Do other meds impede healing?

[[mt...]]

Has anyone here observed whether or not being on other meds such as ADs  prevent healing faster or completely from protracted benzo damage?

I am wondering if being on an AD and pregabalin (have been tapering them though) impedes my healing in any way shape or form. I haven't found much information available about this so I'm wondering if anyone could chime in on that (from their personal experience or maybe something they came across when researching).

I personally don't think so because an AD mostly works on serotonin receptors whereas benzos pretty much only work on GABA receptors. 

[[Ti...]]

I only have anecdotal evidence, but here is my experience. A friend of mine I met in a support group had a similar situation as mine as we were both ripped off of opioids and benzos around the same time frame (since the DEA is shutting down any doctors that prescribe opioids for chronic pain.) There is a 20 year age difference between us, with me being younger. She has stayed on Cymbalta, Lyrica and hormones. I got off of everything and have stayed off everything except for for a very rare muscle relaxer and/or migraine specific medications. While we are both still in excruciating pain states, mine has improved (the benzodiazepine withdrawal pain anyway,) and my cognitive downfall much improved as well, whereas hers keeps declining. I honestly think my improvement is attributable to getting off all pharmaceuticals except what I noted above. I also eat really clean and got rid of all chemical body and cleaning products due to the chemical sensitivity I now am forced to live with, but even that is improving. One notable difference is she didn’t experience the awful and severe insomnia I did, I think possibly due to the other meds she was on. We are both at 4 years post benzo cessation. 

[[Sc...]]

Of course it does, they're centrally acting drugs that work on nerve cells in the brain and nervous system. To heal one must be off ALL drugs. How can one heal when on other psychotropic drugs? impossible. These drugs are not selective to just specific receptors, they unbalance the whole nervous system. I took AD"s and Benzos and i only saw a difference when off them ALL.

Edited December 8, 2023 by [Sc...]

[[Pa...]]

1 hour ago, [[S...] said:

Of course it does, they're centrally acting drugs that work on nerve cells in the brain and nervous system. To heal one must be off ALL drugs. How can one heal when on other psychotropic drugs? impossible. These drugs are not selective to just specific receptors, they unbalance the whole nervous system. I took AD"s and Benzos and i only saw a difference when off them ALL.

@[Sc...], we understand how passionate you are about this subject but you’ve been cautioned before about making statements like this.  Please be careful about making absolute statements you can’t back up.  

[[Na...]]

The truth is ..... nobody knows.

However, given that we've all been damaged by psychotropic drugs I think it would be sensible to be very skeptical of other such drugs like ADs. We know that benzos can cause damage, it's not too much of a stretch to say that these other drugs probably can as well.

The other issues is that if antidepressants have a positive effect, it seems that it may be small and perhaps mostly placebo. There was a big study that came out in 2008 that put the effectiveness of antidepressants into question. 

Initial severity and antidepressant benefits: a meta-analysis of data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration

There are other studies with other results. Some positive and others more like this that have found little effect.

BTW - don't assume that each of these drug classes only operate on a single neurotransmitter system. We think of benzos as working on just GABA receptors - but it turns out that activating GABA receptors ends up releasing more dopamine. So, benzo increase dopamine indirectly. SSRIs also affect dopaminergic, GABAergic, and the glutamatergic systems. 

These neurotransmitter systems are all enmeshed and have effects on each other. It's horribly complicated and no one really understands all of it. Which is probably why messing around with these things seems to get some of us in such trouble.

 

[[Sc...]]

My head feels like its been through the grinder from all the drugs i took and the many years i took them. I was their guinea pig. But unaware of what was happening until i got of all the drugs.

[[mt...]]

Thanks you for the inputs and for sharing your experiences, guys. And by the way, I did not mean for this topic to trigger a debate or anything of that sorts. 

I gather that it's beneficial to be off all psychotropic drugs, but whether or not it impedes healing that is not clear cut and it depends on the individual and environmental factors. Because we know for a fact that there are many people out there that had been on medication such as AD's prior to their benzo affair, then they withdrew from benzo usage, and they eventually healed 100% (or close to that).

At any rate, if anyone has more stories to share, please do.

 

[[Sc...]]

I can give my experience. I was weaning off benzos and AD's like Paxil and Effexor as well as sleeping pills. I was feeling horrible after i got off AD's and was still on benzos and sleeping pills. It was a very long process (years) to wean off AD's and benzos and it wasn't until i got off ALL drugs that my mind started to clear from the fog and i felt better. 

[[mt...]]

16 hours ago, [[S...] said:

I can give my experience. I was weaning off benzos and AD's like Paxil and Effexor as well as sleeping pills. I was feeling horrible after i got off AD's and was still on benzos and sleeping pills. It was a very long process (years) to wean off AD's and benzos and it wasn't until i got off ALL drugs that my mind started to clear from the fog and i felt better. 

Awesome that you're off all poisons. How about the physical symptoms .. would you say the same , that they became significantly better after being off all drugs like with the cognitive ones? Or not really..

[[Sc...]]

9 hours ago, [[m...] said:

Awesome that you're off all poisons. How about the physical symptoms .. would you say the same , that they became significantly better after being off all drugs like with the cognitive ones? Or not really..

The only physical symptom that bothers me most is the head pressure/tension. Unfortunately it has got worse over the years probably due to changes in the CNS. Cognition has improved many things have improved, the tinnitus that comes and goes started in 2020 and has remained.  Even though i suffer from the head pressure/tension i feel better now than when i was drugged on the poisons that was slowly destroying me.

Edited December 10, 2023 by [Sc...]