The Low-Down on Benzodiazepines

Anxiety disorders like social phobia and panic disorder can be treated with a number of medications. One such class of these medications is benzodiazepines, known as benzos for shorts. It is important, whatever your medical condition, to understand how your medications work. This will help you stay in control of your treatment and your life. Therefore, if you have anxiety disorders, you should understand how benzos work so that you can make the best medical choices for yourself.

Benzos are considered very mild tranquilizers. Qualities of benzos that you’ll hear used to describe these drugs include hypnotic, sedative, anxiolytic, muscle relaxant, and amnesic. They work, in short, by slowing down your central nervous system. You can use benzos for a number of medical conditions, not just anxiety, which include things like incomnia, seizures, muscle spasms, and alcohol withdrawal. Dentists also sometimes use benzos in their work. Those who abuse stimulant drugs, such as speed, sometimes also abuse benzos to come down from the high. Common drugs classified as benzos are Xanax, Valium, Serax, Rohypnol, Halcion, Librium, Mogadone, and Ativan, among others.

There are a number of side effects to consider if you are thinking about using benzos to treat your anxiety disorder. First and foremost, some benzos are extremely addictive. While some report no addictive feelings, others report complete addiction in as little as a few days. It depends on the strength of the drug you are using and your body’s specific reaction to it. Other side effects are drowsiness, ataxia, confusing, imbalance, impaired judgment, and forgetfulness. Some benzos are stronger than others and all have drug-specific side effects to consider as well. Once you are dependant or addicted to benzos, withdrawal can be difficult as will include symptoms like insomnia, panic attacks, hypertension, tremor, depression, sweating, loss of appetite, and dysphoria. Sudden withdrawal may cause immediate convulsions, catatonia, delusions, psychosis, and delirium tremens. The ultimate result could be death.

Only anxiety disorder patients to prescriptions and strict instructions from their doctors should take benzos. Uncontrolled, the use of these drugs (like with most prescriptions drugs) can be very harmful to your health. Benzos may be able to help you regain control during a panic attack or in your day-to-day life. Many anxiety disorder patients have, in fact, found great success with this kind of medication. However, there are disadvantages to benzos as well. Make sure that you fully understand how to use benzos and how they will affect your body before beginning to take them.


Benzodiazepine Blues: Living With (and Without) Minor Tranquilizers 

Agoraphobia and Panic Attacks

There is phobia that is linked to the experience of panic attacks, and that is agoraphobia. Agoraphobia is the fear of open spaces or of being in crowded, public places such as shopping markets. It is a fear associated with leaving a safe zone, such as the home.

Because of a feeling of being vulnerable, people who experience this fear often suffer from panic attacks in these “open” situations. It is true to say many people who have regular panic attacks experience different degrees of agoraphobia. Some have a lingering background anxiety about being away from home should they experience a panic attack. Other people are so immobilized by this fear that they find it very difficult to leave their home for even a short period.

The thinking behind agoraphobia usually follows the line that were a panic attack to occur, who would look after the person, how would he or she get the assistance and reassurance they needed? The vulnerability grows from the feeling that once victims of agoraphobia are caught in the anxiety, they are suddenly unable to look after themselves and are therefore at the mercy of the place they find themselves in and the strangers around them. In its extreme form, agoraphobia and panic attacks can lead to a situation where people become housebound for numerous years. Please note, this is by no means a hopeless situation, and I always need to reinforce the fact that something only becomes hopeless once the person really believes that to be the case.

To begin with, the primary issue that needs to be addressed is the belief in the safe zone. To clarify, when I talk about safe zone, I am referring to the zone where the person believes panic attacks do not occur, or at least occur infrequently. As comfort is found there, it is where the person tends to spend more and more time. The safe zone of anxiety is a myth sustained by the mind. The mind has developed a habit of thinking that dictates that being inside the safe zone is the only place to feel secure and avoid agoraphobia and panic attacks. If agoraphobia is an issue for you, watch as your mind comes up with reasons why it believes only a certain area is safe and another is not. Those reasons range from being near the phone or people you trust to having familiar physical surroundings to reassure you.

The reality of anxiety is that there is no such thing as a safe zone. There is nothing life threatening about a panic attack, and therefore sitting at home is the same as sitting under the stars on a desert island. Of course, your mind will immediately rush to tell you that a desert island is a ridiculous place to be as there are no hospitals, no tranquillisers, no doctors, NO SAFETY.

