I know there is always a great debate about the potential for both addiction and dependence on benzos and that concerns a lot of doctors. My question is, if you're being treated with low dose benzos and don't display any signs of addictive behaviour, what is the problem with just staying on them forever? I mean, as long as you don't get super drowsy from them or anything...if you have anxiety problems, I just can't see why you can't just stay on them.

Compared to a lot of other drugs out there the side-effects are so mild, and they're relatively inexpensive.  Does anyone know if there is a reason?

Thanks,
Kelly

I've wondered the same exact thing.

Two other things can be an issue (besides "addictive behavior"), from my personal POV:

1)  Sometimes a body builds up a tolerance to the med, requiring higher and higher doses.

2)  Sometimes they eventually cause or exacerbate depression (or other intolerable side effects, I suppose).

(If I take more than 1mg of Ativan per day on a regular basis, my body gets used to it and 1mg no longer helps.  I also trend more towards depression, unless I'm taking it to combat hypomania at the time!  Switching benzos might alleviate these problems, but I'm usually OK with just 1mg each day or two, as needed.)

Anyhow, if neither of the above is a problem, then ... like you ... I see no reason not to continue benzo therapy.  Many people do just that, with full backing/encouragement from well-informed and experienced mental health professionals.

My pdoc has always told me to take the benzos if I need them and don't worry about addiction. If your anxiety is chronic take the benzos. Would you rather suffer from anxiety symptoms or be hooked on benzos? That's the bottom line.

My father has been taking benzos since they were created and I've been taking them every day now for over 2 years. No problems.

I agree that if you are taking a benzo prescribed to you by a doctor and are having success with it then coming off of it doesn't seem to make sense.  Sometimes a pdoc will prescribe a benzo for short term use for a patient with situational anxiety.  Some pdocs really prefer you be on a long lasting benzo like Klonopin, but they want to give you xanax or ativan for a short time.

Katie

So can these help with dysphoric mania too?  I'm on the anticonvulsants for that, but sometimes they're just not enough for that wanting to crawl-out-of-your-skin, scream, yell, gotta run out the door feeling.

Ativan definitely helped me through that last one.  But more like a rescue med until other things kicked in; I couldn't really function in that zombie state for days on end, but it was better than the alternative.

At one time I was taking 8 mgs. Ativan a day to combat mania and it didn't work. It was like driving drunk @ 100 m.p.h. down a gravel road.