If you or someone you know may be taking benzos, keep reading. This guide will help you identify the symptoms for any kind of dependence or abuse. As benzos themselves won’t cause death if overdosed, it can be fatal if mixed with any other substances.
If you have any questions on how you can get help with this benzo issue, you can view the Epiphany Wellness website for more information. The sooner you take care of this, the better. Failing to do so can lead to severe consequences, even fatal ones.
Let’s take a look now at the following seven symptoms you need to watch out for.
Drowsiness
One of the more common symptoms for taking benzos includes drowsiness. Benzos are designed to work as a sedative. So it’s common to experience this even if you are taking the dosage as recommended by your doctor.
If you abuse or become dependent, you may find yourself in this state of drowsiness. You may be sleeping all the time. If you’re awake, you might have complete awareness of what’s going on around you.
This can be dangerous, especially if you are operating heavy machinery or even a motor vehicle.
Poor judgment or thinking
While under the influence of benzos, your mind will be in an altered state. It can get to the point where you might not be thinking clearly. You’ll also be making poor judgment calls without thinking things through.
Once again, you will become completely unaware of what’s going on around you. You will also be behaving in a certain way that you are not completely aware of. This may not occur if you are taking benzos at therapeutic levels.
If it does, it’s usually a rare side effect that occurs. The last thing you want to do is mix benzos with any other substances including alcohol. Many benzo related deaths have involved alcohol including the deaths of many high-profile celebrities.
“Doctor shopping”
While it’s not a physical symptom per se, this is another thing to look out for. You may be denied a visit or even a prescription from a doctor that will provide you benzos even for therapeutic purposes. After being rejected by one, you’ll find yourself searching for another doctor that can be able to prescribe you the benzos you want.
The doctor you go to may not be aware of the fact that you may be doctor shopping or not. So they may prescribe you benzos without the knowledge that you had been rejected for subsequent prescriptions and refills because of apparent abuse.
People may go to greater lengths to find a doctor that will prescribe them benzos without any prior questions asked. However, if push comes to shove, they may acquire them through illegal means.
It’s important to get the help you need now before things get worse.
Asking other people if they have benzos
If “doctor shopping” fails, then there’s a good chance that you may start asking friends, family, co-workers, or random people if they have any benzos you can use. This is where things can start to get desperate.
A lot of people may pick up on the fact that you might have a problem. You may get desperate to a point where you can pay as much money as you like or do anything. If you are someone with benzos, you must not give them to anyone even if it’s a member of your family.
It’s important that they make sure they get their own through a legitimate prescription from their doctor. It’s also illegal to sell benzos to anyone as it can lead to criminal punishment depending on your jurisdiction.
You may be charged with crimes such as possession with intent to distribute or similar crimes. The punishment can be fines or even jail time depending on where you live. There is no sense in having a criminal record because of helping someone feed their benzo addiction.
If you are the one seeking benzos, it’s not worth it. Instead, you’ll want to seek counseling as soon as possible. From there, your recovery process from benzo dependency or addiction will begin and end until you’ve put in the work and follow a treatment plan that works.
Mood changes
While on benzos, you may undergo a wide variety of mood changes. These can range from anger to sadness or even happiness to an unstoppable rage. Regardless, you won’t be in the right frame of mind to be aware of these moods that you are experiencing.
These mood changes will be something that will affect your friends or family. Your relationships will deteriorate because of the way you might be treating them. When you snap out of your haze, you’ll notice that people around you are starting to act differently.
Engaging in risk taking behaviors
This includes driving, operating heavy machinery, or using something that requires your full attention and safety. Using certain things while under the influence of benzos will increase the risk of serious injury and death (to yourself or other people around you).
There’s a reason why you should follow the instructions given by your doctor even if you are using benzos for therapeutic reasons. For example, you shouldn’t drive after you have taken your regular dose.
Combining with alcohol or other substances
This is a common behavior that occurs when someone is dependent or addicted to benzos. They will be able to combine it with alcohol or other drugs to enhance that euphoric experience. However, it can get to a point where too much can be fatal.
As mentioned before, benzo-related deaths were involving alcohol and other drugs. Benzos themselves do not cause death if you overdose on them since they are relatively harmless to an extent. But that doesn’t mean you should take more than the recommended dose.
It’s important that you take the right action to get the help you need. Do it now before you do something that may lead to consequences you will never live to tell about.
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