Anxiety Medicine

54
rate or flag this page

By Anxiety Help


The administration of any form of anxiety medicine should be done at the doctor's recommendation and under close medical observation. The thing is that anti-anxiety drugs or tranquilizers are not a treatment for the panic disorder in itself, but a mere way of coping with the very intense symptoms. The side effects of various anxiety medicine types are very serious varying from mouth dryness, nausea and weight gain to depression with suicidal tendencies, hallucinations and other impairments of the central nervous system. Among the most common categories of anti-anxiety medication we ought to mention the traditional benzodiazepines, the antidepressants and the beta-blockers.

An anxiety medicine such as the well-known Valium falls in the benzodiazepine category together with drugs like Xanax or Klonopin. Their major inconvenience is the risk of causing physical addiction within months if not weeks of administration. Caution and a minimum usage period are the only way of staying on the safe side during administration. This risk of dependency is significantly lower with the use of an anxiety medication in the antidepressant category. However, the risk that antidepressants bring is suicide, hostility and agitation, often worsening the panic disorder.

The doctor could also prescribe an anxiety medicine from the group of the beta blockers that are normally used for the treatment of heart disease and hypertension. Their use for the treatment of panic disorders is justified by their reduction of the stress hormone secretion that triggers the body's fight-or-flight response. Many of the symptoms specific to panic attacks can be kept under control by means of such an anxiety medicine, yet, the most common conditions treated like this include social phobia cases as well as performance anxiety. Do not use beta-blockers or any other form of medication lightly or without medical recommendation because of the risk of side effects.

All in all, the choice of the anxiety medicine belongs to the doctor who is familiar with the patient's condition and medical history as well. Plus, the pros and cons of drug usage have to be weighed very well to make sure that one does more good than bad. Some specialists will not even prescribe drugs but rather go for therapy as the best way to treat panic attacks and end the vicious circle of anxiety episodes. In fact psychotherapy represents the only way of curing this nervous health problem, given the drug efficiency on symptoms alone without any other positive impact on the health condition.



Anxiety News:

RSS for comments on this Hub

Bard of Ely profile image

Bard of Ely  says:
6 months ago

I was addicted to Valium for around seven years and it was terrible and really difficult to get off. It also was making my problem worse not better but it took me a long time to realise that.

ClareBaros  says:
6 months ago

Warning: Danger! You can't rebuild those nerves on toxins. They need energy and lots of patience. Any good naturopathic doctor will tell you that. Sincerely, Clare

frogyfish profile image

frogyfish  says:
6 months ago

Yes, try the naturopathic path first if you can at all! Anxiety Help, you have lots of information to share. Thank you. And glad to have you for a fan too!

Submit a Comment

Members and Guests

Sign in or sign up and post using a hubpages account.


optional


  • No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked
  • Comments are not for promoting your hubs or other sites

working