If you or someone you know are suffering from Xanax, please get in touch with us if there is any question you might have on how to make the transition possible. Learn more about Xanax addiction and remember that San Diego can be your home to transform your life away from Xanax.
These are some of the street names of Xanax, the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medication in America. Half of all the Xanax sold worldwide is purchased in The United States. Alprazolam is the drug’s active ingredient, a short-acting benzodiazepine usually prescribed as a tranquilizer, meant to treat a wide array of social anxiety disorders.
It is available on the streets, through the dark web, and through online pharmacies. Some obtain it from friends or relatives with legal prescriptions.
What started as primarily abuse-related prescriptions has become a much bigger issue involving patients taking the drug recreationally and coping with stress and anxiety.
In the most severe cases, Xanax can produce problems urinating and weight changes.
Psychotic episodes, substantial cognitive loss, chronic depression, impulsive, aggressive behavior, and delirium are among the long-term effects of Xanax.
These are sometimes irreversible. Some people have to deal with them forever.
Some people don’t seem to realize that Xanax can be about 15 times stronger than Valium (Diazepam).
Teen drug use during the summer often goes unnoticed. It’s when school starts and students nod off in class, exchange pills in the restrooms, and fail tests that the problem becomes visible.
Some teens view Xanax as a safer alternative to prescription opioids and heroin with almost the same euphoric effects.
The pills kids take, often found in their parents’ or grandparents’ bedrooms, can be just as deadly as opioids such as heroin, especially when mixed with other drugs or alcohol.
Like opioids prescribed for pain, benzodiazepines prescribed for anxiety eventually stop working, forcing users to take higher and higher doses to get the same effect.
There are three FDA-approved medicines are available to treat the symptoms of opioid addiction: buprenorphine (Suboxone), methadone, and Vivitrol, a long-acting injectable drug that blocks the euphoric effects of opioids and alcohol.
But no medicines exist to blunt the withdrawal symptoms and cravings caused by benzodiazepine addiction. Instead, patients typically enter residential treatment, where a specialist gradually tapers them off the medication, so benzodiazepine withdrawal doesn’t result in seizures and death.
As more adults are prescribed Xanax, Valium, Ativan, and other benzodiazepines to calm their nerves and fight insomnia, these pills are more available for teenagers.
Some of them claim that heroin and Xanax are made for each other. Xanax’s high lasts longer than the dope’s (heroin), hence its increasing popularity. Fentanyl today is replacing much of the street heroin and is a problem in itself. Learn more about our Fentanyl rehab.
Xanax is similar to other benzodiazepines. It increases the availability of the most potent and common inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, known as GABA. GABA produces a sedating effect. It gets rid of stress, relaxes the muscles, calms the nerves, and stops anxiety. In search of reducing panic or anxiety, many people can become addicted, among other disorders.
Xanax modulates the functioning of the GABA receptor, further inducing the calming effect.
The best way to understand how Xanax works are to think of it as a super tranquilizer. Taking this drug even in small doses can significantly reduce anxiety and panic.
Xanax sometimes is prescribed with a substitute medication. The most common substitutes are other benzodiazepines including Ativan (florazepam), clonazepam, and Valium (diazepam). The only important distinction between the different kinds of benzodiazepines is how long they last. Ativan and Xanax are both short-acting benzodiazepines. Clonazepam and diazepam are long-lasting. Nevertheless, all benzodiazepines produce the same kinds of effects.
Drugs like Ambien, Lunesta, and Sonata (BRAs: benzodiazepine receptor agonists) are becoming alternatives to treat insomnia, panic disorder, and anxiety because of a growing concern of benzodiazepine abuse.
Some doctors replace SSRI antidepressants for patients suffering from panic attacks and anxiety. Zoloft is one of these pharmaceuticals.
Unfortunately, most of the substitute drugs are potentially addictive as well. Thus, moving from Xanax to another medication does not equal overcoming addiction. Switching pills do not change the core problem.
As Xanax has such a short half-life, you can take the drug and start feeling good relatively quickly – usually in less than one hour. That’s why it is so dangerous. The effects of Xanax wear off almost as soon as they come on. This increases the potential for both abuse and addiction. People are ready to take another dose as soon as they come down from the previous one.
People often mix Xanax with other substances (Morphine,
OxyContin and Vicodin). Sometimes people blend it with methadone and heroin too. But the most dangerous combination is mixing Xanax with alcohol.
Withdrawing from both alcohol and Xanax is very challenging. Addicts go through agitation, seizures, panic attacks, and even delirium.
Sometimes, psychological disorders take place with another condition. For example, someone could be suffering from both addictions to Xanax and drinking alcohol or panic disorder at the same time (dual diagnosis). It is fundamental to avoid making one condition worse while treating the other in such cases.
The client’s background determines how co-occurring disorders (bipolar disorder, anxiety, or depression) are treated. If one disorder was a precursor to the other, treating the first condition may automatically relieve the second.
Otherwise, we must treat both conditions simultaneously. At La Jolla Recovery, we do this with additional medications combined with interventional therapies. These are usually either group or individual talking therapies.
Seek professional treatment for Xanax abuse and avoid self-treatment.
Few people make it through the most challenging part of withdrawal in less than a week. You have a higher chance to succeed if you are one of them.
Suppose you can´t stop taking Xanax even after your prescription has run out, and you find yourself going to another doctor to get a new medication or attempting to purchase Xanax online. In that case, you may have developed psychological dependence.
Is Rehab necessary after the Xanax detox is over?
Detox is a treatment that focuses on the physical addiction to Xanax. Rehab is intended to address the mental and psychological background. If you skip Rehab, you will fool yourself and deal with the same psychological issues before the detox. A comprehensive rehab program is the only way to get over those things.
Therefore, people struggling with Xanax addiction need to attend a comprehensive inpatient program like the one available at La Jolla Recovery Xanax rehab. Once severe withdrawal symptoms are overcome in detox, mental cravings are addressed in each patient’s treatment plan. We make available a personal therapist to discuss your issues through counseling, which is complemented by group therapy.
Clients will explore the patterns of thought and behavior that led to Xanax abuse in the first place. We also remain our patient´s trusted recovery resource after they leave treatment through a tailor-made aftercare plan. If you are coming out of Texas, New York, Arizona, or Florida, we want to make sure you feel at home and have an opportunity clear from the triggers you faced before. Are you addicted to other drugs, such as heroin, prescriptions or cocaine? Let us help.
The distraction-free environment afforded by residential treatment lets clients focus all their attention on rehab. In case of suffering from a dual diagnosis such as mental health disorders, the proper focus on these symptoms will be addressed for a sustained recovery and reduced relapse afterward.
Here, you can’t go down the street and meet your dealer. Possible treatments include contingency management, CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), counseling, group support, relapse prevention training, and motivational therapies.
Detoxing from Xanax Correctly
Detox is the mechanism that allows your body to cleanse itself of the chemicals. Gradual tapering is far more efficient than stopping cold turkey, which is why a clinical support team and medical supervision are vital for reducing discomfort and increasing outcomes. Withdrawal from Xanax addiction leads to insomnia, sweating, nervousness, anxiety, depression, anger, tingling sensation in feet and hands, and rebound symptoms.
This is why we provide round-the-clock medically supervised Xanax detox. However, our staff approach detox from a therapeutic standpoint too. They may look to counseling to help calm a patient feeling incredibly anxious, for example.
You need not be an adherent to twelve steps or AA to flourish; at our Xanax detox, we will meet you where you are, whether needing non-spiritual tools such as Practical Recovery.
An evidence-based model for Xanax addiction in San Diego.