Librium Effects, Addiction, Interactions, and Treatment

What is Librium?

Librium (chlordiazepoxide) is a benzodiazepine. It treats anxiety disorders and works by altering out-of-balance chemicals in the brain. Librium is a short-term treatment for anxiety, especially for anxiety experienced before surgery. It is also prescribed to people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) who are experiencing anxiety and other withdrawal symptoms.

Side Effects of Librium

Librium can trigger an allergic reaction. Symptoms of an allergic reaction include:

• Hives
• Difficulty breathing
• Facial swelling including the lips, tongue, and throat

The most common side effects that occur when a person takes Librium include:

The side effects of Librium tend to occur more often in older adults than in younger adults.

Librium Addiction Symptoms

It is possible to develop a dependence on Librium. The drug is also abused by those who take it for longer than their doctor’s prescribed, use higher doses than prescribed, or use it without a prescription. Benzodiazepines, including Librium, are prescription central nervous system (CNS) depressants. People abuse them to experience a sense of relaxation or to “tune out” stressful thoughts and feelings.

Signs and symptoms of recent use of Librium include:

A Librium addiction or use disorder makes it difficult to control drug usage. If use becomes more frequent or larger doses are needed to achieve the same effect, addiction may be present. Addiction can also form even if a person began using Librium under a doctor’s supervision.

Some Librium-dependent people need to take the drug to feel normal. They will also experience cravings for the drug when they are not taking it.

Withdrawal symptoms for those dependent on Librium can range from mild to severe depending on how long they’ve used the drug and how much they take of it. Gradual detoxification from Librium is the most effective way to achieve long-term sobriety.

Librium withdrawal symptoms include:

Risks of Librium withdrawal can also be more severe, especially for those who develop benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. This can occur after heavy, long-term abuse of the drug. Severe symptoms of withdrawal include:

Medically supervised detoxification is most effective for people with Librium dependence.

Drug Interactions

There are more than 400 different drugs known to interact with Librium. Most trigger mild to moderate reactions. However, many opioid pain medications are known to trigger major adverse reactions when mixed with Librium. These medications include, but are not limited to, oxycodone, methadone, codeine, fentanyl, and oxymorphone.

Librium can also cause people with the following medical conditions to experience a severe medical reaction:

• Acute alcohol intoxication
• Closed-angle glaucoma
• Drug dependence
• Renal/liver disease
• Respiratory depression
• Seizures
• Prolonged hypotension

Librium Addiction Treatment

Librium withdrawal and withdrawal from any benzodiazepine can be painful, and in some cases, life-threatening. Medically supervised detoxification is always the better option, but it’s especially important for Librium users.

Successful withdrawal and recovery tend to be more difficult when a user goes “cold turkey” and stops using the drug without medical assistance. Doing so makes the withdrawal process more painful and there is a greater risk for a serious medical reaction, including Grand mal seizures, delirium, or suicidal tendencies.

A medically assisted detox can mitigate these symptoms or eliminate them by gradually tapering drug use.

Counseling can begin before detox is complete. In addition, once the detoxification process is complete, individual, group, family, and behavioral therapy can begin. This provides the best odds of long-term success for recovery from dependence.

Librium dependence is a chronic disorder, and as with all drug dependence and addiction, there is always a chance of relapse. Professional treatment provides the support needed to overcome an addiction and decreases the sense of shame and isolation that can lead to relapse.