What Everyone Ought To Know About Anxiety Medications

Alcohol withdrawal, panic attacks, insomnia, anxiety disorders, or simply wanting to calm down from too much stress. What do these classes of drugs known as benzodiazepines do and what do they feel like?

If you are having a panic attack, and you’re having difficulty breathing, and you think you might be having a heart attack because your left arm is numb, then chances are, you’re going to want to take a chill pill.

There are medications that you can take that have an “almost” immediate effect, such as Xanax.

However, what is more likely is that your mind will automatically start to calm itself down just simply knowing that you took the medication.

Xanax, or known also as Alprazolam is readily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. The peak plasma concentration is achieved in 1-2 hours. So, there is really no “immediate” effect, other than your mind simply telling itself to calm down.

The symptoms of the attack will go away almost instantaneous. Basically, because of too much adrenaline in your system, your breathing pattern has been disrupted…

Well-known benzodiazepines include Xanax (Alprazolam), Valium (Diazepam), Ativan (Lorazepam), Klonopin (Clonazepam), Restoril (Temazepam), and Mogadom (Nitrazepam).

All benzodiazepines have an addictive potential. So use of benzodiazepines should only commence after medical consultation and prescribed the smallest dosage possible to provide an acceptable level of symptom relief.

Anxiety sufferers (or people having an extremely stressful period in life), if you take anti-anxiety medications, this is what they do (in a nutshell), these medications act more of less like a tranquilizer. Of course, depending on the dosage, any of these medications will relax you, and basically make you drowsy and sleepy. In smaller doses, it simply takes the edge off of a panic attack. You feel more relaxed, and it almost seems that what was on your mind that was bothering you, no longer bothers you at all. (That’s about as scientific as I want to get, here, without boring you death with brain functions and chemistry class.)

However, again, all of these medications are habit forming and or addictive. So do consult a medical professional before taking these medications.

They absolutely do work in the regard of calming one’s mind, similar to the effect of alcohol. And they are easily abused in the respect that if you take a large enough dose, you simply numb yourself to anything and everything around you. Normally, you black out, and don’t even remember being awake for several hours, and wake up in a fog.

So, in conclusion, if you do take these medications, or are simply curious as to what they do… they do have side effects, they act like a tranquilizer, and they can be dangerously habit forming.

Mike Morgan.

Articles appearing on Anxiety Cure Blog are written by contributing authors, and the views and opinions expressed are those of the authors only. All News and Press Release information on the pages of Anxiety Cure Blog are cited from public sources on the internet.

Note: The above information is intended to supplement, not substitute for, the expertise and judgment of your physician, pharmacist, or other healthcare professional. It is not intended to diagnose a health condition, but it can be used as a guide to help you decide if you should seek professional treatment or to help you learn more about your condition once it has been diagnosed.

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Post-Holiday Depression

“The Holiday Hangover”

Cooking, cleaning, working

And the world goes round

Waiting in fear for your credit card bill in January might be enough to sink you into a hole of “not wanting to open the mailbox.” However, a larger issue that I’d like to share is what I like to call (and am suffering through right now) the “Holiday Hangover.” To me, the Holiday Hangover is not so much a dehydrated headache after 2 weeks of company parties and long nights of cutting and cooking while the brandy flows freely. No, no… The Holiday Hangover is much more complex than your body simply needs some rest, plenty of juice, and a chance to “dry out.”

The Holiday Hangover consists of similar elements a normal hangover, dehydration, anxiety, rapid emotional swings (like tearing up at a Telecom commercial). However, the Holiday Hangover also comes with a vicious swath of guilt (What did I do with all these days off?), worry (Did I make enough people happy, did I get the right gifts, who did I forget?), remorse (Did I spend way too much money?), angst (Did I really have a good holiday?), and last but not least, and defiantly the worst… anxiety (Is it all over, and now I have to hunker down for the boring winter and go back to work?)

The holidays are like a 6 week stretch that breaks our routine into a sometimes frenzied rush, yet a pleasant coming of dates and events; we eagerly await for certain nights of the year, hosting parties, and attending events. However, once it’s all over, we face a big let down of “back to old routine.” Throw in there “The New Year” and the week or so that you’ve spent telling yourself all of the things that you’re going to accomplish in the next 12 months, and yes, you’re going to feel a little intimidation mixed with a lot of other things.

There’s no cure for the Holiday Hangover. It’s something that you just need mid January and early February to “ride out.” I found out a few things that actually do help. For starters, you can stop thinking of “the year” as this huge expanse of goals and deadlines. Take things in small steps. Another thing I find helpful is look over the past year and look at all of the good things that have happened. I usually find this comforting, to look back in reflection, than ahead in panic. I find it helpful to notice that the good things kind of just “happened,” without me causing them to do so. And last, to really help me out, I say to myself, “Yes, I enjoyed my holiday. I’m sad that it’s over, but now, it’s back to work.”

It’s hard to say the fun is over, but really, I find it doesn’t have to be that way. After all, spring is coming soon, and the smell of a Summer BBQ does usually ease the burden of “back to work.”

So, relax. Some cases may be worse than others, but I think we all suffer a little from the Holiday Hangover.

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