Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Is Mitochondrial Dysfunction
Part 1 out of 2: How We Know
Benzodiazepines (“benzos”) are drugs used to treat anxiety, insomnia, seizures, spasms, alcohol withdrawal, and related forms of overstimulation.
Widely believed to regulate the ability of the brain to relax by increasing the power of the neurotransmitter GABA, they are actually whole-body drugs with specific mitochondrial targets. Using them and quitting them both have the potential to cause mitochondrial dysfunction.
About four percent of populations in the modern West use benzos, and as many as ten percent of the US population uses them.
They include drugs like alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), clonazepam (Klonopin), temazepam (Restoril), midazolam (Versed), and oxazepam (Serax).
They also include Rohypnol (flunitrazepam), known as “roofies” or “the date-rape drug,” which is illegal in the United States and several other countries.
There are also a number of benzodiazepine “designer drugs” that are broadly illegal or controlled substances in most modernized countries, including clonazolam and flubromazolam, which can be found in preparations with names like “Xanax bars” or “liquid Xanax.”
Benzos are thought to act primarily by increasing the potency of GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter. GABA calms and relaxes us, though it plays other roles such as suppressing our attention to distractions, which helps us focus.
GABA is the primary counterbalance to glutamate, which excites our nervous system.
People who use benzodiazepines are 60% more likely to die over a given period of time than those who don’t use them, but people who quit them are 60% more likely to die than those who stay on them.
Correlation is not necessarily causation and these data do not necessarily show that using and withdrawing from these drugs causes the excess mortality, but they raise the possibility that using them is a deadly physiological trap.
As we will soon see, their use and withdrawal can both cause mitochondrial dysfunction, and since maintaining healthy mitochondrial function is the single most important driver of all health and disease, the possibility that they do create a deadly physiological trap must at least be considered.
This is educational in nature and not medical or dietetic advice. See terms for additional and more complete disclaimers.
Withdrawal from benzos often causes rebounds of the conditions the drugs were originally treating that are worse in magnitude than they had been prior to treatment.
It can also cause new-onset symptoms that are unrelated to the original reason for treatment. These can include digestive problems and food intolerances; trembling in the limbs, skin, or whole body; difficulty driving or walking; problems with balance, muscle spasms, heart palpitations, and blood pressure; difficulty swallowing; new-onset seizures; hallucinations; and akathisia, a neuromuscular disorder that can produce an inner unbearable restlessness and uncontrollable non-productive movements that persist without any relief.
While the available data seem to imply that most people get over these symptoms in a matter of weeks, some people experience a “protracted withdrawal” syndrome that can last for at least as long as one to five years.
For example, in a survey of just over 1200 people who were active on internet sites about drug withdrawal, many reported symptoms lasting over a full year: over 50% reported these including digestive problems and muscle weakness; almost 50% reported trembling in their limbs or skin, head pain, and difficulty driving or walking; over 40% reported problems with their balance, muscle spasms, heart palpitations, or blood pressure problems; 38% reported difficulty swallowing; 36% reported akathisia; 26% reported uncontrollable whole-body trembling; 22% reported seizures; and 20% reported hallucinations.
