Anxiety can be described as a feeling of nervousness or deep feeling or concern about something that is going to happen. It can be said as irrational fear or worry about some upcoming events. At some point of life, every person is anxious about someone or something but it is short-lived. A person with anxiety disorder worry or fear becomes constant in life and it can be overwhelming interrupting their daily life at workplace or home.
According to NIMH, about 40 million adults have some kind of anxiety disorder. Often anxiety cannot be cured with medications or therapy but symptoms can be managed. Relaxation techniques can be practiced regularly to relieve off the stress. Meditation and deep breathing exercises can help in keeping your mind calm. If you follow the above therapies along with medication you can overcome symptoms of anxiety.
Anxiety Medications
A medicine that works well for one person with anxiety may not give any improvement in the other. Even your doctor/psychiatrist will have to rely on trial and error method to find the right set of medications that suits you.
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Benzodiazepine
This helps in calming the mind and in relaxing the muscles. Anxiety can be caused by combination of several factors including medical and health related issues, trauma and other mental health problems. Having one kind of psychotic problems can trigger anxiety disorder in many people. Benzodiazepines act in increasing the functions of neurotransmitters and other chemicals in the brain. Some of the drugs of this category are clonazepam, alprazolam and diazepam.
Side effects of this drug are drowsiness and reduced memory. And this drug can become addicted hence recommended for short term use only.
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Buspirone
This is another kind of drug used for treating anxiety disorder. It can be used for treating acute and long term anxiety problems. This kind of medication affects the way in which certain chemicals are released in the brain thus producing calming effect. Some of the side effects of this drug are drowsiness and headache.
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Antidepressant
Antidepressant medications are also prescribed for anxiety disorders but it may take several weeks for improving the symptoms. Several kinds of antidepressant medications like SSRI, MAOI and tricyclic drugs are given. Escitalopram, Prozac and sertraline are some names of SSRI’s which can cause adverse effects like nausea, diarrhea, drowsiness and muscle weakness.