Benzodiazepines live on our bedside tables and in our bags, they are pills for the pains of life, the guarantee that insomnia will not find us, that the anxiety monster will fall asleep, suffering is miraculously eliminated by these prodigious but addictive drugs.
In the excellent movie?August: Osage County? (Family album, in Portuguese version), women usually solve their problems with pills, while men do it with alcohol. He showed Meryl Streep masterfully showing this dramatic reality involving the regular and uncontrolled use of benzodiazepines, encouraged by some doctors who consider these drugs to be an easy, rapid and economical resource to alleviate the existential suffering of their patients.
- “We treat sadness and fear with pills as if they were diseases.
- And aren’t they?” Guillermo Rendueles.
- Psychiatrist.
This film remains a real example of what many experts find today: people addicted to legal drugs prescribed by their doctors. Patients need a higher dose every day to feel good, and there are older people who have been using their little “pill” for decades. now they are committed to their quality of life.
There are many shadows in the composition of these tranquilizers whose mission is to make our lives easier when difficulties arise, real or imagined, there is no doubt of their short-term effectiveness, which is great, however, as we know, the processes Symptoms of anxiety or depression can be very prolonged and you need to use the drug for a long time, so there is a risk of addiction and symptoms that we already know.
It is very likely that for many people the word benzodiazepines does not represent anything, but if we talk about Orfidal, Tranxilium, Lorazepam, Lexotam, Valium or Trankimazin, the thing changes, much of the population has already taken some for a specific reason or certainly has a family, friends or colleagues who use it daily.
But what are benzodiazepines really?
A curious fact is that benzodiazepines entered the pharmaceutical market in the 1960s to replace barbiturates. Since then, and with the launch of the well-known Valium (diazepam), by the pharmaceutical company ROCHE in 1963, benzodiazepines have become “medicines”. most accomplished in our history.
The use of psychopharmaceuticals, such as anxiolytics, has increased by 20% worldwide this year.
Benzodiazepines are used to treat panic disorder, generalized anxiety, insomnia, alcohol withdrawal, epilepsy, affective disorders, to relieve surgical pain and even to help detoxify certain medications.
In addition, as several studies have revealed, including that conducted at the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Zaragoza, Spain, benzodiazepines are most often prescribed in nursing homes, a relevant fact that leads experts to question “whether the clinical benefits of these drugs outweigh their adverse effects”.
On the other hand, it should be noted that these are drugs that can only be taken with a prescription, and although they may be associated with antidepressants or antipsychotics, you will always be a specialist who will prescribe and control dosages at any time.
Benzodiazepines are classified according to their half-life in our body. Let’s look at the details.
Benzodiazepines are very effective. They never fail, they help us to rest, to alleviate this desperate suffering after an emotional loss and to make our working day more bearable, but everything in life has a price, and as an evil god in the Greek pantheon, it forces us to make a pact, often impossible. We should not continue treatment beyond 4 to 6 weeks. Otherwise, we are very likely to be addictive.
However, life still suffers, problems are heavy, insomnia continues and anxiety devours us. We ask our doctor for help and he, without further resources and strategies, continues drugs, leading us to a slow and devastating addiction.
Benzodiazepines greatly reduce our ability to memorize new information and, in addition, their prolonged use interferes with our cognitive processes: does it hinder concentration, the ability to solve problems, to deduce information, to link ideas?
A paradoxical reaction of a drug? It is the appearance of an opposite result to that sought after, many patients, after taking several months or even years, of any type of benzodiazepine, have one or more of the following symptoms:
Doctors often prescribe short-acting benzodiazepines for the treatment of insomnia in people over the age of 60, a common procedure that aims to improve sleep quality, contributing to a better quality of life, however, many studies alert us to the various risks associated with prolonged use of these medications in old age:
All this leads us to a very clear conclusion: prolonged unjustified use of these drugs should be considered a public health problem.
Laura is 39 years old, two children of 8 and 3 years old and works for an advertising company, is a high position with many pressures, goals to achieve and a firm position in the market, there are days when it is very difficult to manage all this: fulfilling the role of mother, being a creative success and a woman who tries every day to control the dragon of anxiety.
“Regular long-term consumption of benzodiazepines is addictive, rather than treating the problem or disease. “
A few weeks ago, he had to go to the hospital to overcome an abstinence crisis and it all started with a ringing in his ears. He couldn’t concentrate on anything else, just those persistent hums. Then came the tingling in the arms and feet, the burning sensation in the mouth and a terrible sensitivity to light.
His mood changed, just like that. His children began to be afraid of him, and that’s when his world was challenged and life stopped rhyming. In his mind, nothing was right for him and he wanted to hide, disappear, dissolve into anything.
When he realized his addiction to benzodiazepines he could not believe it, it is very difficult to assume that it is possible to develop an addiction to a drug prescribed by doctors, however, the anxiety and depression processes are long and the consultation time is very long. Very brief In these circumstances, it is sometimes very difficult to control the administration of a medicine.
Laura tried to quit drugs and realized it was impossible because the effects are devastating. Life is not a straight path, but a long zigzag slope, and therefore the help of this pill is often necessary. However, benzodiazepine addiction is similar to heroin and sometimes we have no choice but to go to an advanced treatment center to treat addiction.
We cannot place all responsibility on our doctors, the organization, systems and policies that articulate our environments do not facilitate this personalized care for better diagnosis and treatment, in addition, factors such as unemployment, poor quality of work, crisis, poverty, loneliness or mismanagement of our emotions often exacerbate these gaps where drugs act as auxiliaries , as sinks from suffering and bring a better quality of life.
In conclusion, benzodiazepines are effective in the short term. Beyond this border, where a chemical acts as a sedative, it is necessary to integrate other strategies, other approaches to untangling the knot in our lives through psychotherapy, personal will and real support. and global of our social and family environment. A pill helps us, but the cure is in our hands.