Benzodiazepines Research Paper

Thomas rose
HSSA 101 winter 2010
L romwall Term paper Benzodiazepines Benzodiazepines are by far the most widely used sedative-hypnotic in the united states.(uppers downers all arounders) this class of drugs was developed in the 1950s as an alternative to barbiturates. Because they have a fairly large margin of safety, many healthcare professionals initially overlooked their peculiarities: the length of time they last in the body tissues, their ability to induce tissue dependence at low levels of use, and the severity of withdrawal from the drug. For these reasons almost all recommendations for use today emphasize that they should be used short term and for specific conditions, not as long term medications. The most widely used benzodiazepines
are alprazolam(Xanax 34 million prescriptions) razepam(ativan-19 million) clonezepam(Klonopin-16.7 million) Diazepam(Valium-12million) and temazepam( Restoril-7.6 million).(uppers downers all arounders). Medically benzodiazepines are used to: provide short term treatment for the symptoms of anxiety and panic disorders; control anxiety and apprehension in surgical patients and diminish traumatic memories of the procedure; treat sleep problems; control skeletal muscular spasms; elevate the seizure threshold and control seizures; and control acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome. (Uppers downers all arounders) . The effects of these drugs are very similar to those of alcohol, they are sometimes used for the same reasons a person drinks. A double – blind study on non-drug addicts compared the effects of low dose diazepam injections and alcohol injections. The subjects found the high from each of the drugs to be very similar; however , higher dose diazepam produced more physical impairment( Schuckit,Greenblatt, gold,1991) Benzodiazepines alone can be abused but they are most often abused with other drugs.
Methamphetamine and cocaine abusers often take them to come down from excess stimulation. This combination is connected with spasms of the coronary arteries that can damage the heart (starcevic& sicaja,2007). Heroin addicts frequently take them when they cant get their drug of choice, and alcoholics use them or are prescribed them to prevent convulsions and other life threatening withdrawal symptoms. For example, depending on the study, 20% to 40% of alcoholics and 25% to 50% of heroin or methadone maintained addicts abused benzodiazepines(miller & gold, 1990). Here is a quote from a 48 year old female abuser of benzodiazepines. “if I threw down 10 valium, I really didn’t feel that much. It wasn’t like taking Nembutal or other barbiturates where you get a real rush. I would have to take an awful lot to feel anything. It relieved certain anxieties; it alleviated depression. You tell the doctor, I am anxious or depressed. Okay, take some valium.”(uppers downers all
arounders). Tolerance to benzodiazepines develops as the liver becomes more efficient in processing the drug.
Age dependent reverse tolerance also occurs with these drugs, however, meaning that a younger person can tolerate higher doses of benzodiazepines than can someone older. The effect of a dose on a 50 year old first time user can be two to four times stronger than the same dose on a twenty year old. Many diagnoses of dementia are actually due to overuse of benzodiazepines and other drug interactions. Here is another quote from a user. “ I was unhappy and wanted the easy way out. I will go back to the same psychiatrist and get a prescription of xanax. It starts out 25mg, and I ended up doing between 800 to 1000mg a day.” Physical addiction can develop if the patient takes 10 to 20 times the normal dose daily for a couple of months or longer or takes a normal dose for a year or more. Because many benzodiazepines are deactivated over a period of several days, even low dose use can lead to tissue dependence and addiction when these drugs are taken daily over a number of years. In addition, the pleasant mental effects and reinforcing aspects of the drugs can result in psychological
dependence. After high dose continuous use for about one to three months or lower dose use for at least one to two years, withdrawal symptoms can be severe. It can take a dependent user several months to taper off from the drug and allow the body to return to normal. If tapering is not carefully monitored, withdrawal seizures can occur and can sometimes even be deadly. Withdrawal symptoms can include: recurrence of the original symptoms that were being treated; magnification of the symptoms that were being treated; pseudo withdrawal in which the user exaggerates the recurrence of symptoms; and true withdrawal in a patient who has become physically dependent, often caused by low GABA and excess epinephrine and norepinepherine. Benzodiazepines impair the ability to learn new information. They disrupt the transfer of information from short to long term memory. They also slow the ability to shift ones attention from one job to another (American psychiatric association 1990 ) Some benzodiazepines have been used for date rape. The drug most associated with this behavior is called rohypnol. What the predator will do is slip this into a drink; this will then cause the victim to lose inhibitions and also cause memory loss. This illicit use began in Europe in the 1970s but did not occur in the United States until the 1990s. The manufacturer, Roche pharmaceuticals, recently added a blue dye to the tablet to make it more detectable when put into a drink.(uppers downers all arounders). In closing I would just like to say that if used improperly these drugs can be very dangerous to your health, and once hooked they can be just as dangerous to get off of if not more dangerous. So if you do decide to stop taking these drugs, this is one of the few you do not want to do cold turkey.