What country?

[[Tr...]]

Anyone from Virginia , USA ?

[[La...]]

May I ask our European BBs -- Do you think the benzodiazepine issue is as widespread there as it is here in North America? Are you meeting others in your midst who are dealing with it too? I'm just curious. I have the feeling that the benzo issue is widespread everywhere in the world where these meds are prescribed.

[[ma...]]

YES, i know it is  The doktors have no clue about Benzo over here. You are right

[[La...]]

Ah, so sorry to hear that, Marek. 

[[He...]]

Boston, MA

[[am...]]

South carolina, USA

[[Ma...]]

May I ask our European BBs -- Do you think the benzodiazepine issue is as widespread there as it is here in North America? Are you meeting others in your midst who are dealing with it too? I'm just curious. I have the feeling that the benzo issue is widespread everywhere in the world where these meds are prescribed.

 

I must say that in Germany they are really carefull when it comes to venzzo.They and giving you very hard the benzzos and saying that more than 3 weeks you should take them.With Wd they are too little bit better than in USA but still nobody believes me that I am 6 monzhs out in WD.

[[La...]]

Okay, well it's good to hear that they're trying to restrict the length of the prescriptions in Germany. That's a good thing. Benzodiazepines are only indicated for two-to-four weeks maximum, and that should include a taper. I don't think that happens very often. But let's hope that at least SOME doctors are trying to adhere to the rules.

 

In the end, we all have to be as informed as possible so that we can make proper decisions for ourselves. It's the only way we can protect ourselves from harm.

[[Ma...]]

May I ask our European BBs -- Do you think the benzodiazepine issue is as widespread there as it is here in North America? Are you meeting others in your midst who are dealing with it too? I'm just curious. I have the feeling that the benzo issue is widespread everywhere in the world where these meds are prescribed.

 

I must say that in Germany they are really carefull when it comes to venzzo.They and giving you very hard the benzzos and saying that more than 3 weeks you should take them.With Wd they are too little bit better than in USA but still nobody believes me that I am 6 monzhs out in WD.

 

Sorry, but this is not true!!!!!! REALLY careful??

When you get into a hospital in germany for psychological issues, the first thing you get is a benzo. You get an AD and they tell you "this will need 3 months until it helps in the meantime here is a benzo".

Thats not only my experience, I know a lot of people, also in different states/cities.

And: In case of emergency ALWAYS a benzo is given.

I case that you have to wait for a place in a hospital, a benzo is given to survive the waiting time.

Normal doctors (general medicine) prescribe benzos for ridiculous  reasons, to sleep / to function. Some tell you, don't take it longer than 3 weeks (after 1 week you can be seriously addicted by the way) - but they continue to prescribe it,again and again.

And if they don't give you a benzo - its a Z-drug (which is a benzo, too).

There is a german board just like benzobuddies,- you just have to look around there - no difference..

[[Al...]]

May I ask our European BBs -- Do you think the benzodiazepine issue is as widespread there as it is here in North America? Are you meeting others in your midst who are dealing with it too? I'm just curious. I have the feeling that the benzo issue is widespread everywhere in the world where these meds are prescribed.

 

Most of my friends are on benzos..

[[La...]]

I'm sorry to hear it, Alesii. I'm sure it's impossible to get true numbers about benzo use in various countries. We'll never know the scope of the problem, but my guess is that it must be huge.

[[gi...]]

Born and raised in Poland, now living in the United States.

[[Es...]]

May I ask our European BBs -- Do you think the benzodiazepine issue is as widespread there as it is here in North America? Are you meeting others in your midst who are dealing with it too? I'm just curious. I have the feeling that the benzo issue is widespread everywhere in the world where these meds are prescribed.

 

I think there are many more restrictions here. Especially in the Northern part of Europe. Almost every pdoc wants you to stop benzos. You have to see a pdoc at least once a month, if not twice. I noticed that in the US recovering alcoholics are prescribed Klonopin. It is absolutely not the case in my country. They are given Valium, which has less addiction potential. SSRIs/SNRIs are extremely popular. As well as APs for sleep. In small quantities. For ppl who are neither BP nor schizophrenics. This, IMO, is a criminal practice. I was fed “small amounts” of APs for two decades. They were supposed to help me sleep. As I suffered from severe insomnia well before benzos. They did not help me sleep. They destroyed my brain in the worst possible manner. I tapered them in Jan. 2016 and finally discovered who I really was. Not a psychotic, certainly. The damage they made is irreversible.

[[La...]]

Thanks, Estee, for sharing your experience. It seems that everyone has had a very different experience with these meds, so it's impossible to generalize about the scope of the problem. I'm so sorry for what you've gone through, Estee.

 

I'm here in Canada, which has a very different health care system from that of the U.S. However, I'm sure we have an equally proportionate problem with psych meds.

 

The thing that I'm most grateful for at this point is access to information online. We can do A LOT of research online now and read information that was, for the most part, inaccessible to most non-medical people before the internet opened everything up.