The Best Medicines For Anxiety

Fear is a natural emotion that people experience in response to some form of physical or psychological danger. Although it is a natural emotion, it becomes a problem when this reaction is exaggerated in relation to what provoked the reaction. It can also result in a pathological state of anxiety that may require anti-anxiety drugs.

In addition, there is no clear line between normal anxiety and a pathological problem. But you could say that normal anxiety turns into pathological anxiety at the point where your symptoms start interfering with your daily life.

Anxiety disorders are becoming more common around the world today. For example, between 1990 and 2013, the number of people suffering from depression increased from 416 to 615 million.

To understand why some drugs are more suitable for treating anxiety than others, it is important to distinguish between the different types of anxiety:

1. Some forms of anxiety include panic attacks, social anxiety, and phobias.

2. Other fears are more general in nature, without any apparent cause or origin.

Anti-anxiety drugs

First, it is important to know that anxiolytics (nervous-relieving drugs) are able to counteract the symptoms of anxiety without causing narcotic side effects or making the patient drowsy. Benzodiazepine, on the other hand, is the ideal drug for anxiety. Although it can have an anesthetic effect at higher doses, it is able to effectively counteract anxiety without posing many risks to the patient.

However, these types of drugs also have the disadvantage of causing very adverse side effects such as memory loss, dependence and strong physical tolerance.

In addition, taking drugs should be supported with a psychological approach to the problem. Previously, treatments for anxiety were based on hypnotics, but today patients are prescribed all kinds of drugs. And these drugs are generally used for central nervous system problems.

Benzodiazepines

The first form of benzodiazepine was chlordiazepoxide, and it was synthesized in 1961. These types of drugs work by binding to GABA receptors. In addition, this neurotransmitter ensures that the functioning of the central nervous system is limited. Therefore, benzodiazepines facilitate the opening of chlorine channels activated by GABA receptors and emphasize their limiting action. In addition, these types of drugs are also mildly sedative, relax the muscles and have an anticonvulsant effect.

In addition, benzodiazepines are often used to treat acute anxiety. Basically, they are effective against panic attacks and can even be used as enemas for children with epilepsy. Benzodiazepines are classified based on their half-life (the time it takes your body to halve the concentration of a substance in the body).

• Short duration of action: midazolam, triazolam
• Medium duration of action: alprazolam, bromazepam, lorazepam, lormetazepam
• Extended duration of action: clobazam, clorazepate, diazepam, chlordiazepoxide

In addition, it is also very easy for the body to absorb these drugs. But benzodiazepines can also affect the effect of psychoactive drugs, alcohol, barbiturates, opiates and anti-allergenic drugs. And for older people, the dose should be carefully determined to prevent the drug from building up in the body.

For the elderly, the administration of lorazepam, oxzepam and temazepam is recommended.

The main side effects of these anti-anxiety drugs are:

• drowsiness
• Confusion
• Amnesia
• Loss of coordination

Habituation

It is also important to know that all types of benzodiazepines can eventually lead to increased physical tolerance (meaning that the dose must be increased gradually to achieve the same effects) and dependence. It is therefore recommended that the dose of benzodiazepines be gradually reduced when the patient decides to stop treatment.

However, an acute overdose of benzodiazepine is significantly less dangerous than an acute overdose of other anti-anxiety drugs. However, it can lead to severely slowed breathing. In this situation, flumazenil is more typical. Doctors use it to counteract the same effects that are caused in the case of alcohol poisoning.

buspirone

Buspirone is an anti-anxiety drug that belongs to the serotonin 5-HT1a receptor class. Among other things, it can help treat generalized anxiety disorder, but it is not effective against phobias or social anxiety. And it also has no sedative, anticonvulsant or muscle relaxant effect. In addition, it can be combined with several types of drugs. The main side effects are nausea, dizziness, headache and restlessness.

Antidepressants for Anxiety

These types of anti-anxiety drugs are especially effective at counteracting forms of anxiety such as generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, and phobias. Tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) cause more side effects, but can also be used in some cases.

Within this class of drugs, the following medications are commonly used to treat anxiety:

• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), eg fluoxetine or sertraline

• And serotonin reuptake inhibitors and noradrenaline, such as venlafaxine or duloxetine

Anti epileptics

Anticonvulsants such as gabapentin, pregabalin, valproate and levetiracetam are often also very effective to treat generalized anxiety disorders.

Atypical Antipsychotics

Some atypical antipsychotics such as olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine and ziprasidone are effective in treating forms of anxiety such as generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

beta blockers

Finally, propranolol (a non-selective beta blocker) is also widely used to treat certain types of anxiety. These anti-anxiety drugs are especially useful for counteracting physical symptoms. These include sweating, shivering and an increased heart rate.