[mrsD]

Please read this new research report.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/10...ons/93165.html

Occasional use or daily use under 3mos, still shows little risk.
But daily risk increases substantially, after that, and especially in the elderly.

[caroline2]

A friend told me this maybe a year ago. I took Lorazepam for a while after I went to the ER way back with what I found was a panic attack.

I took 1/2mg for a while but stopped it a while back when I found how good Inositol and Gaba worked for calming. My friend who deals with CFS stopped taking it now as she was using it for sleep help. Thanks.

[kiwi33]

Thanks mrsD.

This case-control study supports the idea that benzodiazepine use is a significant risk factor for Alzheimer's Disease; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4159609/ .

[DejaVu]

Thanks, mrsD for raising this topic.
Thanks, Kiwi, for the supporting article. I want to clearly note the article you have linked in is about benzodiazepines, in general, not only lorazepam. Yikes.
Carolyn, thanks for your input, too.

I have had increasing concerns about lorazepam, especially for the elderly.

I have also seen dissociative patients put on a lot of lorazepam, with the reasoning being: Less anxiety equals less dissociation. What I have seen in each of these cases: More lorazepam equals more dissociation, more confusion and increasingly impaired memory. It's been difficult to talk most psychiatrists out of lorazepam use/prescribing even in these cases.

I have witnessed a 60 y.o. friend become increasingly confused and truly showing signs of the beginning of a dementia, after 3 years of rather heavy lorazepam use, as prescribed by her psychiatrist. This observation does not prove lorazepam has been the cause, of course; yet, it's been scary to watch this person continue use. Lots of increased daily confusion for her. In addition, now that she is off of lorazepam, she is not as clear ,mentally, as she was prior to the lorazepam. I see many signs of deterioration.

I have seen some individuals do reasonably well with a good, solid baseline of magnesium, combined with Taurine, L-Theanine or Inositol. Some people still need some additional assistance with anxiety; however, there are other medication approaches to calming severe anxiety, if/when medication is needed.

For what its worth: I have seen arguments for and against using GABA itself. Some argue that GABA use may shut down natural GABA production. Instead, they promote using GABA precursors.

Integrative Psychiatry has a long way to go yet. I am glad many are involved and I hope more valid studies will be done soon.

Daniel Amen, M.D., continues some fascinating work on the brain and approaches to ADD, anxiety, depression and more.
www.danielamenmd.amenclinics.com
Further info on Dr. Amen's work can be found via a search.

Thanks again for starting a thread on this very important topic.

Warmly,
DejaVu