How to Beat Addiction to Benzodiazepines

Benzodiazepines are agents that affect the central nervous system when taken, acting specifically and selectively on the GABA-A receptors or gamma-aminobutyric acid-A receptors of your brain. The neurotransmitter GABA is responsible for the inhibition or reduction of nerve cell or neuron activity within your brain as well. Benzodiazepine addicts are addicted to the drug at a subconscious level.

To the layman, benzodiazepines are known most famously under the brand names of Xanax and Valium. These drugs are among the most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S. and are used to treat a wide variety of conditions and symptoms such as panic attacks, seizures, and anxiety.

What Is Benzodiazepine Addiction? Is It Treatable?

This prescription medication has been in use for more than 50 years. It’s been available as various brands and formulations, including the following:

• Xanax
• Ativan
• Valium
• Ambien
• Klonopin

All throughout that time, according to the Addiction publication and its analysis of the drug, researchers have been concerned about the link between benzodiazepines and drug addiction.

• No Mainstream Knowledge of Benzodiazepine Addiction: The researchers are so worried about benzodiazepine addiction that they’ve written up 60,000 articles on the subject of abuse and dependence. Although researchers know of the addiction dangers linked to benzodiazepines, that knowledge hasn’t reached the “mainstream” yet.
• The Unaware Users of Valium and Xanax: Many people still take Valium and Xanax without realizing the harmful effects of these drugs in terms of dependence and abuse. As far as most people are concerned, they’re unaware of how the medication works and how it can lead to them becoming addicted.
• Recreational and Prescribed Use: This ignorance is unfortunate in light of the fact that most people use the drugs to help with their medical conditions. There are even thousands who also take benzodiazepine in a recreational manner, which is also a surefire way to end up addicted when push comes to shove.
• Treatable with Therapy and Prevention: After users develop benzodiazepine addiction, they might be aware that these aren’t pills they can take lightly or play with like OTC painkillers. With assistance and therapy, they should be able to stop becoming dependent on these drugs and achieve their goal of full recovery. Then again, it’s better to prevent addiction rather than deal with it.

The Effects of Benzodiazepine on Your Brain Chemistry

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, benzodiazepine tends to slightly shift the chemical signals of your brain in order to communicate that an event is about to become pleasurable.

Once your brain cells start calling out for benzodiazepine because they can’t function optimally without it, then that’s when addiction comes to play. In other words:

• Boost of Sensation Linked to Feelings of Accomplishment: This boost involves giddiness when you’re feeling secure, joy, and happiness from receiving some sort of reward associated with achievement (even though all you’re doing is taking a drug instead of actually doing something positive or worthwhile).
• Taking Benzodiazepine Becomes a Reward In and Of Itself: Those addicted to benzodiazepine medications might not be able to determine their change in brain chemistry, but their brain will nevertheless mark that change. This is why benzodiazepine dosages should be limited or controlled as much as possible.
• Brain Chemistry Changes Leads to Addiction: As time passes by, the changed brain cells won’t be able to function at an optimal level without access to the drug, leading to a feeling of failure without taking drugs like Xanax and Valium. Your brain cells might long for the drug and you can’t ignore this longing.

The Effects of Different Brands of Benzodiazepine

Any brand of benzodiazepine can induce an addiction reaction if you abuse them enough. However, there are some drugs in this classification that are of a bit of a concern in terms of addiction. These benzodiazepine brands and formulations include:

• Xanax: Xanax, also known as alprazolam, is a benzodiazepine medication that treats panic disorders and anxiety. It’s available in various strengths. However, a formulation of Xanax has raised some deep concerns, particularly the one that’s capable of releasing benzodiazepine effects over a given time period.
• Users savvy enough to crush this formulation of Xanax can get all those effects in one go rather than in a gradual manner. According to the EMCDDA or the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, there’s concern regarding Xanax’s ability to deliver big changes all at once whenever it works immediately rather than gradually.
• Klonopin: Klonopin, also known as clonazepam, is the benzodiazepine used to deal with panic and seizure disorders. The Klonopin pills come in 1-2 milligram strength. However, some are made to disintegrate or dissolve in the mouth. According to the EMCDDA, Klonopin is yet another benzodiazepine that’s intermediate-acting. What this means is that your addiction rate is great because of how it works as soon as you take it.
• Valium: Valium, also known as diazepam, is one of the oldest and most famous benzodiazepines out there in the market today. It mostly treats alcohol withdrawal symptoms, anxiety disorders, and muscle spasms. It’s therefore rather ironic that one of the drugs used to prevent addiction relapse can be addictive in and of itself.
• The drug has many generic formulations and comes in a number of different doses and strengths, including some that release their effect over time rather than all at once. Again, the EMCDDA would prefer Valium and other benzodiazepines to take a long time to manifest in your body in order to avoid desensitization, abrupt brain changes, and dependence, which comes from an immediate high.
• Ativan: As for Ativan, also known as lorazepam, it’s a medication that mainly helps sufferers of panic disorders. It comes in several pill formats, but is also available in liquid form that can be injected intravenously with a needle. The EMCDDA claims that Ativan has a short-to-immediate onset, which is a worrisome deal in light of its drug-like immediate rush that could make people become hooked on the drug.
• Ambien: Ambien, also known as zolpidem, is a hypnotic kind of sedative drug that assists people suffering from sleep problems throughout the night like insomnia. This iteration of benzodiazepine makes people relaxed and sleepy, allowing them to finally rest peacefully without any interruptions.
• There are other ingredients in Ambien that also assists people in forgetting what happens while they’re sleeping. This drug also works immediately, and its fast-action property is what makes it worrisome for the EMCDDA. It isn’t always a target of abuse because it makes the user so sleepy that they can’t stay conscious long enough to get a second hit.

