One of the best drugs that relieve panic attacks is Xanax. Instructions for use reports that it eliminates depression, insomnia, senile tremor. What do doctors and patients think about this?
What does Xanax heal from?
Typically, the drug is prescribed by neuropathologists or psychiatrists. The medicine has an international name - "Alprazolam". This is a tranquilizer. It has a mild sedative effect, reduces the excitability of the nerve centers of the thalamus and hypothalamus. Since these parts of the brain are responsible for the sensory and neuroendocrine activities of the brain, one can guess that their excessive excitement negatively affects the body. Xanax helps to suspend a negative process. The instruction for use recommends taking it to people suffering from:
- Depression, during which patients are in a depressed mental state.
- Panic attacks, accompanied by unmotivated fears, pronounced anxiety and negative somatic conditions.
- Disorders of the central nervous system.
- Phobias.
- Tremor. The drug "Xanax" (instructions for use, this point emphasizes especially) increases the duration and depth of sleep, eliminates nightmares, relieves emotional stress.
Who should not take Xanax?
Like any drug, this drug has contraindications. Particular attention should be paid to them: tablets affect the central nervous system, so their improper use can lead to especially dangerous consequences. Who should not take Xanax? The instruction contains a detailed list of contraindications. The drug is not prescribed for people suffering from:
- Hypersensitivity to the components that make up the tablets, or to the main therapeutic substance.
- Myasthenia.
- Glaucoma
- Various respiratory disorders.
- Liver failure.
- Movement disorders due to improper functioning of the cerebellum or frontal lobes.
- Night stop breathing.
Some people who are in a state of addiction, believe that the best cure for a hangover is Xanax. Instructions for use, reviews of doctors categorically state the opposite: the drug is contraindicated in alcohol, drug or drug poisoning. Combining this drug with alcohol can cause death. Xanax (doctors' reviews about the drug indicate that experts are unanimous in this matter) should be taken with extreme caution in patients with psychosis, depression and impaired brain structure of organic origin. In this case, the drug can cause a paradoxical reaction, exacerbating symptoms up to suicidal tendencies. It is not recommended to use the Xanax medicine for pregnant women, adolescents and the elderly.
Where can I buy Xanax?
Very often, patients with anxious conditions ask the question: “Is Xanax sold by prescription or not?” The answer is clear: only by prescription. An anxiolytic affects the nervous system, can cause paradoxical reactions, so you can’t take it categorically without a doctor’s recommendation. This can lead to serious consequences.
The second, no less popular question: “Does Xanax have analogues?” Yes. These include the following medicines:
- Alprazolam. This is not even an analog, but the international name of the active substance. It is sold in tablet form and often costs less than Xanax. The reviews of people taking the analogue indicate that the price difference is not due to the difference in the composition of the tablets, but to the cheaper package of Alprazolam.
- Zolomax. It has not identical, but a similar composition.
- Neurol.
- Helex.
Minor differences in the composition of the tablets, experts say, can cause different reactions to taking the medicine. That is why the doctor also writes a prescription to buy an analogue. Replacing one drug with another in a pharmacy (only at the request of the consumer) is not possible.
What is the danger of Xanax?
The reviews of both doctors and patients themselves are unanimous in one thing: the drug, with all its positive effect on the body, carries two dangers:
- Causes addiction.
- May be fatal.
Alprazolam belongs to the class of psychoactive substances that are most often used in medicine. The action begins almost immediately after taking the pill and lasts a long time. “Xanax” - the doctors' reviews confirm this - does not cause drowsiness, on the contrary, many people feel a certain mood lift after it. This is what determines the desire to take medicine again and again.
Alprazolam and its analogues have another unpleasant side, the doctors say. It is effective, facilitates panic attacks. The drug acts quickly and improves the condition so much that many people prefer to always carry it with them and take it even when they feel unwell due to a non- vegetative crisis. Today, Alrazolam and its analogues are equated with street drugs.
Attention! Taking the medicine with other tranquilizers and alcohol can lead to death.
Who else helps tranquilizer?
The course of "Xanax" is often prescribed for the treatment of sociophobia. This is the name of the state of uncontrollable and uncontrolled fear associated with the fear of people to carry out social actions. Someone cannot speak publicly. Someone is afraid of a society of strangers. In more severe cases, social phobia can manifest itself in a fear of being in a crowd, traveling in transport, or even going out. It is interesting that the majority of those suffering from such a pathology perfectly understand the whole causelessness of their fears. However, they cannot improve their condition on their own. Phobias can have very real manifestations:
- A sharp increase in heart rate, leading to shortness of breath, respiratory failure.
- Sweating.
- Chills.
- Frequent color change of the skin: from bright red to cyanotic-pale.
- Speech impairment.
- The state of stupor.
"Xanax" (instructions, reviews of doctors and people taking it, confirm this) helps to successfully deal with this condition.
In severe cases, a phobia attack may result in a panic attack or fainting.
How does Xanax work?
For a sense of anxiety and fear in the human body, brain neurons, which in the medical language are called gamma receptors, are responsible. When they work normally, a person’s fear carries a defensive reaction. If for some reason the gamma receptors become too active, fear gets out of hand. Man is overcome by unmotivated anxiety, irrational anxiety. The more active the receptors, the greater the anxiety. And the faster the gamma receptors “burn out”. A kind of vicious circle. “Xanax” (the instructions for use do not mention this, but specialists are aware of this feature of the drug’s action) very quickly removes this condition. But there is a flip side to the coin.
