Long-term use of a class of anti-anxiety and insomnia drugs called benzodiazepines may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life, suggests a recent study published in the journal BMJ.
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia characterized by a worsening progression that eventually leads to death. The disease affects approximately five million individuals in the United States alone and 36 million individuals worldwide. Health care professionals expect the number of patients living with the disease to reach an estimated 115 million by 2050.
Benzodiazepines (Xanax, Valium, Ativan, Klonopin) are psychoactive drugs commonly used to treat anxiety, insomnia, agitation, seizures, muscle spasms, and alcohol withdrawal as well as a premedication for medical or dental procedures. Use of the drug is categorized as short-, intermediate-, or long-acting depending on length of time used. Benzodiazepines affect both memory and cognition making it more dangerous than other anxiety solutions. It is unsurprising that many people prefer to use cannabis products, from places like these pueblo west dispensaries, as a more natural way of dealing with their anxiety. Certain strains of marijuana may also aid sleep too. Those looking to explore this as an option might want to take a look at the best indica strain for sleep, and hopefully find a strain that works best for them.
Previous research discovered an increased risk of dementia among patients taking benzodiazepine.
For the present study, researchers investigated the development of Alzheimer’s disease among 1,796 elderly patients in Quebec, Canada. All the patients had been prescribed benzodiazepines. The researchers examined data from the Quebec health insurance program database.
Of the total participants in the study, 1,796 developed Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers then matched the participants with Alzheimer’s with healthy people from a group of 7,184 control subjects based on age, sex and, duration of follow-up.
The study found that long-term use of benzodiazepines (defined as use for three months or more) increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by up to 51 percent. Long-term use increased the risk more than short-term use. People suffering from this disease have a short span of life. As it is a condition that cannot be cured, family members prepare for the next step in advance. Some precautions like life insurance can be helpful to the remaining loved ones to take care of the costs after their passing. Costs of a funeral have increased in recent years. It is good to take some precautions to prepare the family members in advance. You have to consider taking care of the financial side of the funeral so that it doesn’t go out of your budget. The prices have been increasing in every aspect, especially burial vault costs have had high inflation.
On the other hand, the study on Alzheimer and benzodiazepines have led to more findings. The researchers do note that the link between benzodiazepines and Alzheimer’s disease is correlational. The researchers also cannot completely rule out the possibility that “benzodiazepine use might be an early marker of a condition associated with an increased risk of dementia and not the cause.” In other words, individuals at an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease may use benzodiazepines more frequently at the onset of the disease rather than the drugs causing dementia. Perhaps this is just one reason that Alzheimer sufferers may look towards other types of medication options such as CBD and the likes. Alzheimer patients that would currently have to pay for their benzodiazepine medications would also benefit from potentially paying less for the CBD medications, especially when looking into websites similar to https://thecbdinsider.com/cbd-coupons/lazarus-naturals-coupon/ in the efforts to find discount codes for their product of choice, overall proving the switch to CBD to be mentally and financially beneficial to those that are currently using benzodiazepines.
Conclude the researchers, “It is now crucial to encourage physicians to carefully balance the benefits and risks when initiating or renewing a treatment with benzodiazepines and related products in elderly patients.”
Doctors should work closely with patients to determine whether the long-term use of benzodiazepines is the best treatment option. Patients and doctors should also re-evaluate the use of the drugs frequently.
Two other recent studies found that eating grilled meat increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease while breastfeeding decreased the risk among women.
References
Benzodiazepine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine
Benzodiazepine use and risk of Alzheimer’s disease: case-control study: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136.bmj.g5205
Benzodiazepines and risk of Alzheimer’s disease: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136.bmj.g5312
Commonly prescribed drugs could raise risk for Alzheimer’s: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anti-anxiety-drugs-could-raise-risk-for-alzheimers/
Drugs used for anxiety, sleep are linked to Alzheimer’s disease in older people: http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-sn-anxiety-drug-alzheimers-20140909-story.html
Increased Alzheimer’s risk linked to long-term benzodiazepine use: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/282282.php
Image Credits
Benzodiazepines: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bentsodiatsepiineja.JPG
