Teen Xanax Addiction

Table of Contents
The Creation
Roots of Addiction
Risks of Addiction
Signs of a Problem

There’s no question that the modern American teen is under a significant amount of pressure. Colleges are tightening their admission requirements, forcing teens to keep their grades up while they’re participating in an ever-expanding amount of extra-curricular activities to round out their resumes and allow them to gain admission into the school of their dreams. Even teens who don’t want to go to college are feeling the strain, as they may be working long hours after school to bring in money to keep the family fed.

Given this intense amount of pressure, it’s no wonder that so many teens are turning to Xanax for relief. In fact, according to the Partnership for a Drug Free America, one in 11 12th graders have abused sedatives such as Xanax in their lifetimes. Teens who do so are playing a dangerous game. While the drug might provide temporary relief from the stress and anxiety the teen is feeling, Xanax is dangerous and has been closely linked to addiction.

The Creation

Unlike street drugs such as heroin or cocaine, Xanax is legal. It’s often prescribed by doctors to treat a wide variety of anxiety disorders. When a person takes Xanax, the drug travels to the brain and increases the production of a chemical called GABA. This can slow the brain down and help the user feel less frantic, stressed out and worried. For people who struggle with panic attacks and other sorts of anxiety-based problems, the drug can provide real relief. In fact, teens who have these disorders are often given prescriptions for Xanax, and according to an article published in Pediatrics in Review, benzodiazepines like Xanax are considered safe for use in teens. They’re a preferred choice, in some cases, as they don’t tend to cause sedation when given at the proper dose. So a teen taking Xanax can continue to go to school and work without feeling overly doped-up and sleepy.

According to news reports, prescriptions for Xanax are on the rise in both children and adults. In fact, the drug has become so popular that some people ask for the drug by name when they visit their doctors. As a result, some doctors have become so concerned about the risk of abuse that they’ve stopped writing prescriptions for the drugs for anyone, including people who need the drug in order to deal with a valid medical diagnosis. In other words, teens who abuse Xanax may be, inadvertently, keeping people who need the drug from getting the help they need.

In addition, a rise in prescription rates means that it’s easier than ever before for teens addicted to Xanax to find the drug. In the past, it was assumed that teens bought drugs from the Internet or stole them from hospitals or clinics. Now, The Partnership for a Drug-Free America suggests that many teens are simply opening up medicine cabinets of family members and friends and taking the drugs they want. Other teens are buying pills from their acquaintances at school.

Roots of Addiction

People who abuse Xanax may not have GABA deficiencies in their brains to begin with, but the drug still works the same way on these people. The drug heads to the brain and begins to flood the system with GABA. The brain’s activities, which may not have been increased to begin with, slow down even more. Just moments after taking Xanax, the user may feel relaxed and better able to cope with stress. Unfortunately, the feeling doesn’t tend to last. When it wears off, the user may seek out the drug again, hoping to recapture the feeling of relaxation. In some cases, people take extremely high doses of Xanax in a single day. These high doses of Xanax can bring about a wide variety of symptoms, including:

• Impaired thinking
• Memory loss
• Slurred speech
• Vertigo
• Nausea
• Lethargy

High doses of Xanax, taken over a long period of time, can also cause long-term changes in the brain. An addict’s brain, unaccustomed to being flooded with GABA, may stop producing GABA on its own, just to keep the system in balance. If the addict stops taking Xanax, withdrawal symptoms can kick in as the body has no GABA to work with. Some teens in late stages of addiction may feel these problems begin to take hold between hits of the drug. Xanax withdrawal symptoms can include:

• Muscle pain

• Sweating
• Anxiety
• Insomnia

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the most serious symptom of Xanax withdrawal is seizure. As the brain wakes up from its sedation, it enters a period of hyperactivity and seizures result. These can be life threatening. A body in seizure uses up a significant amount of fuel, and temperatures in the brain and the muscles can rise to dangerous levels. Some people can recover from seizures, of course, but others simply do not. They may face brain damage, or they may choke or otherwise harm themselves during the seizure.

These symptoms may sound frightening, but they all serve to prove a point. While a Xanax addiction may begin with a behavioral change, as the teen decides to experiment with the drug in order to feel a certain way, the chemical changes in the brain play a larger role as the addiction grows. The teen simply cannot choose to stop taking the drugs. The physical cost is too high. The chemical changes may force the teen to take the drug, no matter the cost.

Risks of Addiction

Teens who abuse benzodiazepines face a real risk of overdose. In fact, the United States Poison Control Centers reported that benzodiazepines were the most common prescription found in a teen’s system when he or she entered the health system for help. In 49 percent of cases, the report states, the teens had ingested some other drug along with the benzodiazepine. Combining drugs in this way is particularly dangerous. Xanax is a depressant that can slow breathing. Combining this strong medication with a drug like alcohol, which can also slow breathing, can lead to death. An article published in Medical News Today suggests that teens also abuse marijuana when they abuse drugs like Xanax. Once again, combining two medications that can slow and dull the reflexes can lead to death.

While combining substances with Xanax can be particularly dangerous, teens who abuse the drug alone, while taking no other drug at all, aren’t safe from harm. In fact, teens who abuse Xanax may also face these problems due to their addiction:

• Mood swings
• Erratic behavior
• Confusion
• Impaired judgment
• Slow thinking

Signs of a Problem

Some teens reveal their Xanax addictions in a trip to the emergency room. Parents find the child unresponsive or simply acting strangely, and the blood tests performed in the facility alert the parents to the nature of the problem. Other teens are incredibly crafty at hiding their Xanax addictions and they may not ever do anything so dramatic that would call attention to their inner disorders. That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t warning signs to watch for. According to an article published by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, teens who abuse drugs face disruptions in these areas of their lives:

• Physical. They may seem dazed, sleepy or simply exhausted. They may forget to eat. Teens may trip or stumble, or they may drop things frequently.
• Emotional. A placid child may burst into rages. A sullen child may become talkative. Some teens simply seem depressed and sad. Others become gleeful for no reason at all.
• Familial. The child may withdraw from the family, in order to nurse the addiction. Fights may be common.
• Academic. The child may act out in class, fall asleep in class or simply neglect to do homework or take tests.
• Social. The addict may begin to spend time with new friends who also seem dazed and confused. Or, the teen may have no friends at all.

Parents who spot these signs may rush to take away the child’s supply of Xanax and force the child to get clean. Before you take this dramatic step, we urge you to call a professional and ask for help. At Newport Academy, we’re happy to provide you with a consultation and talk you through your options. Don’t make treatment decisions on your own for your child. You could make a major mistake. For example, a study published in the journal CNS Drugs suggests that some people recovering from a benzodiazepine addiction needed to taper off the drugs for years in order to prevent serious side effects from occurring. This isn’t the sort of change that can be made overnight.

Enrolling a child in a structured Xanax detoxification and rehabilitation program, by contrast, can help the teen make meaningful changes in a safe and controlled environment. Medications, therapies and other treatments all work together to help the teen recover. This is the best way to treat a Xanax addiction.