Abuse of Xanax Leads a Clinic to Halt Supply

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Times

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Gayle Mink, a nurse practitioner at a community mental health center here, had tired of the constant stream of patients seeking Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug coveted for its swift calming effect.

“It is such a drain on resources,” said Ms. Mink, whose employer, Seven Counties Services, serves some 30,000 patients in Louisville and the surrounding region. “You’re funneling a great deal of your energy into pacifying, educating, bumping heads with people over Xanax.”

Because of the clamor for the drug, and concern over the striking number of overdoses involving Xanax here and across the country, Seven Counties took an unusual step — its doctors stopped writing new prescriptions for Xanax and its generic version, alprazolam, in April and plan to wean patients off it completely by year’s end.

The experiment will be closely watched in a state that has wrestled with widespread prescription drug abuse for more than a decade and is grasping for solutions as it claims more lives by the week. While Kentucky and other states have focused largely on narcotic painkiller addiction, experts say that benzodiazepines, the class of sedatives that includes Xanax, are also widely misused or abused, often with grim consequences.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/in-louisville-a-centers-doctors-cut-off-xanax-prescriptions.html?_r=1&hp

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This kind of thing pisses me off. So those who have a legit need get cut off.

This summer I started taking Xanax at night a few times a week just to get through neurological pain & anxiety of a possible ALS diagnosis hanging over my head. Keeps me from waking in pain at 4 or 5 am which I find to be the dark night of the soul time and inability to return to sleep.

And I've heard of others being deprived of painkillers b/c docs afraid to rx b/c of possible investigation.

So because of abusers and some docs/clinics interested in only $$$$$'s those in true need can just suffer!

[CountAllVotes]

1. they prefer you to be on the SSRI drugs

and they cost a fortune.

Xanax is dead cheap. I've been taking it for years rather than Ambien or Lunesta (which cost lots of $$$) to get to sleep at night. One mg. a day hardly makes me an addict.

This whole thing sounds like big pharma is in the background hoping to get common tranquillizers made evil.

They do have plenty of medical uses. They wouldn't exist if they didn't.

However, it is far more profitable to get you on Prozac or something similar and Ambien or Lunesta if you cannot sleep!

:grr:

[SoapBox]

5. Hey, Ambien is now available in generic.

Check it out and see if it would help in your situation.

[CountAllVotes]

7. Ambien doesn't work on me

It gives me hallucinations and it doesn't put me to sleep. Lunesta was the same. I took 2 mg. of Lunesta and was awake for 3 days! No thanks!

[Johnson20]

17. Did the same thing to me. n/t

[wtmusic]

8. Try sleeping without Ambien, then you'll know if you're addicted.

I would bet your mind will be racing like a hurricane and about 2:30 AM you'll get up and pop one.

If you crush one in a glass of water and drink less of the glass every night, you might be able to get off it in 2-3 weeks.

Ambien is evil, evil shit. And don't think big pharma is in the background - they love people like you (and me, when I was addicted).

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Poster does not take Ambien....

but I heartily agree with you, that stuff is danger plus.

[wtmusic]

10. Thanks for correction.

Actually I had a similar experience with Xanax. Although I do take it occasionally for flying.

[CountAllVotes]

11. I cannot take Ambien

It makes me nutz and does not put me to sleep. They gave me this when my mother was dying - take 2 pills at night and that didn't knock me out! It is evil and causes hallucinations in some people like me. NO THANKS, I've experimented enough with Ambien (and Lunesta which costs about $6.00 a pill).

[elias7]

24. SSRI's aren't addictive, benzos are. It's not always about money.

Benodiazepines are a drug of abuse, and while an overdose with just a benzo will likely not kill you, most people who abuse the drug are combining it with ETOH, opiates, etc...

Some can manage to be on a stable dose of benzodiazepines for years, but daily use will lead to a dependency state.

In this case, it is not about profits or money, but addiction. Frame it how you like, but I'll bet you cannot make it through the night without your xanax...

[tedzbear]

27. 1 mg a day of Xanax is not a trivial dose.

Try stopping it (under a doctor's supervision of course) and see how you feel! I guarantee you'll experience worse than insomnia.

[a la izquierda]

2. Great...I have a doc appointment next week.

I take xanax to fly. I get a script for 10 every 3-5 months. I take a 1/2 to one per flight (depending on the flight's length). It's the only thing besides a really strong med like Klonapin that works for me.

[otohara]

6. Get To A Detox Clinic ASAP

you're clearly an addict to .... flying

[a la izquierda]

21. Oh yes, yes I am.

I am addicted to cramped accommodations and being groped by strangers.

[SoapBox]

3. Super big ditto!

"This kind of thing pisses me off. So those who have a legit need get cut off."

You are SO correct.

My Mom is 90 and has a LOT of constant pain from extreme osteoporosis AND from several compression fractures in the lumbar area.

