Went to my every three month visit with my psychiatrist today and was surprised by a sign posted on the wall of the lobby. It says that this mental health center will no longer be writing prescriptions for Xanax unless you are currently weaning off Xanax. Xanax will not be prescribed in the future.
When I got done with my dr I asked her about the message. She said that according to the statistics at their office (9 psychiatrists there) they treat more patients for benzo withdrawal than for all other types of withdrawal from prescription meds. She said they had a full meeting of all the drs and everyone agreed that the use of benzos has gotten too routine. While sleeping meds (the Z drugs), ssri and snri all have significant withdrawal for many the occurrence of withdrawal is less than that for long term benzo users where almost all experience significant withdrawal. And of course there is buspar, hydroxyzine, clonidine and others that have no withdrawal. She said they were going to continue to collect data and monitor the situation and will probably issue policies on the use of Clonazepam and Lorazepam at a later date.
WOW!! Somebody is learning that there is an issue with benzos. Can you imagine that? lol