If you or someone you loved is struggling with a prescription, you might show signs of benzo addiction. All too common, people are given prescriptions for treating mental health disorders like anxiety without any follow-up or concurrent therapy, which leaves people susceptible to addiction without resolving the underlying health condition.
Total RMH is a Beverly Hills treatment center, providing comprehensive addiction treatment. Contact us today to learn more about how our treatment programs can help you.
What Are Benzos?
Benzos or benzodiazepines are a category of prescription drugs. Up to 18% of individuals across the United States use benzodiazepines, and of those, 80% also abuse other drugs. Many people are not warned about the signs of benzo addiction, let alone told that it is very addictive when they are given a prescription. This can lead to severe complications and substance abuse.
Some common prescriptions include:
- Xanax
- Valium
- Ativan
Benzos are often prescribed for things like anxiety or insomnia. Signs of benzo use include changes to the body and cognitive function because benzodiazepines are depressants. Depressants literally depress or slow down your central nervous system.
Are Benzos Addictive?
Benzos are very addictive. When you take a benzodiazepine, it produces muscle relaxation, sedation, and reduced anxiety levels.
Different drugs are classified by how long these effects last.
- Very short-acting drugs are Versed and Halcion, things for instant relief during panic attacks.
- Short-acting drugs include Ativan and Xanax.
- Long-lasting benzos include Librium, Valium, and Klonopin.
No matter which of these you are given, once the effects wear off, your body returns to feeling the same level of anxiety or insomnia as before, so you take more and more, more often, to achieve the same effects. Unfortunately, the more you take it, the less effective it becomes. This causes you to take even more and take it more often.
What Are the Signs of Benzo Addiction?
Benzo addiction signs come in many forms. Knowing each of these signs is essential in determining whether you or someone you love is struggling with benzo addiction symptoms or just dealing with another issue.
For example: having mood swings and headaches and isolation doesn’t necessarily mean you are showing benzo addiction symptoms, but having mood swings and headaches, forging prescriptions, feeling emotionally detached, and doing everything in your power to get your hands on more drugs is.
Behavioral signs of benzo addiction
Someone struggling with an addiction to benzodiazepines will show many behavioral symptoms first. These behavioral symptoms can include isolation from friends and family, and no longer participating in social activities that were once fun.
In addition to withdrawing, behavioral signs might include desperate criminal activities to feed the addiction, like forging prescriptions or visiting more than one doctor with the same symptoms to get multiple prescriptions concurrently.
Continued signs of benzo addiction might also include failing to fulfill personal or professional responsibilities.
Physical signs of benzo use
Physical signs of benzo addiction include drowsiness, lightheadedness, muscle weakness, unsteadiness, and blurred vision. It’s not uncommon for someone addicted to benzos to faint or experience headaches regularly.
Cognitive benzo addiction symptoms
Cognitive signs of benzo use are all the things you would expect from a prescription to treat anxiety, like slowing down thought processes, reducing inhibition, impaired judgment, poor concentration, or confusion. Regular use of benzodiazepines can cause problems with memory and concentration long-term.
Psychosocial benzo addiction signs
Signs of benzo addiction might be psychosocial, like unexplained sudden mood changes or your regular emotions, intense irritability, particularly when someone runs out of their drug, emotional detachment, or hostility.
How to Find a Benzo Treatment Center in Beverly Hills
The best way to overcome addiction is to find a benzo Treatment Center that specializes in reversing addiction’s cognitive symptoms, helping boost your physical health, and providing ongoing therapy for your treatment.
At Total RMH, we offer all of that. Our treatment center specializes in things like neurofeedback and brain optimization, IV nutritional therapy, or IV NAD therapy in Los Angeles to help boost your cognitive and physical function while you undergo your withdrawal symptoms and move toward sobriety.
Our treatment therapies include counseling and withdrawal management to treat your substance abuse through initial Beverly Hills detox, ongoing treatment and recovery, and aftercare. We know that your journey towards sobriety is a lifelong path, so our team is there for you from start to finish.
If you are ready for treatment, turn to Total RMH.