Oxazepam Withdrawal and Detox

Serax is a prescription depressant sold under the brand name Oxazepam. It is commonly prescribed to treat insomnia and anxiety due to its calming qualities. It is a slow-release tablet, meaning it has been formulated to be slow-acting and long-lasting. In other words, it will last twice as long as other benzodiazepines, but take longer to impact your system.

When you take it as prescribed by your physician, Oxazepam can provide significant medical benefits, but like other benzodiazepines can be highly addictive. The slow-release nature of this drug makes it possible for you to quickly build a tolerance. While you would have to use other drugs in the same category for six months or more before tolerance develops, you could start to build tolerance over a short timeframe in the case of Oxazepam.

Even if you begin using Oxazepam just as prescribed by a doctor, you could still find yourself developing both behavioural and chemical dependencies. Due to its tendency to cause dependence, Oxazepam puts you at high risk of experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal can be particularly problematic during detox, which is why it is important to detox in a professional setting such as a detox clinic.

What is Oxazepam Detox?

Detox refers to the process by which your body rids itself of all drug toxins. When you begin rehab or enrol at a detox centre, you will usually be put through medical detox, which is the best way to safely detoxify. While it’s true that not every drug requires medically supervised detox, having professional supervision is crucial if you are trying to quit a benzodiazepine.

We recommend medical detox, because the withdrawal symptoms that come during the detox phase can be dangerous. For instance, seizures can occur without warning. If your medical team deem it necessary, you may be given medication to help relieve your symptoms. You’ll also have the benefit of being monitored by a qualified physician during detox.

Detox is a crucial first step on your journey to a successful recovery and long-term abstinence. If you have any questions regarding detox, please reach out to addiction specialists now by calling 0800 024 1475 or 0203 131 8347.

What is Oxazepam Withdrawal?

Given that Serax puts you at high risk of developing tolerance, you will not experience the same effects from ongoing doses as you did when you first started using the medication. It’s easy to fall into the trap of taking it more frequently or increasing your dosage in order to achieve the same feeling, but doing this is always a mistake.

The longer and more frequently you use Oxazepam, the more likely it is for you to

experience withdrawal symptoms. Such symptoms are indicative of physical dependence, which is in turn characteristic of addiction.

Withdrawal is the manifestation of your body’s struggle to restore normal functioning in the absence of the substance upon which it has become dependent. Ironically, symptoms of withdrawal can include the same symptoms you wanted to treat in the first place – insomnia and anxiety.

Contributing Factors to Withdrawal

The primary risk factor for withdrawal is the reduction or discontinuation of the drug in question. However, there are other factors that can contribute to the severity and nature of withdrawal. For one, you are likely to experience more intense symptoms if you’ve been taken higher doses than prescribed by your physician.

Your withdrawal symptoms are also likely to be affected if you’ve been using Oxazepam along with other substances such as alcohol, which is also a depressant. In fact, doing this can contribute to dangerous withdrawal symptoms.

Other contributing factors include: taking the drug for many years; struggling with a dual diagnosis of a physical or mental nature; a history of drug use and withdrawal; taking the substance without a prescription, and using the drug frequently. There’s no way to tell exactly how withdrawal will pan out, given any set of contributory factors. Therefore, it’s best to seek treatment in a professional setting in order to prevent any difficult complications.

How Oxazepam Affects the Brain and Body

Like other benzodiazepines, Oxazepam slows down the speed of signal transmission between neurons, which is why it is useful for dealing with seizures or panic attacks. However, by using too much of it too often, you can cause damage to your brain and limit your cognitive abilities. Long-term abuse of Oxazepam has been associated with Alzheimer’s and some forms of cancer.

By abusing Oxazepam on a long-term basis, you will also be putting yourself at risk of developing conditions like psychosis or delirium, memory loss or amnesia, rebound anxiety, suicidal thoughts, depression, blackouts, inability to concentrate and reduced cognition.

