Xanax can have many side effects, including some serious ones. A person should seek immediate medical help if they experience any serious side effects when taking Xanax. If a person is dependent xanax addiction on Xanax, it means that they require it to function and experience symptoms of withdrawal if they stop taking it. Being dependent on Xanax does not always mean that addiction is also present.
- This medicine may be used for other purposes; ask your health care provider or pharmacist if you have questions.
- If you use alprazolam during pregnancy, your baby could be born with life-threatening withdrawal symptoms, and may need medical treatment for several weeks.
- You might wonder if it’s drugs or something different, such as a demanding job or a stressful life change.
- Drug interactions may change how your medications work or increase your risk for serious side effects.
- Like many drugs, the presence of Xanax can be detected with laboratory tests.
As with all benzos, withdrawal should only be done via medical detox to ensure the safety of the patient. Xanax belongs to a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines, and it is a Schedule IV controlled substance, meaning it is considered to have a low potential for abuse. That being said, the evidence speaks for itself, as thousands seek treatment every year for dependencies on this drug. In 2012, 17,019 people were admitted to treatment facilities across the nation citing benzodiazepines like Xanax as their primary or sole drug of abuse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration states. It can be used in an emergency to reverse the effects of opioids. In an overdose situation, prompt administration of naloxone can restore normal breathing, a potential overdose, and may prove life-saving.
Alternative Names for Xanax
It belongs to a class of medications called benzodiazepines which act on the brain and nerves (central nervous system) to produce a calming effect. It works by enhancing the effects of a certain natural chemical in the body (GABA). Nonmedical use of opioids and benzodiazepines like Xanax has been a serious and risky feature of the opioid addiction and overdose epidemic.
Xanax abuse and addiction has become a major problem in the U.S., with many people taking it recreationally and sometimes in combination with other drugs. Taking a benzodiazepine such as Xanax for longer than three or four weeks can lead to dependence. Dependence turns into addiction when a person keeps taking the drug despite negative consequences.
Xanax – Uses, Side Effects, and More
Xanax can cause physical and psychological dependence or addiction even in people who take it as prescribed. Therefore, a course of Xanax should be as short as possible with treatment response closely monitored by the doctor. Another concern with Xanax addiction is the risk of overdose, which can result in acute benzodiazepine toxicity. Overdose can occur with Xanax alone, but the majority of deaths occur when Xanax is combined with other drugs such as opioids, including heroin.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness notes that a person can become physically dependent on Xanax after 2 or more weeks of daily use. Research from 2015 suggests that 20–50% of people experience withdrawal symptoms when discontinuing high dosage benzodiazepines. This stage begins with tolerance, which involves an increase in frequency or dosage of the drug that the person’s body is able to readily process without experiencing strong effects. Once tolerance is high enough, people may develop dependence.
What Is Xanax Addiction?
Although the increase in filled benzodiazepine prescriptions leveled off around 2010, overdoses remained at alarmingly high rates. In 2009, Xanax and other benzodiazepines were responsible for the majority of the emergency room admissions caused by central nervous system (CNS) depressants. Since Xanax is one of the most widely prescribed drugs in the U.S., it is most likely to be mixed with other prescription drugs such as opioid painkillers as well as recreational drugs including alcohol or cocaine. When someone takes a drug—as a prescription medication including opioids or Xanax—on a regular schedule, the medication will adjust the user’s brain chemistry.
While detox medications are focused on avoiding adverse effects of withdrawal, behavioral therapy is a process that is focused on maintaining recovery. While Xanax is sometimes prescribed for longer than a few weeks to manage certain anxiety disorders, prolonged use can lead to a rebound of anxiety symptoms when the drug is eventually https://ecosoberhouse.com/ stopped. Prolonged use also increases the risk of withdrawal syndrome. Doctors prescribe it for patients struggling with insomnia and mental health issues such as excessive worry, panic attacks, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Alprazolam (Xanax®) is one of the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medications.
It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers. Many providers feel pressurized by their patients to continue prescribing as they try to wean them off benzodiazepines, and more-so with alprazolam, given the positive subjective drug effects. Alprazolam should not be prescribed at a higher dose than is US FDA-recommended, and providers should consider discontinuation if patients are requesting higher doses, as it may signal therapeutic tolerance and/or misuse. In another study of patients with panic disorder, neither anxiolytic tolerance nor daily dose increase was observed after 8 weeks of alprazolam treatment, with continued efficacy at 6 months (Schweizer et al., 1993). There is a subpopulation of patients exposed to benzodiazepines that is more likely to escalate their dose, mainly those with coexisting drug or alcohol use problem (Griffiths and Wolf, 1990; NICE, 2014). Most would agree that tolerance is a multifactorial process that occurs at different rates for different patients, and also depends on the profile of the benzodiazepine used.
Two of the most common physical and psychological symptoms and signs of Xanax abuse are physical dependence and addiction. In short, the brain and body habituate to drug use over time. Due to this new status quo, when the drug use stops, the body will issue its demand for more of the drug in the form of withdrawal symptoms. Yes, alprazolam (Xanax) and other benzodiazepines have addiction potential.
Most drugs involved in misuse or addiction frequently lead to dopamine release. In general, potent benzodiazepines with shorter elimination half-lives may be more prone to causing problems with tolerance, dependence and addiction. For example, for triazolam (Halcion), alprazolam (Xanax) or lorazepam (Ativan) all have relatively shorter half-lives. The main form of therapy that is used to help a person addicted to Xanax is cognitive behavioral therapy, which teaches the patient how to address their own psychology surrounding their drug abuse. It teaches clients how to cope with relapse temptations and life stress in a productive and abstinence-friendly manner.
- “So I started this to try to connect with people and get the word out there and get them some help before they end up back in this cycle.”
- If a person has an addiction to Xanax, they are unable to stop taking it, despite negative consequences.
- By witnessing the benefits of the program, people become aware of their own capacity for healing.
- Most studies conducted to assess benzodiazepines misuse liability in head-to-head comparisons are more than 20 years old.
The drug has legitimate medical uses, but many people abuse Xanax to feel relaxed or carefree. Repeated misuse can lead to addiction that requires treatment. Quitting Xanax cold-turkey can cause seizures and other dangerous side effects. Based on national emergency department (ED) visit data, alprazolam is the second most common prescription medication and the most common benzodiazepine to be involved in ED visits related to drug misuse (SAMHSA, 2013). Many people who became addicted to the drug live in recovery after completing a rehabilitation or teletherapy program and now live a healthier life, free from Xanax abuse.