Posted by Iago Camboa on May 8, 2002, at 10:48:42
In reply to Re: Ambien and other chimera » Iago Camboa, posted by katekite on May 7, 2002, at 7:26:56
Hi Kate,
Please don't thank me but I have to say you are one of the most good-sensed people on PB so it is indeed a keen pleasure for me to speak directly to you.
Also I must say I've not the expertise to always use the words in their exact medico-scientifical meanings, for that Elizabeth would be a much better 'source' than I can be. So I hope she will fill in the places where I may have overused or abused such words as 'tolerance', 'addiction', 'dependence' and the like.
When I speak about 'American fantasy' about benzos I just mean the sometimes over-exaggeration that obtains in certain US circles about the 'tolerance effects' of these very useful and very safe medicines. These tolerance effects are so mild and so benign that during the last 25 years or so I've been using benzos I never had to see any doctor about any nasty withdrawal effects, or whatever difficulties in dealing with them.
I took literally 'many hundreds' (during several years of course) of those pills known in America as 'date rape pills', I of course mean the very powerful, the very safe and the very 'clean' hypnotic benzo 'flunitrazepam' (Rohypnol in Europe) and I never felt either any tolerance to that chemical, or any noticeable withdrawal symptoms.
I have more recently used diazepam/Valium everyday during more than five years without having any need to augment the daily dose and I gave it up altogether a beautiful day (substituting it overnight by Xanax) with very minor withdrawal effects (although I did experiment this time 'tremors' of the inferior members during a few weeks) which effects I delt with by myself by diminishing the doses of AD meds I was on at the same time, augmenting Xanax from 1mg/day to 2mg/day and reducing my daily input of coffee.
I now use 2mg/day (4 halves of 1mg pills roughly every 6h around the clock) and I have not the slightest concern about any tolerance to the med. Even if I augment the dose at a rate of .5mg per year (I have 5 months now of daily use without any impairment on the effects of the drug), just to allow for a 'certain' tolerance of my body to the drug, it will take 4 years before I reach 4mg/day and I have plenty of time to think about the true extent of the aforementioned (putative) tolerance.
And I should add further that Xanax is a much better choice than Valium in being a powerful anxiolytic WITHOUT sedative side effects, which is pure gold for me. I take every day 4 or 5 cups of coffee as I always did and don't need any extra aid for sleeping. I also use 112.5mg/day of Anafranil/clomipramine and never felt better.
So to sum up things: I will not deny there may be a certain tolerance (very mild in my case and with many other people I know) to benzos in sensitive people but that tolerance has IMHO been too much exaggerated namely in the US.
And if I am very sensitive to the opinion in the US, this is because I know from experience that what is now being 'cooked' by FDA & DEA may well have to be 'swallowed' 10 years later by us here in Europe...All the best,
Iago
poster:Iago Camboa
thread:104454
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020503/msgs/105588.html