One of the most serious effects on your body is overdosing, which is likely to happen if you often mix the medication with other central nervous system (CNS) depressants. If you overdose, you could experience shallow breathing, slurred speech, blurred vision, delirium, or even go into a coma. If you take particularly high doses, you might be exposing yourself to potential liver damage.

Why You Should Detox Properly from Oxazepam

Addiction can lead to countless harmful effects on your health and life in general, but it won’t be easy to quit and recover without a properly structured detox programme. If you don’t have help from medical professionals, your withdrawal symptoms can be difficult to overcome.

Being physically dependent on Oxazepam means your body won’t be able to function normally without the substance. By removing it suddenly, your body can literally stop working properly, which can lead to a host of problems.

In a proper detox facility, you may be given medication to help with your symptoms to ensure you and those around you remain safe from any possible dangers that occur as a result of withdrawal. If you try to detox on your own by going ‘cold turkey’, your body can react in ways you’ll be unable to handle on your own.

Causes of Oxazepam Withdrawal

Withdrawal is caused by your discontinuing or reducing chronic use of Oxazepam. When you’ve been using a substance frequently over a period of time and abruptly stop, your body responds by way of withdrawal. The unpleasant symptoms you experience are the result of your body making adjustments to compensate for the absence of the substance.

Your body needs to maintain stable internal conditions, which is why the adjustments are necessary. Using Oxazepam slows brain function and by the time you’ve become addicted, it will be used to being in such a state.

If you suddenly reduce your dosage or discontinue use altogether, many of the circuits in your brain will try to compensate by increasing the basal level of activity. They soon reach the point of hyperactivity and as a result, bring about withdrawal symptoms.

How Oxazepam Withdrawal is Diagnosed

Withdrawal can be diagnosed using various methods. A medical professional will perform a thorough physical examination and correlate that with a complete medical history, including your social and family history.

In addition to your physical exam, you may have to take blood and urine tests, via which you will be screened for the presence of drugs in your system. There are other tests you may have to complete, depending on whether or not your doctor is concerned about any other medical issues.

Other tests you may have to do include liver function and blood chemistry tests like CHEM-20 and CBC (Complete Blood Count). You may be subject to even further tests to rule out other possible conditions and reach a definitive diagnosis.

Common Oxazepam Detox and Withdrawal Symptoms

There’s a long list of symptoms that you can experience during detox and withdrawal. While you may not have to deal with all (or most) of them, it can be difficult or even impossible to predict the nature and severity of the symptoms you will develop. Common withdrawal symptoms include:

  • Abdominal cramps
  • Anxiety
  • Agoraphobia
  • Heavy limbs
  • Flu-like symptoms
  • Fears
  • Extreme lethargy
  • Dizziness
  • Distended abdomen
  • Depression
  • Hallucinatory changes in perception
  • Blurry vision
  • Breathing difficulties
  • Shaking
  • Severe headaches
  • Restlessness
  • Mood swings
  • Panic attacks
  • Nightmares
  • Aches and pains in the muscles
  • Memory loss
  • Loss of balance
  • Lack of coordination
  • Lack of concentration
  • Irritability
  • Insomnia
  • Indigestion
  • Hypersensitivity to light
  • Heart palpitations
  • Sweating
  • Hand tremors
  • Aggression
  • Weight loss
  • Nausea or dry heaving
  • Tightness in the head or chest
  • Sore eyes
  • Seeing spots before the eyes

Physical symptoms of Oxazepam withdrawal and detox

Even though Oxazepam works by affecting the brain, withdrawal can manifest as physical symptoms. You may be given medication to ease some of the symptoms you experience, particularly the more problematic ones. Some of the physical symptoms you may experience include the following:

  • Indigestion
  • Hypersensitivity to light
  • Heart palpitations
  • Sweating
  • Hand tremors
  • Nausea or dry heaving
  • Tightness in the head or chest
  • Dizziness
  • Distended abdomen
  • Blurry vision
  • Breathing difficulties
  • Shaking
  • Severe headaches
  • Aches and pains in the muscles
  • Sore eyes
  • Abdominal cramps
  • Heavy limbs
  • Flu-like symptoms
  • Loss of balance
  • Lack of coordination
  • Seeing spots before the eyes