Who Abuses Benzodiazepines?

Benzodiazepines were originally intended for the use of people with real physical or mental health concerns. The people who abuse the drug usually don’t do so in order to improve their healthiness and quality of life. Rather, they’re motivated to use benzodiazepines because of its chemical changes deep within their brains.

Those who have to deal with this problem tend to fall into two groups: Those who took prescription benzodiazepines and those who took them without prescriptions.

• Prescription Addiction of Benzodiazepine Is Rare: Properly using benzodiazepines rarely results in addiction, which is revealed by the analysis published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. When people don’t self-medicate and instead follow the doctors’ orders to the letter every time, they usually don’t emerge as benzodiazepine addicts when push comes to shove.
• Not Following Doctor’s Orders Leads to Trouble: Whenever a patient doesn’t follow doctor’s orders and take doses too close to one another or take doses that are too large than prescribed, they might end up addicted. They could keep taking benzodiazepines long after they’re needed. They could also hoard pills in order touse them whenever they want. Researchers say they’re a small group of users but their bad habits can have a huge impact.
• Recreational Benzodiazepine Usage and Addiction: Recreational benzodiazepine users don’t have doctor prescriptions or specific orders to follow with their supply of the drug. This allows them access and usage of the drug whenever they want. They then end up abusing the drug for relaxation or euphoric reasons. They might even take the medication in order to soften or boost their usage of other drugs. They might depend on these substances to make cocaine or alcohol abuse even easier to handle.
• Statistics Regarding Nonprescription Benzodiazepine Usage: According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s statistical analysis from New York, non-medical or nonprescription benzodiazepine users are usually between the ages of 18 to 25 years old. That specific age demographic has the highest level of recreational benzodiazepine usage, and their numbers seem to grow higher and higher every passing year. These young adults might get their fix through illicit dealers or through theft.

Convincing a Loved One to Attend Rehab

Loved ones wishing to stage an intervention can reach out to the conscious mind of the benzodiazepine addict in order to influence deep change or the decision to enter rehab for the sake of recovery. Staging an intervention allows families and friends to outline the symptoms of addiction they’ve seen in a loved one. These interventions also assist in enumerating the benefits of undergoing rehab.

Benzodiazepine interventions typically follow the following format:

• Invitation: The addict is invited to a meeting with friends and family members. It could be a surprise meeting or it could be a family meeting discussing some sort of emergency in the household.
• Conversation: Every person involved in the meeting that’s not the addict himself or herself brings a prepared speech that covers the changes seen in the person, memories of him or her without using drugs, and hopes over what’s to come.
• Discussion: After everyone has read their letters and speeches to the loved one with the addiction and after the addict has listened to their stories and pleas, it’s then that the discussion happens to convince the person to enter treatment.
• Decision-Making: Once the conversation and discussion are over, the afflicted loved one won’t be able to deny the issue of addiction and the likeliest path to recovery. The person with the benzodiazepine addiction will know what needs to be done in order to go back to normal.
• Agreement and Adjournment of the Meeting: Once the conversation and discussion are over, the afflicted loved one won’t be able to deny the issue of addiction and the likeliest path to recovery. The person with the benzodiazepine addiction will know what needs to be done in order to go back to normal.

As a side note, the interventionist is a mental health professional who can assist with these interventions or answer any questions the family and friends of the person with addiction and the addict himself or herself may have.

It’s also part of his job description to help family and friends make their speeches and letters as well as staying involved throughout the conversation and discussion portion of the intervention itself.

Once they’ve gotten the afflicted loved one to agree to undergo treatment, the interventionist can also transport the addicted one to the nearest treatment facility as well.

