Is it the Benzo causing the depression?

[[le...]]

My depression is bad, is it the Benzo? I was not like this before or not nearly as bad..

[[Th...]]

My depression is bad, is it the Benzo? I was not like this before or not nearly as bad..

 

From Dr. Ashton....

 

Depression, aggression, obsessions. Depressive symptoms are common both during long-term benzodiazepine use and in withdrawal. It is not surprising that some patients feel depressed considering the amalgam of other psychological and physical symptoms that may assail them. Sometimes the depression becomes severe enough to qualify as a "major depressive disorder", to use the psychiatric term. This disorder includes the risk of suicide and may require treatment with psychotherapy and/or antidepressant drugs.

 

Severe depression may result from biochemical changes in the brain induced by benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines are known to decrease the activity of serotonin and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), neurotransmitters believed to be closely involved in depression. Antidepressant drugs including the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs such as Prozac) are thought to act by increasing the activity of such neurotransmitters.

 

Depression in withdrawal may become protracted (see section on protracted symptoms) and if it does not lift within a few weeks and is unresponsive to simple reassurance and encouragement, it is worth seeking a medical opinion and possibly taking an antidepressant drug (see section on adjuvant medication). Depression in withdrawal responds to antidepressant drugs in the same way as depressive disorders where benzodiazepines are not involved. If, as in many cases, an antidepressant drug is already being taken along with the benzodiazepine, it is important to continue the antidepressant until after benzodiazepine withdrawal is complete. Withdrawal from the antidepressant can be considered separately at a later stage (See Chapter II, Schedule 13).

 

Aggressive disorders are also associated with low serotonin activity (among other factors) and the appearance of anger and irritability during benzodiazepine withdrawal may involve similar mechanisms as depression. However, these symptoms usually disappear spontaneously and do not last very long. Obsessive disorders (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, OCD) also respond to SSRIs, suggesting a similar mechanism. Obsessive traits may be temporarily increased during withdrawal and seem to reflect a mixture of anxiety and depression. These tend to settle spontaneously as anxiety levels decline.

[[...]]

Hi Leelee:

 

I had depression before benzos but it was not as bad as what happened when I came off benzos.  For a while just existing seemed impossibly difficult.  So if you had pre-existing depression you may, like I did find it worsened for a while during and after taper.

 

ntw

[[el...]]

I developed very severe depression only when I was placed on benzos (for insomnia). Once I was about halfway through my taper, it lifted and never returned. 

[[st...]]

Like everyone I get the blues from time to time.  But coming off these benzos depression has become a weekly visitor.  I took a week off from tapering recently and my depression just went away.  For some of us getting off these things is going to make us feel blah.  I hate it.  Just keep telling yourself it's the benzos.  Going slower with the taper may help too.

[[sp...]]

I had depression postnatally and then it cleared, but when I started benzos some years later for physical problems I went into a huge downward depression spiral - became suicidal and not able to get out of bed.  Stayed that way on the drug and was part of the reason I fast tapered off - just couldnt keep going on it.  Once off mood lifted, then had cycles of good again and then depressed again for some time until it lifted.  It is the drug and it will lift once youre off.  One thing I didnt realise is that benzos by their very nature are downers!

Spring

[[Re...]]

    Didn't have depression pre-benzos.  Depression hit me post-benzo at months 4 and 5 (2-3 days maximum each episode).  After the last episode in December it never returned.  This too will pass.

 

    Stay the course.

[[Ha...]]

I had anxiety but no depression when I started on the Klonopin.  After taking the Klonopin and beta blocker, I was crying a lot.  Now, I am almost 2 weeks off of the Klonopin and I still have depression up and down throughout the day in waves and then I have times when I feel okay.  My brain is also getting clearer and when my brain gets clearer, my depression isn't as bad.  Mornings are the worst for the depression feelings.  I am hoping that as my body heals, the depression will lift for good. 

