y.
Depressants also cause a number of adverse effects like tolerance, dependence, addiction, and depression. For that reason, estazolam is generally used as a short-term therapeutic remedy for insomnia or anxiety.
Doctors typically discourage patients from using benzos for much longer than four weeks at a time. If you become tolerant or dependent on a benzo, it can make insomnia or anxiety symptoms worse, because your body comes to rely on the drug.
Estazolam has a medium onset of action and medium duration of action, which makes it useful as a sleep aid. While fast-active benzos are more likely to be used as a recreational drug, estazolam is sometimes used for its intoxicating effects. If you use high doses of estazolam or frequent doses, it can cause intoxicating effects that are similar to alcohol.
Common effects include dizziness, relaxation, physical euphoria, loss of coordination, poor motor function, loss of balance, impaired decision making, and sleepiness. Heavy estazolam use also increases your risk of becoming addicted, getting into an accident, or causing a potentially fatal overdose.
The path to estazolam addiction starts when you start taking larger amounts of the drug to experience the effect a previous dose yielded. This is called tolerance. Tolerance morphs into dependence when you take estazolam to the point where once it leaves the body, you experience disturbances or withdrawal symptoms.
Basically, you become estazolam-dependent because you feel normal only when the drug is present in your body.
According to ScienceDirect, the following are possible withdrawal symptoms you can experience with estazolam and virtually any other benzodiazepine medication:
Less common symptoms that can present with benzos include:
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If you’ve been using estazolam, and you’re worried that you might be developing an addiction, there are some signs and symptoms to keep in mind. While it’s possible to become addicted to benzodiazepines after normal use, especially if you are an older adult, it’s more likely to occur if you abuse the drug recreationally.
Drug abuse can sometimes be kept hidden for a short time, but addiction is difficult to keep contained. If you are worried about a friend or family member, here are some signs and symptoms to consider:
If you have been using benzos, and you think you might be developing a substance use disorder, there are a few signs that can point to an emerging addiction. The first sign is typically tolerance, which is when your brain and body start to get used to estazolam. You may notice that your normal dose isn’t as effective as it used to be or that you need more of the drug to achieve the same effects.
As tolerance grows, you may start to become dependent on the drug, and you may start to feel uncomfortable symptoms if you stop or cut back. Dependence is a problem that affects chemical communication pathways in your brain. Your nervous system becomes reliant on estazolam and stops producing some of its own natural chemicals. When you stop using, the consequential imbalance causes unpleasant and even dangerous symptoms.
After a period of dependence, you may start to become addicted. Addiction is characterized by the continued use of a drug despite clear consequences. For instance, if benzo intoxication causes you to get into a car accident, but you still can’t stop using, you may be addicted.
Estazolam addiction is a serious disease that can have lasting consequences. However, addiction is treatable with evidence-based therapies and experienced medical and clinical professionals. Because estazolam can potentially cause dangerous withdrawal symptoms, treatment should begin with medical detoxification.
Detoxification is usually done at the highest level of care in addiction treatment, otherwise known as medically managed intensive inpatient services. At this level, patients are given 24 hours of medical care every day, and you will be treated with medications to manage symptoms and avoid complications.
After detox, clinicians will help 