What Is Librium and What Are Its Side Effects?
Question by Thor: What is librium and what are its side effects?
My mum has been an alcoholic for most of my life but has sobered up in the last month or two. Today I came home to her lying on the floor in her room and when I woke her up she seemed to be drunk. Her friend later explained to me that the doctor has given her something called Librium which is to help with the withdrawal of alcohol but it can have side effects.
Unfortunately, I don’t believe what my mum has told her because my mum has lied loads of times before about not being drunk and that she’s stopped drinking which has caused me to lose all trust in her.
Is she telling the truth? Is Librium used to help with alcohol withdrawal and if so, what are it’s side effects?
Thanks.
Best answer:
Answer by Mathieu
Yes Librium (chlordiazepoxide) is used and is FDA approved for the management of withdrawal symptoms of acute alcoholism.
Alcoholics are typically not only addicted (psychological dependence) but they are also typically physically dependent to alcohol. This means that if the alcohol were to be abruptly stopped severe and potentially life threatening withdrawal symptoms can occur. Librium is a benzodiazepine class drug and benzodiazepines activate some of the same receptors in the brain as alcohol thus Librium acts as a substitute for alcohol. However Librium lasts a very long time (unlike alcohol) so normally it is taken for a few days and then the dose is tapered down. This makes physical withdrawal much safer and more comfortable. And the long duration of Librium is particularly important, it would be be very hard to tapper a person off alcohol using alcohol since it would have to be given so frequently and would be hard to do for other reasons.
The most common side effects of Librium include drowsiness, ataxia, and confusion. A crude way of describing Librium is “alcohol in pill form” but it is somewhat accurate in the sense that the side effects of Librium can resemble the effects of being drunk.
The major concern with Librium is that Librium can be abused and people can become addicted to it. Normally (for alcohol withdrawal) it is only prescribed to be taken for a few days as soon as the person stops drinking. Although it is uncommon some people, especially alcoholics, keep taking Librium and develop an addiction to it and in many cases physical dependence too.
Hopefully your mother is taking Librium as prescribed. I will also say that typically very large doses of Librium are used for a few days, if that is the case then your mum may just have a few days of sleeping a lot. If you can see what the prescription bottle says and how long the medication is for. Since she is taking it at home (rather than in hospital) it may be prescribed for a longer period of time but probably at a lower dose (likely 100 mg/day or less) than would be used in hospital (which could easily be 300-500 mg/day).
So your mum is telling the truth and people who stop alcohol without a proper “detox” (which is what Librium does) not only can suffer severe withdrawal and require hospitalization but also people who do detox with medication are more likely to stay sober. So if she has never tried medication for the physical withdrawal then this is probably a step in the right direction.
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