Anxiety Attacks Treatment - Do These 3 Treatments For Anxiety Work?
By: John Cielo
Submitted: 2011-08-15 06:24:26 | Word Count: 646
Many folks now receiving anxiety attacks treatment first attended their doctor because they thought they had suffered a heart attack. Once having confirmed that it wasn't a heart attack but 'only' an anxiety attack, they may have been prescribed drug-based treatment. The most commonly prescribed medications for anxiety attacks and general anxiety being antidepressants, anti-anxiety (tranquilizers), and beta-blockers, which are summarized here...
1. Antidepressants
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Antidepressants are normally the first choice for anxiety attacks treatment, and the most commonly prescribed are classed as SSRIs, short for Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, e.g. Prozac, Xanax. These work by helping to raise serotonin levels in the brain. By doing this they help to lift your 'mood' and thus regulate your anxiety to more normal levels. They have been proven to be very effective.
But they can have unfortunate side effects such as; tiredness, diarrhea, nausea, anxiety, agitation, trembling, reduced or increased appetite, muscular and joint pain, sinusitis, and insomnia. These are just a few examples, the full list being much longer.
2. Anti-anxiety Medication (Minor Tranquilizers)
For anxiety and anxiety attacks, minor tranquilizers of the type Benzodiazepines are common, e.g. Valium, Ativan. These work by mildly sedating, calming and relaxing the subject very quickly; within half an hour or so. Because of this, they are also often carried on the person, to be used (under the tongue) when the subject feels the onset of the symptoms of another attack. This helps to shorten the length of the attack and its intensity.
However, they also can have many bad side effects like; dependency, drowsiness, external appearance of being drunk (slurring, clumsiness, disorientation), short term memory loss, muscular weakness, double vision, and depression. These are only examples and, as above, the list is much longer.
3. Beta-Blockers
Beta-blockers (e.g. Inderal, Tenormin) can reduce the 'physical' symptoms of anxiety attacks, e.g. tremors, shaking, palpitations, increased heart rate, sweating, etc. They can't affect the psychological aspects, such as fear, detachment, disorientation, etc. Because of this they are less effective for overall anxiety attacks treatment than the others.
The symptoms of anxiety attacks are caused by increased adrenaline in the bloodstream stimulating nerve cells around the body. Bet-blockers work by 'blocking' this nerve cell stimulation. And they can work quite quickly, within a few hours for example.
Unfortunately, they also have possible side effects, for example; dizziness, tiredness, sleeping problems, etc. Your fingers and toes may feel cold due to reduced circulation. And, if you have asthma, they can cause breathing problems due to narrowing of the airways.
These Treatments Can Work Well But are the Real Underlying Issues Being Addressed?
This is a crucial question. Aside from possible side effects, we know that these three anxiety attacks treatments can be very effective, which is great. But they focus on reducing the 'symptoms': they don't address the underlying conditions that give rise to your anxiety. For instance they can't do anything about any problems at work, financial matters, family issues, phobias, etc.
Without discovering what your particular issues are, and remedying them, it will be very difficult to eliminate anxiety attacks and finally cure your general anxiety using medicinal treatment alone. And we know that the very fear of another attack can by itself cause it to actually happen. These treatments can't fix that either. You need another approach to eliminate the fear factor...
