Symptoms of a Drug Prescription
FACTS ABOUT BENZODIAZEPINES
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The following highlights the facts. More information can be obtained through the sites listed below as well as many other informational sites regarding prescription drugs. Medication facts can change. Make sure you have all up-to-date information.
Quick facts YOU Need to Know
Benzodiazepines are a class of drugs that act upon benzodiazepine receptors in the central nervous system.
Benzodiazepines are depressants producing sedation and hypnosis, relieve anxiety and muscle spasms and reduce seizures.
Benzodiazepines are controlled in Schedule IV of the Controlled Substances Act.
According to the Department of Justice/Drug Enforcement Administration Drug Fact Sheet, Benzodiazepines are associated with amnesia, hostility, irritability, and vivid or disturbing dreams.
- Benzos
- Downers
FDA-approved Benzodiazepines as per the National Library of Medicine:
- Alprazolam: anxiety disorders and panic disorders
- Chlordiazepoxide: management of alcohol withdrawal syndrome
- Clobazam: seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome
- Clonazepam: treating panic disorder and agoraphobia; treatment of myoclonic seizures and absence seizures
- Clorazepate: adjunct treatment of short-term management of anxiety disorders; focal onset seizures
- Diazepam: alcohol withdrawal management; rectal diazepam is also for treating febrile seizures
- Estazolam: treatment of insomnia
- Flurazepam treatment of insomnia
- Lorazepam: anxiety disorders; parenteral lorazepam is one of the first-line treatment for convulsive status epilepticus
- Midazolam: convulsive status epilepticus and procedural sedation; sedation in mechanically ventilated patients in the MICU/SISU
- Oxazepam: anxiety disorders, alcohol withdrawal syndrome
- Quazepam: mainly for treating chronic insomnia in adults
- Temazepam: sleep onset and sleep maintenance insomnia
- Triazolam is indicated primarily for sleep-onset insomnia
- Remimazolam: short procedural sedation in adults
Some common adverse effects of benzodiazepine include:
- respiratory depression
- respiratory arrest
- drowsiness
- confusion
- headache
- syncope
- nausea/vomiting
- diarrhea
- tremor
FDA is requiring the most prominent warning, be updated and adding other information to the prescribing information for all benzodiazepine medicines. This information will describe the risks of abuse, misuse, addiction, physical dependence, and withdrawal reactions consistently across all the medicines in the class. We are also requiring updates to the existing patient Medication Guides to help educate patients and caregivers about these risks.
Other changes are also being required to several sections of the prescribing information, including to the Warnings and Precautions, Drug Abuse and Dependence, and Patient Counseling Information sections.
Read more at: FDA requiring Boxed Warning updated to improve safe use of benzodiazepine drug class | FDA
Asthma Warning:
Benzodiazepines and zopiclone may increase the likelihood of asthma exacerbation, and benzodiazepines may also increase the likelihood of mortality following exacerbation. Data suggest that caution should be exercised when prescribing benzodiazepines to patients with asthma.
- Swallow the extended-release tablets whole; do not chew, crush, or break them.
- Inform you healthcare prescriber of all medications, including non-prescription, vitamins, and supplements you are taking.
- Inform your healthcare provider of any herbal products you are taking, especially St. John’s wort.
- Inform your healthcare prescriber if you have ever used street drugs or large amounts of alcohol.
- Inform your healthcare prescriber of all current or past medical conditions, including glaucoma, lung or kidney disease.
- Tell you healthcare prescriber if you every had any negative reactions to medications for mental illness.
- Tell your healthcare prescriber if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.
- Tell you healthcare prescriber if you are breastfeeding.
- Discuss with your healthcare prescriber the risks and benefits of taking benzodiazepines..
These are just a few tips. Please read more at: MedlinePlus.gov
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Sources used:
- Department of Justice/Drug Enforcement Administration, Drug Fact Sheet, accessed January 29, 2024.
- National Library of Medicine, Bounds CG, Nelson VL. Benzodiazepines. [Updated 2023 Jan 7]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470159/ Benzodiazepines, accessed January 29, 2024.
- National Library of Medicine, Kales A. Quazepam: hypnotic efficacy and side effects. Pharmacotherapy. 1990;10(1):1-10; discussion 10-2. PMID:, 1969151, accessed January 29, 2024.
- National Library of Medicine, Kim KM. Remimazolam: pharmacological characteristics and clinical applications in anesthesiology. Anesth Pain Med (Seoul). 2022 Jan;17(1):1-11. doi: 10.17085/apm.21115. Epub 2022 Jan 20. PMID: 35139608; PMCID: PMC8841266, accessed January 29, 2024.
- US Food & Drug Administration, Box Warning, accessed January 30, 2024.
- National Library of Medicine, Nakafero G, Sanders RD, Nguyen-Van-Tam JS, Myles PR. Association between benzodiazepine use and exacerbations and mortality in patients with asthma: a matched case-control and survival analysis using the United Kingdom Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2015 Aug;24(8):793-802. doi: 10.1002/pds.3799. Epub 2015 May 27. PMID: 26013409, accessed January 31, 2024.
Note: All information in “Nikki’s Story” are based on detail journals covering seven years of Nikki’s life on prescription drugs.
Medical Disclaimer:
We share informational resources that are intended to help you with your self-care plan. We are not professionals. We write based on personal experience and personal research.
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