by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A doctor, wrote,
I feel that your article on benzodiazepines is irresponsible and may cause those with disabling anxiety disorder to avoid treatment.
There are many patients with panic disorder that are well-maintained on Alprazolam for decades without the anxiolytic effect being lost or diminished or the need to increase the dose. They lead normal lives without panic attacks whereas prior to beginning pharmacological treatment they had several panic attacks each day and ended up housebound.
I can understand your position as a doctor trained to view pharmacology as the primary means to treat various “mental” disorders such as anxiety. Now let’s look at the other side of the coin.
The reason I wrote that article is because the negative side effects of benzodiazepines have damaged and are continuing to damage many thousands of people. These people need to be warned of the dangers of taking benzodiazepines since many doctors aren’t doing it. Specifically, they need to be warned that depending on these drugs can cause more troublesome side effects than the original condition the drugs were prescribed to treat. It seems to me that most doctors are prescribing benzos without warning people of these dangerous side effects.
How can doctors who take the Hippocratic oath that says “First do no harm” justify prescribing benzos when they are known to harm thousands of people each year? Yes, they may help some people, but at what cost in the long run? It sounds as if you are saying that it is ok to harm thousands of people because at the same time you are helping numbers of others.
If doctors didn’t prescribe benzos, then people wouldn’t be damaged by their side effects and I wouldn’t have had any reason to write this article exposing the dangers of benzo problems. Furthermore, I wouldn’t be receiving emails from people saying that if they had known the horrible side effects they would experience, they would never have taken the benzos their doctors prescribed.
What you are saying is that you justify deliberately putting thousands of people at risk in order to help some people that likely could have been helped by non-pharmacological means such as counseling, dietary and lifestyle changes, etc.
Please—get back to truly helping people and “first do no harm!” with any treatment.
As someone who has been badly damaged by taking a benzodiazepine as prescribed by my doctor, I applaud the efforts to educate doctors and the public about the dangers of these medications. There is a very large percentage of people who are harmed and some killed, by these drugs. It is criminal that doctors refuse to listen to the growing mountain of evidence proving that these drugs can cause severe damage. There are ways to treat panic disorder without medications. Please continue to educate others about these drugs. It has been over five years since I stopped taking a benzo and I still have physical problems (including severe tinnitus) that may very well be permanent. I was a whole healthy woman before I started taking a benzo, before I trusted my doctor.
Currently in a hellish withdrawal from 28 years of taking Klonopin as prescribed. I quit when I coincidentally listened to podcast with Jordan Peterson and his daughter. He nearly died!
I’ve damaged my brain, hearing and vision are drastically damaged, pounding heart, dizziness, cannot focus, intense anxiety now and insomnia to name a few symptom. I want to know why this medication is given out so freely without any info given to patients whose lives it’s destroying?
Hi Elaine:
You should not take any benzodiazepines such as Clonazepam (Klonopin) in the long term. You typically take it for 2 weeks or so to get you over a bad spot, but 28 years??? Doctors should know better! (But apparently they don’t.)
Cordially,
Neil
Yes, I know that now from listening to a Jordan Peterson podcast! Otherwise, I’d probably still be taking it wondering why I have headaches, pounding heart, anxiety, twitching and cramping muscles, serious lack of focus, losing my hair, severe hearing loss and blurry vision…much more . What happened to “First do no harm”?
A class action lawsuit will stop this problem and should include pharmaceutical companies, representatives and physicians. There are not enough victims coming forward. Those whose symptoms diminish are not being vocal. Only when the symptoms are bad enough to seek help in enough of the population will we see change in the administration of drugs including physicians who know their pharmacology.
Dear Dr.
I’m currently suffering from severe bilateral Tinnitus that cannot be masked. I have just recently started taking low dose of Xanax every night for 10 days. I want to slowly stop taking them but can’t think of any other medication to use for both sleep and anxiety. Any recommendations?
Hi Kenilworth:
What caused your tinnitus?
Why do you want to mask your tinnitus? This is not a viable treatment. In order to habituate to your tinnitus, you want the treatment sound to be LESS than your tinnitus sound–at a level where the two mix together. Then you learn to ignore the treatment sound and thereby also ignore your tinnitus sound. Over time as you do this, your perceived tinnitus volume drops, so you reset the treatment sound to a lower level and repeat the process until your tinnitus is no longer an issue.
If you have only been on Xanax for 10 days, I doubt you have to taper very much.
I don’t know of any safe medications for either sleep or anxiety. All of them are ototoxic as far as I know. Thus, if it were me, I’d turn to alternative medicine practitioners for help. You should also entol in an effective tinnitus program.
Cordially,
Neil