The Side Effects Of Anxiety Medication

There are side effects. There is a downside involved in the treatment and cure of anxiety. However, complete cure is often a good possibility and suffering the side effects for a brief period well worth the trouble in the end. Normally doctors are very carefully about both the prescription of anti-anxiety medicines and the possibility of the surfacing of side effects. This is why most doctors would never prescribe any anti-depression or anxiety drugs over the phone as they feel that without a face-to-face evaluation it is impossible to judge correctly, how much and what is needed for best results.

The side effects are few if you are following the doctor’s prescription to the letter, which you should do when you are being treated for anxiety. Here a few that you should watch out for and inform your doctor if experienced at any time during your treatment:

1. A feeling of restlessness
2. Unexplained fatigue
3. Dizziness
4. Lethargy
5. Decrease in libido

The tricyclic anti-depressants for example, have serious side effects but are extremely effective in short-circuiting panic attack symptoms, which at the patient needs most at the time of treatment. Doctors prefer this medication to the ‘safer’ ones because of its ability to bring the system to normal much faster. Once things are under control, the less reactive drugs would be prescribed.

Each case of anxiety disorder differs from one another due to the circumstances that caused and triggered it. Based on the personal interaction the doctor would have with you, your medical history and the symptoms you are experiencing your medical practitioner would work out a customized line treatment that would best benefit you. This is why it is not wise to advise your friends about what drugs they should use for anxiety disorders based on your prescription, nor should you take their advice to treat yours based on their prescriptions. If and when you do so, you would be likely to get into more trouble than you started with.

The treatment does not end with the initial prescription and medication advice. You need to visit your doctor periodically who would monitor your progress through watching your external symptoms as well as through various tests - especially blood tests - so he would know how you are reacting to the medicines. Some people get rid of their anxiety in a couple of weeks; some in a couple of months or years while there would be yet another bracket of people who would require medication for the rest of their lives.

It is important that you follow the doctor’s advice to the letter and cooperate with him or her fully on very aspect of the treatment. It is often very helpful to adopt alternative means of relaxation and de-stressing while on medication such as yoga, meditation, mild exercising, and new diet and so on. Ensure however, that your doctor is aware of every little change you bring about in your life because every little detail counts while you are fighting anxiety off.

One small mistake and you would have to start from the beginning, often from worse condition that you initially were. The correct weaning of drugs you were prescribed for anxiety treatment is as important as the method of taking them in the initial phases. If you hurry this process along you would find that the withdrawal symptoms are often as bad if not worse than the anxiety symptoms themselves. To cap it, you would have to counter such symptoms with more drugs, which would add to the length of the treatment and your problems.

Keep in mind that though anxiety does not have any cure, you can totally have it under control. Modern medicine is fully equipped to control and reverse it. However, in order to do so you need to (i) get medical help, (ii) follow the instructions carefully, and (iii) be patient because the ‘cure’ would not happen overnight.

by : Ian Spencer
Source : www.articlecity.com