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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Along with depression, anxiety is one of the most commonly reported chronic mental health problems in the United States. Since the condition can be passed along through genetic lines and also surfaces due to trauma, life circumstances, and physiological reasons, there are many ways for anxiety to show up in someone’s life. And once it’s present, it can be terribly debilitating, even life-threatening, without proper care.
Many people who suffer from anxiety take to self-medicating with various drugs. Others are prescribed medications to help curb the discomfort of the symptoms. One of the most common anxiety meds is Xanax, which is a benzodiazepine, a class of sedatives that have been popular since the 1960s. Valium, Klonopin, and Librium are other examples of benzos.
Many patients have been prescribed Xanax and take it every day. As a result, many people become chemically dependent on this drug, sometimes unaware that it is powerfully addicting.
There are several strong reasons to not take Xanax, but if you have been prescribed it and are trying to wean yourself off it (under a doctor’s supervision), you may be wondering about a few things: how long does Xanax take to kick in? How long does it stay in the body? You may also wonder: how long does Xanax high last? How long does Xanax stay in your system?
These are good questions to ask your doctor.
Overdoses
Benzos are popular because they kick in quickly, as opposed to anti-depressants like SSRIs. But the problem is that drugs like Xanax have a profound effect on both the brain and the nervous system. Combined with opioids or alcohol, which is common, Xanax can kill you with even a small dose.
Because Xanax is so often taken with other drugs, it plays a role in nearly one-third of overdoses. The risk of dying from alcohol poisoning goes way up when the person has Xanax in their system. Benzo overdoses grew by more than 500 percent between 1996 and 2013 and the number continues to rise.
Withdrawal
Another danger associated with benzo use is withdrawal. Drugs like Xanax can cause tolerance and withdrawal symptoms very quickly. In only a matter of weeks, someone can find themself addicted to the high. The anxiety they experienced before taking Xanax is now worse in its absence, leading to a cycle of continually taking the drug in order to fight off withdrawal and heightened anxiety symptoms.
If a person develops a tolerance to Xanax and then stops taking it, they can experience extreme irritability, insomnia, confusion, tremors, and even hallucinations, psychosis, seizures, and death. This is why if you’ve been taking large amounts of a benzo, doctors do not recommend just suddenly stopping. You need to wean off it; otherwise, the more extreme withdrawal symptoms like seizure can kick in.
Safely detoxing from a drug like Xanax requires close medical supervision.
Effects on the brain
Taken over a long period of time, chronic Xanax use can adversely affect the brain, especially with elderly people who may have their mobility and thought processing severely stunted. In fact, benzo abuse is more likely to be the cause of confusion and slurred speech in elderly citizens than either Alzheimer’s or dementia. Benzos cause many elders to fall and injure themselves and also raise the risks of an accident when driving a vehicle.
For these reasons and more, many therapists and doctors do not prescribe benzos for regular use because the risk of abuse and addiction is usually greater than its therapeutic value.
There are many prescription drugs that are abused by patients but benzos like Xanax are regularly viewed as one of the most dangerous. Every year, 125,000 people have to take trips to the ER because of a Xanax-related medical problem. Statistics suggest that on average, a person who is addicted to Xanax takes 20-30 pills a day.
These are shocking numbers, especially when you consider the high number (one in 11 high school seniors) of teenagers trying Xanax. Like painkillers such as Vicodin and Oxycontin, benzos have become a serious medical problem in the United States, a problem that must be addressed.