Benzodiazepines are habit-forming prescription drugs used to treat several stress-related conditions, such as anxiety disorders, insomnia, epilepsy and even alcohol withdrawal. This occurs because benzodiazepines affect brain chemistry, and healing takes time. How long benzo withdrawals last varies by dosage, usage length, and personal health. Medical detox is vital for safely overcoming benzodiazepine addiction. Yes, benzo withdrawal can be deadly in some cases.
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Symptoms vary based on personal biology, drug history, and mental health. Withdrawal symptoms are unique to every individual. That’s why understanding the timeline of symptoms is important. Professional care is essential for safe recovery. Our North Carolina team offers structure, therapy, and real tools for lasting recovery.
- Benzo withdrawal syndrome starts when a person abruptly stops or rapidly reduces benzodiazepine intake after developing dependence.
- This is because your body tries to adjust to the feeling of living without the drug.
- During the first week, you can also expect physical symptoms like headaches and hand tremors.
The causes of persisting symptoms are a combination of pharmacological factors such as persisting drug induced receptor changes, psychological factors both caused by the drug and separate from the drug and possibly in some cases, particularly high dose users, structural brain damage or structural neuronal damage. A study testing neuropsychological factors found psychophysiological markers differing from normals, and concluded that protracted withdrawal syndrome was a genuine iatrogenic condition caused by the long-term use. For this reason, discontinuation is sometimes carried out by first substituting an equivalent dose of a short-acting benzodiazepine with a longer-acting one like diazepam or chlordiazepoxide. According to a 2015 Cochrane review, cognitive behavior therapy plus taper was effective in achieving discontinuation in the short-term but the effect was not certain after six months.
Short-acting benzodiazepines, like triazolam, pass quickly through the body, so you’ll likely experience withdrawal symptoms sooner — sometimes within a matter of hours. Read on to learn more about benzodiazepine withdrawal, including the signs, how long it lasts, and how to get support with tapering off safely. Most people do okay with tapering their benzodiazepines at home with the help of their primary care doctor or psychiatrist.
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Additionally, medical supervision allows doctors to respond much more quickly to potential side effects and withdrawal symptoms. Tapering the drug by slowly reducing the prescription strength may help make withdrawal symptoms much easier to manage. Medical detox may help the person manage their specific withdrawal symptoms.
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Your doctor can help you weigh the potential risks and benefits of benzodiazepine use and your pregnancy. You should plan to stay how to avoid a relapse when things seem out of control in touch with your doctor regularly during the tapering process, either by phone or during office visits. Your doctor can pause or slow down the taper if your symptoms are intolerable. Others taper slowly over the course of several months. There is no standard tapering schedule for you to follow.
Navigating the Risks of Withdrawal
Learn how benzodiazepines help with alcohol withdrawal, their effects on the brain, and why they’re effective in treating Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome (AWS). Withdrawing from benzodiazepines consists of two phases; acute and post-acute or protracted. Individuals mixing benzos and other substances like alcohol are more dangerous withdrawal symptoms.
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Expect mild withdrawal symptoms like nausea, irritability, or anxiety during your first days; severe complications of delirium or grand mal seizures are also possible. Physically depending on a drug means you can’t function properly without using it, while withdrawal symptoms stem from suddenly reducing dosage or quitting dosage altogether. Learn about the key signs and effective management strategies for benzodiazepine withdrawal. Symptoms tend to start a few hours to days after the person stops taking the drugs, and they may last for a few weeks to many months before going away. If withdrawal symptoms become severe, doctors may prescribe other medications.
Short-acting benzodiazepines are much more likely to cause rebound symptoms. Experiencing rebound symptoms means the symptoms you had before taking benzodiazepines come back even stronger than before. If you want to stop taking benzodiazepines after consistent long-term use, your doctor can help you gradually taper off your medication. If you take benzodiazepines infrequently, such as once a week or once every few weeks to treat panic attacks, you can take them for a longer period of time. Consequently, experts recommend you take benzodiazepines for no more than 2 weeks if you use them daily.
This is because inconsistent use doesn’t pose the same risk of dependence or withdrawal. If you only use them once every few days, you may be able to take them for up to 4 weeks. Dependence and withdrawal can happen to anyone, even if you take your medication exactly as instructed. However, going through any withdrawal during pregnancy also has its risks. This will prevent you from altering the taper, but it might mean frequent trips to the pharmacy.
- Inpatient drug detox or rehabilitation facilities may be inappropriate for those who have become tolerant or dependent while taking the drug as prescribed, as opposed to recreational use.
- This is an important function in the elderly, especially if they drive a car due to the increased risk of road traffic accidents in benzodiazepine users.
- All those extra chemicals flood your brain, and the excess activity causes symptoms like anxiety and sweating.
- If you stop taking them “cold turkey,” or all at once, you may experience severe, even life threatening, withdrawal symptoms.
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During the first week, you can also expect physical symptoms like headaches and hand tremors. You can expect to feel anxious and on edge for several weeks. When you are physically dependent on a drug, it means your body can’t operate normally without it. Treatment for withdrawal usually involves weaning over a 3- to 21-day period if the infusion lasted for more than a week.
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There are various signs that can indicate someone is experiencing benzo withdrawal. Medical detox provides 24/7 supervision, seizure prevention protocols, and life-saving interventions when symptoms peak. In some cases, benzo detox without medical support leads to seizures, heart complications, or psychological breakdowns. If benzo withdrawal feels overwhelming, you’re not alone.
During the acute withdrawal phase, doctors may monitor the person and recommend other drugs to control problematic symptoms. There is no definitive guide to the symptoms, timeline, or severity of benzo withdrawal. The withdrawal symptoms, which vary in severity, typically begin within 24 hours and may last from a few days to a few months. Emerging research also suggests acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) could also have benefits during benzodiazepine withdrawal.
Along with these symptoms, the person may experience severe cravings for the drug or other drugs to sedate them. However, there is still a possibility of severe reactions and withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms may be mild in people who take the drugs for short periods. Withdrawal symptoms may begin after as little as 3–6 weeks of use, even when a person uses the drugs as the doctor directed. The symptoms of benzo withdrawal can vary, depending on many factors.
A significant minority of people withdrawing from benzodiazepines, protracted withdrawal syndrome which can sometimes be severe. Benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome (BZD withdrawal) is the cluster of signs and symptoms that may emerge when a person who has been taking benzodiazepines as prescribed develops a physical dependence on them and then reduces the dose or stops taking them without a safe taper schedule. Since benzodiazepines impact the mind and body, the drug’s withdrawal symptoms do as well. Research showed that 40% of people taking benzos for longer than 6 months experienced moderate-to-severe withdrawal symptoms.
