Elderly patients often require lower benzodiazepine doses due to slower metabolism of the drugs. If you or a loved one is ready for benzodiazepine detox and withdrawal, or treatment for benzodiazepine addiction, reaching out to your doctor or a treatment facility can be an important step in getting the help you need. Each person’s unique needs require an individualized plan, which can provide the specific help you need for recovery.
Medical detox
Practices such as drug tapering or using other drugs to help ease withdrawal may make early withdrawal symptoms milder and more manageable. According to the National Center for PTSD, the most beneficial kind of therapy for https://ecosoberhouse.com/ is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This type of therapy can help you challenge and reframe unhelpful beliefs and behaviors and replace them with more productive ones. Though therapy generally can’t address withdrawal symptoms specifically, it can help improve some symptoms, like anxiety and insomnia. The 2022 survey mentioned above also asked respondents to what extent withdrawal symptoms affected their lives. They could rate each problem as nonexistent, mild, moderate, severe, quite severe, or enormous.
What can I do to avoid dangerous events related to benzodiazepines?
This is particularly true if you are also giving up other substances, like alcohol or opioids. Withdrawing from benzodiazepines can be a difficult, even dangerous process. During the first week, you can also expect physical symptoms like headaches and hand tremors. Benzodiazepines are a class of medications that slow down activity in your brain and nervous system. They’re most often used for treating anxiety and related mental health conditions, as well as brain-related conditions like seizures.
What are the best vitamins for benzo withdrawal?
Passaro et al. described an increased risk of falls in elderly hospitalized patients prescribed short-acting BZD [23]. For mothers with BZD use during pregnancy, there is a risk of premature birth and low birth weight. Their relative safety compared to fellow depressants or barbiturates have increased the rate at which they are prescribed [25]. The dependence on BZDs generally leads to withdrawal symptoms, which necessitates careful tapering of the medication when prescribed [26].
1. Indications for Benzodiazepines
- Benzodiazepines such as diazepam are considered the preferred treatment for AW symptoms due to their mechanism of action [5].
- Certain factors play a role in the severity of withdrawal symptoms, such as dosage, duration of action of the BZD duration of treatment with the drug, and severity of psychiatric symptoms pre-treatment.
- The ultimate concern is that such fetuses will later be susceptible to autism, learning difficulties, attention deficit disorder, and general hyperactivity [24].
- An earlier study similarly found that 89% of patients who tested positive for fentanyl at methadone treatment intake and who remained in treatment at 6 months achieved abstinence.
- About a third (31.5%) reported food allergies and/or seasonalallergies that occurred only after benzodiazepine use.
- More studies will need to be carried out on the non-pharmacologic treatment of BZD withdrawal, as it is showing some promise for the successful discontinuation of the drugs.
The adverse effects of benzodiazepines exceeded physical symptoms and sometimesinvolved negative events in the respondents’ personal, social, psychological,and professional lives. Symptoms occurred in the majority of patients, with certain symptomspersisting for a year or more (see Table 2). While a slow taper is recommended for ceasing benzodiazepine use,8 there is little clinical understanding of what this may involve and a paucityof guidance to navigate the process. Descriptions of studies performed on specific treatments of benzodiazepine dependence and withdrawal symptoms.
When should I contact a doctor?
Some symptoms may appear without warning and can be a significant source of distress. You may have to pause, slow down, or speed up depending on how your body reacts to withdrawal. A slow taper would involve reducing your dose by 1 mg (5%) every 4 weeks. Medical experts continue to debate the best way to taper these medications, so there’s no single agreed-upon approach.
They also lead to disinhibition, impairing the user’s ability to appropriately assess the risky actions or behaviors. Elderly patients in intensive care can develop delirium if they are benzodiazepine withdrawal on a BZD [1]. The benzo withdrawal timeline varies but generally spans weeks to months. The acute phase peaks in a few weeks, followed by a subacute phase lasting weeks to months.
Many reported suicidal thoughts and actions
But if you remove the drug all at once, your brain doesn’t have enough time to prepare, and you can develop life-threatening symptoms like seizures. Experiencing rebound symptoms means the symptoms you had before taking benzodiazepines come back even stronger than before. If you are pregnant or are thinking about becoming pregnant, talk to your OBGYN or psychiatrist about your plans. However, going through any withdrawal during pregnancy also has its risks. Your doctor can help you weigh the potential risks and benefits of benzodiazepine use and your pregnancy. We want to thank the patient and the families whose data were used in this retrospective analysis.
What are the treatments for managing benzo withdrawal symptoms?
