Learning About the Drugs Used to Treat Anxiety
There are a few common drugs used to treat anxiety, including social anxiety and generalized anxiety. Anxiety disorders are very difficult to deal with and take a big emotional toll on people. If you are having problems with anxiety and your doctor prescribed a medication, you may not know a lot about what you are taking. The following information will help you better understand the drugs used to treat anxiety. Then you can talk to your doctor about what you have learned to make sure you are taking the anxiety medication right for you.
Category I: Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
Many doctors prescribe selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for people with depression and anxiety. These are especially helpful for people who suffer from many forms of anxiety because once taken, they provide relief in just a short period.
Doctors often start out with the SSRI drugs to see if they will help before trying any other drugs. SSRIs are known to be very effective in treating generalized anxiety disorder but not so effective for treating social anxiety or other forms of anxiety where the anxiety is triggered by a situation or event.
Category 2: Benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines are drugs that are used to treat many forms of depression but work especially well for people with social anxiety. When taken during an attack triggered by a stressful situation, benzodiazepines are able to provide fast relief and make a person feel better very quickly.
However, the problem with the benzodiazepines is that they can be very addictive for some people. If you have a history of substance abuse or are concerned about a family history of substance abuse, your doctor will probably go with other drugs used to treat anxiety.
Category 3: Monoamine Oxidise Inhibitors (MAOIs)
MAOIs or Monoamine Oxide Inhibitors are another drug used to treat anxiety. These drugs used to treat anxiety are effective for treating depression as well. The place most of us have heard of the MAOIs is in television commercials for other prescription drugs. There will often be a warning at the end of the commercial saying the drug being advertised should not be taken in conjunction with MAOIs. MAOIs can also react badly to common foods like wine and cheese.
Category 4: Beta Blockers
Beta blockers are prescribed by doctors for many reasons and one of those is anxiety. As one of the drugs used to treat anxiety, beta blockers are good at relieving symptoms that affect people physically like a racing heart or shaking.
It is important to do your homework and talk to your doctor about what you learned so together you can choose the drug to treat anxiety that will work best for you.
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