Benzodiazepines are prescribed all the time. Known in short as benzos, these drugs (which include common anxiety-fighting pills Valium and Xanax) are actually very dangerous. Without a proper benzodiazepine detox, these seemingly harmless drugs can kill you.
Why Are Benzos So Dangerous?
Despite being one of the most dangerous drugs on the market, very few people are aware of the dangerous nature of benzodiazepines.
One of the reasons for this is because many doctors simply don’t tell their patients how dangerous these drugs are. Benzo addiction can be serious and life-threatening – but it can also be avoided if you don’t use the drugs every day.
Despite this, doctors often prescribe patients of all ages daily doses of benzos. This leads to addiction and can make people more likely to overdose. In fact, nearly a third of all prescription overdoses in America involves the use of benzos.
More than this, benzos can also kill you when you try to stop using them. This is important to know because many people are shocked to discover the intensity of benzo withdrawals.
What Are Benzo Withdrawal Symptoms?
One of the reasons that benzos are so difficult to stop using is because most people experience intense withdrawal symptoms when they stop using them.
These withdrawal symptoms occur because the body becomes dependent on benzos to regulate its own nervous system. When you stop taking benzos, your nervous system doesn’t know what to do anymore.
This can send you into shock in the form of withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms can be relatively mild, for people who have only been using benzos for weeks or months at low doses. However, symptoms can be fatal for people who have used benzos for years or at high doses.
Some of the most common symptoms include:
- Nervousness and agitation
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Memory problems
- Difficulty thinking
- Sweating
- Shaking
- Delusional thoughts
- Hallucinations, especially audio hallucinations
- Heart palpitations
- Changes in blood pressure
- Seizures
The last symptom on this list, seizures, can be fatal. Seizures are the main reason that it’s generally recommended for benzo users to attend some form of detox.
Do I Need Benzodiazepine Detox?
If you have been using benzodiazepines on a daily basis for a period of months or years, you should definitely consider going to detox.
Detox provides you with medically trained professionals who can keep an eye on you. They’ll make sure that you can manage your withdrawal symptoms, and they will help make sure that you don’t have a fatal seizure.
Keep in mind that not all benzo users need a detox. If you only take benzodiazepines one or two times a week, you probably won’t need a detox. This is because your body has time to readjust in between doses, and you won’t become fully dependent on them.
Conclusion
Benzodiazepines are dangerous drugs and people need to be more informed about them. If you or a loved one has been using benzos on a regular basis, you may need to think about attending benzodiazepine detox. Then, you can learn how to reduce stress and anxiety without the need for drugs.
