Posted on 02/24/2005 4:19:25 PM PST by neverdem
Among famous inventors, Leo H. Sternbach may not immediately leap to mind.
But this May in Akron, Ohio, Dr. Sternbach, who is 96, will be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He holds more than 240 patents, but perhaps his most famous invention, in collaboration with colleagues, is a chemical compound called diazepam, better known by its brand name, Valium.
One of the earliest benzodiazepines, Valium was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1963 as a treatment for anxiety, and it would become not only the country's best-selling drug, but an American cultural icon.
Referred to knowingly in Woody Allen movies, enshrined as "Mother's Little Helper" in the Rolling Stones song, condemned as poisonous in best-selling books, Valium reached the height of its popularity in 1978, a year when Americans consumed 2.3 billion of the little yellow pills.
But by the 1980's its reputation for creating abuse and withdrawal problems was well known, and the new selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors like Prozac were widely considered better treatments for anxiety and panic disorders.
Still, the benzodiazepines - there are now more than a dozen others available besides Valium - never disappeared. They are still widely prescribed and, in the view of many doctors, extremely effective in treating not only anxiety and panic disorder, but bipolar illness, insomnia, catatonia and alcohol and drug withdrawal.
"The key is to use them correctly," said Dr. Eric Hollander, director of clinical psychopharmacology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Using them correctly is not so simple. Benzodiazepines cause sedation, which can be either therapeutic or a side effect, depending on the patient's ailment. Dr. Steven Roose, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, said that for anxiety the "S.S.R.I.'s are still the first-line treatment, but they can initially cause an exaggeration of anxiety symptoms."
"Pretreating with benzos can prevent this," Dr. Roose continued, citing Ativan, which "can be used for the sleep problems that S.S.R.I.'s can cause, although it should be used only for a brief term."
The use of benzodiazepines in drug withdrawal may seem paradoxical, since they can be addictive themselves.
But the newer longer-acting benzodiazepines like Klonopin may have fewer withdrawal problems than the older drugs because they are metabolized more slowly and leave the body gradually.
Even though they don't usually induce euphoria, benzopiazepines can become street drugs of abuse for their sedating effect, and some cocaine users like them to "chill out."
The benzodiazepines can also impair motor function, especially during the first weeks of treatment, and cause temporary memory impairment. The drugs do not help with depression, so those with both anxiety and depression, a common combination, may be better off with the double effect of the S.S.R.I.'s.
People who use alcohol as self-medication for anxiety are not good candidates for benzodiazepines, which can be deadly when combined with drinking.
Perhaps most notoriously, there is the danger of addiction, but some believe that may be exaggerated.
"My view is that the risk of dependency and tolerance is overblown," said Dr. Michael Craig Miller, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard and editor in chief of The Harvard Mental Health Letter. "People being treated for anxiety are not looking for a high; they're looking for relief from their anxiety symptoms, and if benzos give it to them, that's good."
Kava kava I don't know about. It seems like another overload: valerian, melatonin and kava kava seems like it needs something like fruit juice or vegetable juice to drink with. I'll try it to see what happens, with a juice.
No, I'm keeping them because those organic chemicals don't degrade when kept air-tight. The ones that degrade are anti-biotics. If I break some part of my body during the next earthquake, firestorm, flood (riot?), I have a med kit for when nothing else is available and travel is impossible. I live 1 mile from the '94 earthquake and was sitting on guess what at 4:30AM that morning.
I will be passing by a Rite-Aid and Walgreens this weekend and read the labels. I must be in bed by 8PM to awake by 4.5 AM. I like veggie juice with a splash of hot sauce stirred in. If I sleep later, you will know:):)
Antidepressant discontinuation: a review of the literature.
The symptoms are generally mild and transient for the TCAs and the SSRIs but may be serious for the MAOIs. They are much more common with a shorter acting SSRI, such as paroxetine(Paxil), than with the longer acting agent fluoxetine(Prozac).
If you want to stop a SSRI, ask your doc to switch to Prozac with its longer half life, first to a dose where you don't have withdrawal symptoms from Paxil. There may be some trial and error. Then ask your doc to start a tapering dose of Prozac weaning you over one or two months to the lowest possible dose of Prozac, which you may have to cut or break in two for the last week.
The longer it takes to wean off the Prozac, the more likely you won't have withdrawal symptoms. There are no guarantees in medicine. If your doc doesn't want to do it, consider a different shrink or doc. Be sure to click on "Related Articles".
I should have read up the thread a little. I posted (later) exactly what you said about getting "standardized" extract. We have helped a fellow freeper.
do you know how severe w/d will be after my pdoc switched me 1-1.5mg of lorazepam for sleep for 4.5mons and then to wean me off with klonopin i take .25mgAM and .25mgPM and will be tapering over a month. am i going to have problems??? i went c/t on the lorazepam for 6 days cause i didnt know there were any dangerous side effects. any suggestions on what you think. no one here in the usa is familiar w. the ashton manual. what do you think?????????
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