When you or a loved one struggles with alcohol use disorder, the first course of action is to safely detox from alcohol. Medical professionals warn that alcohol detox should always take place under supervision. That’s because alcohol withdrawal is a difficult and potentially life-threatening process.
Detox facilities specialise in helping patients detox safely. Upon enrolling in a detox program, your clinician will prescribe several medications, including Librium. It’s a benzodiazepine that’s prescribed to help you relax while detoxing. But because it’s a benzodiazepine, Librium is habit-forming and needs to be taken with caution. If you’re seeking treatment for alcohol addiction, here’s a Librium dosage guide to help you out.
What is Librium?
Traditionally taken to treat anxiety, Librium, or chlordiazepoxide, acts on your central nervous system to create a relaxing effect. It’s also prescribed to relieve acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Clinicians usually prescribe Librium to get through the first wave of detox, which feels the most difficult.
Why Librium is Used for Severe Withdrawal Symptoms
GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that reduces nervous activity in the brain. Taking alcohol enhances its calming effects but with chronic alcohol consumption, your GABA levels will drop to extremely low levels. That’s because the brain is used to the sedative effects of alcohol to calm down. When you stop drinking during your detox, the imbalance between GABA and glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter, leads to agitation, restlessness, sleeplessness, and mental hyperactivity.
Like other benzodiazepines, Librium works by mitigating feelings of agitation. It does this by binding to GABA receptors in your brain cells. This increases GABA’s inhibitory effects while counteracting the effects of excitatory neurotransmitters during alcohol withdrawal.
Common Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms
When you stop drinking after developing a dependence, withdrawal symptoms can occur due to the significant GABA-glutamate imbalance. These symptoms typically include:
- Insomnia
- Tremors
- Vomiting
- Headaches
- Sweating
- Seizures
- Hallucinations
In extreme cases, you can experience delirium tremens, which is the most severe form of alcohol withdrawal. It includes symptoms like high blood pressure, confusion, and fever, which can be life threatening without timely medical intervention.
How to Take Librium During Alcohol Detox
Dosage
The exact dosage prescribed to you can vary depending on the severity of your withdrawal symptoms, your medical history, and a few other factors. That being said, it’s usually a higher dose than what clinicians prescribe for anxiety. An average dosage usually ranges from 25 mg to 100 mg per dose, with three to four doses given daily.
Regardless of your current dosage, you’ll need to be monitored carefully during the detox process. Your clinician will reduce the frequency of doses with time as your withdrawal symptoms alleviate. This is so you take the lowest possible dose while avoiding severe withdrawal symptoms. Remember that you should never continue taking it without consulting your clinician first.
Duration
How long you should take Librium for AWS depends on factors like the severity of your symptoms. In severe cases, a patient may show symptoms like hallucinations, seizures, and delirium tremens. These symptoms are likely to occur about 12 to 48 hours after you stop drinking. Meanwhile, you’ll continue experiencing other acute symptoms for up to 2 weeks.
To make sure that you avoid the wave of severe, life-threatening withdrawal symptoms, you’ll begin taking it on the first day of detox. On the first day, you’ll take the highest dose. Then, you’ll continue taking fewer and fewer doses until you no longer experience withdrawal symptoms. Regardless of the situation, you should stop taking the medication as soon as your doctor tells you to.
Risks of Taking Librium
Like other medications that stimulate or sedate your nervous system, Librium has the potential for abuse. Taking it in larger doses or with alcohol can enhance its sedative effects, giving you a pleasurable high. Though Librium is safe to take in the short term and under medical supervision, long-term use can lead to complications. These range from liver damage and respiratory issues to cognitive impairments. Due to its high potential for abuse, in 1985, Librium was added to the Controlled Substances List in the UK.
It Mimics The Effects of Alcohol
One of the dangers associated with taking Librium is that it’s a habit-forming substance. Even though Librium helps with agitation and restlessness, keep in mind that it also affects your brain in a similar way as alcohol. It’s possible that you start taking Librium to cope with withdrawal symptoms and stop taking alcohol entirely, only to be addicted to Librium a few months later.
Synergistic Effects of Alcohol
When you take Librium and alcohol together, it has a synergistic effect, amplifying the effects of both substances. This is dangerous and could result in loss of consciousness or even death. The same applies to taking any benzodiazepine with alcohol.
High Potential for Tolerance
Even though it’s effective for relieving symptoms like delirium tremens, Librium doesn’t eliminate symptoms entirely. Because of this, patients may increase their dosage to enhance its effects. That’s why patients are prescribed Librium on a specific schedule. When you go off schedule, it significantly increases your likelihood of developing tolerance and dependence.
And because Librium affects your brain in the same way as alcohol, quitting the drug can lead to similar withdrawal symptoms. These include agitation, sleeplessness, and anxiety, which grow worse the longer you’ve been dependent.
Considerations When Taking Librium
As long as it’s not misused or mixed with other substances, Librium is a safe and effective way to relieve severe symptoms of alcohol withdrawal in most adults. Clinicians can also prescribe it to alleviate anxiety in patients who need to be sedated, particularly under medical supervision.
However, Librium isn’t suitable for all patients undergoing detox. You should avoid taking Librium for alcohol withdrawal syndrome if you:
- Have a history of substance abuse and alcohol/drug misuse during detox.
- Are currently pregnant or breastfeeding.
- Struggle with severe respiratory disorders.
- Are diagnosed with severe liver disorders.
- Have a degenerative muscle disorder
In the above-mentioned situations, clinicians prescribe non-benzodiazepine alternatives. For example, valproic acid, gabapentin, clonidine, and carbamazepine. These alternative treatment options are suitable for people with contraindications for benzodiazepines or risk developing a tolerance for the drug.
Start Your Detox Journey
If you’re ready to walk the road to addiction recovery, the first step is to complete an alcohol detox while receiving professional help. For that, you should find a detox centre with a multidisciplinary team of nurses, doctors, and clinicians, as well as round-the-clock care. During your stay at a medical detox centre, you’ll be prescribed medications and undergo addiction therapy.