Benzodiazepine Addiction and Treatment Specifics

The following is what families and friends of the addict in question should be aware of in order to spot that there’s a benzodiazepine issue and what can be done to help the issue once it’s become known and confirmed.

• Withdrawal Symptoms from Prescribed Usage: About a third of the users of Benzodiazepine experience many a health issue, including seizures, when they attempt to quit the drug. The presence of withdrawal symptoms usually indicates that you’re already addicted.
• Medical Detoxification Is the First Step: Treatment of benzodiazepine addiction, whether it’s from dependence to Valium, Xanax, Klonopin, Ambien, or Ativan, requires you to undergo medical detox in order to get rid of benzodiazepine from your system. This is done until you’re stabilized.
• Inpatient or Outpatient Programs: After the addiction patient has been stabilized, you can continue your recovery through rehab. There are two types of rehabilitation programs you can choose from, which are inpatient and outpatient programs. Both offer counseling sessions and cognitive therapies to help your recovery.
  • Inpatient Programs: Inpatient rehab programs refer to you ending up in home-like amenities and comfortable surroundings (some of which are even resort-like) in order to treat you in a secluded and focused manner. This will assist you in healing in a soothing and safe manner.
  • Outpatient Programs: Outpatient treatment, however, involves going to clinics for appointments or group therapy meetings daily or weekly to allow you to continue with your daily life. You can still go home or go to work while still getting treated in a scheduled manner. However, this service is less intense than inpatient treatment.

Why Inpatient CareIs Preferable for Benzodiazepine Addiction Treatment

When benzodiazepine addicts attempt to get sober and stop their benzodiazepine addiction on their own, they could end up triggering life-threatening complications. This is why inpatient rehabilitation and detoxification might be called for.

According to an analysis published on the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, about one-third of benzodiazepine takers who take the drug for more than six months or half a year can experience the following complications:

• Hypersensitivity
• Tension
• Muscle spasms
• Insomnia

If these withdrawal symptoms are left untreated by doctors at some sort of clinic, hospital, or wellness centre, they could get worse and become full-blown full-body seizures. This is especially prevalent with people who attempt to quit benzodiazepines cold turkey on their own.

A medical detoxification program at a specialized treatment facility with doctors monitoring your condition is the safest way to kick your Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, Ativan, and Ambien habit. While outpatient services can still work, inpatient provides less risk and more focus towards your road to recovery.

This is because inpatient programs offer the following benefits:

• Close Monitoring: During medical detox, the staff and crew of doctors and nurses monitor you carefully. This allows them to spot and address withdrawal symptoms before they can escalate, spread, and grow.
• Round-the-Clock Care: The round-the-clock care is hard for even your family to provide, but this is the standard operating procedure in inpatient centers and addiction rehabilitation facilities.
• Counseling and Coaching Sessions: The best inpatient rehab centers also provide certified counselors and coaches to offer you therapy by counseling and meetings. You can even avail of sponsors for 12-step rehab programs.
• Identifying Mental Triggers: Counseling helps you identify the mental triggers that drive you to depend on benzodiazepines as your “happy pills”, whether it’s work-related stress or a community of enablers. When all the work is done, you can return to your life with the skills needed to stay sober for good.

In Summary

Benzodiazepines can cause a minor but significant shift in your brain chemistry allows you to experience a boost of sensation when taking the drug. Through excessive dosage or doses that are too close to each other, you can end up dependent on these medications. The longer you’re addicted to benzodiazepines, the harder it will become to kick the habit.

Those who are dependent on benzodiazepine aren’t making a conscious choice to seek out and abuse the drug more often than not. The damage in their brain cells is what’s making them to impulsively pop more benzodiazepine pills like candy. However, the conscious part of their brains is still at work. You can appeal to this conscious mind when staging an intervention for an addicted loved one.

At any rate, benzodiazepines are dangerous when it comes to people getting addicted to them because of their disastrous side effects like persistent brain chemical changes that should affect your behavior, impulse control, and personality. If you or your loved one is addicted to these drugs, you should seek help and rehab ASAP.

Lanna Rehab and Benzodiazepines Addiction Treatment in Thailand

Give Lanna Rehab a call and book a stay at their resort-like wellness center in Thailand. It’s the place you should go if you want to free yourself from the shackles of drug and alcohol addiction, particularly when it comes to benzodiazepine addiction treatment. Call them now. They’re available 24/7.

You’ll get to enjoy an all-inclusive rehabilitation package that will put you in the right track towards sobriety. You won’t only get a free consultation; you’ll also witness Lanna’s approach towards addiction recovery and sobriety that involves personalized care, the latest equipment, and internationally trained doctors, counselors, and therapists.