Wednesday, July 2, 2008 

Can Anxiety Disorder Medication Do More Harm Than Good?

Although medication can in short term be beneficial for treating anxiety disorder, long term application of these medications may bring more harm than good. Typically, many health practitioners count on administering medication for alleviating symptoms of anxiety disorder on short run. However, if the treatment persists for years, the likelihood is there that the patient may experience many adverse side effects instead of possible benefits.

Traditionally, the medications used to treat anxiety disorder involve conventional anti-anxiety drugs, anti-depression, anti-stress, etc. These medications offer real benefit to alleviate the severe symptoms of anxiety disorder, while a relief to the patients on short term. Since, these medications have strong addictive property, no administration is recommended without proper prescription of doctors. Depending on the severity of the patient's condition and sub-types, doctors plan to administer these medications on short run or long run.

Side Effects in Short Run

Not only in long run, anti-anxiety medication also offers short term side effects as well. These side effects may involve nausea, dry mouth, vomiting, considerable weight gain, headaches, sexual dysfunction, dizziness and stomach upset. Long term administration may lead to development of withdrawal symptoms due to its addictive nature. In such case, detoxification treatment becomes necessary for the patient and during that phase, relapse is too common among most of the patients.

Side Effects in Long Run

Drug dependence has turned out to be a serious concern for treating anxiety disorder. Prolonged usage of benzodiazepines may lead to extreme drug dependence. If administered even for few weeks, the undesired drug tolerance condition is developed. This means, the patient needs higher amount of dosages to get the same relief from their symptoms compared to the past administration. Since the dependence on this medication develops, it turns out to be difficult to terminate the administration of this medication.

Withdrawal Part should be taken into Consideration for Benzodiazepines

Withdrawal is another serious concern for benzodiazepines administration. If a patient suddenly stops taking his medication, he will experience extreme withdrawal symptoms including insomnia, recurrent anxiety, and irritability. So, it is very important to look for medical guidance if the time comes to withdraw the medication.

Not only with benzodiazepine group, but withdrawal is also common with SSRI group as well. The common withdrawal symptoms involved in such case are depression, severe anxiety, dizziness, fatigue, memory impairment and nausea.

Similar to any other over-the-counter medications, anti-anxiety drugs have serious side effects, which may vary from one individual to another. So it is very important to understand the common side effects of the medications before administering them on the patients. On the other hand, side effects may have different degrees - from mild to severe, depending on the drugs administered. Sometimes the intensity of the anxiety disorder turns out to be so critical, that it needs to outweigh the possible adverse side effects.

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