It is this speed that is addictive to the tranquilizer. The medicine is quickly eliminated from the body, so withdrawal symptoms often occur even in those who take pills in accordance with all the doctor's recommendations. Dependence can be recognized by signs that appear in the interval between taking the medicine. It:
- Dullness of consciousness and emotions.
- Shaking, trembling.
- Headaches, nausea.
- Hypersensitivity to noise, light.
- Irritability.
In some cases, it all ends in death.
How does withdrawal from Alprazolam and its analogues appear?
It is important to remember: drug dependence can develop very quickly. Dosage, duration of treatment, severity of symptoms depend solely on the characteristics of the particular patient. People say that withdrawal can occur unexpectedly. Here are her signs:
- First, shortness of breath develops, palpitations noticeably quicker.
- Later, all the initial symptoms returned, for the treatment of which Xanax was prescribed. Instructions for use warns about this.
- There are problems with speech, coordination of movements.
- The dulling of emotions gradually degenerates into excessive excitability.
- Psychosomatic disorders appear: joint pain, burning in the abdomen, rash on the body.
- Convulsions develop.
- Bad mood gradually develops into depression. Unhealthy thoughts, tearfulness appear. Often there is a desire for suicide.
To get rid of withdrawal, detoxification is necessary. Procedures are carried out only in the hospital and may take several months.
Side effects of Xanax: effects on the nervous system
At the beginning of treatment, most patients experience drowsiness after taking the medicine. You cannot drive vehicles at this time. It is recommended to be especially careful when crossing streets and in other situations that require special attention. Patients taking this medicine say that it interferes with concentration. According to patient reviews, muscle weakness, trembling of the hands or feet may be observed. Over time, in some patients, symptoms disappear without discontinuation of the drug, but in others they may remain for a long time. Headaches, attacks of aggression or a bad mood are possible. In this case, Xanax drug therapy is advised to cancel the instructions for use. Otherwise, the development of depression is possible. Sometimes there is a violation of gait, disorientation, tremor, less often - confusion. The reverse reactions are also possible : euphoria, agitation, irritability. Usually, alprazolam helps to improve sleep, but in some patients, according to them, drugs based on it cause insomnia. Uncontrolled treatment, doctors emphasize, can lead to deep depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicide.
Other side effects
The medicine "Xanax" (instructions for use also warns about this) can cause other negative reactions. Side effects include the following pathologies and conditions:
- Agranulocytosis, the symptoms of which are severe intermittent chills, sore throat, fatigue.
- Leukemia, thrombocyte or neutropenia.
- Anemia.
- Dry mouth or excess saliva.
- Diarrhea or constipation.
- Impaired or increased appetite.
- Impaired liver and / or kidney function.
- Nausea, discomfort in the epigastrium, vomiting.
- Violation of the menstrual cycle in women.
- Urinary incontinence or difficulty emitting.
- Change in libido in a positive or negative direction.
Is it worth it to cancel the tranquilizer, the doctor decides for each patient individually. However, it must be remembered that both an overdose and the withdrawal of the drug cause a number of unpleasant, and sometimes severe, symptoms. Among the most noticeable patients are called depression of consciousness and respiratory failure. Doctors add more tachy or bradycardia, less often - coma.
How to take anxiolytic
The medicine is available in several forms.
Most often, Xanax and Alprazolam are sold in tablets with a content of the main active substance from 0.25 mg to 1.2 mg. 1 mg of this drug is comparable to 10 mg of Vallium. The package can contain from 10 to 100 tablets. In the prescription, the doctor must indicate how many tablets and in what dosage the patient has the right to buy.
How to take the drug? "Xanax" (tablets) is prescribed, focusing on the diagnosis of the patient. The daily norm is divided into several receptions. Treatment begins with minimal doses, then the amount of substance is increased.
- Anxiety, anxiety - up to 4 mg per day.
- Depression - 4.5 mg.
- Panic attacks - the dosage is selected in accordance with the condition and characteristics of the patient. You can increase it by 1 mg every 4 days.
Dosage form "retard" can be taken not 3, but 1-2 times a day.
The maximum duration of the drug is 3 months. Otherwise, addiction develops.
Sometimes Xanax comes in the form of drops. In Russia, such a dosage form is practically not found.
Special warnings and instructions
- According to doctors' reports, when taking drugs based on alprazolam, the condition of patients with severe forms of depression in half the cases not only did not improve, but even vice versa: there was a development of manic. For this reason, taking "Alprazolam" (or "Xanax") with this diagnosis is recommended only under the supervision of specialists and in combination with antidepressants.
- Patients who have previously taken tranquilizers, antidepressants, or other psychoactive drugs are more likely to respond to this drug.
- If the medicine is prescribed for patients with renal or hepatic insufficiency, it is recommended to conduct weekly monitoring of their condition, collecting tests.
- If a pregnant woman takes Xanax, the child may be born with withdrawal symptoms, respiratory, cardiac, muscle tone, and other abnormalities, experts warn.
- The medicine can not be prescribed simultaneously with antipsychotic, hypnotics, antiepileptic, narcotic drugs and muscle relaxants. They reinforce each other and can lead to complete depression of the central nervous system.
Xanax and alcohol
Alprazolam and its analogs should never be taken with alcohol and medicines containing ethanol. Their interaction leads to hallucinations, depression of consciousness, coma.