Benzodiazepine Drug Screen - Psychotropic Drug Abuse Detection
Benzodiazepines are antipsychotic agents which therapeutically modify the behavior of an individual. It has a broader spectrum of action and of course has lower abuse liability and lower toxicity than other antipsychotics. The absence of alteration of sleep architecture has led to the ousting of barbiturates from the treatment regimen for insomnia.
They are effectively used as muscle relaxants and for alleviating anxiety. The drug taken in the body is metabolized in the liver and excreted in urine which may continue for many days. The best method to detect benzodiazepines in urine is to perform a rapid dip stick assay in this detection period.
Fatal dose is 100 to 300 mg/kg of body weight. The signs and symptoms appear in 1 to 3 hours. Acute poisoning causes vertigo, slurred speech, nystagmus, diplopia, and dysarthria, ataxia, staggering walk, shallow breathing, sedation, somnolence and coma. If they are taken alone, they are not toxic but mixed with alcohol or other drugs, it contributes to death.
High dose long term therapy of about 30 to 40 mg of diazepam daily may produce withdrawal symptoms when stopped suddenly. The symptoms include headache, anxiety, insomnia, muscle spasms, tremors, rarely convulsions and psychiatric disturbances, anorexia, vomiting, etc.
Heartening fact about the benzodiazepine poisoning is that it has a selective antagonist called flumazenil. It is an imidazodiazipine that selectively blocks the central effects of benzodiazepines by competitive interaction at the benzodiazepine recognition site. Other measures include gastric lavage and activated charcoal usage.
Benzodiazepine drug screen is available as a part of dot 5 panel drug test, ten panel drug screen, and also as a part of twelve panel drug screen test in both saliva drug testing and urine drug testing types.
Most benzos tests that show up positive should be tested for higher levels to actually decipher the drug in question. They are a lot useful in psychotropic drug abuse detection.
Tags: benzodiazepine drug screen, dot 5 panel drug test, Saliva drug testing, ten panel drug screen, twelve panel drug screen test, Urine Drug Testing
