Study, Aug/17: "A Review of Alprazolam Use, Misuse, and Withdrawal"

[[La...]]

"Alprazolam is one of the most widely prescribed benzodiazepines for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. Its clinical use has been a point of contention as most addiction specialists consider it to be highly addictive, given its unique psychodynamic properties which limit its clinical usefulness, whereas many primary care physicians continue to prescribe it for longer periods than recommended...."

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28777203

[[Ms...]]

Full text: http://sci-hub.io/10.1097/adm.0000000000000350

[[Su...]]

thanks for this link Lapis and Ms!  Thanks for the full text bit Ms.A!

A frightening article mostly because of the time frame that is recommended for withdrawing!  It seems mighty quick to me to consider a .125 drop every week, but perhaps I'm misreading... And that the manufacturer recommends a faster pace -- no wonders providers get confused....

It validates that this stuff is tough to get off -- yup-  should be tapered slowly -- yup yup -- but surprisingly says that other benzos don't help with the withdrawal.  I have found that the Valium addition to my taper has been invaluable.

 

So many Thanks for all that the two of you do to help those of us still struggling so hard!!

SS

[[La...]]

Thanks for tracking down the article, Ms.AtomicBomb! I've just scanned it quickly. While I'm pleased to see an actual acknowledgement of the withdrawal (including new somatic symptoms), I'm disappointed at the age of the studies that are referred to. They seem fairly old, so given that, I have to wonder how current the info is. Perhaps they couldn't find any recent data, or perhaps they didn't look for it.

 

SS, if the Valium is working for you, that's great! I couldn't get off clonazepam directly and had to switch over to diazepam/Valium too. It worked very well for me. Clearly, everyone is different. I wish you all the best with the rest of your taper!

[[Su...]]

Thanks Lapis,

Yes I sure have learned that everyone is different in this process and am trying to learn and see what works for me -- BB is a tremendous help all of that! Glad that the V worked for you and that you continue to be such an active member on this forum.....

 

I too noticed the dates of some of the papers referenced and thought how little current research there is on this dilemma. That's really what we need, some current research on what is working, with some more realistic tapering schedules IMHO. (It's gonna be awhile  until I cross that finish line!)

SS

[[Do...]]

This is the first article that I have seen that states that some women should actually stay on benzos if withdrawal syndrome is severe to the point that it could harm the baby more than the mother staying on benzos.  I have seen several cases of women miscarrying because their doctor cold-turkeyed them off benzos.  I think there should be a sticky link on this article for pregnant women who are suffering severe symptoms can show their doctor that a cold turkey of them is not always best.  (obviously, a person would want to try to get off the medication for the baby's sake, but in some cases, this really needs to be done slower than some doctors believe).

[[La...]]

I think the issue of psych meds during pregnancy is very difficult to navigate. There's little research on this topic for obvious reasons. You can't do double-blind studies on it. Just too many ethical questions.

 

Babies whose mothers take these types of meds during pregnancy may be born in withdrawal. On PubMed, there are articles referencing this issue ("neonatal withdrawal") back to the 1970s, so there's been an awareness of it for a very long time. I'm not sure how they can get good, solid info on what's best for mother and baby.