What Is The Treatment For Benzodiazepine Detoxification?
Benzodiazepines are relatively frequently used psychotropic drugs in the field of psychiatry, and they make up a group of medications known, among other things, for having replaced barbiturates, which were widely used decades ago due to their anxiolytic and anticonvulsant effects but presented a high risk of generating very harmful side effects. .
Now, although benzodiazepines have effects like barbiturates and their use is safer, that does not mean that their use does not involve certain risks. In fact, this class of substances are also used as drugs outside of the clinical context, and many people become addicted to this product.
But we must also keep in mind that benzodiazepines are one of the drugs whose withdrawal syndrome can be intense and capable of causing death. In other words: trying to overcome addiction to benzos can kill the person who has developed this pathology if medical assistance is not available in the context of therapeutic intervention. To better understand the characteristics of this phenomenon, in this article we will see What is the treatment and detoxification of benzodiazepine addiction like? and control of their withdrawal syndrome.
As we anticipated, benzodiazepines are a group of psychotropic medications used above all for their ability to counteract the effects of certain pathologies associated with excessive activation of the nervous system, such as anxiety disorders, insomnia, spasms, epilepsy or bipolar disorder in its manic phase. Thus, They are considered to be part of the anxiolytic and hypnotic-sedative psychotropic drugs (although its therapeutic effects depend in part on the amount administered).
Now, as is often the case with products created from medical research, benzodiazepines have their role as drugs for recreational use. Unfortunately, products such as alprazolam are widely used without a medical prescription due to the temporary sensation of relaxation and well-being they generate, and the addiction does not take long to take hold.
This dependence process emerges when the reward system of the brain of the person who consumes the benzodiazepine learns to “adapt” to the presence of this substance in the nervous system, which interacts with neurons and generates a chain reaction in them.
In this way, in a short time, the brain’s reward system is restructured to give full priority to the need to consume that type of drug again: the neurons learn to interconnect in another way so that the benzos become what motivates the person, towards what he directs his actions. And as happens with all addictions, this “resetting” of the brain becomes increasingly more extreme, while at the same time The person increasingly needs to consume the drug more and more frequently to feel satisfied.
That is why when you try to stop consuming benzodiazepines, the most common thing is that the experience of spending many hours in a row without taking this drug causes a strong imbalance in the functioning of all those neurons that work in a coordinated manner, having adapted to the presence of the drug in the body. And in some cases, the withdrawal syndrome caused by this is so intense that the person’s death can occur if you are not careful.
How is withdrawal syndrome treated in benzodiazepine detox?
Although overcoming benzodiazepine addiction is complex, it is not impossible, far from it. Now, it is essential to have psychiatric assistance at least during the first stage of treatment, what is known as the detoxification phase, which is when the most intense phase of the withdrawal syndrome occurs and there is a risk of cardiorespiratory arrest. Let’s see what the characteristics of this process are.
1. Information and psychoeducation phase
In the first phase, the patient is informed about the characteristics of the addiction you suffer from, the consequences of not stopping using the drug, and the implications of the therapy process that you are going to begin. If possible, family members are also spoken to so that they collaborate as much as possible and doubts are resolved, among other things, to combat certain erroneous beliefs that could hinder the progress of treatment if they are not questioned.
2. Possible change of benzodiazepine
As the drug withdrawal process must be gradual to avoid the appearance of very severe symptoms or even the risk of death, Sometimes it is decided to replace the type of benzodiazepine that the patient had been taking during the consolidation of the addiction, opting for other substances from the same family, but that due to their properties are somewhat safer or facilitate the progress of treatment and the management of symptoms in the withdrawal syndrome.
3. Establishment of guidelines for gradual withdrawal of drug consumption
In this phase, the process of gradual withdrawal of the drug is planned reducing the quantity and spacing out the feedings, and the patient is informed of what the times will be from that moment on.
This is the core part of detoxification, in which the gradual withdrawal of the drug is monitored and the person is helped to physically and psychologically manage the discomfort caused by the withdrawal syndrome. It must be taken into account that although the risk of suffering serious health alterations has been greatly reduced, it is still common for significant alterations to appear, such as:
Given this, the patient is also helped to prevent and counteract the trap thoughts that may arise in their mind, which are ideas and images capable of leading to sabotage of treatment through relapse into consumption (in this case, consuming at odd hours or in too high quantities) to avoid this discomfort in the short term.
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In Llaurant la Llum We specialize in the treatment of addictions with or without drug use, and we have a fully equipped residential module in which we offer medical assistance at all times through a detoxification program for drugs such as benzodiazepines, opioids, alcohol , and more. You will find us in Picassent, Valencia.
