Modern society moves at a fast clip. Restaurants can cook dinners in mere minutes, packages can move from one part of the country to the other in days and machines can wash dirt out of clothes in almost no time at all. Speed is, in general, considered to be an incredibly good thing in the lives of most people.
But there are times when speed just isn’t helpful. For example, people who take Rivotril (clonazepam) for a long period of time may not be able to discontinue their use with much speed. Instead, they might need to focus on getting sober in small, manageable steps. It’s the best way to get sober without feeling ill, even if it takes a long time to complete the process.
Typical Protocols
Benzodiazepines like Rivotril do subtle damage to brain cells, and in time, these cells function at an optimal level only when drugs are available. This damage doesn’t happen overnight, but each hit of drugs the person takes weakens and modifies the cells just a little more. When people like this choose to get sober, they must follow the same steps they took in order to develop an addiction. In essence, just as they developed an addiction through a series of hits, they’ll heal in this same stair-step manner.
Typically, the recovery process begins with a minor reduction in the amount of Rivotril people take. Rather than pulling in an entire hit, they might take in only 75 percent of the typical amount they’re accustomed to. When they can handle this reduced dose, they might reduce the size of the hit yet again. And when that reduction seems tolerable, the dose might be cut again. In time, people take no drugs at all.
In a study of this type of withdrawal protocol, published in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, nearly 70 percent of people were able to achieve sobriety within a four-month-long tapering process. Some needed a little longer in order to get sober, but it’s clear that most people are able to handle the taper and complete it within a few months.
Constant Monitoring During Rivotril Withdrawal
Tapering can reduce the risk of a serious medical problem during withdrawal, but some people do fall ill as their bodies adjust. They might experience:
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Sweating
- Gastrointestinal upset
If these symptoms are tolerable, people might use over-the-counter medications or emotional support in order to keep moving through the withdrawal process. But sometimes people experience side effects during withdrawal that can’t be ignored. For example, in a study in the journal Seizure: European Journal of Epilepsy, researchers found that eight people in 13 had seizures appear during withdrawal. This can be life-threatening, and symptoms like this indicate that the tapering process is moving too quickly.
Monitoring can ensure that life-threatening complications do not develop during detox, and when that process is complete, therapy can help to preserve the sobriety people gain in detox. Recovery can take time to achieve, but real healing is very possible.
If you’d like to know more about the Rivotril addiction recovery process, please contact us at Michael’s House. We provide both inpatient and outpatient care for Rivotril addiction. Please call us today to find out more.
