The Truth about Benzodiazepines
Is Coming Out
I don’t normally consider the Daily Mail Herald of important news but on Tuesday the 8th they published a story regarding the truly terrifying effects of benzodiazepine.
Facts
Though the facts are hard to hear, the truth is starting to penetrate as more and more people realise the true harm caused by these drugs. With common side effects of depression, and anxiety and horrifying withdrawal symptoms thought to be worse than heroin, of muscle spasms, panic attacks, nightmares and insomnia, those prescribed are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Benzo’s as they are commonly called are prescribed for anxiety, nervousness and muscle relaxants but the body rapidly builds up a tolerance and requires more and more of the drug to get an affect, rapidly building a dependency and addiction. For this reason, they are meant to be prescribed for no more than 2-4 weeks, unfortunately, this is not always the case with careless GPs, or those who avoid the system and continue to order the drug themselves online.
Doctors are now being sued
Reportedly the situation has gotten so bad that doctors are now being sued by patients affected. Per the Daily Mail one patient received a lump sum of £200,000 from the Devon Partnership, NHS Trust in compensation for the harm caused by multiple prescriptions of these drugs; and another gentleman received a whopping £1.35 million out of court settlement from his doctor for similar reasons.
High profile court cases, or those that catch the media’s eye are usually just the tip of the iceberg, which tells you how much is still going on beneath the surface. There are 12 million prescriptions for benzo’s every year and an estimated 260,000 people in Britain who are still being prescribed benzodiazepines for 6 months or more despite the known and worrying effects of these drugs. We must continue working at getting the facts out, so people are educated on the full effects of these drugs and responsible doctors can be made truly accountable.