Posted by Alan on December 5, 2002, at 16:36:52
In reply to Re: Social Anxiety in OZ (Damn Benzophobes) » Squiggles, posted by Squiggles on December 5, 2002, at 15:17:55
> One primary point i forgot to make
> about all this Alan: the impact of
> benzos on my life.
>
> I believe, as Ray Nimmo explained to me,
> and as i now see in retrospect, i would
> never have been diagnosed as bipolar if
> i had not taken Valium for exam jitters.
> The withdrawals may have mimicked manic
> depression. Consequently, i would never
> have lost my thyroid function, never taken
> Klonopin, never taken Xanax, never had
> panic attacks, never ruined my academic
> career, never lost my final job, and basically
> never have ruined my life.
>
> Squiggles
============================================And this is exactly what is wrong with Ray Nimo's ideology - ANY idealogy. Anyone can make an argument for what one specific thing ruined their life if they choose to blame the drug (which in your individual case and a RELATIVELY few others, it perhaps may have been) but to extrapolate as he has that because this thing happened to you that bzds are the spawn of the devil exclusive of all other possibilities - and therefore for everyone else - is pure nonsense.
You were misdiagnosed and mismanaged. If I took seroquel because I was misdiagnosed with something and sufferered greatly for it, would I more likely find fault with the drug or the doctor? If valium withdrawal was misdignosed as Bi polar then why blame the valium? As you've described it, you were mismanaged, misdiagnosed AND misprescribed...a literal "hat trick".
I could do the same for AD's. Sure they've caused a lot of loss in my life and I could therefore blame the entire class of drug itself. OR I could find out why I was misprescribed, misdiagnosed and mismanaged. That I finally did...commercial interests trumping medicine.
Perhaps you won't be as fortunate as I, not finding a personally satisfying, conclusive answer and I suppose therefore you may always wonder. It's a terrible bind to be in and I'm not saying this to patronise but out of compassion.
We share a lot I suppose. Moreso than perhaps we understand through this sterile medium of the internet. But I see no meaningful purpose, no positivism, no hope, in universalising for all others via personal stories and exploiting them for their own political zeal as benzo.com does. It's zealotry, it's a crusade...I'm reminded of the rotating symbol at the bottom of the home page of benzo.org with the symbols of the fish and cross.
On top of everything else I've read and seen done with the information used on that site to scare people by exaggerating overall risk, that symbol seems to sum it's approach up for me.
I am not interested in "using" you as a devil's advocate. I only assert from what I know in response to the misunderstandings about the medication and it's usage.
Are there cases of the drug causing harm? Sure? Any more than any other drug - even when prescribed and managed properly? NO. And that's my point. The jury of 50 years is in and it looks good for those in the general population that take bzds short or long term. Its the quality, not quantity of life in your years. Why suffer needlessly when there are choices.
The problem is that if the choices are witheld there is an inherent loss of freedom for the patient to choose their own destiny.
That is if they are even aware there are choices in the first place. Anti-benzo zealotry as practiced by these kinds of organisations take away choice for the doctor and patient either via political pressure or on purely moral grounds. The claims to scientific or medical authenticity are so overwhelmingly in favor of using bzds on an equal footing with other medications that it's not even close.
Hence the title of this thread and the impetus for this discussion to even exist.
Best,
Alan
poster:Alan
thread:130480
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021203/msgs/130679.html