Benzodiazepines

@sears, Here's what the CDC says...

"Jan 17, 2020 - Data from the. National Institute on Drug Abuse show that 11,537 overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines occurred in 2017. Approximately ..." from Physician Office Visits at Which Benzodiazepines Were Prescribed: Findings From 2014–2016 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr137-508.pdf

"Avoid concurrent opioid and benzodiazepine prescribing. Clinicians should avoid prescribing opioid pain medication and benzodiazepines concurrently ..."
Implementing the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain: https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdf/prescribing/CDC-DUIP-QualityImprovementAndCareCoordination-508.pdf

@johnbishop
Good morning well actually it’s not but hopefully it is for you,
How many of those 11,000+ deaths were due to patients abusing their medication? When doctors order medications the patient has a responsibility do know about that medication and if they choose to abuse it there may be severe consequences including death. I was taking the opioid fentanyl as well as the benzodiazepines Klonopin for seizures however I took my medication exactly as prescribed and had no issues. If people choose to take medication blindly that’s certainly their choice but they’re going to half to accept the responsibility of doing so. Clearly doctors aren’t perfect but people often use them as a scapegoat which personally I don’t believe is fair.
Jake

@jakedduck1 Good afternoon here in Southern Minnesota. I agree the doctors are trying to help but sometimes get blamed for patient actions beyond their control. Pain can cause people to make the wrong decision and cause themselves harm by not following directions for the medication.

Thanks for the replies but I wasn’t referring to mixing Benzos with opioids.