Benzo Withdrawal Help

Find out about benzodiazepines side effect on BetterAddictionCare.com

Abuse of benzos

Although you may have been prescribed benzos to treat a medical condition like anxiety, seizure control or insomnia does not mean that you can’t get addicted to them if you are not careful. Benzo abuse can lead to physical and psychological dependence to the drug and cause a host of health problems too. Benzodiazepine medications affect the central nervous system and promote muscle relaxation and sedation, and ease tension and anxiety.

Some familiar names of benzo drugs are: Valium, Ativan, Xanax, Librium and Halcion. Taking these medications with other drugs or alcohol can prove to be a lethal mix, and should be avoided at all costs. Benzos are being abused in many ways and are a popular date rape drug that is mixed into the alcoholic drink of the victim, promoting intense sedation.

Abusing benzos in high doses can cause toxicity in the body causing benzodiazepine side effects to become more prominent. Some of the adverse effects of benzo abuse are:

• Weakness, drowsiness, a lack of coordination, impaired performance, sleep disturbances, cognitive and neurological impairment
• Dizziness, confusion, slurred speech, headaches, tremors, risk of falls and accidents
• Behavioral changes, anxiety, depersonalization, hypersensitivity, psychosis, depression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts and acts
• Difficulty breathing, coma

Some common signs of benzo abuse are:

• If you have been trying to stop or reduce your intake of benzos and have not been able to
• If you feel that you need to take benzos to feel normal
• You find that you have to keep increasing the amount of benzos you take to get the desired effects
• You begin to experience withdrawal if you don’t take the drug
• You have been using benzos long after the recommended time of treatment (usually 3 months)
• You are abusing benzos to self-medicate a mental health disorder

Withdrawal help

If you are addicted to benzos, you will need the help of addiction specialists to get off of the drug. You should not try to stop taking benzos without professional help, because withdrawal symptoms can cause dangerous, perhaps fatal, health complications. The best place to safely get off of benzos is at a drug rehab center where you will receive a medically supervised detox. The medical staff at the rehab center will keep you stable and safe throughout the withdrawal phase of treatment.

The benzo withdrawal duration timeline can be different for each patient depending on the severity of their addiction. Usually the first appearance of symptoms starts within 6 to 12 hours after the last dose of the drug was taken. Symptoms usually peak during the second week and will then begin to subside, but symptoms can remain for months or years in some cases. Some patients may experience benzo withdrawal syndrome that involves the typical benzo withdrawal symptoms, but they do not decrease in a linear fashion, but can wax and wane for years.

Benzo withdrawal symptoms can include the following:

• Anxiety, panic attacks, irritability, psychosis, hallucinations, depersonalization, mood swings
• Confusion, impaired concentration, memory problems, nightmares,
• Sweating, hand tremors, nausea, dry retching, weight loss, muscle pain, weakness, headaches, fatigue
• Changes in perception, palpitations, tachycardia, seizures, suicide

The expert medical staff at the rehab center will give you all the benzo withdrawal help you need, and they can also help to relieve your withdrawal symptoms with medications. You will be kept stable and as comfortable as possible. The staff is trained and will help you get through the difficult physical and psychological withdrawal symptoms. You will make it through although you may not think so at the time. This knowledge will help you cope better with the ordeal, and before you know it, the worst of it will be over.

If you are addicted to benzos don’t wait any longer, but get the help you need today at a certified drug rehab center.