You need to review your previous experiences of panic attacks. Aren’t you still here, alive and well, after all those attacks during which you were convinced you were going to die?

It may be that on occasions you have been driven to the hospital where they did medicate you to calm you down, but do you really believe that you would not have survived were it not for the drugs? You would have. If the same bout of anxiety had occurred on this desert island, it too would have passed, even if you were all alone. Yes, when it comes to conditions that need medical attention such as asthma, diabetes, and a whole litany or other conditions, then having medical aid nearby is a big asset, but no doctor in the world would tell someone with anxiety that there are only specific safe zones in which she or he can move.

As I know more than anyone how terrifying it can feel to move out of your safe zone as the feeling of fear is welling up inside, I do not wish to sound harsh. This course is not about chastising people for their behaviours. It is a way of looking together at solutions and seeing through the myths that form prison walls. The goal is to enable you to return to a richer and more meaningful life and ultimately defeat your agoraphobia and panic attacks. I also realize that people around you cannot understand why a trip to shops would cause you such discomfort. You will have to forgive them and try not to be upset by their lack of understanding of your problem.

If an individual such as a partner or family member has not had a similar anxiety issue, that person may often find it hard to understand and empathize with what you are going through. I am sure you have been dragged out of the house numerous times against your will, kicking and screaming. This can then lead to tensions and arguments and is upsetting as it can make you feel less understood by those around you. 

People around agoraphobics are often simply trying what they feel is best. If you can see that their intentions are well meaning (although often misguided), then you will be able to relate to them better and help sooth any potential conflicts.

There is one thing I am sure you will agree with, and that is that the only person who will get you out of agoraphobic thinking is yourself. These are your thoughts, and only you can begin to change that pattern. Dealing with long term agoraphobia and panic attacks is a slow process to begin with, but once the results start happening, it moves faster and faster until you reach a point where you will find it hard to believe that going out was such a difficult task.

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Barry McDonagh is an international panic disorder coach. His informative site on all issues related to panic and anxiety attacks can be found here: http://6c2ff17f.tinylinks.co

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No More Panic Attacks - The Panic Attack, Anxiety, and Agoraphobia Recovery Manual

Panic Attacks : How to Prepare.

If you suffer from an anxiety disorder, panic attacks may be a part of your life. Even with proper medication, many patients suffer from panic attacks. Although predicting when a panic attack will happens may be a bit tricky, you can take steps to prepare for these panic attacks to take back control of your life.


The first step to taking back, that control is to learn to breathe. When a person has a panic attack, often they feel so overwhelmed that they forget simply to breathe properly. Many doctors, therefore, advocating safe breathing practices to help calm anyone having a panic attack. In fact, if youve ever had a panic attack in public, someone may have tried to get you to breath into a paper bag. This may or may be a good method for you, but the fact is that you should know and practice you 're breathing exercise before you are panicking. Have a planlearn calming breathing techniques and practice at least twice a day.


Other relaxing practices may also be able to help your panic attack. Of coarse, you might find it difficult to even consider meditation when you are having a panic attack, but by learning this relaxing procedure, you can use some of the same calming techniques that help you to meditate to help you calm down.


Another great way to prepare for a panic attack is simply to know your triggers. Do you have a specific phobia? Is excess stress your downfall? Do certain situations seem impossible for you? When you know what triggers panic reactions, you can do your best to avoid or minimize these situations.


You should also be medically prepared for a panic attack. When you go outside the home, take with you a list of emergency contacts, which should include your doctors number, your local crisis hotline, and members of your personnel support systems. You can use these phone numbers yourself if you feel a panic attack starting, or another person will easily find this information in your purse or wallet if you are not capable of helping yourself.


Also take with you a bag to help you feel comfortable and calm down during a panic attack. A crucial part of the bag is any medications you may be taking, along with instructions on taking it. You can also include any items from home that will help you feel more comfortable. This can includes herbal tea, a stuffed animal, religious items, photos, rubber bands to snap on your wrist, mints, hand cream, money, a puzzle book, and anything else that may help you relax, stimulated your brain, or distract yourself. Remember, comfort is key.