• Health

    Detox and Treatment of Benzodiazepine

    Scheduled class drugs are those that have a tendency to get addicted to by making the user feel dependence on them. There are five classes of them which are numbered based on their tendency to be abused and level of dependency creation. Benzodiazepine is a schedule class IV drug which based on the classification has slightly lower risk for dependency. But still is a potential drug whose abuse leads to various withdrawal symptoms and benzo withdrawal help is needed to overcome them.

    The most common withdrawal symptoms are anxiety disorders, irritability, confusion, headaches, muscle spasms and sleep issues. There are various other symptoms that are seen depending on the type of drug abused, duration for which it was taken and also based on the dosage. The symptoms start within 24 to 48 hours of stopping the medication and there is no definitive timeline for them to disappear.

    Benzo withdrawal – the much needed help

    Detox means trying to get the drug out of the patients system. And this is done under the supervision of an experienced physician. There are various detox methods for the symptoms. In many cases the physicians will start by switching the patient from one benzo to another that has a longer acting capacity. This is due to the fact that shorter acting benzo’s show severe symptoms. The weaning process is a long process and takes weeks for the patient to completely stop taking any form of the medication. But this is a crucial step when the patient is on high doses and the duration of him taking benzo was long.

    There is another way which is the rapid detoxification program where the patient is completely taken off from benzo and there are other medications given to treat the symptoms. Flumazenil is one such injection. But not every patient is eligible for the rapid detox program, only patients who were on benzos for short term can follow this treatment method.

    Treatment for Benzo withdrawal

    Detox alone does not help many patients to overcome the withdrawal symptoms, but the major symptoms taper down in severity due to detox. There are various rehab centres that offer inpatient and outpatient rehab benzo withdrawal help programs for benzo withdrawal. And the patient should enrol into one of those programs immediately after detox so as to complete the whole treatment and not get back to taking benzo again. Depending on the level of the symptoms experienced the treating physician will suggest the type of program that the patient will have to join and these programs have fellow patients along with instructors. Motivating each other and following the whole detox and rehab programs along with proper medication will help overcome all the symptoms that benzo has caused.