Anxiety Attacks: How an International Pharmacy Can Help

At some point in life, almost everyone experiences anxiety. Perhaps you feel uncomfortable in the moments leading up to an important test, maybe you get the jitters the night before your wedding, or perhaps you have a case of the butterflies before you get up to speak in front of a group. This transient anxiety is simply a part of life, and while it is sometimes exacerbated by stress, it always goes away.

This kind of Normal social anxiety is very different from the anxiety experienced by those with an anxiety disorder. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), "Anxiety disorders affect about 40 million American adults age 18 years and older (about 18%) in a given year." Anxiety disorders can be debilitating for those who suffer from them, as well as to family members and loved ones.

What Are Anxiety Disorders?

In a sense, "anxiety disorder" is an umbrella phrase for a number of more specific psychiatric disorders. According to the NIMH, anxiety disorders include panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, specific phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder. Although these are distinct conditions, the one thing they have in common is a sense of fear and dread that is disproportionate to the actual events taking place.

The symptoms of an anxiety attack can depend upon the type of disorder. According to the NIMH, panic disorder is "characterized by sudden attacks of terror, usually accompanied by a pounding heart, sweatiness, weakness, faintness, or dizziness. During these attacks, people with panic disorder may flush or feel chilled; their hands may tingle or feel numb; and they may experience nausea, chest pain, or smothering sensations."

Treatment for Anxiety Disorders

Some anxiety disorders respond well to a type of psychotherapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy. This can help alleviate the "self-talk" that contributes to the escalation of an anxiety attack. Systematic desensitization therapy often works well for people with phobias, as it gradually exposes them to that which they fear and lessens their negative reactions.

Virtually all anxiety disorders can be treated with pharmaceuticals, either alone or in conjunction with psychotherapy. Antidepressants are often useful in treating panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, particularly those that are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Brand name drugs like Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil are examples of SSRIs.

There are also pharmaceuticals specifically for anxiety, such as the generic drugs buspiron, diazepam, and lorazepam. Brand name pharmaceuticals include Klonopin, Buspar, and Ativan.

The Role of an International Pharmacy

Although an online pharmacy isn't meant to replace a mental health professional's diagnosis and treatment of anxiety attacks, it can serve a much-needed purpose: access to the pharmaceuticals that can make life bearable for those who suffer. Those with anxiety disorders often can't go out of the house or are ashamed of their condition. They often end up self-medicating with illicit drugs or alcohol. With skilled doctors and licensed pharmacists, an international pharmacy can help those in need get the help they deserve.

The Panic Treatment PlansDescribed - Simple Ways

Anxiety disorders could be treated with ease by the cumulative effect by each of the various anxiety disorder treatment strategies. These include treatments like self-help, psychotherapy, medication and family support.

Self Help
Curing anxiety disorder needs the intervention and the right attitude from the suffering person as much as it needs assistance from other anxiety disorder treatment strategies.

1. Startlingly high incidence of Anxiety disorders among population has led to a large number of self-help groups that help sufferers to find solutions to their anxiety disorders at its nascent stage.

2. It is a common sense to get counseling in any stress-related or anxiety-related disorders either by a matured companion or by elders in a family, although it is highly recommended to seek professional help. Despite, it is also possible to find friends online to give a sense of not being a lone sufferer. Reaching out with the disorder in its early phase could prevent major complications from occurring.

3. Attending workshops and seminars on stress management techniques along with meditation and breathing exercises on a regular basis would add value to other important techniques. Regular exercise like aerobics and meditation, keeping away alcohol and smoking are important too.

Mind Treatment
Psychotherapy has been found to be the most popular and effective among anxiety disorder treatment strategies.

Psychotherapy includes three options: 1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 2. Behavioral Therapy 3. Cognitive Therapy

1. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps the patient to learn to respond differently to circumstances that trigger anxiety attacks while helping them to alter their negative thinking patterns. Self-help groups and Group therapy are also useful treatment options.

2. Behavioral therapy uses various relaxation procedures to modify the anxiety-causing actions. It also teaches specific techniques such as diaphragmatic breathing to combat panicking.

