Some “Valium-ble” Facts about Benzo Detox

Benzo is a funny word, and people joke about “needing a Xanax” whenever life gets stressful, but there’s nothing funny about the overuse of benzodiazepines.  And withdrawal from benzos isn’t a laughing matter.

Let’s use our last blog entry, “Alcohol Detox:  Swallowing Your Pride,” as a jumping-off point.  We discussed the dangers of do-it-yourself detox from alcohol — and the value of professional assistance to make the process safer and more comfortable.  Well, there are three types of drugs that usually require detoxification:  alcohol, benzodiazepines, and opiates.  Of the three, two are associated with particularly life-threatening withdrawals when a person suddenly stops using:  alcohol and benzodiazepines. If you don’t remember anything else, remember this:  doing alcohol detox or benzo detox on your own can be deadly.

Here are some valuable facts about benzo detox:

Benzodiazepines are more commonly thought of as “tranquilizers” and include these medications:  Xanax (alprazolam), Valium (diazepam), Ativan (lorazepam), and Klonopin (clonazepam).  The muscle relaxer Soma (carisoprodol) can also be thought of as a benzodiazepine.

Historically, benzodiazepines have been the most commonly-prescribed class of medications — and the most abused.  Use of benzodiazepines for even short periods of time can cause physical dependency.  Abruptly stopping a benzodiazepine can cause significant withdrawal symptoms including anxiety, fast heart rate, sweating, shaking and seizures.  While not quite as dangerous as alcohol withdrawal, benzodiazepine withdrawal can also cause death if untreated.

Seizures are a very common occurrence in benzodiazepine addicts.  Withdrawal seizures can occur after missing just a dose or two.  Even with treatment, seizures can and do occur.  Unfortunately, most seizure medicines do not work very well against withdrawal seizures.  For this reason, medically-supervised detoxification is absolutely important if you want to quit using benzodiazepines.

The treatment of benzodiazepine withdrawal requires the careful tapering of a long acting tranquilizer over many days.  Now, you may ask, “Isn’t this just substituting one drug for another?” The answer is yes.  At this time there is no other way.  That is why it is very important that it is done correctly.  You cannot read up on the internet and do it yourself.

The good news is that — from a professional standpoint — treating benzodiazepine withdrawal is not complicated.  A physician who specializes in addiction treatment can properly manage the withdrawal process.

One last point:  At Stepworks, our addictionologist is also a family physician, so we have a lot of respect for general practitioners in the medical community.  However, a family doctor may not be your best option when addressing addiction and detoxification.  While family physicians may technically prescribe the right medicines, they are usually not comfortable knowing the right dose and the right way to taper the medicine.  In our view, successful detoxification requires years of addiction medicine experience and a level of sensitivity to each patient’s needs.

Here’s an old saying, “Don’t let your fear of being judged stop you from asking for help when you need it.”