Benzodiazepines are commonly called ‘benzos’ and are pharmaceutical drugs used as antianxiety agents, muscle relaxants, sedatives,1 hypnotics,2 and sometimes as anticonvulsants. These include drugs such as Valium, Xanax, Clonazepam, Librium, Lorazepam, and various others. These drugs are highly addictive, and need to be tapered off of slowly. Our addiction medicine specialist may choose to taper the client using the drug they are currently on, or switch them to a medication that has the same effect, yet is safer to taper off.

If a person has had a long standing issue with anxiety, they of course may have misgivings about stopping their medication. They may have tried to quit before, only to have a resurgence of their symptoms since the cause of the anxiety is still present.

Whether it is a complete mystery as to why they are anxious, or the person can identify a traumatic life incident in the past, or there is an obvious current stressful situation, they are suffering from an altered biochemistry. For example, stress raises cortisol3, which acts on other glands to produce hormones like adrenaline (the fight or flight hormone). High cortisol causes someone to be anxious, not able to sleep and can also cause heart disease, memory problems, chronic headaches, and obesity. Cortisol is the hormone a person gets a dose of when they have, for instance, just avoided a car wreck, or which influences a person who is experiencing road rage.

A person can achieve more optimum brain chemistry and succeed at lowering their stress level without being drugged. We use a diet that produces a calming effect rather than a stimulating one, and cortisol-suppressing supplements, which are made from substances normally found in food. Once the internal environment is in balance, a person can better handle external factors such as traffic jams, relationship woes, or whatever causes their inappropriate or unwanted emotional responses.

Insomnia can also be a problem for patients on benzodiazepenes, whether caused by the medication, or by the underlying condition for which the person was taking medication. We use additional supplements to help the chemical reactions that allow for sleep, which do not drug the person. Instead, they build the natural pathways in the production of it’s own sleep hormones.

Tryptophan is an amino acid, and amino acids are building blocks of protein. Many diets are deficient in tryptophan, which leads to irritability, sleeplessness, and depression as well as other health problems. Diets which provide adequate tryptophan may be imbalanced by having too many other amino acids which out-compete tryptophan. Such an imbalance will manifest the same symptoms of irritability, sleeplessness and depression as a lack of tryptophan. This is a case where supplementing may have to be combined with dietary corrections in order to create the necessary balance.

We do Lab Testing to ensure the root cause of biochemical imbalance is found. (To learn more about this, go to the Lab Testing page). Once found, an individual nutritional program is established by our Orthomolecular Medical Doctor who seeks to achieve optimum brain function by ensuring that the brain receives the naturally occurring substances it needs in the correct amounts. Naturally means using vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other elements found in high quality foods rather than in drugs. Naturally also means orchestrating a diet that complements good brain function.

Then the client begins to taper their medication. The stepdown is approximately 10% per week. As the medication levels come down, the natural alternatives levels go up. The allows the client’s neurology to adjust to each level.

1 Sedative: a drug having a soothing, calming, or tranquilizing effect.

2 Hypnotic: a drug that produces sleep; sedative.

3 Cortisol : a hormone produced by glands above the kidneys. It regulates carbohydrate metabolism and maintains blood pressure.

NOTE: Nothing on this Website is intended to be taken as medical advice, and always consult with your doctor before altering your medications.

Adding nutritional supplements may alter the effect of medication. Any medication changes should be done only after proper evaluation and under medical supervision. Please call the intake number to schedule an appointment.