What Are The Effects Of Benzodiazepine Withdrawal?The study conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs' Public Health Services was entitled, "Ongoing Treatment for Opioid Dependence." The primary purpose of the study is to test the efficacy of buprenorphine in the treatment of benzodiazepine withdrawal in non-opioid dependent subjects receiving long-term maintenance therapy for opiate addiction. The study looked at two types of long-term benzodiazepine maintenance therapy, one called extended-stay (ERS) and the other called short-stay (SS). The subjects were people diagnosed with either bipolar or posttraumatic stress disorder. The paper includes details of the subjects who completed the study. Find out for further details on this site right here. Subjects in the ERS group had severe relapses during the course of the 12 weeks of ERS. The SS group had no relapses during the course of the 6 months of SS. There was a significant difference between the groups in regards to age, gender, severity of symptoms, and the frequency of drug use. When compared to a placebo, benzodiazepine withdrawal treatment significantly reduced the severity of symptoms for all three types of subjects. As you might expect, the results of the study were not all positive. There were many concerns expressed regarding the use of medications like benzodiazepines as a form of treating addictions to highly addictive drugs such as heroin and methamphetamines. These drugs are highly addictive and have very high tolerance levels. People who take them on a regular basis develop tolerance, which means their drug use gets less effective over time. This means the user may need more doses of these drugs to produce the same effects. Learn more about source, go here. Another concern was the potential side effects of taking this type of medication in order to treat insomnia and sleep disturbances. People must be sure they are not allergic to any of the ingredients used in these drugs before taking them. There is also the concern about keeping these doses low, especially in the early stages of treatment. This can cause detoxification, withdrawal symptoms, and even worse, death if the patient overdoses or becomes ill. If you are using prescription medications as a treatment method, alternatives are available, but these should still be prescribed by your doctor for safety reasons. Valproate is another popular anti-anxiety drug that has been shown to be effective as a treatment for anxiety and insomnia. Like benzodiazepines, it also has highly developed withdrawal symptoms if taken in large doses. However, it is different from the benzodiazepine because it does not carry any of the serious side effects of its predecessors. It is taken in pill form and is available over the counter. It is not as addictive as the former, but people must be sure to follow the doctor's orders and not take more than the recommended dosages to avoid dependency. Take a look at this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine_withdrawal_syndrome for more information. Tapering off of these anti-anxiety medications is not a long term solution. Instead, it is important for patients to realize that there will be times when they must either reduce the number of doses they take or reduce the amount of time between them. Once the patient learns to properly handle the withdrawal process, they will experience fewer occurrences of benzodiazepine dependency. When this happens, they will be able to live more normal lives without the intense feelings that once led them to seek treatment. |