Some drugs related to major tranquillisers have sedative effects and are also used for nausea, vertigo and motion sickness. These are sometimes prescribed during withdrawal, especially prochlorperazine (Compazine). However, such drugs can have serious side effects (motor disorders like Parkinson’s disease) and are not recommended for long-term use or as a substitute for benzodiazepines.
APPROACH TO THE PATIENT
Your doctor will help you create a timeline to gradually taper the dosage. This will help you come off benzos as safely as possible and reduce your risk of serious withdrawal symptoms. Medical detoxification, under the supervision of healthcare professionals, can help manage and alleviate withdrawal symptoms. Additionally, certain medications may be prescribed to target specific symptoms.
Chapter 3: Benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms, acute & protracted
None of them are essential for everybody coming off tranquillisers, but can be helpful for those having difficulty. The term ‘withdrawal Oxford House management’ (WM) has been used rather than ‘detoxification’. This is because the term detoxification has many meanings and does not translate easily to languages other than English.
EXTRA MEDICATION DURING BENZODIAZEPINE WITHDRAWAL
Depression may be caused or aggravated by chronic benzodiazepine use, but is also a feature of the withdrawal syndrome. Depressive symptoms may appear for the first time after withdrawal, sometimes after a delay of a few weeks, and it can be severe and protracted for some months. It is not clear whether people who have had depression before, or have a family history of depression, are more prone to this complication, and its causes are not understood. As discussed in Chapters I and II, benzodiazepines disrupt the function of many neurotransmitters and hormones and depression could be the result, for example, of low serotonin activity combined with the stress of withdrawal.
- Typically “Windows” of normality, when you feel positively well for a few hours or days, appear after some weeks; gradually the “Windows” become more frequent and last longer, while any intervening discomfort ebbs away.
- In practice additional drugs are seldom needed with very slow benzodiazepine tapering.
- Once the hallucinations, which seem real at the time, are recognised as “merely” hallucinations, they quickly become less alarming.
- Some symptoms may appear without warning and can be a significant source of distress.
Long-term treatment after benzodiazepine withdrawal will depend on your reasons for taking them in the first place and your reasons for quitting. If you have a psychiatric condition that was managed by the benzodiazepines, you will need an alternative plan to manage your condition. I hardly dare to mention smoking in view of present day attitudes to this unfortunate addiction, but for those who are smokers it is probably asking too much to attempt to stop smoking and withdraw benzodiazepines at the same time.
This chapter is concerned with what happens as benzodiazepines leave the body in the course of withdrawal and afterwards. The focus is on withdrawal symptoms, and how to https://ecosoberhouse.com/ cope with them if they occur. A third important practical factor is the available dosage formulations of the various benzodiazepines. In withdrawal you need a long-acting drug which can be reduced in very small steps.
For example, the impairment of memory caused by benzodiazepines may prevent the normal resolution of personal stresses such as bereavement or a car crash. Such buried or half-forgotten experiences may have to be faced after withdrawal and may prolong both anxiety and depression. A fascinating symptom in patients undergoing benzodiazepine withdrawal is that they often mention the occurrence of what seem to be intrusive memories.
- Depression may be caused or aggravated by chronic benzodiazepine use, but is also a feature of the withdrawal syndrome.
- Some, however, continue to have changes in their cognitive abilities following long-term benzodiazepine prescription.
- The 2022 survey mentioned above also asked respondents to what extent withdrawal symptoms affected their lives.
- Understanding benzodiazepine withdrawal is crucial not just for those consuming the drug but also for their close ones and healthcare providers.
- If you or a loved one is facing the challenges of withdrawal, don’t hesitate.
- The safest way to stop taking benzos is to gradually reduce the dosage over a period of time.
- The same approach applies to the non-benzodiazepines zolpidem and zaleplon which both have half-lives of 2 hours.
- It is common that patients experiencing symptoms do not recognize that their poor physical and mental health is related to their long-term use of the benzodiazepines.
- Methadone is useful for detoxification from longer acting opioids such as morphine or methadone itself.
Usually the best judge is you, yourself; you must be in control and must proceed at the pace that is comfortable for you. You may need to resist attempts from outsiders (clinics, doctors) to persuade you into a rapid withdrawal. The classic six weeks withdrawal period adopted by many clinics and doctors is much too fast for many long-term users. Actually, the rate of withdrawal, as long as it is slow enough, is not critical. Whether it takes 6 months, 12 months or 18 months is of little significance if you have taken benzodiazepines for a matter of years.
Because the mainstay of treatment benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome for stimulant withdrawal is symptomatic medication and supportive care, no withdrawal scale has been included. This dose of diazepam (up to a maximum of 40mg) is then given to the patient daily in three divided doses. Even if the patient’s equivalent diazepam dose exceeds 40mg, do not give greater than 40mg diazepam daily during this stabilisation phase.