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Beating the Blues Without Xanax

Mental health conditions have become the focus of the 20th and 21st centuries, with psychiatrists, psychologists and researchers searching for new ways to conquer conditions such as depression, anxiety and paranoia.

These new methods very often find themselves taking a pharmaceutical route. There are millions of prescription drugs prescribed for these conditions each year. Xanax is one of the names leading the field when it comes to psychological pharmaceuticals. Xanax comes from a group of drugs known as benzodiazepines, which affect the chemicals of the brain that may become imbalanced and cause anxiety.It is used to treat anxiety disorders, panic attacks and depression.

The side effects of Xanax include muscle weakness, insomnia, nausea, dizziness and forgetfulness, among others; however, the more serious consequence of Xanax can be found as a result of its addictive nature. When an individual first begins taking Xanax they are able to achieve the desired effects from a small dose; continued use will lead to the body building up a tolerance, needing greater doses as time goes on. Xanax detoxification following addiction can be a very unpleasant experience. Detox generally occurs as a result of either decreasing the dose or stopping the medication cold turkey, which may cause the brain’s activity to race out of control and result in seizures or other such negative consequences.

The best solution to this problem is simply not to take Xanax in the first place. Many anxiety disorders are diagnosed as chemical imbalances without ever having sufficient evidence to back up this claim. It is entirely possible that many of these disorders are a result of mental rather than physical distress, and can be better aided with therapy and support than with medication. While it is said that therapy can be as addictive as a drug, there are very few individuals who experience seizures following a quality counseling session! Patients suffering from anxiety or depression can contact their physician for assitance in selecting a therapist.

The Hard Facts About Rapid Detox

A common misconception is that for a drug to be an opiate it must be opium. In fact, opiate drugs are those derived from opium and encompass a large number of street drugs and pharmaceutical products on the market today, including heroine, codeine, Vicodin, OxyContin, methadone, morphine, fentanyl, Percocet, Lortab, Darvocet, Dilaudid and Norco. Addiction to opiate drugs has become a plague upon civilization as the use of these drugs for the use of controlling the pain resulting from injury, surgical treatments or other medical conditions has dramatically increased.

For users of these drugs the detoxification process can be its own special type of hell. The unpleasantness of this process has caused many drug users to look to rapid detox as a preferable solution. Rapid detox is precisely what it sounds like; an accelerated detoxification process which quickly rids the body of any remnants of the drug. Unlike normal detoxification, which can be done in a detox facility, rapid detox is generally done in a hospital under anesthesia and overseen by a nurse and licensed anesthesiologist.

Prior to the detoxification process a patient is admitted into the hospital and undergoes a complete physical. They are then placed under anesthesia and given medication to speed the withdrawal process, which usually lasts four to six hours. While these medications are in the body they work to block the drug receptors in the brain, causing the body to expel the toxins released by the drug rather than absorbing them. This leads to the body being detoxified much more quickly, and since the patient is placed under general anesthesia they are spared the hideous and potentially dangerous side effects associated with withdrawal from these drugs.

While the rapid detoxification process is considered safe for most patients there has been some concern regarding possible cardiac complications. All patients attempting to enter a rapid detoxification program are urged to be completely honest with their physicians regarding any previous health problems, particularly those that may pertain to the cardiovascular system.

How Can I Be Addicted to Opiates if I Never Smoked Opium?

This is a question that is asked by millions of people every year as they sit and stare at their physician across the lofty desk that seems to be a pedestal above the rest of the world for the man or woman sitting behind it. The negative consequences of opium use have been spread far and wide by a conscientious media, and a majority of the population would not touch the drug if their life depended on it. Yet millions of people every year become addicted to opiates. How can this be?

The answer to that question is simple. Prescription drugs. Every year drugs such as Vicodin, Percocet and Darvocet are prescribed as freely as candy for a multitude of reasons, generally stemming from a need for pain relief, every year millions of people become addicted to these substances. These drugs are completely legal, yet the body reacts to them as strongly as it would any street drug because they are made from either opium or one of its synthetic derivatives.

Detoxification programs for these drugs can be brutal, due to the way the body adjusts to compensate for their use. The side effects of opiate detox are unpleasant at best and dangerous at their worst, encompassing everything from malaise to seizures. The increased need for opiate detox has led to an increasing focus on finding a better method.
From this need was born rapid detox, performed under sedation and available at many treatment centers across the country.

Opiate drugs are strong, and their potential for addiction should not be brushed aside simply because they are not illegal. All guidelines for use of these drugs should be followed, and patients should make a point to notify their physician if they feel they are in danger of becoming addicted. Remember, it is not only criminals who abuse prescription drugs. Every day there are millions of average, law abiding citizens who must face the simple fact that they are, in fact, addicted to opiates.