On this Live Talk with Dani Williamson: This presentation is for anyone taking a class of medications called Benzodiazepines. Medications like Valium, Xanax, Klonopin, Librium, Librax, Ativan, Restoril etc, used for anxiety have a high rate of addiction.

I am honored to have a patient of mine helping me lead this presentation with her story of addiction and our 3 year journey to discontinue her Xanax use. We were unsuccessful and she ultimately checked herself in to a treatment center. You will not want to miss her story of healing and addiction.

Please share with anyone you know that may be struggling with stopping their Benzos.

Signs of benzodiazepine addiction include:

• Failure or inability to reduce doses or stop using benzodiazepines
• Feeling unable to function without benzodiazepines
• Increased tolerance of the effects of benzodiazepines, requiring higher doses to achieve the same outcome
• Withdrawal symptoms (including depersonalization, anxiety, depression, hypersensitivity, physical tremors, and sleep disturbances) when doses of the drugs are reduced or eliminated.

Causes And Risk Factors:

The most common causes for benzodiazepine addiction are extending use beyond the original course of treatment and using larger doses than directed although many addicts simply begin using benzos without a prescription.

Risk factors for benzodiazepine addiction include:

• Long-term use of benzodiazepines (beyond four weeks)
• Use of high or increasingly high doses of the drugs
• Simultaneous abuse of barbiturates or alcohol
• Suffering from long-term anxiety disorders or other conditions for which benzodiazepines are used.