm sure that's FG's point.  I switched my p-doc and that lead to me being detoxed!  There wasn't even a suggestion to go to someone else.  I was shunned and shamed.  I had been seeing her colleague in the same fucking department for 3 years who was resigning.  He was her boss and the clinical director at the time!  That's another pitfall that can happen and be incredibly harmful to patients.

I'm pretty sure FG is being sarcastic.  I've often wondered what kind of criteria is used when a doc decides between addict or person who needs medicine.  It seems very subjective to me. 

 

I really like this article.  It isn't perfect but just the idea the rehabs are doing the cold turkey with benzos wrong, that is a very big point that needs to be driven home.  The fact that a benzo taper can LAST YEARS!!!  needs to be publicized.  That's one thing my husband always said during my whole taper, "Why is it taking so long?  Maybe you just need to stop taking them?"

I'm pretty sure FG is being sarcastic.  I've often wondered what kind of criteria is used when a doc decides between addict or person who needs medicine.  It seems very subjective to me.

 

For better or worse some objective measures are utilized such as: patient interviews, electronic filing of Rx's, enforced regulations requiring prescribers to check data bases of Rx's filled for patients before submitting new prescriptions for controlled substances, controlled substance use contracts which require random drug tests of patients, and participation by law enforcement agencies in monitoring data bases/prescribers/past or suspected illegal drug abusers.

I'm pretty sure FG is being sarcastic.

 

 

I've often wondered what kind of criteria is used when a doc decides between addict or person who needs medicine.  It seems very subjective to me. 

 

This is one of the primary reasons why the word addiction should never even be mentioned in the context of "as prescribed" benzo issues. If you are perceived to be an addict, you get treated like a addict which is irresponsible and inhumane, even life threatening in some cases.