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Benzodiazepines Detoxification
Benzodiazepine detoxification is an important first step in the path to recovery after a period of abusing benzodiazepine medications and drugs. it is often accompanied by withdrawal, which can be an intensely painful experience lasting anywhere from a couple of days to a few months.
Understanding Benzodiazepine Detox
If you are addicted to benzodiazepine, you will have to undergo detoxification before you can overcome this substance use disorder. The goal would be to help you to successfully and safely purge your body of the presence of benzodiazepines so that you can work your way towards the next stages of your addiction treatment.
Often, this is best done under medical supervision. During your detox, the addiction treatment professionals might reduce your doses of benzodiazepine or switch you to a benzo drug that is less potent. By so doing, they would potentially be able to decrease your dependence on this class of drugs until you are fully recovered.
Benzodiazepine Uses
As prescription drugs, benzodiazepines are typically used for the treatment of many different conditions. These include but are not limited to:
- Alcohol withdrawal
- Anxiety
- Epilepsy
- Insomnia
- Muscle tension
- Panic attacks
This class of drugs is commonly abused, with some people mixing it with other addictive and intoxicating substances. Irrespective of whether you take them illegally or legally, benzodiazepines can be quite addictive - even if they are short-term in their mode of action.
Once you are addicted to these drugs and you deprive your body of them, your systems will react negatively while trying to stabilize themselves. This process is often referred to as benzodiazepine withdrawal.
Benzodiazepine Withdrawal
It can be difficult to go through benzodiazepine withdrawal. This is why many people often go back to abusing the drug. During this period, you may display any or all of the following withdrawal symptoms:
- Anxiety
- Confusion
- Depression
- Diminished appetite
- Dizziness
- Elevated heart rate
- Feelings of excitement
- Hallucinations
- Irritability
- Mild insomnia
- Mood swings
- Muscle pain
- Palpitations
- Panic attacks
- Poor concentration
- Restlessness
- Sweating
- Tremors
- Weakness
These symptoms might also be accompanied by the signs and symptoms of the condition that you were trying to treat by taking benzodiazepines. This process is referred to as the rebound effect, and it might make your benzodiazepine detoxification more challenging than it otherwise would have been.
While undergoing detoxification, doctors might prescribe other drugs to help you manage your benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms. These drugs will also be used to taper you off benzodiazepines, in which case you will receive increasingly reduced doses until you are fully recovered from your dependence.
In other instances, the addiction treatment professionals might prescribe other non-benzodiazepine medications to relieve your withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings. These drugs might include:
- Ativan
- Buspirone
- Clonazepam
- Clonidine
- Flumazenil
- Valium
Getting Help
Through a medically managed benzodiazepine detoxification program - followed by a stay at an inpatient or outpatient addiction treatment and rehabilitation program, you may be able to overcome your dependence on and addiction to this class of drugs as well as turn your life around from substance abuse and addiction to health, wellness, and productive living.
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