Benzo Addiction

Benzodiazepine dependence is very common and so is benzo addiction. Their are many medicines in this class, including the brands Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, Librium, and Restoril. Benzodiazepines are often prescribed to treat anxiety and insomnia. Benzo’s also have muscle relaxation effects and can be used to treat seizures. Some people experience euphoria or a feeling of well-being, which then leads to positive reinforcement of the benzo addiction.

Benzo’s (Benzodiazepines) share many properties with alcohol and therefore create many similar effects. People who are intoxicated with them may be sedated, slurring their words, off balance, and disinhibited.
Many people who have a benzo addiction combine them with other drugs. It is quite dangerous to do so, as the combination of benzo with alcohol or opiates could cause respiratory depression and death. When people abruptly stop benzo’s, they may experience many signs and symptoms including rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, fever, agitation, anxiety, hallucinations, insomnia, irritability, tremor, nausea, diarrhea, and sometimes even seizures and death.

Benzo detox usually requires a long period of time. Often, people are detoxed from benzo too quickly. This leads to the above symptoms which increases the likelihood of relapse. It takes the brain a long time to recover from the toxicity of benzo’s. The dose of the benzo needs to be slowly decreased and this can often take many weeks, depending upon the amount the individual has been taking. Obviously, this can not be accomplished in the typical 5-7 days inpatient detox.

The different benzo’s last in the blood for different periods of time. It is much easier to taper the long-acting benzo than the short-acting benzo. Because of this, the first step in benzo detox is to convert the individual’s benzodiazepine to a long-acting one, such as Klonopin or Valium. Some people still have difficulty tolerating even a small taper. Research studies have shown that anticonvulsant medicines like Tegretol or Depakote can enable the taper to occur more comfortably.