Xanax Addiction: Signs, Effects, & Treatment

Treatment options include the options above to help overcome addiction and start recovery. Withdrawal symptoms can be severe and require medical supervision. Fortunately, there are telltale signs of Xanax misuse and addiction, such as secretive behavior and always keeping pills on hand. Farmapram or Xanax abuse and dependence require medical supervision.

How Many People Use and Abuse Xanax?

It’s essential to recognize that Xanax addiction often coexists with other mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This phenomenon is known as a dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorder. Effective treatment for Xanax addiction must address both the addiction and any underlying mental health conditions simultaneously.

How Does Xanax Make You Feel? Why Is Xanax So Popular?

• It is not recommended to taper without the assistance and recommendations from your prescribing doctor.
• Another concern with Xanax addiction is the risk of overdose, which can result in acute benzodiazepine toxicity.
• Switching from short-acting Xanax to its longer-acting cousin Valium will make it easier for you to quit.
• However, its potential for addiction and abuse cannot be ignored.
• The first step is to identify any misconceptions you might have about addiction.

More than six out of every 200,000 adults died from a benzo overdose in 2013, according to a 2016 study. Upjohn Laboratories introduced Xanax in the United States in 1981. Unlike Valium, the most popular anti-anxiety drug during the 1970s, Xanax was marketed as the first drug to reduce panic attacks. It’s even more dangerous to take Xanax that you buy on the street because it’s impossible to know exactly what you’re buying.

How to reduce the risk of using Xanax again

Keep in mind that emergency responders and doctors are there to help you. If you have the pill containers, give them to the EMTs or doctors to help them determine the number and type of pills taken. Along with flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), alprazolam (Xanax) and clonazepam (Klonapin) may be used to incapacitate sexual assault victims.

More than 30 percent of opioid overdoses involve benzodiazepines, according to NIDA. Drinking alcohol on top of these drugs is even more harmful and too common. In a study from 2001–2013, about 17% of people who received an opioid prescription also received a benzodiazepine like Xanax. When opioids are combined with benzodiazepines, the risk of overdose, emergency department visits and death increases dramatically.

• Poly-drug abusers are far more likely to grow dependent since the other substances they abuse often intensify the effects of benzos like Xanax.
• Extreme physical discomfort is not uncommon during withdrawal and can be uncomfortable enough that a person may start using Xanax again (or different substances) to avoid the feelings.
• Regardless of the type of treatment you choose, know that you’re not alone.
• Unlike Valium, the most popular anti-anxiety drug during the 1970s, Xanax was marketed as the first drug to reduce panic attacks.

It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers. If someone takes Xanax regularly, it can lead to dependence andwithdrawal symptoms; especially if taken for a long time or in high doses. Xanax can causephysical and psychological dependenceor addiction even in people who take it as prescribed.

Xanax is addictive because of how it works in the brain, its short duration of action, and the potent calming and anxiety-relieving effect of the medicine that some people may abuse. When it comes to the long-term management Natural Xanax Alternatives For Anxiety of getting off benzodiazepines, there are two directions you can go. Research shows that most stable, healthy adults will achieve long-term abstinence after completing a taper. Many people experience irritability and agitation, which can cause problems at home, work, or school. You might be easily annoyed or short-tempered with family or friends. Insomnia, another symptom, can also contribute to these feelings of anxiety and agitation.

Younger adolescents, however, appear to be abstaining from many substances of abuse except Xanax. When someone takes a drug—as a prescription medication including opioids or Xanax—on a regular schedule, the medication will adjust the user’s brain chemistry. Over time, this adjustment to how the brain manages neurotransmitters will become normal and the brain will need the drug to manage its chemistry. This is called physical dependence — when the brain requires the presence of a drug to reach chemical equilibrium. During this stage, attempting to stop taking the drug seems like an unbearable challenge. People often recognize they are dependent on Xanax but cannot stop taking the drug due to the severe withdrawal symptoms, which they can experience if they don’t take the drug.

Xanax Effects

Xanax can help people who are in acute distress, but it is not intended for long-term use. The long-term use of benzodiazepines like Xanax can potentially create problems with dependence and withdrawal. Contact our helpful and knowledgeable admissions navigators at 24/7 to learn more about our different levels of addiction treatment and how we can help you find meaningful recovery from addiction. Our navigators can also answer your questions about what to expect in rehab, starting rehab admissions, and give you information about ways to pay for rehab – including paying for rehab with health insurance. Once you’re stable and free of any withdrawal symptoms, your doctor can then taper your dose of Valium. Xanax withdrawal can have serious side effects if not managed correctly.

• Unlike many other withdrawal syndromes, benzodiazepine withdrawal can be complicated and, occasionally, life-threatening.
• The drug is usually added to alcoholic drinks or even soft drinks in powder or liquid forms and can be hard to taste.
• Addiction is now classified as a substance use disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Edition 5 (DSM-5).
• These facilities are designed to be safe places to detox under medical supervision.
• However, this medication is prone to misuse, which can lead to addiction.

Signs of Xanax Abuse or Addiction

Daily use of benzodiazepines for six weeks or more will result in dependency for four in every 10 users, the Royal College of Psychiatrists states. You may benefit from one or more of these types of behavioral therapy. Upon leaving the treatment center, many people will pursue a 12-step recovery program to maintain abstinence or stabilization and maintenance. Even at relatively low doses, Xanax addiction can develop—in part because the drug has a relatively short half-life of 11 hours, which means that its effects wear off quickly. The detox period for Xanax may be longer than the detox period for other drugs.