Season 6

This extra segment involves a nuanced discussion about the role of long-term benzodiazepine use in the ability to learn and the risk of dementia. We know that Alcohol causes a specific type of dementia, but, despite their similarities in mechanism of action, don't regularly talk about Benzodiazepine...

Michael and I give our closing thoughts and recommendations on benzodiazepine use. In summary, while benzo's have many appropriate uses, there is no good data to promote long-term regular use of benzodiazepines for anxiety or other conditions, Use Xanax/Alprazolam for Xanax/Alprazolam withdrawal (ot...

-Here, we start off with a discussion about why the question of whether someone with long-term benzo use and abrupt discontinuation experiences symptoms of benzo withdrawal or if those represent rebound symptoms of the original anxiety or panic. If you're on a benzo (or any other powerful neurotrans...

This segment includes one of the most important and under-recognized phenomena when it comes to benzo withdrawal... that Xanax, or Alprazolam, has a unique chemical structure that makes its' withdrawal resistant to other benzo's. In other words, patients in Xanax withdrawal can present to the hospit...

Here, Michael and I go back to the origins of benzodiazepines, the cultural factors that increased their popularity in the United States, the evolution of what drug class they have belonged to over time (named, of course, by pharmaceutical marketing divisions), and surmise about what 'new' classes o...

Here, Michael and I reveal several historical, and more recent, statistics and common-sense findings regarding the dangers of benzodiazepines. It is so explicit to us that, while this class of medications does have several beneficial short-term uses, the longer-term uses of benzodiazepines undoubted...

Per usual, in this first episode of the series, I give my rant on the subject of benzodiazepines, followed by an introduction to our repeat guest for this series, Michael Shuman, a clinical pharmacist with expertise in psychopharmacology. Benzo's include medications such as Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, ...

In this month's series, we're talking about Benzodiazepines, or Benzo's, which include medications like Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, and Ativan, among others. Joining me for the 2nd time in this series is Michael Shuman, PharmD. In the segments that follow, we'll discuss historical trends in benzo presc...