Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a pharmacy.
Those aren‘t just anxiety drugs. Lorazepam is a literal Benzo. Which means it literally depresses (ie. makes less active) your CNS (brain).
These drugs are highly addictive and tolerance forming. They‘re often prescribed for insomnia since they inhibit brain signalling.
Once your brain forms tolerance it increases excitatory signalling to „counter“ the drug. Which means if you abruptly stop, you get withdrawal. Your brain is „overactive“ you have seizures, loads of horrible symptoms, in some cases people die.
(Not trying to scare people, short term or sporadic use is actually decently safe, it‘s long term high dose use which is dangerous. But basically my point is „anxiety drug“ is underselling what this is.)
You’re also overstating their dangers by providing incomplete, inaccurate information. I worked on a pharma study on long-term benzo usage, so I’m familiar. Needless, inaccurate fear mongering like this is exactly what individuals with anxiety, recalcitrant insomnia, or seizure disorders do NOT need to read when looking into treatment options.
Benzodiazepines are an effective, appropriate treatment for a number of conditions, including treatment-resistant insomnia, anxiety and panic disorders, and epilepsy.
Long-term use is safe if prescribed and used correctly. Taking a low to moderate dose 2-4 days weekly is unlikely to result in tolerance or addiction. Higher-dosage and/or daily treatment is also safe under the care of a knowledgeable physician. Other modalities, such as SSRIs, tricyclics, and MAOIs, are preferable first-line treatments for anxiety and panic disorders, but some individuals have symptoms recalcitrant to treatment and require adjuvant therapy. Benzodiazepines are used as rescue medications by epileptics, and some have such serious symptoms that their use is a major facet of treatment. See Lennox-Gastaut syndrome to get an idea.
Abrupt withdrawal symptoms can be unpleasant but “seizures and loads of horrible symptoms” is more fear mongering. The most common symptoms of “quitting cold turkey” from frequent and long-term usage are minor but unpleasant: agitation, irritability, increased anxiety, increased sweating, etc. Seizures are rare and tend to be in individuals… wait for it… using these medications for acute seizure treatment. These can be easily avoided by tapering down the dosage over time.
I don’t know what your motive here was, but consider the impact before trying to give people a scare.
tricyclics as a first-line treatment
What the hell did I just read?
It’s not fear mongering. People need to be aware of the potential consequences prior to taking medication long term. Long-term usage causes (sometimes permanent) cognitive damage and withdrawal absolutely can cause psychosis, seizures and coma. Should you avoid medication if you need it? Absolutely not as the negatives are pale in comparison to the positives, but let’s not pretend that those side effects are extremely rare.
I’d agree if you weren’t misquoting me and referring to another statement out of context.
Do you have any specific criticism based on both what I actually wrote and actual medical science?
Edit: I expect it’s how I mentioned tricyclics as a first-line treatment. Within anti depressants, SSRIs/SNRIs > tricyclic > MAOI due to side effect profiles, but all will often (but not always) be trialed before moving to benzodiazepine monotherapy or higher dose/frequency adjuvant therapy.
Some studies suggest TCAs are more effective than SSRIs. MAOIs are absolutely more effective than both, but their side effect profiles and restrictions due to dietary/medication interactions can be brutal.
The greatest evidence for this cognitive damage is a self-selected Internet survey: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10309976/
We call that “pretty low quality” data in science and public health. Unsatisfied customers are more likely to write a review. lI’m not saying it’s not possible, but actual data is scant.
So what you’re saying is that potatoes are a helluva drug.
Carb coma best coma.
Does this mean that, if I were to take a benzo right before sleep, I shouldn’t dream?
Nah you can still dream. It just means your brain is less active than if you didn’t take the benzo. But some benzos and especially benzo-like drugs can actually give you weird hallucination-type dreams. Specifically thinking of Z-drugs.
Well that sucks.
Still trying to find a way not to dream so much.
Ever since I became chronically ill I feel like I dream way more and my dreams are less comfortable…
I’ll just mention that in Italy the word for potato is also used to refer to pussy.
Well now I have to see some Italian pussy
Boil 'em . . . mash 'em . . . shove 'em up your ass . . . PO-TAY-TOES!
Not that kind of plug, NutWrench
God I love potatoes.
That is all
TIL that I’m growing Ativan in my garden this year.
Boil 'em, mash 'em, inject 'em.
The first color photos were composed by tri-colored sensitized potato crums/particles.
boil em mash em stick em in a stew
Good thing I made potato soup yesterday.
They left out paint stamps
I read potatoe tuber and assumed.
small town near here got some notoriety for a stop–sign altercation. somebody got a potato shoved up their ass. diffused a tense situation. i can see why.
They call dogs mans best friend, but we ignore the humble potato. Have they been with us as long as canines? No. That’s why they’re putting in so much effort to fufill our every need.
One day you’re going to wake up and realize you love your potatoes. That they love you. The entire time, you’ll know what you need to do. It will hurt, as it always does, as you boil and mash this tuber that was once your closest companion, but in return, they will give you a full days nourishment and only ask for a little more butter this time.
I love my dog, but I’ve never had to clean potato vomit out of a carpet at 3 am.
Lemme make a pot of mashed potatoes and get extremely drunk. We can change this.
Vodka, right?
Right? Just pressure-cook the potatoes in vodka before letting them completely cool and then mash them. Then it’s not alcoholism, it’s side-dishes.
You’re missing the forest for the trees. Vodka can be, and is, made from potatoes. What is that if not the man’s closest companion?
That’s why I recommend using a pressure cooker instead of boiling them in vodka. Don’t let anything evaporate. Boiling potatoes in water to mash them makes watery potatoes. Pressure cooking them in vodka makes the potatoes more potato.
^Note: Please don’t actually pressure cook things with vodka. You’re just begging for the world’s scariest Molotov cocktail on your kitchen counter.^
How about a dog vomiting up raw potato? Cleaned that up yesterday
Thanks to the andeans who gave us the potato
Are we sure this isn’t because of local contamination or something like that? Are we sure this is actually naturally occurring?
Monsanto has entered the chat.
You jest, but… likely profitable.
Inb4 Monsanto funded study says ‘Monsanto pesticides proven to improve mental health’
