He received his master’s degree in adult geriatric primary care nurse practitioner from Walden University and a second postmaster specialty in psychiatry mental health nurse practitioner from Rocky Mountain University. Sean has experience working in various diverse settings, including an outpatient clinic, inpatient detox and rehab, psychiatric emergency, and dual diagnosis programs. His specialty areas include substance abuse, depression, anxiety, mood disorders, PTSD, ADHD, and OCD. Abruptly stopping benzodiazepine use (“cold turkey”) can lead to severe withdrawal symptoms. A carefully managed tapering schedule, gradually reducing the dose over time, can significantly ease the withdrawal process. The specific tapering strategy should be customized to the individual’s needs, considering the abovementioned factors.
What makes benzodiazepine withdrawal so dangerous?
When taking benzodiazepines you quiet your whole brain’s activity level.This reduces anxiety and insomnia, but also causes changes to many of thebody’s essential systems. This is why taking chronic high doses of benzos cancause such a variety of health problems and why people experience such a widearray of withdrawal symptoms after stopping. https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/how-to-overcome-shame-and-guilt-in-recovery/ When opioids are tapered, short-acting forms of those medications can be added to ameliorate the withdrawal symptoms while the long-acting opioids are decreased over time. This strategy, however, is not recommended for benzodiazepines because of a central nervous system process called kindling. If not already using a long half-life benzodiazepine like clonazepam or diazepam, transitioning to an equivalent dose (see Table) of either of these agents prior to tapering often allows for a smoother tapering process. When undergoing a taper, patients often experience an increase in symptoms after each reduction in dosage.
- Although the above symptoms are often made worse by stress, they are clearly not simply due to anxiety.
- There is no need to be discouraged by these wave-like recurrences; the waves become less severe and less frequent as time passes.
- Hence, patients become progressively tight and irritable with the lack of regular dosages and psychologically dependent on this simple means of stress release.
- In this article, we’ll break down the stages of withdrawal, explain the factors that influence how long symptoms last, and offer insight into how Good Landing Recovery supports lasting recovery with compassion, structure, and expertise.
Effects of Benzodiazepine Use
Symptoms typically emerge within a few hours to days after the last dose and may progress through various stages, from acute to protracted phases. Understanding the intricacies of benzodiazepine withdrawal requires a deep dive into the multitude of factors that can influence the severity, duration, and onset of withdrawal symptoms. Recognizing these risk factors can offer valuable insights to healthcare professionals, caregivers, and patients, ensuring a more informed and strategic approach to benzodiazepine discontinuation.
- Sudden withdrawal from benzodiazepines leaves the brain in a state of GABA-underactivity, resulting in hyperexcitability of the nervous system.
- To avoid aggravation of anxiety, it is important to start with the lowest possible dose of an antidepressant and then work up slowly, over two or three weeks.
- Meanwhile, attention to sleep hygiene measures including avoiding tea, coffee, other stimulants or alcohol near bedtime, relaxation tapes, anxiety management techniques and physical exercise may be helpful.
- Drinking may worsen your withdrawal symptoms (especially the morning after) but there’sanother important reason to avoid alcohol until you feel better.
- Severe symptoms and reactions can occur, and working with a professional can help a person avoid or manage these symptoms.
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The process may be hastened by good psychological support and by the measures described under acute anxiety symptoms. Believe it or not, people often feel more self-confident after withdrawal than they did before starting to take benzodiazepines. Anxiety persisting after the acute phase of withdrawal may be partly due to the uncovering of a learning defect caused by the benzodiazepines. These drugs specifically impair the learning of new skills, including stress-coping strategies.
Tapering dosing
In larger doses, beta-blockers are used for raised blood pressure and angina, but such doses are not advised in benzodiazepine withdrawal. They should not be taken by anyone who has asthma as they can cause constriction of the bronchial tubes. If beta-blockers have been used regularly for any length of time, they should be withdrawn slowly by tapering the dosage, as they too can cause a withdrawal reaction of increased heart rate and palpitations. Improvement from the withdrawal syndromes usually occur gradually, sometimes as people taper, or slowly over the months and years after their benzodiazepine cessation. More lower symptom or symptom–free days start to occur and symptoms reduce in severity and number for most people. Sometimes, however, some people remain in severe withdrawal that persists, without windows, as the “baseline” condition” for quite some time, even years in some cases, until the “baseline” marijuana addiction begins to improve.
- In withdrawal you need a long-acting drug which can be reduced in very small steps.
- Some doctors, particularly in the US, believe that long-term benzodiazepines are indicated for some anxiety, panic and phobic disorders and some psychiatric conditions.
- Don’t wait— reach out today to take the first step toward taking control of your life.
- Following detox, some individuals may find that outpatient benzodiazepines rehab is a more ideal fit for their needs.
Less Common Withdrawal Symptoms
- Some people experience no withdrawal on discontinuation, even with cold-turkey cessation—although there is no way to know who these people will be ahead of time, so it is not recommended.
- The essence of benzodiazepine withdrawal lies in the brain’s reaction to the absence of the drug.
- A minority of people who have withdrawn from benzodiazepines seem to suffer long-term effects – protracted symptoms that just don’t go away after months or even years.
- Sometimes, however, some people remain in severe withdrawal that persists, without windows, as the “baseline” condition” for quite some time, even years in some cases, until the “baseline” begins to improve.
The best way to quit benzodiazepines is to avoid withdrawal by asking your doctor to taper down your dose. Tapering means taking progressively smaller doses over the course of a few weeks or months. Estimates suggest that 10 to 25% of people who take benzodiazepines for extended periods experience what’s known as protracted withdrawal. Yes, many withdrawal symptoms can be managed with the help of healthcare professionals.
Protracted Benzodiazepine Withdrawal
Recognizing these risk factors is essential for prevention and early intervention. Comprehensive addiction care can lead to positive outcomes and help a person achieve and maintain recovery. If you’re ready to take the first step towards recovery, you’ll need to begin by finding a benzodiazepine detox facility.
Not everyone who cuts down or stops taking benzodiazepines will experience withdrawal symptoms. Some people experience no withdrawal on discontinuation, even with cold-turkey cessation—although there is no way to know who these people will be ahead of time, so it is not recommended. Others might experience a few weeks or months of uncomfortable, but bearable, symptoms. Unfortunately, there is another group of individuals that may experience severe symptoms, often for months or years on benzodiazepine withdrawal end.