Author: Christy Huff, MD

If you suffer from anxiety, panic disorder, or insomnia, your doctor may have prescribed you what’s known as benzodiazepines (or benzos). This class of drugs contains popular brands such as Xanax (alprazolam), Valium (diazepam), Ativan (lorazepam), and Klonopin (clonazepam). They essentially act as a tranquilizer, relaxing, and sedating the user.  Benzos are some of the most-prescribed medicines. According to a 2020 National Center for Health Statistics report, there were 65.9 million physician visits for benzodiazepine prescriptions each year from 2014 to 2016. The number of prescriptions dispensed between 2009 and 2014 increased from 40.9 million to 133.4 million, according to…

By Christy Huff, MD KevinMD.org As physicians, we are experts at prescribing medications. However, we often fail miserably when it comes to recognizing adverse reactions and tapering medications. It’s something that is simply lacking in our medical training. I have become a victim of this with benzodiazepines, as I detailed in a prior blog post. Benzodiazepines, in particular, are very difficult drugs to taper. I would like to share with you some of the wisdom I’ve gained in the process, so here are 10 tips for helping your patient survive benzodiazepine withdrawal. Disclaimer: I will be addressing patients physiologically dependent…