Can benzo usage cause diseases? Can treating said disease create setbacks?

I had some blood work done and I seem to be having inflammation in the body. I avoid sugars, and eat very healthy with lean protein. My guess is I may have vasculitis. I see a rheumatologist soon, and see that steroids can be given to treat the disease. I've heard that steroids can trigger waves and other issues. What should I do if I am prescribed steroids? I'm confused

I also have inflammation.  I had a very bad experience with prednisone which caused depressed breathing, I will not be taking steroids.

I also have inflammation.  I had a very bad experience with prednisone which caused depressed breathing, I will not be taking steroids.

is that from some sort of allergy to the medication or from benzo damage to the CNS?

I really do not know.  I have taken before (prior to benzos) with no issues.  I read that Xanax can cause depressed breathing with steroids, but I have not seen others mention it here.  I was recently diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease so that could be playing a roll also.

 

For me, I am trying to a low histamine diet and it seems to help.

 

 

My inflammation blood markers where high coming off Xanax in 2013. I’m high through it again. I’ve been told benzo withdrawal cause inflammation in the body it’s why we have debilitating pain but they can never find the root cause and of course they don’t believe it’s from benzodiazepines

Of course they don’t think it’s benzos.  I don’t think there is one person here that is not experiencing inflammation to some degree.

 

You know this will pass, just ride out the storm.  It can only get better.

My inflammation blood markers where high coming off Xanax in 2013. I’m high through it again. I’ve been told benzo withdrawal cause inflammation in the body it’s why we have debilitating pain but they can never find the root cause and of course they don’t believe it’s from benzodiazepines

 

which specialists have you guys seen for your inflammation?

I’m sorry but the inflammation that occurs in our body will eventually go away it’s a benzodiazepine withdrawal reaction? I’m not an expert but I have been through this 2 times now and my doctors I have seen can’t relate with it being a benzodiazepine withdrawal?

Corticosteroids are almost always overdosed. The body produces about 20-25mg of cortisone a day - about 5mg or prednisone. Usual doses of prednisone are 40-60mg - you can imagine how damaging this is. This may be needed in life-threatening situations - severe asthma, lupus, life-threatening vasculitis like temporal arteritis etc, but hugely overdone in my opinion.

 

I have taken methyprednisolone (similar to prednisone) on and off for years to support my adrenals. I take it at 0.5mg in the morning and sometimes another dose at noon for 3-5 days at most. It makes me feel immensely better, but that is because it is a supportive dose. It boosts natural production and fights inflammation.

 

Even better than this, molecular hydrogen. It makes me feel a ton better too. But that's just me.

Where you prescribed the molecular hydrogen?  Were you able to take it when you were on the benzodiazepine?  Did you have food or chemical sensativities?

seasalt52, molecular hydrogen is a supplement. You can get it from Dr. Mercola's store for the best price. It has a small amount of magnesium, so may not be for everyone. I have no sensitivities to anything (other than my own hormones and I can't escape the things).

 

Here's an article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5412697/

 

I take it 4 times daily with 1/2 juice 1/2 water - my inflammatory markers are rock bottom when I last checked a few months ago.

There is no such a disease as "inflammation". Inflammation is a symptom of certain (many) diseases. Doctors can diagnose those diseases but patients can't self diagnose vasculitis or any other disease. That's what doctors do. There is low level inflammation in the body (especially in adipose tissue, liver, pancreas) in obesity, but here the underlying disease is obesity. This can not be treated by steroids. Obesity responds very well to exercise and decreased calorie intake.

 

Steroids are dangerous drugs and should only be prescribed by doctors.

 

Adrenal support is only needed in Addison's disease or pituitary disease. They are very uncommon and should be only diagnosed by doctors, preferably endocrinologists.

 

Molecular hydrogen works if you believe in it. Just like anything else. Nice placebo effect.

 

Benzo withdrawal does not cause inflammation. Inflammation of what?

Maugham1, you like to argue, huh? Zero helpful information provided.

 

Recommend...ignore

 

Maugham1, you like to argue, huh? Zero helpful information provided.

 

Recommend...ignore

 

I do argue against magical thinking. I prefer science.

 

 

 

ummm I believe there is inflammation in any healing process...it is a basic reaction to injury or infection. Benzo injury is in part damage to the nervous system. The burning I experience throughout my body is the same as other ppl recovering from nerve damage.

Just my two cents...

Science is not based on what we believe. Inflammation has five cardinal signs (since Celsus and Galen): heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function (Latin calor, dolor, rubor, tumor, and functio laesa).

 

That is inflammation.

Science is not based on what we believe. Inflammation has five cardinal signs (since Celsus and Galen): heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function (Latin calor, dolor, rubor, tumor, and functio laesa).

 

That is inflammation.

Didnt those guys also think the world was flat..?? Were these meds even around when that was written, determined, discovered..??