You may experience less common symptoms such as: an aching jaw; menstrual problems; having a metallic taste or losing taste entirely; changes in appetite; increased saliva; urgent or inconsistent urine; hyperactivity; hypersensitivity to sound; difficulty swallowing; diarrhoea; and constipation. While rare, you could also experience symptoms such as sinus pain, rectal bleeding, hypersensitivity to touch, haemorrhoids, falling hair and burning along the spine.

Psychological symptoms of Oxazepam withdrawal

Even after your physical symptoms have passed, psychological symptoms can persist for an extended period of time afterwards, which is known as protracted withdrawal. In particular, anxiety may return or even worsen. Some psychological symptoms you could experience during detox include:

  • Anxiety
  • Fears
  • Depression
  • Hallucinatory changes in perception
  • Restlessness
  • Mood swings
  • Panic attacks
  • Nightmares
  • Memory loss
  • Lack of concentration
  • Irritability
  • Insomnia
  • Aggression

There are other psychological withdrawal symptoms that are less common than those listed above. They include: craving for sweet food; depersonalisation (feeling that you don’t know who you are); suicidal thoughts; unpleasant memories; paranoia; outbursts of aggression or rage; morbid thoughts; visual and auditory hallucinations; feeling the ground moving; or becoming unusually sensitive such that you can’t bear to even watch the news.

How Long Does It Take to Detox from Oxazepam?

We can’t say exactly how many days you will stay in detox because your body and rate of metabolism is different from that of the next person. However, detox in many medical detox centres last between eight to 16 days.

While your metabolism plays a role in determining how long rehab will take, other factors matter as well, including the severity of your addiction and the method of detox. If your addiction is severe, you may not be

taken off Oxazepam suddenly, as tapering could be a better option. Tapering involves weaning you off the medication gradually with smaller doses.

While tapering can take a few days, detox can be shortened to only a few days using a method called rapid detox. If you detox this way, you’ll be placed under anesthetic whilst having medications passed through your bloodstream to expunge all traces of drugs. Once the procedure is complete, you’re likely to be given replacement medication to help suppress withdrawal.

Oxazepam Withdrawal: Timeline of Symptoms

There is no specific timeline set in stone for withdrawal, as everyone’s experience is different. Subsequently, varying factors will determine your withdrawal timeline. However, you can find a general guide to what to expect below:

Days 1 to 3

If you consider yourself a heavy user, you can expect to start experiencing withdrawal symptoms in as little as one day after taking your last dose. You may have to deal with symptoms such as anxiety, rapid heart rate, and excessive sweating. However, it is possible for you not to experience any physical symptoms at all at this stage.

Days 4 to 7

During this period, most of your physical symptoms will begin to fade, but you may also begin to experience anxiety and insomnia.

Week 2

By the second week, you could begin to experience rebound symptoms and this period can be the most painful. More serious side effects can arise, including muscle pain, nausea and seizures.

After the first few weeks

Beyond the first few weeks, you will begin to recover as your symptoms abate, but you might experience protracted withdrawal, also known as post-acute withdrawal symptoms (PAWS). The symptoms you experience during this period will be mostly psychological, such as irritability, depression and cravings. They can continue for months, especially if you’ve been a user for a long time, but continued treatment can help.

What is Acute Oxazepam Withdrawal?

This is the phase of withdrawal that starts a few days after quitting and it follows early withdrawal. It is the stage that we generally refer to when we say ‘withdrawal’, because it constitutes the bulk of the process as a whole.

During the acute withdrawal phase, you could benefit most from medications administered to target some of the symptoms. Depending on how heavily you’ve been using (amongst other factors), you can experience acute withdrawal anywhere from two weeks to several months.