3. Cognitive therapy focuses on changing erroneous and unproductive beliefs which are the cause of the psychological and anxiety problems. Medication
Medications as part of anxiety disorder treatment strategies are prescribed to relieve the symptoms rather than cure the disorder. Check with your physician before taking any additional medicines. Each medication also has its own set of side effects.

1. A class of antidepressants called Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are drugs which can induce to stimulate a portion of brain cell called synapse through a chemical messenger named Serotonin. Consequence of this stimulation is the maintenance of reduction of stress, anxiety and depression. Some of the examples of SSRIs are Sertraline, Fluoxetine, Venlafaxine and Paroxetine.

2. Tricyclic is another compound with anti-anxiety properties. They are almost not prescribed due to uneasy side effects like dry mouth, weight gain dizziness and drowsiness. Not this alone, Tricyclic is barely as effective as the present-day antidepressants.

3. High-potency medications target only anxiety symptoms: Medicines prescribed for chronic and acute level of anxiety disorders are Benzodiazepine such as Xanax and Valium as well as Buspirone such as Buspar. The former acts rapidly and has relatively fewer side effects except that it is habit-forming. Where as the latter improve symptoms related to anxiety disorders significantly but acts slowly after consistent injection for two weeks. Support From Family
Love, care and especially support from family are critical for patients suffering from mental illnesses. They need to be extra careful not to hurt or misguide keeping in mind not to ignore either. Families are supposed to be aware of the biology and psychology of the patients and be in a position to handle adverse situations neatly. Patients with supportive family members get out of this tangle without much hassle in a short period of time.

Summary
Curing anxiety disorder needs the intervention and the right attitude from the suffering person as much as it needs assistance from other anxiety disorder treatments. Anxiety disorder treatment strategies typically consist of a combination of treatments like self help, psychotherapy, medication and family support.

PTSD Therapy - The Old and the New

The Old

Exposure Therapy Exposure therapy identifies the cognitions, emotions and physiological arousal that accompany a fear-inducing stimulus, and attempts to break the pattern of escape that strengthens the fear response through measured exposure to progressively stronger stimuli until it becomes habit. The technique involves the creation of a program of steadily escalating steps or challenges that theoretically cancel out phobic behavior. A method that is rather powerful but dangerous and emotionally taxing.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Some CBT therapies are more oriented towards predominantly cognitive interventions while some are more behaviorally oriented.In cognitive oriented therapies, the objective is typically to identify and monitor thoughts, assumptions, beliefs and behaviors that are related and accompanied to debilitating negative emotions and to identify those which are dysfunctional, inaccurate, or simply unhelpful. This is done in an effort to replace or transcend them with more realistic and useful ones. While effective, the time commitment involved does nothing for the quality of life of the victim until completed, if ever. Not to mention the costs of long term care with a therapist or psychologist.

Drugs Adivan, Buspar, Celexa, Effexor, Inositol, Klonopin, Paxil, Prozac, Wellbutrin, Xanax and Zoloft. All these names you already know. If you ever want to really find out what is wrong with drug therapy (that subject is far beyond the scope of this article), just ask a doctor about the side effects of these drugs. Expensive and unproven. Covers up symptoms, but nothing for the root causes of PTSD or anxiety or phobias.

The New New therapies (some say they are cures but that is up to the individual really) can relieve and totally free you form your phobias, fears and anxiety in ONLY DAYS IF NOT JUST MINUTES.That is right. Because all these things happen on a subconscious level (you never said to yourself "I want to have PTSD") these newly discovered methods go right at the source of the problem and use the same subconscious techniques of the mind to make them all go away. This new therapy is called IMAGINATION CREATION and is part of a brand new system called Accelerated Personal Breakthrough Technology that was developed at the University of California.

Sound Advice For Dogs

Halloween fireworks, thunderstorms, bands and any loud noise send my Jack Russell Rex cowing in his bed or Rushing for the kennel. Noises that effect him can extend to shouting...[not at him!] banging a nail with a hammer or any kind of sudden unexpected loud noise all have the same effect.

So what can we do to help especially when we can anticipate the noise occurring like in the case of fireworks?

Anti-anxiety drugs such as Prozac and Buspar can work but take 3-4 weeks to take effect and also can have side effects. Looking at natural alternatives seems a better option.