She has a fentanyl patch, Percocet (generic of course!) and about every 3-4 months gets an injection in that lower back area...I give her 1 Xanax (generic of course!!) before the injection.

You would think that we were CRIMINALS, trying to get these prescriptions filled.

I can ONLY have these filled once a month (the Xanax prescription is for ONE pill! And that is only when she is going to get the injection...I have to plan to pick up the prescription and get it filled, in time for the shot!!!).
I have to jump through hoops, to get a new, written prescription, take it myself to the pharmacy and then sometimes wait for either the insurance to approve or for the pharmacy to get stock.

And my Mom is the bad guy.

Stupid...Stupid...Stupid.

[RobinA]

15. Believe It Totally

I work in mental health. Special scorn is applied to people who take sedatives and/or painkillers, particularly by many younger Drs. I wish for them a lifetime of even moderate anxiety and pain and NOTHING to alleviate it. Deep breathing my butt!

[bananas]

4. The drugs that really work are the ones which become "drugs of abuse"

When a drug is effective and has few side effects, people will take it for its effects.
They even add poison to Vicodin to kill anyone who might abuse it: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/p-nu/201103/tylenol-and-the-war-drugs
So what we're left with are drugs that aren't very effective or have horrible side effects.

[saras]

13. "They even add poison to Vicodin to kill anyone who might abuse it" - too bad it's so easy to remove

The amount of opiate painkillers that is an "appropriate dose" varies by a factor of hundreds - yes, hundreds. There isn't a "normal" amount to take, so this limits people who need more painkiller by the threat of liver damage.

While the real addicts simply remove the acetaminophen.

[RobinA]

16. I've Often Thought

about this and the stigma against sedatives and pain killers. Drugs that work. It's almost like society WANTS people to suffer anxiety and pain. While they do have a rather serious abuse potential, I can't help but think that detoxing people could be easier than we make it, if only we wanted it not to be punitive.

[Vattel]

12. Switching people to clonzepam will help to avoid over-doses?

I don't get it. As prescription drugs go, Xanax is way safe.

[Glimmer of Hope]

22. A couple doctors I see actually encourage me to take it when I need to,

They are not fans of clonzepan but think xanax is very safe.

[RamboLiberal]

14. Amazing so many red states have RX drug abuse problems

Also meth.

What Palin calls "Real America".

One wonders what the poverty, factories closing, main street closing, union jobs replaced by non-union in mines & what factories are left, low-paying service jobs, high dropout rate, lack of health insurance, hopelessness play into this abuse.

And yet many keep voting "R" who use them as some kind of iconic image. Unfortunately that image is fastly fading.

[iscooterliberally]

18. This is so ridiculous.

As adults over 21 we should be able to walk into any pharmacy and plunk down our IDs, and be able to buy
whatever drugs we need. I own several fire arms. I have the keys to a vehicle that weighs over 1 ton. I usually have a large bottle of whiskey around. I also have 3 very large dogs. They are sweet, but if someone were to act in a threatening manner around them, they could be very dangerous. If I can manage these things, I ought to be able to handle a bottle of freakin' Xanax, or Vicodin or whatever. I'm sick of this nanny state BS. Our Federal Government is hopelessly addicted to the power that they have taken for themselves in the war on drugs. If people need medicine they should be able to have it. If they just want to get high they should be able to do that too. :grr:

[teknomanzer]

19. Nuts to those pharmaceuticals...

Cannibis, while not effective for everyone (which is the case for just about all of those manufactured drugs) would be a much better choice for anxiety, sleep disorders, and plain old fuckin' boredom. With an LD-50 that indicates the substance is virtually harmless where can you go wrong?

[jmowreader]

20. Benzos aren't one of the "Big 5" drugs...

Most of the employers who drug test, which these days is most of them, use the "SAMSHA-5" test developed by the government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. This test looks for:

cannabis
cocaine
opiates
PCP
amphetamines

Because this test is so common, you get the bulk rate when you use it. You can test for other things, like barbiturates and benzos, but that comes at a higher cost.

Benzos are safer than barbiturates, very few people test for them and they're legal. (What cop is going to give a shit about one benzo pill? One joint is a different story.) So...they're quickly becoming the drug of choice. And I have no idea how to fix this. Not even sure if legalizing weed would do it--pot is a good drug, but lots of people like happy pills too, or instead.

[RobinA]

25. Employers Testing

for benzos would be an expensive mess for them. So many people have legally prescribed benzos that they could never sort it out. Plus, there's the people who pop their spouse's Xanie from time to time. Do employers really want to wade into that thicket? Not if it costs money.

[jmowreader]

26. Even if you COULD sort it out, they wouldn't want to

Benzos are in the "extended" drug tests some people (usually probation officers, if you've been busted for prescription drug violations) order, but those extended drug tests are more expensive than the standard variety. Corporations don't spend a nickel they don't have to.

[Glimmer of Hope]

23. I hope you are able to get to the root of your problem and your pain subsides.

I wish you the best.