What kind of medication helps? Does it help at all?

Have you experienced panic at some point of time in your life? For some of you the incidents may have been frequent. Anxiety, panic or whatever you name it is needed to an extent in our lives. After all, when you get up in the morning, you have to ensure your daily bread. Anxiety provides that push!

Sometimes, that push comes to a shove and life gets off balance. You may become incapacitated by your panic attacks. You may have problems interacting with people. The very prospect of meeting someone may seem to be a ‘Herculean task.’ This is called social phobia.

Your case may be of generalized anxiety where no focus for your fears can be found. It could be a case of one or more phobias where the fear is focused on something concrete. You may either be a hopeless worrier or may be you are extremely depressed.

If you are stuck in any of above situations, have heart. Today’s medical science has improved so much that most of these anxieties and panic attacks can be treated.

Here’s a brief list of medicines which you may find useful

Propanolol (Inderal) and Atenolol (Tenormin) are a class of drugs called Beta Blockers which are useful for social phobia. They control the heartbeat, trembling and shaking. Though they have less side-effects, you should use them temporarily only.

Tricyclic antidepressants like Imiprapine (Tofranil) and Amitriptyline (Elavil) are used to treat severe depression, panic attacks, obsessive thoughts and depression with anxiety.

Benzodiazepines like Alprazolam (Xanax) and Clonazepam (Klonopin) are used to control generalized anxiety and phobias including social phobias. These medicines help induce sleep and are useful for those with sleeping disorders.

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOI) like Phenelzine (Nardil) help treat depression, panics and social phobia.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) like Fluoxetine (Prozac) are a new generation of drugs to treat depression, obsessions, social phobia and panic attacks.

A mild tranquilizer like Buspirone (Buspar) has been found to be effective for generalized anxiety.

Please remember these are prescription drugs and you must use them only if advised by your doctor. While a few get totally cured, some may have to continue medications over a period of time. You have to first believe in yourself before you start with the medicines. Think that they will definitely cure you. Finally and most importantly………Do not feel ashamed of treating your illness.