The symptoms you might experience during acute withdrawal include: twitching, cravings, agitation, mood swings, clouded thinking, trouble concentrating, impairment of your short-term memory, hallucinations, seizures, blurred vision, diarrhoea, insomnia, and panic, amongst others. Suicidal thoughts and other serious psychological symptoms can also surface, making therapy particularly useful during this phase.

Coping with Oxazepam Withdrawal

While professional help is important in helping you recover from addiction, there is a whole lot you can do to make the journey to recovery a successful one. You can start by being extra careful during withdrawal; avoid adding unnecessary stress or making major decisions when you’re in that state.

Do your best to avoid using any other substances like alcohol or even other drugs, tempting as it may be. If alternative healing like Chinese medicine or acupuncture sounds agreeable to you, give them a try. While you might feel that your addiction and recovery are your problems alone, your family and friends are affected as well, so don’t hesitate to ask for support.

It’s a good idea to chart your progress by keeping a recovery diary. Also, you need to rest as much as you can, as well as exercise and eat healthily. Also, avoid caffeine and drink lots of water.

Possible Complications

One of the reasons we advocate getting treatment in a professional medical facility over detoxing at home is that you may encounter complications that you’ll be unable to handle on your own. These may include seizures, suicidal thoughts or behaviours, and overdosing in the event of a relapse.

Suicidal thoughts and behaviour can be particularly dangerous, especially when they are intense. It can also be perilous if you’re alone and experience loss of bodily control or seizures. If you happen to experience any such complications during withdrawal on your own, please seek medical assistance immediately.

One of the symptoms of withdrawal is cravings. If they persist long enough, you may be unable to resist and end up using Oxazepam again. If that happens, you can easily overdose, as your tolerance will have been reduced. Another possible complication is aspiration, during which you inhale your own vomit, which can cause electrolyte instabilities, dehydration, and lung infection. It’s best to detox in a clinic to avoid having to deal with any of these problems.

Medications to Treat Oxazepam Withdrawal

There are a number of medications we may use when managing your Oxazepam withdrawal symptoms. One of them is Clonidine, sometimes referred to using the brand names Kapvay or Catapres. This medication works by lowering your blood pressure, which in turn results in the blood vessels opening up and the heart beating less rapidly. Considering that anxiety is typically associated with a faster heart rate, slowing your heart rate can help take care of this particular ailment.

Another drug is Gabapentin, which can provide relief for most of the discomfort of withdrawal, including muscle spasms, tremors, irritability, insomnia, and anxiety. Yet another is Phenibut, which can help with muscle tension, insomnia and anxiety.

Other medications that can help include melatonin, imidazenil, pregabalin, and phenobarbital, which is a barbiturate used to prevent seizures during ‘cold turkey’ or rapid withdrawal.

How we treat Oxazepam withdrawal

Primarily, our rehab centres treat withdrawal by using medication. Many of the symptoms you experience (including the physical and psychological ones) can be suppressed using medication. The goal when managing symptoms is to take care of the most problematic ones first and help you get through withdrawal without much of the discomfort caused by your symptoms.

In order to control Oxazepam withdrawal symptoms, we often use the tapering technique. By tapering, we mean weaning you off the medication by reducing your dosage over a period of time. Each time your body adjusts to a lower dose, we reduce it again.

When the worst of the symptoms have passed, we’ll get you started on individual or group therapy to help with the psychological symptoms of withdrawal and uncover the root of your addiction.

Melatonin Remedies for Natural Oxazepam Withdrawal Symptoms

Melatonin is a chemical found in the brain, but your body’s natural supply can be depleted during addiction. It’s an antioxidant hormone produced by your pineal gland while you sleep and plays a crucial role in ensuring your body’s natural biorhythms remain at equilibrium.

Taking a supplement to help raise melatonin level can be very helpful during withdrawal, as it can help to offset negative withdrawal

symptoms such as poor moods and trouble sleeping. Taking a melatonin supplement helps to protect your brain cells from oxidative damage, which can contribute to various withdrawal symptoms such as headaches and erratic sleeping habits.