 

Actually, exactly what word are we being pedantic about..?? -Disease, Inflammation, or what constitutes Withdrawal..??

 

Inflamed nerves rings a bell for me.. probs why my Dr prescribed prednisone to regain facial function.. I sure hope I dont have to argue that thats a downstream effect of discontinuation, that would provoke another form of CNS inflammation..!!

 

 

 

Cantfly, hahahaha! Indeed!

 

Maugham1, close-minded and limited thinking is what got us here in the first place. I still remember reading the study on Ambien being non-addictive - a 12 month study nonetheless - and thinking, holy crap, they totally missed it and yet here is a study published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. As always, references available on request. I don't post every one because I have hundreds, and it takes a while to pull them up.

 

As for inflammation, we know that hidden inflammation is the cause of a lot of disease. Inflammation of the gums is linked to cardiovascular disease, inflammation of the blood vessels often goes unnoticed until plaque build up is enough to cause a heart attack. We now have sensitive testing like hsCRP. We also have older tests like ESR. Warmth, swelling and whatever else was quoted as being a sign of inflammation is not necessarily palpable in vasculitis, atherosclerosis, etc.

 

As for molecular hydrogen, this is certainly new science and new territory. There is a foundation committed to studying it. The science is in its infancy, but you can do a pubmed search and find lots of promise (or is pubmed part of the magical thinking you talked about?) Is everything on pubmed perfect? Of course not. Are there hundreds of publications, including human studies, yes, if you both to look before condescending. But I've met plenty of people like this character - here to make life worse. Do we make scientific discoveries by being close-minded and calling anything we don't understand "magical"? Nope. Thank goodness not everyone things this way or there would be no advancement in science. I doubt Maugham1 even read the reference I posted. Perhaps we'd still be operating without washing our hands if people like him were still in charge because, I mean, you can't see bacteria so it's magical to think that anything on the hands could cause an infection.

 

Maugham1, no interest in engaging with close-minded, arrogant people like you who think they know everything and are here to act superior to everyone. After spending years in medical research and caring for patients, I've learned humility. Something you obviously haven't learned. I wish I had learned about benzos, but it wasn't in my area and lets face it - there are a ton of misconceptions there and lots of close-mindedness that lead us to this injury in the first place.

 

I hope that together, we can find ways to heal. There are always a few bad apples in the bunch. Although they make my life a bit worse, I try to throw them out.

Science is not based on what we believe. Inflammation has five cardinal signs (since Celsus and Galen): heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function (Latin calor, dolor, rubor, tumor, and functio laesa).

 

That is inflammation.

Didnt those guys also think the world was flat..?? Were these meds even around when that was written, determined, discovered..??

 

Actually, exactly what word are we being pedantic about..?? -Disease, Inflammation, or what constitutes Withdrawal..??

 

Inflamed nerves rings a bell for me.. probs why my Dr prescribed prednisone to regain facial function.. I sure hope I dont have to argue that thats a downstream effect of discontinuation, that would provoke another form of CNS inflammation..!!

 

 

Actually, they didn't think the world was flat. Anaximander realized around  this BC 600.

 

Of course nerves can be inflamed. Just not from benzo withdrawal.

Cantfly, hahahaha! Indeed!

 

See my response to Cantfly. Who I like a lot.

 

Maugham1, close-minded and limited thinking is what got us here in the first place. I still remember reading the study on Ambien being non-addictive - a 12 month study nonetheless - and thinking, holy crap, they totally missed it and yet here is a study published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. As always, references available on request. I don't post every one because I have hundreds, and it takes a while to pull them up.

 

That has nothing to do with inflammation.

As for inflammation, we know that hidden inflammation is the cause of a lot of disease. Inflammation of the gums is linked to cardiovascular disease, inflammation of the blood vessels often goes unnoticed until plaque build up is enough to cause a heart attack. We now have sensitive testing like hsCRP. We also have older tests like ESR. Warmth, swelling and whatever else was quoted as being a sign of inflammation is not necessarily palpable in vasculitis, atherosclerosis, etc.

 

They are not hidden. When you look at the inflamed tissue under the microscope you can see inflammatory cells in the inflamed area. Nobody has shown such a thing as a result of benzo withdrawal.

 

As for molecular hydrogen, this is certainly new science and new territory. There is a foundation committed to studying it. The science is in its infancy, but you can do a pubmed search and find lots of promise (or is pubmed part of the magical thinking you talked about?) Is everything on pubmed perfect? Of course not. Are there hundreds of publications, including human studies, yes, if you both to look before condescending. But I've met plenty of people like this character - here to make life worse. Do we make scientific discoveries by being close-minded and calling anything we don't understand "magical"? Nope. Thank goodness not everyone things this way or there would be no advancement in science. I doubt Maugham1 even read the reference I posted. Perhaps we'd still be operating without washing our hands if people like him were still in charge because, I mean, you can't see bacteria so it's magical to think that anything on the hands could cause an infection.

