From: drarwingnuttephd@gmail.com   
      
   Revealed: Long-Suspected Danger of Anti-Anxiety and Sleeping Drugs   
      
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   Drugs   
   Massive study of 100,000 people finds evidence for long-suspected danger of   
   anxiety and sleeping drugs.   
      
   Like many drugs, those prescribed for anxiety disorders, like diazepam and   
   temazepam, have a number of known side-effects like daytime sleepiness, falls,   
   an increased risk of dementia -- and they are also addictive.   
      
   Now, though, a new study has found evidence for a long-suspected danger of   
   these drugs as well as common sleeping pills: an increased risk of death.   
      
   The large study, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at data from   
   over 100,000 patients who had been to their family doctors across seven years   
   (Weich et al., 2014).   
      
   It found that taking anti-anxiety drugs (like diazepam) or sleeping pills   
   (like zolpidem/Ambien) doubled the risk of death.   
      
   In real terms this meant:   
      
   "...there were about four excess deaths linked to drug use per 100 people   
   followed for an average of 7.6 years after their first prescription" (Weich et   
   al., 2014)   
      
   There was also a dose-response effect: the more of the drugs people took, the   
   higher their risk of death.   
      
   To reach its conclusions, the study matched people who had taken the   
   anti-anxiety and sleeping pills with other similar patients who had not taken   
   the drugs.   
      
   The study also controlled for psychiatric illnesses like anxiety and sleeping   
   disorders.   
      
   Many of the patients in the study received more than one drug and 5% had taken   
   drugs of three different types over the study period.   
      
   Benzodiazepines -- like diazepam and temazepam -- were the most commonly   
   prescribed drugs.   
      
   Professor Scott Weich, who led the study, said:   
      
   "The key message here is that we really do have to use these drugs more   
   carefully.   
      
   This builds on a growing body of evidence suggesting that their side effects   
   are significant and dangerous.   
      
   We have to do everything possible to minimise over reliance on anxiolytics   
   [anti-anxiety drugs] and sleeping pills.   
      
   That's not to say that they cannot be effective.   
      
   But particularly due to their addictive potential we need to make sure that we   
   help patients to spend as little time on them as possible and that we consider   
   other options, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, to help them to overcome   
   anxiety or sleep    
   problems."   
      
   * Read on: Best Social Anxiety Disorder Treatment & How to Fall Asleep Fast.   
      
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   Magic Mushrooms: How They Affect the Brain's Emotion Centres   
   Social Anxiety Disorder: Impressive Study Reveals The Very Best Treatment   
      
   http://www.spring.org.uk/2014/10/revealed-long-suspected-danger-   
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