Prescription opioids have made headlines for skyrocketing rates of deaths from overdoses, but a new report shows that overdose deaths from another group of medications — sedatives called benzodiazepines — are also increasing.
The researchers found that the death rate in the U.S. from overdoses on benzodiazepines has increased more than fivefold since 1996. Also known as “benzos,” the class includes drugs such as Valium and Xanax. The medicines are sometimes used in combination with opioids to treat people with chronic pain.
Overdoses involving benzodiazepines are “a public health problem that has gone under the radar,” Dr. Marcus Bachhuber, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, said in a statement.
The last time I got sent to the hospital I had overdosed on Klonopin and Atavan. I took thirteen Klonopin and twenty-eight Atavan. Those pills were stronger than I thought. I couldn’t walk. I’m fairly sure they took me to the emergency room, though I don’t remember it. I don’t know if they pumped my stomach. Then they took me to the psych hospital and dropped me off, where I spent the first two days detoxing. I think that most of the people who die from these pills die because they’ve mixed them with alcohol or opiods. We had a guy who died from mixing benzos with alcohol. It looked kind of like a suicide.
When I was taking klonapin or clonazepam I thought it would relax my heart muscles too much along with the rest of my organ systems…I felt my heart beat change. Eventually I realized my psydr prescribed me muscle relaxers