Calling it as I see it - Brain Damage

[Guest [...]]

thanks Magnollie

 

I so agree I read some of the stuff from toxic psychiatry yesterday and it freaked me out big time.  Hopefully my head can reset itself.

 

thanks for your opinion and i agree big time.

 

Lizzy

[[wi...]]

Earlier today there was a video of Stevie Nicks talking about benzos...after that I clicked on the next video on youtube and it was a British documentary ..interviews with 'patients'. There were people still dealing with CNS problems 8-9 years after the fact. So...does anyone really know if this is permanent for some?

[Guest [...]]

I know that after a reaction to an ssri years ago my cns was always compromised and now all of this stuff to boot.  too much I hope not 9 or ten years though.

 

Lizzy

[[wi...]]

sorry to hear that Lizzie...CNS compromised due to AD's...    I was so ignorant to any of these 'head' meds prior to this experience..what with all my research on the internet..i never once checked out benzodiazapines...that seems so bizarre to me now...why didn't I? Ah well.. 

Well..I think you said it best in your signature:

 

"off the V thank goodness for that

DONT LISTEN TO ALL THE NEGATIVITY JUST BECAUSE IT HAPPENED TO OTHERS DOESNT MEAN IT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU"

 

gotta keep living with this..a day at a time...believe in the power of our own minds to heal. We do have an incredible capacity to heal.. I have to remind myself of that very fact.

 

 

[Guest [...]]

Thanks wishful1

 

I know why didnt we look at all i just dont get it i research everything like holiday destinations etc but the important stuff i just didnt well actually i didnt have the chance my parents were taking care of me had removed me from my family and literally forced me to take them like the GOOD doctor said.  aaahh so angry at this i told them i was feeling so sick on them and they were like oh it takes so many weeks to get into your system anyway its all bs i guess everyone thought they were doing the best thing by me but it turned out to be the worst.  I have to agree with you though our brains are powerful and we will survive this.

 

Lizzy

[[In...]]

Well I surely hope so. I often wonder about the Stevie Nicks thing. I read one article and it must have been the "short version." Always wondered after that what was the whole story.

 

I know she took klonopin, and I will tell you, it's brought me to my knees. Horrible drug. I think I've seen her since singing on tv. Is she still having awful CNS sx?

 

I just got off 12 hours of intense work, so this is it for me tonight, but I'm now in the frame of mind to be tired, grouchy, grumpy, and wondering if Stevie Nicks is still having trouble.

 

If she's ok, then maybe we'll be ok. I'm wondering about this. It's a way of measuring ourselves. Listening to her. Hope she's not just attention seeking. I'd really like to know.

 

Intend

[[wi...]]

[[Ca...]]

I am still way to brain dead to research or watch anything.

What is this with Stevie Nicks?

I could ask my husband to look for me but because I can't do anything yet, he has been handling all of our lives, money earning etc. He is swamped with too much to do.

 

I'm also worried about full recovery but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. I can worry about that if and when I stop moving forward with my healing.

I am moving forward albeit at a snails pace but forward nontheless.

Carol

[Guest [...]]

hey Carol

 

way to go forward is the only way my friend.  Stevie was on benzos as well so its her story.

 

happy mother's day lovely

 

Lizzyxx

[[Ca...]]

Tks Lizzy

 

It was pretty good because our daughter came down.

She is the sweetest thing.

She just finished university and is looking for a job now.

Registered dietician.  We are so proud of her.

our son called me also. I was surprised that he even knew it was mothers day.

I didnT start feeling normal until after 6 pm. But thats better than not feeling normal at all.

It is after 2 am. I'm still feeling normal but would like to feel tired:(

 

Btw. How do you edit a post that you already posted?

Hope your day was wonderful Lizzy

Carol

Also heard that vegemite is terrible. Never tried it though

[Guest [...]]

