If you’ve been suffering from insomnia or anxiety and are considering a sleep-aid drug or tranquilizer, you might be wise to consider more natural alternatives. For nearly 30 years, the risk of dependency on the benzodiazepine class of tranquilizers has been well documented. And while the newer class of “non-benzodiazepines” are said to be less risky, they also can lead to dependency and the need for a medical drug detox to safely and comfortably get off them. Alternative, drug-free approaches to dealing with insomnia and anxiety that don’t lead to dependence and the possible need for drug detox exist throughout the world. There are a host of herbal remedies, homeopathic medicines and dietary adjustments described on literally thousands of web sites. Even a simple regimen of exercise has worked wonders for people with trouble sleeping or suffering from attacks of anxiety or nervousness.But if you’re one of the millions of Americans who already rely on prescription drugs to sleep or to calm you down, you may not know that long-term use of benzodiazepines can lead to physical dependence. If you decide to stop taking them, only a medical drug detox will help you avoid the withdrawal symptoms, and the ugly alternative – a long and uncomfortable “weaning off” period that can last as long as 6 months or a year or more, complicated by even more prescription drugs which have side effects of their own.Benzodiazepines, often referred to simply as “benzos”, are a class of some two dozen psychoactive drugs that include such well-known brands as Valium, Librium, Klonopin and Xanax. Benzos, which have been around since the 1960s, are routinely prescribed for anxiety, insomnia, agitation, seizures, and muscle spasms, and in some settings have even been used for alcohol withdrawal – an inferior approach to modern medical drug detox. They offer users a whole laundry-list of unpleasant side effects in addition to leading to dependencies and the need for drug detox.The relatively new non-benzos, which include more than a dozen drugs and such popular brands as Ambien, Sonata and Lunesta (you can’t watch television for more than 10 minutes these days without seeing a commercial for at least one of them), create some of the same calming effects as benzos. They’re called “non”-benzos because they have some of the same tranquilizing effects, but are structurally different. But non-benzos have their own list of nasty side effects, and although they are said to create fewer dependencies, medical drug detox centers still encounter these drugs on a regular basis, usually as part of a multidrug dependency involving other drugs and alcohol.Non-benzos produce some particularly horrible side effects, such as pronounced amnesia and hallucinations. They have been widely reported as causing a “fugue state” where people sleepwalk and then cook meals or even go driving in their cars while completely unconscious, with no memory of the events when awakened. As evidenced by the thousands of TV commercials, magazine and newspaper ads touting their use, and the billions of dollars pouring into the coffers of the pharmaceutical companies, both benzos and non-benzos have become part of America’s prescription drug culture – “take a pill for whatever ails you.” In spite of its need for a good night’s sleep, America needs to wake up and face the harsh reality of its dangerous dependence on prescription drugs. If you’re considering asking for a prescription, you should call a medical drug detox counselor and get the real facts – neither Big Pharma nor your doctor will tell you in plain language what you need to hear. And if you’re already a long-time user, you should call the same counselor and discuss whether you should get into a medical drug detox program right now.
Posts Tagged ‘unpleasant side effects’
Medical Drug Detox Greatly Eases Benzo and Non-Benzo Withdrawal
December 3rd, 2011Inpatient Drug Rehabilitation – Short Term Vs Long Term Drug Rehab
August 6th, 2011Getting someone to face the concept of inpatient drug rehabilitation to handle an addiction problem is hard enough; much less consider a long term rehab program. The stigma surrounding addiction treatment and the dogmatic methods used bring about the belief there is no real reason to consider anything but a short term treatment option. The fact is, the only reason a short term 30 day drug rehab program exists is that’s all the insurance companies want to pay for.
Most insurance policies do not cover inpatient drug rehab programs longer than 21 or 30 days, and they most certainly do not cover any kind of sober living or continued aftercare for the most part. When it comes to long term drug rehabs that can actually progressively work towards a continued improvement in the addicts outlook and disposition, there are only a few options.
First, lets take a look at a few basic principles as to why short term drug rehab programs have low success rates on a fundamental level. Substance abuse or any kind of drug use, even prescribed drugs take a toxic toll on the body and in the process deplete the body’s natural stores of vitamins, minerals, and hormones, causing uncomfortable and unpleasant side-effects and even new diseases. The drug-induced nutrient depletion suppresses the very nutrients that you need to keep energy levels high, fend off infections, and remain healthy.
When a person has suppressed their ability to feel good, while acting and reacting to life and its issues it creates a negative impact on addict’s emotional state setting a series of learned negative behavior. In other words people take drugs to handle some sort emotional or physical problem which the drug alleviates, and now places value on the substance to the abuser. That value now needs justification for continued use. With the deficiencies created the abuser now feels worse which leads to more drug or alcohol abuse and justification to support it and the unwanted behavior. This leads to the inability to take responsibility for ones actions, demoralizing and degrading behavior and finger pointing as means of explaining away the flagrant transgressions committed.
There are hidden physiological mechanisms causing negative unwanted feelings going on behind the scenes that the now addict is completely unaware of. Unraveling the toxic effects of the drugs takes time. As an example Vitamin B is a key nutrient needed for production of the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin deficiencies are at the root of depression, anxiety and moon swings and a lack therein can significantly increase the desire to abuse more alcohol or drugs as a quick fix. Remedying these deficiencies can take 90- 100 days based on studies by National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Allowing sufficient time for the addict to fully recover physically prior to any counseling or life skills management can only be accomplished in a long term inpatient drug rehabilitation program. Many treatment programs, although inpatient drug rehabs, offer counseling or meetings while the body has yet to recover. This is putting the cart before the horse and leads to a continued dwindling spiral for the addict as he continually stacks up failure after failure.
By the time the substance abuse or addiction problem is truly confronted, years of use and abuse are now tangled with all the unwanted feelings and problems that come along with it and are all bungled up in one convoluted mess. Getting over the physical ailments and dysfunction caused by the addiction can take months alone, much less unraveling the mountain of confusion and problems heaped atop the addict. This simply cannot be done in a short term drug rehabilitation program and brings to light why their success rates are dismal.
Inpatient drug rehabilitation programs of sufficient length that offer a completely holistic (drug free) approach offer significantly improved success rates by starting from the ground up. Handling the physical duress experienced during drug abuse first lays the foundation for improved abilities to truly confront unwanted mental emotional feelings. These unwanted feelings like at the core of the problem and more likely dealt with successfully in an inpatient drug rehabilitation program of three months of longer.