Prescription Drug Sedatives

Barbiturates
Benzodiazepines
Carisoprodol

Sedatives are used to relieve anxiety, insomnia and some seizure disorders. They are supposed to be sold only by doctors’ prescriptions, and yet they are one of the most widely abused category of drugs. Once people become addicted to sedatives, they often buy them from illegal Internet pharmacies or street dealers in order to get their fill.

Barbiturates

Barbiturates were extremely popular before the 1970s, when benzodiazepines replaced them as a treatment for anxiety and insomnia. At one time, there were more than 2,500 types of barbiturates on the market. Today, they are only used legally as a remedy to control epilepsy, when patients do not respond to benzodiazepines and during surgical procedures.

People use barbiturates illegally to achieve relaxation or to counteract the effects of stimulants.

The reason barbiturates are dangerous is that it is easy to overdose on them. Many celebrities of old, including Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland, died this way. As people build up tolerance to these drugs, they have to increase their dosages to achieve the same effects, not realizing that just a tiny amount too much for their individual chemistry can prove fatal. Barbiturates can also create deadly reactions when combined with alcohol or antihistamines.

Common side effects of barbiturates are drowsiness, headache, dizziness, depression, constipation and upset stomach. Some abusers of barbiturates experience nightmares and muscle pains. They often have severe mood swings, and can become extremely irritable and nervous when their drugs wear off after spending hours in a stupor.

Most people who overdose on barbiturates are found unconscious. Without medical intervention, their respiration and heart functions will slow to dangerously low levels, and they will die.

Withdrawal from barbiturate abuse is unpleasant and must be medically supervised. The first day without barbiturates, a person will experience cramps, tremors, sweats, headaches, dizziness, lightheadedness, vomiting, anxiety and paranoia. Many people have seizures on the second day. On the third and fourth days, they experience delirium, confusion and fever. On days four to eight, the symptoms are hallucinations, nightmares, insomnia, rapid heartbeat and shortness of breath.

Chemical withdrawal from barbiturates is difficult, but so is the next step. Psychological withdrawal can take six months to a year, depending on how much and how long the person abused these drugs.

The best way to recover from barbiturate abuse is to enroll in a residential treatment center. There you will find caring professionals who can help you face the psychological challenges of life without drugs. You will need to enroll in an aftercare program once you return home.

Barbiturate Products

Alurate
Amytal
Butisol
Fioricet
Lotusate
Mebaral
Nembutal
Phenobarbital
Seconal
Tuinal

Benzodiazepines

Doctors prescribe benzodiazepines to treat anxiety, insomnia and seizures. They are commonly known as sedatives, muscle relaxants, anti-convulsants or sleeping pills. When they first appeared in the mid-1960s, benzodiazepines were advertised as safer and less habit-forming than barbiturates. Today, they are one of the most commonly abused drugs in the United States. They also account for about one-third of all doctors’ prescriptions.

Benzodiazepines are most frequently used to numb unwanted emotional pain, which makes it easy to develop a psychological dependence upon them. Sometimes such a dependence can occur within a few weeks of using these drugs.

Withdrawal from benzodiazepines is very difficult. In fact, for most people, it is harder to withdraw from benzodiazepines than it is to withdraw from heroin.

People abuse benzodiazepines to relax, to relieve stress, to reduce inhibitions and to feel high. Many people who are addicted to heroin and cocaine also use benzodiazepines.

Symptoms of benzodiazepine abuse may be similar to those of alcoholism: slurred speech, staggering walk and confusion. Side effects can be irritability, depression, sedation, memory loss, tremors and insomnia.

Benzodiazepines are a dangerous family of drugs to abuse because they react with alcohol, sleeping pills, painkillers, female hormones, and cold and hay fever medications. These reactions can be fatal. Symptoms of such overdoses may be vomiting, seizures, delirium, confusion, muscle cramps, slurred speech and low blood pressure.

You should not try to withdraw from benzodiazepines on your own. People have died when they stop using benzodiazepines too quickly. You need a doctor to help you taper off your dosage gradually and to substitute other drugs to relieve your unpleasant withdrawal symptoms.

The first day after you stop using benzodiazepines you may experience anxiety, tremors, nightmares, insomnia, vomiting, nausea, seizures, delirium, fever, low blood pressure and hallucinations. These symptoms can last up to two weeks. 

Many people also experience a phenomenon known as “rebounding.” This means that the anxiety or panic attacks that their benzodiazepines were relieving come back stronger, and sometimes feel overwhelming.

People who have become dependent upon benzodiazepines need to undergo counseling and other therapies to help them cope with their feelings of anxiety and distress. They have to learn to allow such feelings to surface, and then to deal with them through new coping methods such as physical exercise, music or other forms of relaxation. 

If you have any underlying mental disorders, such as depression, you will need to work on these as separate issues from your chemical dependency with your therapists and doctors. This can be done in either a residential treatment center or an intensive day program, followed by continuing counseling and support meetings once you return home.

Benzodiazepine Products

Alepam
Alprazolam
Antenex
Ativan
Bromazapam
Diazepam
Dormicum
Ducene
Halcion
Librium
Murelax
Niravam
Nitrazepam
Oazepam
Restoril
Rivotril
Rohypnol
Serax
Seresta
Sobril
Temesta
Tenox
Transxene
Valium
Xanax

Carisoprodol

Carisoprodol is gaining in popularity because it is available without prescription in foreign countries, from Internet pharmacies and via veterinary services. It is also fairly inexpensive.

Carisoprodol is a muscle relaxant used to treat pain. People who abuse it tend to combine it with heroin, codeine or propoxyphene to enhance its effects. Overdoses that involve cariosoprodol can be fatal, and are very likely to be in combination with alcohol or other drugs.

Symptoms of carisoprodol abuse are confusion, drowsiness and insomnia. Like alcoholics, abusers of carisoprodol become too impaired to drive and are at increased risk for falls.

Some organizations want the drug reclassified as an addictive drug because it turns into meprobamate once it is ingested. Meprobamate is classified as an addictive Schedule IV drug and subject to government regulation.

Although carisoprodol is not classified as an addictive substance, new research indicates that people who have become dependent on carisoprodol will experience withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, tremors, headaches, irritability and hallucinations. They also experience severe drug cravings.

People who use carisoprodol without their doctors’ recommendation likely need the help of an outpatient or inpatient treatment center to help them break their reliance on the drug.

Carisoprodol Products

Soma
Vandom