Carol

 

im having a shocker today so cant type much but good on you for moments of normality I do love that and your kids sound great Im glad you heard and seen from them.  Oh carol when you go back into your original post you can see on the top right hand corner its says modify you can only do this for 24 hours after you post and the thing is when does the 24 hours start on whose time scale i dont know.

 

Im not great so dont want to burden you with my misery.

 

Love Lizzyxxx

[[In...]]

I did read up on Stevie Nicks yesterday. Seems she did take Klonopin 3 times per day for 8 years. Whole story is vague in many ways though.

 

She has recorded a lot of highly aclaimed stuff since then so I guess she healed. But she took it in her 40s and now he's 63. There's not a whole lot focused on the benzo thing other than she feels it prevented her from having children; I guess cause she was so sick. Hard to say.

 

I can understand why it just a bit of info in her story; she's very famous and not gonna focus on only that part. But who knows how long it took her to feel better. Never could find that.

 

Intend

[[Ca...]]

Thanks Intend. Thats enough info for me. (hugs)

 

Lizzy

 

You Can burden me. Thats what friends are for. Hugs

Besides. It is morning here now and like every morning for me, I'm struggling mighty.

I have resolved not to start any negative threads in the morning. (its not so easy to follow through with that resolve) I feel like posting an SOS right now.

 

But by talking on this thread which is not so exposed as a brand new one it is like

Just a little cry for help. Not an all Out Scream!  .

 

Later when you are up and at it and your morning isnt going well, i will (hopefully) be feeling a little better and can lighten your load through sharing.

 

This is the spirit or this site.

It is here for you to take as well as give. Please don't hold in more than you can bear.

Your Canadian friend. Carol

[Guest [...]]

hey Sweet Carol

 

I do believe you are right I started one yesterday morning in such distress and you know as the day goes on your life what did I just do.

 

Please feel free to use my blog to post because I always worry that Im hijacking peoples threads.  Hate that you are feeling bad Im here now come over and type how you are on my blog you will see the link at the bottom of my signature I would really like to talk with you today have some questions for you.

 

Lizzyxxx

[[Ca...]]

Heh Lizzy

 

I've posted replies to you all over.

Got to stop meeting like this.

i started a blog now also. I'm just having trouble finding i again.

I need to keep the link somewhere. First have to find it though.

 

Anyone out there can help me?

Carol

[[rs...]]

Brain damage controversySome studies have demonstrated brain damage in therapeutic dose users whereas other studies have refuted that benzodiazepines caused structural brain damage.[citation needed] The evidence seems to suggest some form of brain damage but whether the long-term effects of benzodiazepines are due to structural brain damage or functional brain damage remains to be determined conclusively.[citation needed]

 

In a study in 1980 in a group of 55 consecutively admitted patients having abused exclusively sedatives or hypnotics, neuropsychological performance was significantly lower and signs of intellectual impairment significantly more often diagnosed than in a matched control group taken from the general population. These results suggested a relationship between abuse of sedatives or hypnotics and cerebral disorder. [74]

 

A publication has asked in 1981 if lorazepam is more toxic than diazepam.[75]

 

In a study in 1984, 20 patients having taken long-term benzodiazepines were submitted to brain CT scan examinations. Some scans appeared abnormal. The mean ventricular/brain area measured by planimetry was increased over mean values in an age- and sex-matched group of control subjects but was less than that in a group of alcoholics. There was no significant relationship between CT scan appearances and the duration of benzodiazepine therapy. The clinical significance of the findings was unclear.[76]

 

In 1986, it was presumed that permanent brain damage may result from chronic use of benzodiazepines similar to alcohol related brain damage.[77]

 

In 1987, 17 high-dose inpatient abusers of benzodiazepines have anecdotally shown enlarged cerebrospinal fluid spaces with associated brain shrinkage. Brain shrinkage reportedly appeared to be dose dependent with low-dose users having less brain shrinkage than higher-dose users.[78]

 

