Heather Ashton is the leading expert on benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine withdrawal. In this clip, Dr. Tapering - Cognitive functionality while tapering? Ashton Manual. Set up for the Ashton Manual. Who's been lucky enough to do an Ashton Manual Taper.
2002-2013 Ashton Manual for. Published what is known as The Ashton Manual on the Web. The Ashton Manual has become a. It addresses tapering off. Mar 17, 2007 Dr. Heather Ashton is the leading expert on benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine withdrawal. In this clip, Dr. Ashton discusses her method of tapering.
Ashton's Work of April 4, 2006, Vancouver lecture on Benzodiazepine Dependence and Withdrawal Methods.
In 2002, a British medical doctor and clinical psychopharmacologist, Professor C Heather Ashton, DM, FRCP (see ) published what is known as The Ashton Manual on the Web. The Ashton Manual has become a respected source of information about benzo withdrawal. It addresses tapering off benzodiazepines, a class of drugs that is truly addictive, and the related 'Z' drugs for sleep (zolpidem or Ambien, zaleplon or Sonata, zopiclone or Imovane, eszopiclone or Lunesta). It contains detailed schedules for tapering off specific benzos with the assistance of various dosages of diazepam (Valium).
(This does not apply to antidepressant withdrawal.) The 2002 Ashton Manual is at The April, 7 2011 Ashton Manual Supplement is at Benzos work differently from antidepressants. Descargar Crack Para Age Of Empires 3 Gratis. Some of Prof. Drummania Pc. Ashton's advice may be applied to other psychiatric drug withdrawal and some is specific to benzo withdrawal.
In the 2011 Ashton Manual Supplement Prof. Ashton attempts to answer these frequently asked questions about benzodiazepine withdrawal, quoted in part below: Permanent brain damage?Many long-term benzodiazepine users who have stopped taking the drugs complain of a variety of seemingly irreversible psychological and/or physical symptoms which they attribute to permanent brain damage caused by the drugs. However, the question of whether benzodiazepines cause brain damage is still unsolved.CAT scan studies in 1987, 1993, and 2000 failed to find any consistent abnormalities in long-term benzodiazepine users, and concluded that benzodiazepines do not cause structural brain damage, e.g death of neurones, brain shrinkage or atrophy etc.
A later more accurate development in brain scanning, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), does not appear to have been systematically studied in benzodiazepine users. However MRI, like CAT, only shows structural changes and it is unlikely that the use of this technique would clarify the picture; many still symptomatic long-term ex-benzodiazepine users have had normal MRIs.It is more likely that any long-term brain changes caused by benzodiazepines are functional rather than structural.
In order to show such changes it would be necessary to examine abnormalities of brain activity in long-term benzodiazepine users.Cognitive performance could indicate impairments in certain brain areas, but no studies have extended for more than six months. Finally post-mortem studies could show abnormalities in brain receptors, and animal studies could show changes in neuronal gene expression. None of these studies has been undertaken. Nor have there been any studies examining abnormalities in other tissues or organs in long-term benzodiazepine users. A controlled study of long-term benzodiazepine users using brain function techniques would have to be carefully designed.Such a study would be expensive and funding would be difficult to obtain.
Drug companies would be unlikely to offer support, and to date 'independent' bodies such as the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Foundation and the Department of Health have shown little interest. Thus the question of whether benzodiazepines cause brain or other organ damage remains unanswered. Long-term effects of benzodiazepines One mechanism which might be involved in long-term (and possibly permanent) effects of benzodiazepines is an alteration in the activity of benzodiazepine receptors in brain GABA neurones. These receptors down-regulate (become fewer) as tolerance to benzodiazepines develop with chronic use. Such down-regulation is a homeostatic response of the body to the constant presence of the drugs. Since benzodiazepines themselves enhance the actions of GABA, extra benzodiazepine receptors are no longer needed, so many are, in effect, discarded. These down-regulated receptors are absorbed into neurones where, over time, they undergo various changes including alterations in gene expression.