Is anyone else getting there Benzo scrips taken away or cut down a lot recently?

[paranoid_pancakes]

Speaking from an NHS point of view (from the UK), in my experience it depends entirely on the generation of the prescriber.

I'm on a number of psychiatric medications (I'm schizophrenic with severe depressive disorder) and I get given 7 to 14 days worth of 5mg diazepam twice a day each month, and I have to make that last as best I can. Depending on severity, I sometimes get lorazepam instead. I used to have a psychiatrist who was incredibly generous with his prescribing habits (2mg lorazepam three times a day on repeat for nearly 3 years), but my new psychiatrist is young and more anti-benzo so is quite stingy in comparison.

I've moved between NHS trusts and catchment areas quite a few times and every time I have a psychiatrist over 50, I've been given free access to diazepam, lorazepam, zolpidem and zopiclone whenever I needed, and how much I needed. Each time it has been a younger psychiatrist, I've been restricted mainly to diazepam and zopiclone at low doses for no more than 7-14 days a month.

That has been my experience, so I guess in another decade or so, it'll be even harder to get the medication I need to cope. Hence starting the hunt early, as it were.