However, a CT study in 1987 found no evidence of brain shrinkage in prescribed benzodiazepine users.[79]

 

In 1989, in a 4- to 6-year follow-up study of 30 inpatient benzodiazepine abusers, Neuropsychological function was found to be permanently affected in some chronic high-dose abusers of benzodiazepines . Brain damage similar to alcoholic brain damage was observed. The CT scan abnormalities showed dilatation of the ventricular system. However, unlike alcoholics, sedative hypnotic abusers showed no evidence of widened cortical sulci. The study concluded that, when cerebral disorder is diagnosed in sedative hypnotic benzodiazepine abusers, it is often permanent.[80]

 

A CT study in 1993 investigated brain damage in benzodiazepine users and found no overall differences to a healthy control group.[81]

 

A study in 2000 found that long-term benzodiazepine therapy does not result in brain abnormalities.[82]

 

Withdrawal from high-dose abuse of nitrazepam anecdotally was alleged in 2001 to have caused severe hypoperfusion of the whole brain with diffuse slow activity on EEG in one patient after 25 years of abuse. After withdrawal, abnormalities in hypofrontal brain wave patterns persisted beyond the withdrawal syndrome, which suggested to the authors that organic brain damage occurred from chronic high-dose abuse of nitrazepam.[83]

 

Professor Ashton, a leading expert on benzodiazepines from Newcastle University Institute of Neuroscience, has been cautious in jumping to any firm conclusions and was an advocate for further research into long-lasting or possibly permanent symptoms of long-term use of benzodiazepines as of 1996. [84] She has stated that she believes that the most likely explanation for lasting symptoms is persisting but slowly resolving functional changes at the GABAA benzodiazepine receptor level. Newer and more detailed brain scanning technologies such as PET scans and MRI scans had as of 2002 to her knowledge never been used to investigate the question of whether benzodiazepines cause functional or structural brain damage. As of 2002, the question of whether benzodiazepines cause structural or functional brain damage remained unanswered to her knowledge.[85]

 

[edit]

[[In...]]

Wow.

 

I really don't know what to say about this. Seems pretty inconclusive in one paragraph, and then pretty conclusive in another one.

 

Intend

 

 

[[rs...]]

yeah i think this is pretty scarey. i guess the bottom line is nobody really knows jack about it. if i had been told i was going to be permanently damaged from xanax i NEVER would have taken it.rstud

[[In...]]

I totally agree with you. Tiring to read all these "maybe" type reports isn't it?  Leaves all of us just hanging out to dry and hoping.

 

And then discouraged. And then not knowing what to think no matter what you read here on BB.

 

Intend

[Guest [...]]

It really is going to work out.  Humans are amazing the brain truly does repair itself maybe not quite the model you were expecting but a workable one nonetheless.

 

trust it will be alright in the end and if its not alright its not yet the end. 

 

Lizzy

[[In...]]

Lizzy,

 

That's a saying in Hindu culture. But I want things to be better before the end.

 

Intend

[Guest [...]]

intend

 

I know its so powerful though isnt it?  We all want it to be the end however we have to live the best way we can until then if you get my drift.  If I have to do miserable Im going to do it the best way I can.  I know you probably want to foot me up the butt for saying that and sounding so optimistic but I have to hang on to hope Im sure you get that.

 

Lizzy

[[Ca...]]

I am 6 months off and still have a very strange vibration in my head. Feels like brain waves gone awry. I sure hope that it isn't permanent.

Carol

[Guest [...]]

hey Carol

 

how r u sweety its not permanent no way no how it will all go away I just believe it and know it.

 

Lizzyxx will go see you at your blog hope your day is going /went well

 

[[Ga...]]

I feel brain damaged I was on it for over 20 yrs. I cant think of words alot my brain goes totally blank. I am starting to avoid even making a phone call. I could cry but tomorrow might be better.

Someday maybe I will write my story as to why I was on it so long