Toxicity benzodiazepines (valium)

General or Other | Neurology | Toxicity benzodiazepines (valium) (Disease)


Description

Depression is characterized as an abnormal emotional state characterized by exagerated feelings of sadness, melancholy, dejection, wothlessness, emptiness, and hopelessness that are inappropriate and out of proportion to reality.

Depression is different than normal sadness because it prevents the patient from functioning normally in their daily life. Other signs of depression include a lack of energy or initiative (psychomotor retardation), agitation, withdrawal from social contact, insomnia, decreased appetite and/or a vegetative state. They may lose interest in activities that once were pleasurable; experience loss of appetite or overeating, have problems concentrating, remembering details, or making decisions. The symptoms can become severe enough to cause self-harm or suicide.

Patients suffering from the following symptoms may have depression: excessive sadness, problems falling asleep, sleeping too much, problems concentrating, uncontrollable negative thoughts, no appetite, short tempered, feeling helpless, increase in drinking alcohol, increase reckless behavior, increased fatigue, thoughts life isn’t worth living.

Causes and Risk factors

A depressed mood is not necessarily a psychiatric disorder. It is a normal reaction to certain life events, a symptom of some medical conditions, and a side effect of some medical treatments. The depressed mood is also a primary or associated feature of certain psychiatric syndromes such as clinical depression.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Benzodiazepines are a class of drugs primarily used for treating anxiety and depression, but they also are effective in treating several other conditions. Popularity in the medical world is due to the data to alleviate the manifestations of anxiety, with minimal interference with cognitive processes. All benzodiazepines have sedative-hypnotic properties in varying degrees. Benzodiazepines have largely replaced barbiturates as sedative-hypnotic agents, especially because of their ability to produce fatal CNS depression. Due to relatively low adverse reactions on CNS, benzodiazepines tend to replace drugs in the treatments prescribed.

Benzodiazepines are often abused drug (also due to low incidence of severe adverse reactions), which explains the large number of poisoning by overdose, accidental or voluntary. Benzodiazepines belong to the most prescribed drugs due to anxiolytics, hypnotics, anticonvulsant effects and skeletal muscle relaxants. Hence, the relatively frequent incidence of acute intoxication with benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines are rarely causing death. Combination with other depressants can worsen the clinical appearance. Chronic use of benzodiazepines increases with age and is frequently associated with the alcohol and tobacco use. ...