Most deaths from BZD overdose are from respiratory depression as a result of mixed overdoses with BZD and other respiratory depressants, particularly alcohol and opioids. Assisted ventilation may be necessary.ĭeath is uncommon. Acute management consists of maintaining airway, respiration, and hemodynamic support while excluding other diagnoses.

Treatment of overdose is by symptom management, not by quantitative assay. Larger doses can cause coma and respiratory depression. The key feature is excessive sedation with unremarkable vital signs and anterograde amnesia. Older people, who commonly have diminished drug clearance and polypharmacy, are at especially high risk of overdose. Overdose can be intentional in suicidal patients accidental in combination with other central nervous system (CNS) depressants, such as alcohol and opioids, and in older people and occasionally by medication error. Benzodiazepines (BZDs) are the most commonly prescribed medications for anxiety, sedation, and sleep.

Benzodiazepine toxicity antidote