Many of my clients are taking benzodiazepines, and many have a hard time weaning off these drugs. Everyone is different, but I’ve seen so many people struggle with this that I want to talk about these drugs.

Benzos include Valium, Xanax, Klonopin, or Ativan.

If you’re on one of these drugs, or considering getting on one, I’m not judging you. I know how miserable it is to not be able to sleep and I understand how desperate you may feel.

But I do want to warn you of the potential side effects, how benzos affect the brain, and how difficult it can be to stop taking them when you don’t want to take them any longer.

When these drugs are prescribed, your doctor may or may not tell you about the side effects or about how hard it can be to stop taking them, so read this blog post for more information.

Potential side effects of benzodiazepines

When you take benzos, you may experience one or more side effects.

Here are the potential side effects:

drowsiness
light-headedness
confusion
unsteadiness (especially in older people, who may fall and experience injuries)
dizziness
slurred speech
muscle weakness
memory problems
constipation
nausea (feeling sick)
dry mouth
blurred vision

Prescriptions for anti-anxiety meds, such as benzos, increased 34.1% from mid-Feb to mid-March 2020 (one month!), during the Covid pandemic. Prescriptions for antidepressants rose 18.6% during the same time. This means that millions of people are going to need help stopping these drugs in the future!

How benzos affect the brain

As Dr. Ellen Vora explains in detail in The Anatomy Of Anxiety, benzos affect GABA receptors long-term, which makes it hard for people to feel calm on their own without increasing the dose.

Benzos target the GABA receptors in the brain, causing a rush of GABA. GABA is our “anti-anxiety” or calming neurotransmitter, so this rush feels peaceful and calming.

However, benzos leave you worse off than when you started.

When the body experiences the rush of GABA, it wants to get back in balance so it downregulates the GABA receptors. (Our bodies are hardwired for survival so it knows that being too calm isn’t good if something threatening comes along.)

When this downregulation happens, the brain can’t feel the GABA anymore.

When the benzo wears off, you have normal amounts of GABA but fewer receptors. So you feel the GABA withdrawal, which causes anxiety and sleeplessness.

Then you need more and more to feel calm and sleep.

What psychiatrists call relapse when people stop taking benzos - is actually withdrawal.

It can seem like the medication is helping when you feel awful after trying to stop. But it’s your body withdrawing from a powerful drug.

It’s also important to know that it takes time to grow new GABA receptors.

How to get off benzos

Professor Malcolm from the Institute of Psychiatry in London said, “It is more difficult to withdraw people from Benzodiazepines than it is from Heroin.”

But it is still possible to get off benzos.

The key is this: Don’t quit cold turkey.

I’m not a doctor, so I don't give advice about medications. But Dr. Vora recommends weaning slowly to avoid withdrawal by decreasing the dose by 10% every month. Toward the end, you’re really off the med, you’re merely preventing withdrawal.

My approach for getting off sleeping pills and benzos is to work on getting the body back in balance first and then wean off the medication. If you’re taking them for insomnia and you try to wean off before addressing what’s causing your sleep issues, you’ll still have sleep issues when you stop taking it.

When you are in the process of getting off benzos, you’ll also want to support detoxification with epsom salt baths, infrared sauna, coffee enemas, etc.

Read this blog post to learn more about how to support your liver through detoxification.

Calming your nervous system is important as well. Read one of my previous blog posts to learn how to practice calming techniques during this time as well.

Be prepared for plenty of emotions to come up as your brain recalibrates. It helps to have support through this process.

We support you with all of these things in The Complete Sleep Solution program.

The Ashton Method-programs and clinics also use this method to help people gradually taper off benzos.

This is my warning: If you are considering taking benzos, do your research first. Educate yourself on the potential side effects, how benzos affect the brain, and how difficult it can be to stop taking them when you don’t want to take them any longer.

You can also try taking GABA, before taking benzos, to see if it helps. Or even better, get your GABA and other neurotransmitter levels tested.

In The Complete Sleep Solution program, we do functional lab tests to find out what’s happening inside your body that’s keeping you from sleeping well - which includes GABA and neurotransmitter testing. We also support you through detoxification, we teach you calming techniques, and we provide emotional support and tools.