Benzos are a complicated and often seemingly contradictory area when it comes to CFS and MCS Christos. Both illnesses are widely seen as involving overactivation of the central nervous system - "hyperarousal". Therefore benzos being tranquilisers make perfect sense. They are recommended more for CFS than MCS because obviously many MCS sufferers cannot tolerate medications at all. My personal experience is that when I was suffering acutely from MCS if I took a fast acting benzo after an exposure to a chemical trigger it significantly reduced symptoms. I would of course never play down the proven potential for dependency with these drugs but I have to say I have used them a lot both as described above and for long periods to help with sleep and anxiety associated with CFS...but I can stop them dead without any ill effects. Start them up again and they have the same effect at the same dose. Can't forget we're in the Martin Pall Protocol group here so how does all this fit in? I'm not sure what Pall's stance is on benzos but based on the crux of his theory (excessive NMDA activation) they would seem to be a perfect fit since they enhance GABA neurotransmission - where GABA is directly antagnonistic to NMDA activation. NMDA receptors when stimulated cause increased neural activity while GABA receptors (generally) reduce it. The adrenal hormone DHEA is also known to enhance GABA activity and this played a huge part in my recovery from MCS. Thoughts guys?