There are a few other benefits of taking a melatonin supplement, including helping your body to heal, boosting immune function, and reducing the incidence of headaches, which are all possible due to the power of melatonin in allowing you to sleep.

Medical Detox as Part of a Whole Treatment Plan

Detox is only the first step of many towards recovery and long-term sobriety. Medical detox gets you off to the right start with treatment. Withdrawal can be very uncomfortable and painful, but with medical help during detox, you can get through this stage of treatment safely and without complications.

Addiction is a chronic and relapsing disease, with psychological and physical symptoms. Therefore, treatment has to be comprehensive. You cannot stop at detox, because you need to do a lot more than simply expelling Oxazepam from your system.

By continuing with therapy after detox, you can tackle your addiction problem right from its root and equip yourself with the necessary skills to remain on track, even after you’ve left rehab. It doesn’t stop at formal rehab in a treatment facility either, because follow-up care is crucial and can make all the difference between success and failure.

Process from Oxazepam detox to rehab: What happens?

The exact process of rehabilitation may differ according to the treatment plan, the nature of the addiction, and of course, you. However, there are a few important elements that are usually constant.

Firstly, before starting detox, you’ll have to pass through an intake process, during which you can determine whether the rehab in question is a good fit for you or not. Once this is finalised, detox can begin and you may be given medication to ease any withdrawal symptoms.

During or soon after detox, you’ll proceed to the next stage of treatment, which is rehab. You could join individual or group therapy sessions, during which you’ll get to understand why you started abusing Oxazepam in the first place. You’ll also learn about strategies to help you stay on track when you leave rehab.

Finding the Right Treatment

There is no shortage of treatment programmes available in the UK and abroad, but it may not be easy to access the help you need due to difficulty accessing treatment, as well as your individual needs and circumstances.

In order to find a good treatment centre that is the right fit, you need to ask a number of questions to make an informed choice. You’ll need to find out whether the rehab facility provides adequate treatment and support services, facilities, staff licensure, the cost, amenities, rules and restrictions, visitation policies, distance from home, staff-to-patient ratio, and success rates.

You don’t have to worry about going through the hassle of finding the right treatment centre amongst the many options available. Addiction Helper has affiliated rehab facilities all across the UK, so we can help you access one that’s close home and the right fit for you. We also have rehabs abroad if you would rather receive treatment in a different country. Call our team now to get started finding the help you need.

Home Detox for Oxazepam Abusers: How Safe is it?

We understand that detoxing at home may have the appeal of being cheap and easy, but please don’t be tempted to go down that route. You can’t simply quit, especially if you’ve been using Oxazepam for several months or years.

You may find information online stating you can detox at home employing the tapering method or even worse, using other drugs to take care of withdrawal symptoms. However, following that advice can be dangerous, because there is no telling exactly how you will be affected during withdrawal and you may have to deal with complications you’re not equipped to handle.

Quitting on your own can be particularly dangerous. It’s best therefore to see a doctor before attempting to discontinue usage. Depending on the severity of your addiction, you could secure outpatient treatment, which is cheaper than inpatient detox, but still provides some level of medical support and supervision.

Medication assisted therapy for Oxazepam dependency

When you attend a professional treatment facility for help, the detox and withdrawal process can be eased using medications. The reason for using these medications is to make withdrawal less painful and ensure you get through detox safely.

One way you may be treated is using the tapering method, which involves weaning you off the medication gradually by reducing your dosage over a controlled period.

During this time, you may be given medication to help ease your withdrawal symptoms.

Another method involves replacing the medication entirely with phenobarbitals. The purpose of this is to ease withdrawal, whilst allowing your body to detox from Serax. Most importantly, medication assisted therapy ensures you have medical supervision when you need it most.

After detox: staying off Oxazepam

What happens after detox is crucial, because it can make all the difference between success and failure. This is why rehab centres don’t stop at detox, but make provision for therapy sessions, both in group and individual settings.

