Facts to Know about Long Term Medications for Anxiety and Panic Attack
Although medication can offer relief from anxiety and panic attack, long term medications for those symptoms is not a solution and may bring risks of its own. So it is really important to research thoroughly to investigate whether the medication is good for you by weighing the advantages against the disadvantages.
There is, in fact, a wide array of medications available in treating anxiety and panic attack such as anti-anxiety medications, antidepressants and beta-blockers. These medications can be effectively used for alleviating the overt symptoms of anxiety and panic disorders. But these are not cure. So the long term usage of medications for anxiety and panic disorder brings, in majority of the cases, disasters.
High Relapse Rate
The most common side effect of using long term medications for anxiety and panic attack is high relapse rate, if the treatment is terminated. It is mainly because these medications never look over finding the underlying causes of anxiety and panic disorder, but focus on treating the overt symptoms of these complications. Quite obviously, the result is, once the medication is stopped, the attack comes back.
Drug Dependency
This is probably the most significant side effects for using long term medications for treating anxiety and panic disorder. When someone uses these medications on a long term basis for treating anxiety and panic disorder, quite possibly he or she will become drug dependent. As the habit forms, it becomes hard to live without these medications due to severe withdrawal symptoms, which can be so acute that the individual may need to undergo through detoxification.
This drug dependence phenomenon can be a truly serious issue for concern. The benzodiazepines group, in particular, brings different medications for treating anxiety and panic disorder, long term usage of these medications is seriously harmful to health. Xanax, Klonopin and Valium are some known brand under this group that can offer a real addictive effect with prolonged usage. Within just 10-15 days of usage, drug dependency can occur for these medications.
Withdrawal
Withdrawal is experienced with the long term usage of medications for treating anxiety and panic disorder. All of a sudden, if you terminate the intake of benzodiazepines, you are at high risk for experiencing acute withdrawal symptoms like agitation, insomnia and recurrence of anxiety and panic attacks. Withdrawal can also be an issue of concern for long term treatment of anxiety and panic attack with medications like Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft.
Other Side Effects
The commonly reported symptoms of these medications may include headache, nausea, and loss of appetite, dizziness and sexual dysfunction. However, these may turn out to be apparently diminished and only appear as a result of withdrawal symptoms while the medications are used for prolonged period.
Before considering any medications for treating your problem concerning anxiety and panic disorder, think twice. They are good in providing a temporary solution by alleviating the symptoms of these complications, but they can not provide you a permanent solution.
