Canadian study links the drugs with a 36 percent increase in the risk of dying over a 12-year period
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comSleeping pills, anxiety meds may shorten lives
Seeded on Mon Nov 15, 2010 3:46 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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"Where there's a pill, there's a way."
And this is a suprise? Everytime big pharm comes out with a drug and commercial telling you to ask your doctor, the following year it's being recalled or a class action lawsuit. And marijuana is still illegal. When has a pharm come out with a drug that WASNT harmful. Never mind all the pills you have to take to counter act the side effects while treating the main ailment. This is insane. But not for the big pharms who make all that money while killing us. Yup, they know what they're doing alright. Im not going to get started on all the benefits of pot or how safe it is.
Oh terrific, I take sleeping pills every night. What should I do not take them and stay up all night and be anxious because I can't sleep? At least I feel better and can do my daily activities after I have had a good nights sleep otherwise I would be more stressed out from NOT sleeping.
Melatonin.
I took alprazolam for many years for panick attacks and insomnia. Began getting side effects and also realized I was getting hooked on them. Quit cold turkey and took up meditation and began drinking natural decaffeinated teas designed to help you sleep.
"Sleepy time" tea from Celestial Seasonings does the trick for me. Call it placebo effect, but I cannot sleep if I don't drink this tea 1 hour prior to going to bed. Bigelow teas also offer "Sweet Dreams" which has a stronger minty flavor. They are both soothing and relaxing, and together with meditation can help control the anxiety and insomnia. Hope this helps all of you!
Unfortunately, depression and anxiety shorten lives, too! As result, you must consider a cost vs. benefit analysis
selecting the subset of the population that takes sleep and anxiety medicines could very well select a group that has higher rates of: stress, sleep deprivation, smoking, alcohol use...for example. all factors that shorten lives. it's not the medicine, it's that people with sleep and anxiety issues as a population by definition have shorter lives, whether they take the medicine or not.
i doubt they looked at the groups with sleep and anxiety issues and didn't take medicine and compared them to those with sleep and anxiety issues who did take medicine. as well, those who chose to take medicine to deal with those issues are likely to experience more severe problems with those issues.
i think it's probably a bogus study.
duhhh
If I am 102 years old and am taking those meds, acording to the survey, the meds will be shorten my lives 12 years; do I care? I think it is ok.
But, prevention is better than cure. Healthy life styles, from exercise healtht to eating/drinking healthy, is much better than taking any medications.
I wouldn't necessarily say it was the medications that were the cause of the shortened lives, but more of the people who the medications were prescribed too. The article touched on the health of the people who take these drugs (adding that they used tobacco, alcohol, had poor physical health, poor physical hygience, etc). I think the health of these individuals is more to 'blame' for the increased risk of death than the medication. This, coming from an individual who takes anti-anxiety medication regularly and who exercises daily, doesn't smoke, rarely drinks, and has better than average overall health.
MSNBC shortens lives.
haha, yeah :)
I think I died 8 years ago. Not sure, doctor wont tell me.
What was the perameter of this study and its methodology? Some people cannot work the hours they do without sleeping aids. The stress levels in modern America reflect themselves in more and more people requiring tranquilizing drugs for anxiety.
Depression is as rampant as diabetes and hence hundreds of millions of prescriptions are written for celexa, prozac and all the brand name SSRIs.
Does this study address how many lives are saved and improved by the proper use of these drugs?
I believe they definitely do because they do harm the body in some way.
It is always good to have a healthy lifestyle to promote better sleep.
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