What does cross tolerance mean?
Cross tolerant drugs are drugs which work on the same systems in the brain or body, by a similar or the same mechanism. Typically if you are tolerant to one drug and you take another drug which is cross tolerant you will have a reduced effect as you will already be tolerant to the drug. So say someone takes lorazepam regularly and then decide to take zopiclone instead of the lorazepam they will find that the zopiclone has a significantly reduced effect than someone who has never taken a cross tolerant GABAergic drug regularly before. Also typically cross tolerant drugs will alleviate the withdrawal effects of another cross tolerant drug. For example the GABAergic drug families such as the barbiturates, benzodiazepines and the “non”-benzodiazepines will alleviate alcohol withdrawal and vice versa. Cross tolerant drugs also have the capability of reactivating withdrawal effects in someone who has discontinued a drug they have been physically dependent on and also increasing a persons tol
