Shannon McDowell – One More Voice in Cyberspace

Xanax Chemistry

Before I go much further with my account, a little more background on how benzodiazepines work:

Mechanisms of Benzodiazepines

There is a chemical in the brain (Sorry, couldn’t find the right medical term) that suppresses anxiety and fear. People suffering from panic disorders are either not producing enough of this chemical or it is not being processed correctly.

Medications like Xanax help fill this deficiency, thus producing a calming affect. The by-products of the medication are then metabolized in the liver.

When a person first begins taking benzodiazepines, the brain doesn’t expect anticipate this sudden increase of the mild calming chemical. Also, the liver doesn’t have the enzymes readily available to “burn off” the medication. That is why drugs like Xanax work so well in the beginning.

Extra Information

Here is an excerpt from a comment from L. that provides more information:

The “fear” area of the brain is the amygdala, and animals (including people) without amygdala’s show no fear. The neurotransmitters that influence it include GABA (stands for something long), norepinephrine, and serotonin. When the body does not make enough of these chemicals panic or fear is caused. In school we learned about drugs like Xanax and doctors don’t really know how it works other than it appears to enhance GABA uptake which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter – so it inhibits your overreactive fear response. It is very hard to study the effect of just one of those three transmitters, because they all interact and affect each other; so research is still ongoing.

Building a Tolerance

However, the human body is very adaptable, which can be a curse at times. Eventually, the brain realizes that this calming chemical will be present, so it begins to produce less of its naturally occurring substance. At the same time, the liver has now created a sufficient amount of enzymes to quickly metabolize the drug. This is known as “tolerance.”

By increasing the dose of the benzodiazepine, the brain and liver are once again unprepared for the higher amounts of the calming agent. But in time, they adapt, and once again the medication is rendered useless.

Dangerous Results

The really dangerous part is how the brain reacts. Since it keeps receiving this synthetic chemical, it starts to lower the production of it naturally occurring one. If a person suddenly quits the benzodiazepine, the brain is left depleted of its own “calming chemistry.” This produces “rebound anxiety,” which is many times worse than what the patient originally experienced. If a large enough dosage is discontinued, convulsions, seizures, and even heart arrhythmia can occur.

When Addiction Occurs

At this stage, a person is now physically dependent on the drug. This is known as “physical addiction.” There is also the psychological aspect to the addiction, because of the euphoria the medication can produce.

A long time heroin addict uses heroin not to become “high” but to stave off the sickness of withdrawals. The same holds true with benzodiazepines. The only difference is, few people die from withdrawing from heroin, despite the ill effects they experiences. Not true with benzodiazepines. More people die from quitting the medication too rapidly than from overdosing.

If I knew this information earlier, I would never have started taking Xanax. As always, hindsight is 20/20.

You can learn more about benzodiazepines at: Benzodiazepine Addiction, Withdrawal & Recovery

(To be continued…)

Part 5 of this topic here