A meal rich in complex carbohydrates with additional vitamin B6 gives a dog a natural boost in Tryptophan. How this works is because Tryptophan leads to the production of Serotonin which is known to effect mood. When the dog eats carbohydrates this stimulates the production of insulin which in turn increases the uptake of Tryptophan and so increases the level of Serotonin.

Although this method works in theory there is no hard evidence or statistics to back it up.
One natural Remedy called flower essences such as Rescue Remedy was developed by an English medical Doctor Edward Bach. Each liquid is an extract of flowers which effect different aspects of emotional well-being in humans and animals.

Of these Flower remedies Rescue Remedy is the best known and has a calming effect. Consensus on the effectiveness of Remedies varies. Some say it works immediately and others maintain that it takes four to eight weeks to have an effect on dog's emotions. Whatever way it cannot do any harm to try.

Another suggestion is the use of Melatonin. This is a natural hormone that regulates our sleep and wake pattern, called circadian rhythms. Various studies have shown melatonin to be 80% successful with an indication that the Melatonin must be given before the fear-inducing noise occurs.

Another use for Melatonin has been with search and rescue dogs that have to travel on helicopters or planes to different areas .The melatonin lets them relax throughout the flight and also the dogs are still be able to perform their search duties when they arrive. This was something that was affected when pharmaceutical drugs were used; the dogs were drowsy and unable to do their jobs properly.

Melatonin used to be derived from the pineal gland of bovines but is now manufactured as a synthetically produced pharmaceutical. Make sure if you decide to try this method that it is pure melatonin and not mixed with any other herbs.

Finally...if music is your thing then studies have also found that simple classical music performed on the piano produced a calming effect on 70 percent of dogs in shelters and 85 percent of dogs in homes. Putting on a classical CD may just be the thing that works and probably the easiest to try first before the others.

Kathy Davison is a Health Studies lecturer with both humans and animals! As well as lecturing fulltime Kathy runs an online website on various aspects of owning dogs.

The Use Of Anti Anxiety Medication

In our busy lives it's very easy to ignore any situation that's unpleasant or even uncomfortable. However what should you do if suddenly you become anxious without any known cause? There are people who become housebound due to their fear of being in crowded places or even open places where they might become vulnerable to the terror of panic attacks. It's for situations like these, that anti Anxiety medication is prescribed by doctors.

As there's a large amount of anti anxiety meds available you might think that any one of these will be suitable to reduce your feelings of anxiety. However, even though many of these anti anxiety medications will work to a degree, certain types of medications will work best with the particular mental disorder that closely matches their chemical criteria.

For instance Benzodiazepine is an anti anxiety medication that has an almost instant reaction in the body. You can take this medication 30 to 60 minutes before going into a stressful situation. For people who have acute but infrequent anxiety attacks Benzodiazepine is the best anti anxiety medicine to take. However due to it's addictive nature it's best not to use Benzodiazepines for long term usage. The major side effect of prolonged use is that of seizures should you stop taking the medication abruptly.

Another type of anti anxiety medication used is that of SSRIs or serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitors. These belong in the class of antidepressant drugs. These SSRIs are very popular due to their low addiction levels, their mild side effects and the fact that they can bring down the feelings of acute anxiety. SSRIs work by maximizing the natural levels of serotonin in the brain.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that can affect your moods. By taking an anti anxiety medication like Paxil, serotonin is inhibited from being reabsorbed by the body. Therefore more serotonin is produced to be used when it is necessary. The side effects are mild ranging from a dry mouth to sleepiness. If you desire quick results you shouldn't take any SSRIs as they need 2 to 6 weeks to infiltrate your system before you would notice any significant improvement.

There's also the anti anxiety medication dopamine agonists, which increases the levels of dopamine in the brain. Like SSRIs dopamine agonists take a few weeks to show relief from anxiety. The side effects of this class of drugs, includes insomnia and extreme excitedness amongst others. The last type of anti anxiety medication that is currently being used is that of Buspar. This drug is a mild anti anxiety medication that has little to no reporting of addiction usage. Like SSRIs and dopamine agonists discussed earlier, Buspar takes a while for its medical properties to take effect.

As with anything else these medications can help you to restore some semblance of normality to your life, but as with all drugs and treatments you should first talk with a trained medical practitioner who can help you in choosing the best anti anxiety medication for you.