{"id":25643,"date":"2025-05-14T09:29:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T09:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/benzo-withdrawal-symptoms-can-be-life-threatening\/"},"modified":"2025-05-14T09:29:57","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T09:29:57","slug":"benzo-withdrawal-symptoms-can-be-life-threatening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/benzo-withdrawal-symptoms-can-be-life-threatening\/","title":{"rendered":"Benzo Withdrawal Symptoms Can Be Life-Threatening"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Tasha Hedges took Xanax for 20 years to treat her anxiety and panic attacks, exactly as a psychiatrist had prescribed it. Then in 2022, that doctor unexpectedly died.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A general practitioner continued her prescription but retired shortly afterward. The next doctor moved to Canada. Finally, Ms. Hedges found a new psychiatrist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe first thing he did was start yelling at me that I had been on Xanax too long,\u201d said Ms. Hedges, 41, who lives in Falling Waters, W.Va. \u201cHe ripped me off my meds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Discontinuing the drug typically requires decreasing the dose slowly over months or even years, a process called tapering. Ms. Hedges stopped cold turkey. Debilitating withdrawal symptoms followed: hot flashes, cold sweats, restless legs, the shakes and teeth grinding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was a nightmare,\u201d she said. Two years after discontinuing the medication, she is still dealing with the fallout. \u201cMy brain has not been the same.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In social media groups and websites such as BenzoBuddies, people like Ms. Hedges say they have become physically dependent on benzodiazepines. Many then get cut off from their medication or taper too quickly, and face dangerous and potentially life-threatening withdrawal symptoms that can linger long after the drugs are discontinued. Some doctors, fearful of the risks and stigma associated with these drugs, refuse to prescribe them at all.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBenzos generate as much anxiety in the prescriber as they do in the patient,\u201d said Dr. Ronald M. Winchel, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. \u201cDo I start it? Is it the right context? Is it safe? Is my patient going to abuse it? What will my colleagues think?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Prescriptions for benzodiazepines like Xanax, Ativan and Valium have been trending down since 2016, in part because of doctors\u2019 concerns. Even so, these medications are considered quick and efficacious, and they remain among the most commonly prescribed drugs in the country to treat conditions including anxiety and sleep disorders. In 2019, an estimated 92 million benzodiazepine prescriptions were dispensed in the United States, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/news-events\/press-announcements\/fda-requiring-labeling-changes-benzodiazepines\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to the Food and Drug Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Current guidelines<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/media\/142368\/download\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"> recommend<\/a> prescribing the lowest effective dose for the shortest possible duration, usually <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC10955669\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">less than four weeks<\/a>. But patients tend to stay on them longer than that. A <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/news-events\/press-announcements\/fda-requiring-labeling-changes-benzodiazepines\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">F.D.A. review<\/a> found that in 2018 about half of patients took them for two months or longer. Sometimes patients stay on them for years without regular check-ins to see if the drugs are still needed or well tolerated, said Dr. Edward K. Silberman, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at the Tufts University School of Medicine who has frequently written about benzodiazepines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Because patients can develop a physical dependence <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/drugs\/fda-drug-safety-podcasts\/fda-requiring-boxed-warning-updated-improve-safe-use-benzodiazepine-drug-class\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">within several weeks<\/a> of steady benzodiazepine use, going off the drugs \u2014 even after a short period \u2014 requires a gradual process. However, many practitioners are not well trained in tapering the prescriptions. To make the process clearer, in March experts at the American Society of Addiction Medicine released <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/downloads.asam.org\/sitefinity-production-blobs\/docs\/default-source\/guidelines\/benzodiazepine-tapering-2025\/bzd-tapering-document---final-approved-version-for-distribution-02-28-25.pdf?sfvrsn=5bdf9c81_4\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">new guidelines<\/a> for dosage reduction that were developed with funding from the F.D.A.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely insane to pressure people to get off and to withdraw people abruptly,\u201d Dr. Silberman said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Jody Jarreau, 60, started taking Klonopin for insomnia 25 years ago while he was living in Dallas. When his psychiatrist quit practicing for medical reasons, he eventually found another who suggested that he take two other benzodiazepines, Xanax and Valium, and work toward weaning off the Klonopin. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After about six months of taking all three drugs, Mr. Jarreau grew frustrated and decided to take matters into his own hands. He weaned himself off the Klonopin and Xanax. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He is still trying to get off the Valium, with the help of his general practitioner and a coach from the Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, a nonprofit group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Initially, Mr. Jarreau said, he tapered too quickly off the drugs, and developed headaches, nausea and agoraphobia, which is an excessive and irrational fear of being in open or unfamiliar places. But one of the toughest withdrawal symptoms has been thoughts of suicide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere\u2019s kind of like this background noise that says, You know, just take yourself out,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019d be easier<em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He says that he had never experienced any of these symptoms before cutting back on the drugs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC10309976\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">In 2023<\/a>, advocates for those injured by benzodiazepines gave a name to the varied long-lasting symptoms that may emerge during the use, the tapering or the discontinuation of the drugs: benzodiazepine-induced neurological dysfunction, or BIND.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Not everyone will experience BIND, they acknowledge. And with the right tapering plan, experts say, side effects can be minimized.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThese are very good and safe drugs when given to the right person in the right dose for the right period of time,\u201d said Dr. Carl Salzman, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the former chairman of the American Psychiatric Association\u2019s benzodiazepine task force.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But even though benzodiazepines have been around since the \u201960s, some doctors are unaware of<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>how best to help their patients stop taking these drugs. This is in part because there is no one-size-fits-all tapering strategy. It is the withdrawal symptoms, some patients say, that make it necessary for them to continue to access these drugs while slowly tapering.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Silberman recalled one patient who needed to shave flakes off her pill with a razor blade to slowly decrease her dosage and minimize difficult side effects.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The A.S.A.M.\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/downloads.asam.org\/sitefinity-production-blobs\/docs\/default-source\/guidelines\/benzodiazepine-tapering-2025\/bzd-tapering-document---final-approved-version-for-distribution-02-28-25.pdf?sfvrsn=5bdf9c81_4\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">new guidelines<\/a> for reducing a patient\u2019s dosage of a benzodiazepine draw heavily from clinical experience given the sparse and limited research on tapering. They recommend that clinicians assess the risks and the benefits of ongoing benzodiazepine prescribing at least every three months, and, when tapering, consider reducing the current dose by 5 to 10 percent every two to four weeks. The guidelines also say patients who have been taking benzodiazepines for years may require more than a year of tapering, and should be monitored even after the drug has been discontinued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMost of us were never warned about the chances of dependency and long-term complications,\u201d said D.E. Foster, a researcher who contributed to the new guidelines and is an advocate for people like himself who have struggled with benzodiazepine complications. Slow tapering can be difficult, he added, \u201cbut abrupt tapering can be dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The A.S.A.M. guidance came too late for LaTasha Marbury, 49, who lives in Purchase, N.Y., and had become physically dependent on Klonopin. In 2022 she visited an addiction detox facility because she was desperate to stop taking the drug, which she had started for insomnia. Practitioners at the facility weaned her off it in just five days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Afterward, she cried hysterically and felt hopeless, she said. She experienced night terrors that felt \u201calmost like a lion is in the room but you can\u2019t see it and you\u2019re fighting it,\u201d an inability to sit still and deep depression. She visited another addiction facility in Florida where she received an antidepressant. Within weeks she began to feel much better.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, she said, \u201cI sleep like a freaking baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And she wonders: Was this, rather than the benzodiazepine, the drug that she should have been prescribed all along?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhen I think about it \u2014 what I went through \u2014 I cry,\u201d she said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a physical pain but it was a mental pain. And I\u2019m thankful to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or go to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"http:\/\/speakingofsuicide.com\/resources\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">SpeakingOfSuicide.com\/resources<\/a> for a list of additional resources.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/14\/well\/mind\/benzo-withdrawal-symptoms.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tasha Hedges took Xanax for 20 years to treat her anxiety and panic attacks, exactly as a psychiatrist had prescribed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1634,2807,844,139,4528,1623,2797,4030],"class_list":["post-25643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-2","tag-anxiety-and-stress","tag-depression-mental","tag-doctors","tag-drugs-pharmaceuticals","tag-insomnia","tag-psychiatry-and-psychiatrists","tag-sleep","tag-xanax-drug"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Benzo Withdrawal Symptoms Can Be Life-Threatening - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/benzo-withdrawal-symptoms-can-be-life-threatening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Benzo Withdrawal Symptoms Can Be Life-Threatening - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tasha Hedges took Xanax for 20 years to treat her anxiety and panic attacks, exactly as a psychiatrist had prescribed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/benzo-withdrawal-symptoms-can-be-life-threatening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-14T09:29:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta 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