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Benzo Rehab Center in New Jersey
Benzodiazepines are a group of prescription drugs that, along with being used medically and prescribed, can also lead to serious risks such as overdose and addiction. When someone has a benzodiazepine addiction, it requires professional treatment.
Relevance Behavioral Health is a Freehold, New Jersey, addiction and mental health treatment center that can help if you’re struggling with benzodiazepine addiction or you have a loved one who is.
Relevance is a top-rated drug rehab in Monmouth County. Contact us today to learn more about our addiction treatment options.
What Are Benzodiazepines?
Benzodiazepines are a class of prescription medications often prescribed to treat insomnia, anxiety, and panic attacks in the short term. Benzodiazepines are also known as benzos. These medicines work by slowing down brain and nervous system activities, and as a result, they can also be used to treat seizure disorders.
Benzos are a controlled substance, meaning they’re only available with a prescription, and it’s illegal to otherwise have or use benzodiazepines.
So, how do they work?
Your nervous system relies on signals to send messages throughout the rest of your body, which are called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters can attach to cells with certain receptors. Benzos will tell your brain to release gamma-amino-butyric acid or GABA, a neurotransmitter whose role is to slow down your nervous system.
As a result of the slowdown of your nervous system, benzodiazepines can have certain effects, including amnestic, meaning that they temporarily block the formation of new memories. They are anxiolytic, which reduces anxiety, and hypnotic, meaning they make you tired. They’re also sedatives because they create an effect of sedation on the nervous system.
Despite the potential for addiction and abuse, benzos are commonly prescribed, with tens of millions of prescriptions written each year in the U.S.
The most commonly approved benzos include:
- Alprazolam (Xanax)
- Clonazepam (Klonapam)
- Diazepam (Valium, Diastat, Valtaco)
- Lorazepam (Ativan, Loreev)
- Midazolam (Nayzilam, Seizalam)
- Oxazepam
- Temazepam (Restoril)
If you’re struggling with using these drugs, Relevance Behavioral Health is a benzo rehab center in New Jersey, offering different levels of care and personalized, tailored treatment plans.
While benzodiazepines do have legitimate medical uses, they also have risks. One of the biggest is the potential for misuse, addiction, and dependence. It’s estimated that millions of people misuse these drugs every year. They can be habit-forming, particularly with long-term use, so they should only be prescribed in the short term.
There is a risk of overdose, especially with benzodiazepine misuse, which can include combining them with other substances. It’s particularly common for people to use benzodiazepines with other substances, including opioids or alcohol, which are also depressants. When someone combines benzos with other depressants, it can slow their central nervous system dangerously. When the CNS is slowed too much by substances, it can lead to an overdose. Symptoms of a benzodiazepine overdose can include:
- Confusion
- Slurred speech
- Loss of consciousness
- Shallow or slow breathing
- Lack of coordination
- Extreme drowsiness
Some studies indicate that alprazolam, which is sold under the brand name Xanax, may have a higher risk of toxic overdose than other forms of these medications.
If a benzo is combined with opioids, it can raise the risk of respiratory distress or death.
Even if a person doesn’t experience an overdose when combining these substances with opioids, alcohol, or other drugs, the effects of each can be intensified because of the combination. For example, using a benzodiazepine with alcohol can amplify intoxication, putting someone at risk of hurting themselves or another person.
If you’re struggling with these substances, Relevance Behavioral Health is a benzo rehab center in New Jersey offering evidence-based care to help you reclaim your life and sense of self.
Benzodiazepines and Opioids
In 2021, almost 14% of overdose deaths that involved opioids also involved a benzodiazepine, so it’s important to understand the risks of these two drug classes used together. There are also benzos sometimes identified in the illegal drug supply in some areas of the country, so people might be inadvertently combining the two.
People using benzos and opioids simultaneously are at a higher risk of going to the emergency room, being admitted to the hospital for an emergency related to drugs, or dying of an overdose. For example, a study from North Carolina found the overdose death rate for people taking both was ten times higher than those who just took opioids.
If you’re looking for N.J. benzo addiction treatment, Relevance Behavioral Health offers programs and treatment for multiple addictions.
Symptoms of an Addiction
When someone is addicted to benzos, it can be hard to detect at first, especially if the medication is prescribed. Usually, what begins to happen is that someone might misuse the drugs by taking larger doses than prescribed or taking them for longer periods than intended.
Eventually, a person with an addiction could spend significant amounts of time trying to get more of the drug, using it, and then recovering from the effects.
People with addiction and dependence may experience withdrawal symptoms when they aren’t using the substance or when trying to cut down.
Addiction symptoms include changes in behavior and impairments in functionality in different settings, including home, work, and school.
Other signs of addiction include:
- Withdrawing from friends and loved ones, as well as other obligations
- Being anxious about potentially not having a supply of the drug
- Doing out-of-character things, like stealing or lying
- Engaging in risky activities, such as sex or driving while under the influence
- Spending a great deal of time trying to get more of the drug
- Being secretive
- Changes in mood
Relevance Behavioral Health is the leading program for benzo addiction treatment in New Jersey. Our New Jersey benzo rehab center programs are geared towards the needs of the individual and driven by evidence and science.
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Treatment for Benzo Abuse and Addiction
Treatment is available if someone is addicted to benzodiazepines, and treatment may need to be specialized since polydrug use is so common with this addiction. The addictions to multiple drugs might have to be addressed simultaneously, as well as co-occurring mental health disorders. Since benzodiazepines are primarily used to treat anxiety disorders, it’s incredibly common for people with addictions to these drugs to also have a co-occurring mental health disorder.
Another important consideration is the need for a medical detox. A treatment team may need to provide medication-assisted treatment to help with withdrawal from benzodiazepines because it can be dangerous.
Relevance Behavioral Health is a benzo rehab center in New Jersey that offers many levels of care that can work for clients’ varying needs. For example, at our Freehold treatment center, we have an evening program for individuals who have gone through detox and residential treatment or have a period of sobriety already but require additional support.
Our partial care program is full-day, five days a week, and recovery housing is also available through the partner facilities we work with. Our intensive outpatient program is a half-day program that you can participate in for three or five days and live at home or in recovery housing we partner with. We continue supporting you after treatment with our aftercare planning and relapse prevention.
If you’re ready to regain control of every aspect of your life without using benzodiazepines, reach out to the team at our benzo rehab center in New Jersey. You are relevant, and you are worth recovery.
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