Journal of Neuropsychiatry

Description

Benzodiazepines are a group of medications that can be used to treat a variety of ailments. They are frequently prescribed by doctors to treat anxiety, seizures, and sleeplessness.

Benzodiazepines available in a variety of forms, each with its own set of applications. They include:

1. Alprazolam (Xanax)

2. Clonazepam (Klonopin)

3. Diazepam (Valium)

4. Lorazepam (Ativan) and

5. Midazolam (Midazolam)

Benzodiazepines can be harmful if used in excess, and taking them with alcohol or other substances can be fatal. For what conditions are benzodiazepines used?

Benzodiazepines are used to treat the following conditions:

1. Anxiety and panic seizures

2. Insomnia or sleeping problems.

They're also used for:

General anesthesia,

Sedation before to surgery or diagnostic procedures,

Muscular relaxation,

Alcohol withdrawal and

Drug-associated agitation,

Nausea and vomiting,

Depression, and panic attacks are some of the conditions that can be treated with general anesthetic.

Types of Benzodiazepines

1. Diazepam (Valium) and clorazepate (Tranxene) have quick onsets of action, usually taking 30 to 60 minutes to start acting.

2. The onset of action of oxazepam (Serax) is slow, whereas lorazepam (Ativan), alprazolam (Xanax), and clonazepam (Klonopin) are intermediate.

3. Clorazepate (Tranxene), midazolam (Versed), and triazolam (Halcion) are all short-acting medicines that take 3 to 8 hours to work.

4. Intermediate-acting medicines such as alprazolam (Xanax), lorazepam (Ativan), estazolam (Prosom), and temazepam (Restoril) have 11 to 20-hour action times.

5. Long-acting medicines such as chlordiazepoxide (Librium), clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium), flurazepam (Dalmane), and quazepam have an action time of 1 to 3 days.

Abuse of Benzodiazepine

Abuse of benzodiazepines is far more frequent than you may believe. Abusing these substances, if left untreated, can have a detrimental influence on your relationships, job, and physical and emotional health. Tranquilizers are a class of drug that includes benzodiazepines. Valium and Xanax are two well-known names. In the United States, they are among the most often prescribed drugs. When persons who don't have a prescription get these medicines and use them for their sedative effects, it's called abuse.

Prescription drugs are sometimes misused by persons who have them. Taking too much and running out of your prescription, or obsessing about when you can get the next one and feeling you can't live without it, could indicate a problem.

Benzodiazepines are widely used and abused. This abuse is due in part to the hazardous consequences they have, as well as their ubiquitous availability. They can be abused for a long time or, as seen more frequently in hospital emergency rooms, purposefully or mistakenly overdosed. Benzodiazepine usage rarely results in death or serious disease when used alone; nevertheless, they are frequently combined with alcohol or other medicines. The combination of benzodiazepines and alcohol can be extremely harmful, if not fatal.

Because they can significantly weaken and even eliminate abilities that ordinarily allow a person to resist or even want to resist sexual violence or attack, benzodiazepines have been used as a "date rape" drug. The number of people caught and convicted in this crime has risen considerably in recent years.

The substance is frequently added in powder or liquid form to alcoholic beverages or even soft drinks, and it has a bitter flavor. Generic pharmaceuticals have the same active ingredients as brand-name prescriptions, whether they're over-the-counter (for example, a store brand of ibuprofen vs. Advil) or a prescription from a doctor. However, they are frequently far less expensive. According to the FDA, brand-name drugs are about five times more expensive than generic counterparts.

Tod Cooperman, president of ConsumerLab.com, an independent laboratory that examines vitamins, pharmaceuticals, and health products, argues that a brandname drug that could cost well over $100 as a generic could cost as little as $5.

But there's a catch, according to Cooperman: "They're not always identical to the brand-name medication." That's one of the things you'll have to think about while determining whether or not to go ahead with it.