Is there a link between benzodiazepine and cancer?

Took 90 pills of alrazolm .5mg in a month and suffered withdraws for last 6 months. I am getting better each month and I’m currently around 90-95% healed.

 

Does anyone know if there’s a link between benzodiazepine use and a cancer risk increase?

 

I am a little worried about my abuse of these drugs and withdrawals causing a weakened immune system which could lead to cancer down the road.

 

How concerned should I be?

 

Quick search:

 

Carcinogenicity

 

 

There has been some controversy around the possible link between benzodiazepine use and development of cancer; early cohort studies in the 1980s suggested a possible link, but follow-up case-control studies have found no link between benzodiazepines and cancer. In the second U.S. national cancer study in 1982, the American Cancer Society conducted a survey of over 1.1 million participants. A marked increased risk of cancer was found in the users of sleeping pills, mainly benzodiazepines.[62] There have been 15 epidemiologic studies that have suggested that benzodiazepine or nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic drug use is associated with increased mortality, mainly due to increased cancer deaths in humans. The cancers included cancer of the brain, lung, bowel, breast, and bladder, and other neoplasms. It has been hypothesised that benzodiazepines depressed immune function and increased viral infections and either could be the cause or trigger of the increased rates of cancer. While initially U.S. Food and Drug Administration reviewers expressed concerns about approving the nonbenzodiazepine Z drugs due to concerns of cancer, ultimately they changed their minds and approved the drugs.[63] A 2017 meta-analysis of multiple observational studies found that benzodiazepine use is associated with increased cancer risk.[64]

 

Immune system

Chronic use of benzodiazepines seemed to cause significant immunological disorders in a study of selected outpatients attending a psychopharmacology department.[55] Diazepam and clonazepam have been found to have long-lasting, but not permanent, immunotoxic effects in the fetus of pregnant rats. However, single very high doses of diazepam have been found to cause lifelong immunosuppression in neonatal rats. No studies have been done to assess the immunotoxic effects of diazepam in humans; however, high prescribed doses of diazepam, in humans, has been found to be a major risk of pneumonia, based on a study of people with tetanus. It has been proposed that diazepam may cause long-lasting changes to the GABAA receptors with resultant long-lasting disturbances to behaviour, endocrine function and immune function.[56]

 

 

 

I wish I would have googled more about Benzos before I took one. Had no idea a 'MEDICINE' could harm so much. WHY is this info not HANDED OUT to patients prescribed these drugs? I wish when you googled Klonopin, Xanax, etc that more info like this would come up front and center as a clearer warning. Pretty sure this info is not on the pharmacy info label. You assume medicines you are prescribed will be safe with any reactions or side effects being mostly tolerable. Some people, like you, are lucky and seem to have gotten off easy. Unfortunately that was not the case with me and so many others who are suffering. I just SO wish I had known more or that info like I posted came up more readily when searching about Benzo use. I was only able to find info like this after the fact and had to really search for it to find out what I wish had been clearer.

 

 

 

 

 

Wow thank you. Yeah I’m worried cause I suffered terrible withdraws for a good 2 months before I felt a lot better and every month after got better.

 

Do the studies take in account for smoking, alcohol use, diet, exercise, and people who may have had underlying health problems before Benzo use? A lot of things can be linked to cancer but they never seem to look at the big picture and take account for those other huge risk factors for cancer that I mentioned.

 

Last day the studies say chronic or long term usage. What’s considered long term? I’m curious what the odds are for short term users because I was on Xanax for a month and am very very worried about my health.

 

Thanks for the post.

Benzos do not weaken your immune system.  In fact, when colds and flu were going around my house during my WD, I never got sick, not even one time with a cold or flu even though I was averaging 5-10 hours of sleep per week.

 

Benzo affect the CNS (Central Nervous System) and often create symptoms that act like other illness, conditions or disease.

There is a link between pretty much everything and cancer including breathing - oxygen causes cell damage.

No, absolutely not. There is no link between benzos and cancer.