 

I didn't call anyone magical. Please reread what I wrote. Yes, we can see bacteria under the microscope

 

Maugham1, no interest in engaging with close-minded, arrogant people like you who think they know everything and are here to act superior to everyone. After spending years in medical research and caring for patients, I've learned humility. Something you obviously haven't learned. I wish I had learned about benzos, but it wasn't in my area and lets face it - there are a ton of misconceptions there and lots of close-mindedness that lead us to this injury in the first place.

 

Close-mindedness and misconception are two different things.

 

I hope that together, we can find ways to heal. There are always a few bad apples in the bunch. Although they make my life a bit worse, I try to throw them out.

My comments in bold.

There is no such a disease as "inflammation". Inflammation is a symptom of certain (many) diseases. Doctors can diagnose those diseases but patients can't self diagnose vasculitis or any other disease. That's what doctors do. There is low level inflammation in the body (especially in adipose tissue, liver, pancreas) in obesity, but here the underlying disease is obesity. This can not be treated by steroids. Obesity responds very well to exercise and decreased calorie intake.

 

Steroids are dangerous drugs and should only be prescribed by doctors.

 

Adrenal support is only needed in Addison's disease or pituitary disease or Adrenal Hyperplasia. They are very uncommon and should be only diagnosed by doctors, preferably endocrinologists.

 

Molecular hydrogen works if you believe in it. Just like anything else. Nice placebo effect.

 

Benzo withdrawal does not cause inflammation. Inflammation of what?

 

Bold part added by me. You may not be familiar with it. It's genetic, autosomal recessive, and I have it. Had adrenal crisis once, nearly died of adrenal shock on another occasion, usually the result of extreme stress on the adrenals caused by an illness. I was on dexamethasone, but to my Endocrinologist's surprise, my labs have been showing normal adrenal production. She said it's not unheard of, but rare. I still have the disease, it's just currently in some sort of remission. I still have regular lab work, and haven't shown signs of insufficiency. Corticosteroids should be used short term to treat certain conditions, but long term use is only appropriate where there is insufficiency. Using too much too long when not needed can cause Cushingoid disease. I'm glad I'm not needing them, because it may ramp up W/D symptoms. But if the endo says I gotta go back on them, I trust the endo. If I need them, they may not affect my W/D at all. I am to take them under certain conditions, so I have a bottle here, and my endo has told me when I may need them temporarily.

Thank you all for posting this information it is helpful.

Science is not based on what we believe. Inflammation has five cardinal signs (since Celsus and Galen): heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function (Latin calor, dolor, rubor, tumor, and functio laesa).

 

That is inflammation.

Didnt those guys also think the world was flat..?? Were these meds even around when that was written, determined, discovered..??

 

Actually, exactly what word are we being pedantic about..?? -Disease, Inflammation, or what constitutes Withdrawal..??

 

Inflamed nerves rings a bell for me.. probs why my Dr prescribed prednisone to regain facial function.. I sure hope I dont have to argue that thats a downstream effect of discontinuation, that would provoke another form of CNS inflammation..!!

 

 

Actually, they didn't think the world was flat. Anaximander realized around  this BC 600.

 

Of course nerves can be inflamed. Just not from benzo withdrawal.

Ill have to spit the hook out.. -Too many meds to be benzo specific here.. (and a very trying day..)

-Perhaps I could add government departments to inflammation pathways..

 

I am tying up a few loose ends before I leave here for a while. I had to post one thing in short-term users, and wanted to close this loop.

 

Maugham1, I have reflected on our interactions and these posts. I realize that unlike Cantfly I am not a member who you like. That’s ok. I don’t like you either. I don’t like the abrupt, dismissive and opinionated manner in which you communicate. I don’t like the way that you assert yourself as if you are absolutely right and others are wrong. I don’t like the fact that you do not even seem to consider other view points, but counter them as if you are the authority on the subject.

 

All of that said, we are all injured here by benzos, and trying to find our way through. I do not want to add to anyone’s pain with senseless arguing, not even yours. Although I do not like the way that you communicate, I do not want to cause harm. Interacting with you has caused me harm. I felt stress, anger, frustration - all things that are not good for me or anyone. I am therefore going to make the choice not to read your posts going forward when and if I return to BB. I won’t read or respond. In this way, I will be less likely to cause harm or to be harmed. Despite our differences, I do wish you healing.

1 thing I've learnt is Maugham is a troll, don't bother biting

 

Having a mare,

 

fluffernutter was able to express an opinion in a respectful way, you on the other hand resorted to name calling, this is unacceptable.  Please familiarize yourself with the policy governing member behavior.

Be polite towards, and respectful of, your fellow Buddies. We do not tolerate attacks upon fellow members. Any account created for the purposes of causing arguments and/or ill-feeling will be banned.

 

Pamster