What are barbiturates and how do they work?
Any drug that acts as a depressant for the central nervous system is normally classified as a barbiturate. Typically, these types of drugs produce a wide range of side effects including anything from a mild form of sedation to complete anesthesia. They are characterized by having both physiological and psychological addiction potential. As a result, barbiturates are illegally trafficked in the US today and many addiction treatment and recovery facilities now offer some type of barbiturates drug rehab programs to treat this malady.
Barbiturates are rarely prescribed today as more and more physicians have largely replaced them with benzodiazepines, a psychoactive drug that enhances the effects of a certain neurotransmitter known as GABA or gamma-aminobutyric acid. With prolonged use (or abuse of barbiturates, the user eventually builds up a tolerance to them and will need increasing amounts of the substance to achieve the desired effect.
Overdosing on barbiturates
An barbiturate overdose results when the user takes a dose of the drug that is considerably larger than what the physician has prescribed. Symptoms include a number of physiological side effects such as:
- difficulty in thinking
- extreme drowsiness
- faulty judgment
- lack of coordination
- shallow breathing
- slowness of speech
- sluggishness
- staggering
In the more severe cases of overdose, the individual can become comatose and even die. So it is important to realize how powerfully addictive barbiturates are and why they can be so deadly when taken in excess.
Considering all the risks
Certain demographics or groups of men and women typically experience higher risks when taking barbiturates than others. For instance older adults or seniors and women who are pregnant should be aware of the fact that they are at higher risk for damaging themselves as well as becoming addicted to barbiturates. As the body ages, it becomes increasingly more difficult for the individual to rid their bodies of the substance. Of course, when you are pregnant, the drug passes through your bloodstream into that of your unborn child.
A barbiturates drug rehab program that works
The Delray Recovery Center offers a barbiturates drug rehab program that works because it can be customized to meet the personal needs of the addicted individual. We can skillfully determine which one of these programs best targets your needs by conducting a brief assessment interview over the phone. By learning about your particular circumstances or situation, it will be easy to place you in a residential program that will effectively treat you for your barbiturates addiction so that you recover completely from it.
Please contact us today by filling out the form in the upper right of this page. One of our caring staff members will contact you immediately.