Alongside formal therapy, attending 12-step programmes or other such support groups is also important. During sessions, you’ll get to share and connect with others who’ve gone through what you have and can understand perhaps even better than those closest to you.

Support from your friends and family is also important after detox, so allow them to help you in whatever way they can. Also, you must take charge and implement lifestyle changes such as exercising regularly and eating healthily, as well as avoiding people, places, or situations that could prompt you to use Oxazepam again.


FAQs

How do you know if you’re suffering from Oxazepam Withdrawal?

Withdrawal occurs when you stop using Oxazepam or reduce your dosage while you are dependent on it. The symptoms you experience are the manifestation of your body’s efforts to maintain a balance of your internal conditions. The symptoms can be so unbearable that you’ll feel like you have to continue taking Oxazepam.

There are a number of symptoms to look out for to determine whether you’re experiencing withdrawal. While some of them are physical, others are psychological. Some of the physical symptoms you may experience include headaches, stiffness or pain in your muscles, sweating, hand tremors, heart palpitations, weight loss, and dry heaving/nausea.

Some of the psychological symptoms you may experience include difficulty recalling memories, inability to concentrate, aggression, irritability, nightmares, mood swings, restlessness and even rebound symptoms like insomnia, panic attacks, or anxiety. It’s best to see a doctor once you notice some of these symptoms, because withdrawal can be dangerous for your health if you go through it on your own.

How Long Does Oxazepam Withdrawal Last?

There’s no specific number of weeks or months that can be ascribed to withdrawal, as it is different for everyone, depending on a number of different factors. You can expect to start noticing withdrawal symptoms within 24 hours and they can last anywhere from a couple of days to several months. It is possible to continue feeling symptoms even after years of discontinuing use.

The duration of withdrawal may be affected by factors such as how long you’ve been abusing Oxazepam, the quantity of dosage you’ve been using, family history, previous addiction, underlying mental or physical health issues, and your method of abusing the drug.

During withdrawal, you could experience physical and psychological symptoms. The physical symptoms should begin to abate within a week or two (maybe more). It is the psychological symptoms that tend to last longer – over several months or years in the case of post-acute or protracted withdrawal. However, you may not have to deal with protracted withdrawal, depending on the aforementioned factors.

How Does Oxazepam Withdrawal Affect My Health?

Withdrawal is the result of your body trying to maintain a balance of internal conditions or homeostasis. For your body to be making such an effort, there must be an imbalance in the first place. All this manifests as uncomfortable and painful withdrawal symptoms, which are likely to make you feel unwell.

The physical symptoms in particular can be a challenge, as you can experience flu-like symptoms, vomiting and nausea, loss of appetite (leading to weight loss), headaches and sweating, amongst others. Depending on the severity of the symptoms, you may become very ill during withdrawal.

Also problematic are the psychological symptoms, which can affect your mental health. It is possible to experience symptoms associated with mental illness such as auditory and visual hallucinations, difficulty recalling memories, persistently recalling unpleasant memories, panic attacks, anxiety, aggression, and agitation.

Is Oxazepam Withdrawal Dangerous?

Yes. Withdrawal can be dangerous when it is not carried out under proper medical supervision. If you use Oxazepam for a prolonged period of time (more than a few months for example), your brain could become dependent. The same applies if you take particularly high doses of the drug. If you then reduce your doses or stop using Oxazepam abruptly, your body struggles to adjust.

As your body struggles to regain balance of your internal conditions, you may experience uncomfortable symptoms such as seizures, hallucinations, panic, or anxiety. We recommend detoxing in a proper detox centre to avoid the dangers of withdrawal.

Another prominent danger of withdrawal is the possibility of overdosing, which can happen if you hurry back to using Oxazepam again because you cannot deal with the symptoms. Overdosing is easy during withdrawal, because your tolerance will have decreased and your body may not be able to handle the same doses as before. In addition to the perils of overdosing, you’re also at risk of suffering complications that you might be unable to handle on your own, without medical help.

Get Confidential Help Now

Call our admissions line 24 hours a day to get help.