Anti-Anxiety Medication

There are many types of anti-anxiety medication since drugs are usually the first to use when suffering from an intense and unexpected panic attack. However, tranquilizers don’t offer a cure for the health problem and they also have the disadvantage of causing all sorts of side effects. Here are some of the paradoxical and troublesome adverse reactions triggered by anti-anxiety medication in general. While the major benefit from their use is the state of calm and relaxation, sometimes drugs can relax you to the extent that you feel drowsy all the time.

Since anti-anxiety medication blocks the secretion or the release of certain chemicals at the level of the central nervous system, this may often result in a poor coordination, lack of energy and slow reflexes. Some people have even reported dizziness, confusion, disorientation and impaired thinking, not to mention the impossibility to drive or operate machines. The long-term use of anti-anxiety medication is also associated with the appearance of depression in very severe forms that push one on the verge of suicide. The problem is that such drugs not only eliminate anxiety but also make it impossible for one to feel pleasure or even pain, which can often go hand in hand with depression.

There are also some unexplained paradoxes in some people’s reactions after the administration of anti-anxiety medication. For instance, the use of tranquilizers aims at inducing relaxation and calm, but an increase of the irritability and agitation level has sometimes been signaled out. Plus, rage, hostility and mania have been noticed in some cases. The severest forms of side effects include hallucinations and aggressive behaviors, which, although rare, remain very dangerous. More than half of the peculiar reactions to anti-anxiety drugs are usually encountered with the elderly and children, as well as with patients with developmental disabilities.

Therefore, the choice of the treatment requires utmost care and it usually involves the use of a complementary therapy rather than the administration of drugs. Anti-anxiety medication only eliminates or alleviates symptoms without bringing an improvement to the health condition in any way. The factor or the problem that generates the panic attacks remains lurking at the back of the mind, somehow camouflaged, and once the medical treatment is discontinued, anxiety will be back all over again. Therefore, the therapeutic efforts should be directed towards identifying and eliminating the cause and not merely treating the unpleasant symptoms of anxiety.

Filed Under: Anxiety