Halcion and Xanax are classified under Schedule IV for Controlled Substances. This means that users of these medications have a low potential to abuse these substances. They also present users with a low risk of dependence on these substances. However, that doesn’t mean you cannot become addicted to them.

What Is the Difference between Halcion and Xanax?

Physicians prescribe Halcion and Xanax treat different ailments. Triazolam or Halcion is a benzodiazepine, so it helps people experiencing insomnia fall asleep. This medication slows the brain’s activity down so the user can fall asleep and remain asleep.

Xanax or alprazolam is a benzodiazepine, but physicians prescribe it to treat anxiety disorders. It works by reducing abnormal excitement within the brain. Physicians also prescribe it to treat people experiencing agoraphobia, premenstrual syndrome, and depression.

Are You Likely to Abuse Halcion or Xanax?

As was mentioned above, these medications are not likely to lead to dependence, but you can develop a dependence. It depends on how you use them. For example, if you begin to take Xanax as prescribed by your physician, a dependence will not necessarily develop. If you begin to use the medication in a way your physician did not prescribe, dependence is very possible. For example, a dependence develops when you take more medication than was prescribed. Then you discover that you need to take larger doses of this medication to experience the same effects you were experiencing with a smaller dose.

After people become dependent on Xanax or Halcion, they will need to find other ways of obtaining more of the medication than asking their doctors to increase their prescriptions. For this reason, they may steal prescriptions from their friends or family members, but they can also purchase them from a drug dealer on the street.

Sometimes, people with prescriptions for both Xanax and Halcion will abuse the medication that doesn’t cause them to experience unpleasant side effects. For example, Xanax and Halcion cause drowsiness, dizziness, lightheadedness, and headaches, but users may experience these side effects with one more. Which side effects each person experiences depends on the person.

Physicians recommend that their patients take these medications on a short-term basis because of the chance of developing dependence. They prescribe Halcion for a maximum of 10 days. Because dependence on Xanax can begin in as little as two weeks, physicians only prescribe it for the shortest periods of time. If a substance use disorder develops from Xanax, the withdrawal symptoms can be brutal.

Not everyone develops a dependence on Xanax or Halcion, and the medical community doesn’t know why. In addition, when users take their medications strictly as prescribed, they can still develop a dependence on these drugs.

How Quickly Does the Drug React, and What Are the Effects?

The potency of each medication is high, so they have the potential to act very quickly in the body and the brain. This is where another difference between these two drugs presents itself. According to some scientific sources, Xanax is an intermediate-acting substance. Halcion, on the other hand, is a short-acting substance. This means that you will feel the effects of Halcion before you feel the effects of Xanax. It will also mean that Halcion will be metabolized from your body faster.

Because Xanax and Halcion do not remain in your system for long periods of time, you will likely feel the need to take additional doses of these medications to continue to experience the effects. When you do this, you increase the risk that you will abuse these substances.

Xanax comes in an extended-release version that remains in your body for a more extended period of time. Extended-release tablets make it possible to only require one dose per day. However, the extended-release tablet doesn’t relieve you entirely of the risk of developing a dependence. This is especially the case if you are taking the medication for an extended period of time or misusing the substance.

Can You Take Xanax and Halcion at the Same Time?

Unless your doctor advises, you are not advised to take any two medications simultaneously. One medication can react with another, and the reaction can be harmful. Benzodiazepines have been known to interact poorly with other prescription drugs.

If you take Xanax at the same time as Halcion, you may experience more side effects than you would have experienced with one. In addition to that, taking these drugs together may increase the intensity of these adverse side effects, including the lack of coordination, dizziness, and confusion.

Taking Halcion with other benzodiazepines can be dangerous, but first, we need to learn how benzodiazepines work.

How Benzodiazepines Work

Gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, is one of the brain’s most important neurotransmitters. It naturally calms the mind and body, and when you take Halcion, you increase GABA production in your brain. GABA reduces the activity in your brain because it has an inhibitory effect on the brain’s neurons, so it reduces anxiety, relaxes your muscles, and induces sleep. A majority of benzodiazepines cause similar effects, but the amount of time it takes the body to metabolize half of the substance, the time it takes to absorb the substance, and the dosage usually prescribed can all vary.

Because Halcion is a short-acting benzodiazepine, it is aptly prescribed for treating people who are experiencing anxiety disorders. It makes its way through the body faster than a slower benzodiazepine. People receiving this medication before a dental procedure will not remember the procedure because Halcion induces amnesia.

Mixing Halcion with Xanax

Halcion and Xanax are both benzodiazepines, so they both suppress the central nervous system. Therefore, your physician will advise you not to take Halcion and Xanax together. If you were to do so, the results could be devastating, including profound sedation, hypotension, respiratory depression, or death.

Interactions between Halcion and Xanax

Taking Halcion while taking Xanax will experience more difficulty concentrating, confusion, drowsiness, and dizziness than if you took these medications alone. If you are older, you will likely experience poor motor coordination, impaired judgment, and the ability to think.

Interactions between Halcion and Xanax and Food

Grapefruit or grapefruit juice reacts with Xanax to create dangerous side effects. You must discuss this with your physician before ingesting grapefruit products while taking Xanax. If you are using alcohol, Xanax can increase the effects that the alcohol creates, such as drowsiness, dizziness, and tiredness.

Halcion also interacts with grapefruit juice and grapefruit, and the side effects can also be dangerous. You also must not drink alcohol when ingesting Halcion because it also increases the effects that alcohol creates. If you take Halcion while drinking alcohol, you will experience tiredness, dizziness, and drowsiness.

What Are the Similarities between Halcion and Xanax?

Halcion and Xanax may produce the following side effects:

  • Cardiac arrest
  • Respiratory arrest
  • Aggressive behavior
  • Depression
  • Memory problems
  • Agitation and confusion
  • Hallucinations
  • Hypotension
  • Tremors
  • Drowsiness
  • Diarrhea, vomiting, or nausea

If you develop an addiction to either Halcion or Xanax, you would be advised to refrain from stopping the use of your substance of choice. To stop using either Halcion or Xanax after an addiction begins, you must get help at a treatment center. This is because you will experience withdrawal symptoms after physical or psychological dependence has developed, and these symptoms can be highly unbearable. They include the following:

  • Delusions or hallucinations
  • Depression
  • Detachment from reality
  • Grand mal seizures
  • Panic attacks
  • Insomnia
  • Vomiting
  • Nausea
  • Hypersensitivity
  • Trouble concentrating
  • Anxiety attacks
  • Anorexia
  • Weight loss
  • Sweating
  • Hyperventilation
  • Muscle spasms
  • Abnormal sensations
  • Pain that may be severe

Getting Help for a Halcion or Xanax Use Disorder

You may not experience all of the withdrawal symptoms listed above, but the ones that do appear after you stop taking either Halcion or Xanax on your own could be hard to endure. It isn’t recommended that you try to detox on your own because the detoxification process requires that you are under medical supervision. It is the safest way to ensure you survive the detox process without complications.

We at NJ Addiction Resources will treat your benzodiazepine addiction by staying in our detoxification facility. Then, we will slowly lower the dose of your drug of choice until the toxins have all been metabolized out of your system. Because the detoxification process is only the beginning of your substance use disorder treatment, we will place you in our residential treatment program. You may remain in our treatment program for 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days, where you will receive individual therapy, group counseling, and treatment for a mental health disorder if you have one.

Call us at NJ Addiction Resources today if you or a loved one needs help with a substance use disorder.