 

 

[[Mi...]]

I have had anxiety and depression all my lfie with it being better or worse depending on how my life is going.  Now it's tough to know what's caused from the klonopin and what's depression I would have already had on my own. 

 

Today I feel so very depressed.  I still haven't started tapering and don't know if I want to, but all I know is I feel terrible.

 

I also don't know why Dr. Ashton talks about how bad benzos are and yet then recommends SSRIs which have horrible effects themselves when going on and off of them.

 

I personally feel stuck.  I feel like I can't stay happy on or off the benzo.  I don't have friends or a girlfriend and feel so alone.  And who knows if the benzo ismagnifying it or helping.  When you have bad anxiety and klonopin gets rid of anxiety you can feel less depression because you're less depressed ifyou don't have anxiety.  So it all depends how bad your anciety is in the start.  The medicine itself may make you depressed, but if you were majorly depressed due to anxiety in the first place then getting over the anxiety can outweigh what the med does.  I mostly felt better a lot of the time I've been on the benzo.

[[Me...]]

Hi Midnight,

Just remember that you have friends here.  I have found this to be a great support system.  You are not alone.  Even though you may feel that way. 

Just keep going.  It will get better!

[[...]]

i am struggling with really severe depression right now.  it's been 2 1/2 months post benzo.  i'm so tired of all this.

[[Be...]]

I didn't have any depression until I was stuck on klonopin!  It reared it's ugly head a few months in and continued to get worse and worse.  I'm still dealing with it as I taper, but I know that time and distance from this med will take this drug induced depression away for good!

[[Mi...]]

People who are anti-benzo will automatically say the benzo is causing it.  Those pro-benzo will say it was caused by things happening in the person's life and that they were already depressed before getting on it.  Nobody can claim to know.  Just because many have depression when on a med doesn't mean they wouldn't have already been depressed anyway.

 

I personally wonder myself whether the med depresses me.  But I was depressed before it too, so who knows.

[[jo...]]

I think there is no doubt about it, that benzos can make existing depression worse, or create depression where there was none before.

Benzos stop doing their job after a short while, and can even create rebound symptoms of the complaints we may have been prescribed benzos for originally, such as anxiety etc

 

I would always say its best to come off them at a safe rate.

 

Good luck everyone, and its really sad to hear some of us are suffering bad depression.

 

[[Mi...]]

Yeah I myself am depressed yet again today.  Yesterday I was at a great concert and having fun and then suddenly felt deep sadness and not sure why.  I don't know if the med contributed, but I'm sad that it's so hard to make a decision on what to do.  I won't even have a doctor helping me if I come off of it because I am losing my insurance soon.

[[ho...]]

People who are anti-benzo will automatically say the benzo is causing it.  Those pro-benzo will say it was caused by things happening in the person's life and that they were already depressed before getting on it.  Nobody can claim to know.  Just because many have depression when on a med doesn't mean they wouldn't have already been depressed anyway.

 

I personally wonder myself whether the med depresses me.  But I was depressed before it too, so who knows.

 

I can claim to know that for myself benzos caused severe depression 10x worse than I've ever experienced; like I never knew was possible.  Since getting off I haven't been anywhere near as bad as that.  Seems pretty clear for me that it was the benzos.

 

[[Mi...]]

All I know is it's hard to even feel like trying anymore.  On them sucks, off them sucks.  I'm tired of my life being wasted by depression and anxiety.

[[Mi...]]

See and now I feel perfect at the moment.  MOst days I do this where I go from depressed to feeling rgeat simply by doing a relaxing thing such as hot bath.  If depression and anxiety were TRULY only from thoughts then I don't think taking a relaxing bath would suddenly change a mood on me so easily.  And this was happening before I was ever on a benzo.  In this case the benzo is probably making it happen more often though.  But anyway I am just randomly mentioning it because some books will claim it's ALL your thinking 100% nothing physical at all.

 

Sorry went off topic.