What are some anxiolytic drugs you can suggest in alternative to benzodiazepines!
Question: What are some anxiolytic drugs you can suggest in alternative to benzodiazepines?
Answers:
A quick working solution is passion flower tea. Very strong. 1 cup is anxiolytic, 2 cups are causing tiredness. Not so strong but without any side effects is amino acid L-theanine. You may also try GABA
and Taurine A different approach is lowering blood pressure by controlled breathing or by herbal
beet root juice ( 2 cups). Systolic blood pressure is lowered by 10 points and anxiety is not felt so strong.You need also to consider that an underlying depression is the major cause for anxiety.
Depression is causing a loss in serotonin receptors in hippocampus CA1 and A3 region which is projecting to the amygdala. The calming down signal is reduced. Besides chronic depression is causing a volume loss (shrinking) in hippocampus with a shrinking rate of 2% every year which is causing a bad short time memory which is the last thing a student might need. A better way to get riid off anxiety and depression is allowing new nerve cell growth by increasing BDNF and NGF which are low during depression. Possible methods are walking/jogging, protecting hippocampal neurons by intake of Curcumin capsules, intake of antioxidantia like blueberries, vitamin C, catabolic enzymes from papaya, pineapple, mango and avoiding fast food because of their high content of saturated fats. A good stress shielding is provided by walnuts and almonds which are containing a weak antidepressant which is the same as in mother milk. No side effects known.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/dep…
Many Antidepressants are also Anxiolytics: Included are Sertraline, Citalopram and Venlafaxine (the better ones).
A small dose of Quetiapine or Risperdone is also very effective in dampening down anxiety and agitation. These are often presecribed for agitated anxiety and tension.
Long term the best advice is to engage in therapy. CBT with a therapist or even via self-help will help enormously and teach you to handle you thinking in such a way that you can greatly reduce unnecessary anxiety.
You can get a quality free download for self-help with anxiety and panic here:
http://www.ntw.nhs.uk/pic/selfhelp#
Various forms of Relaxation will help. I agree with Hugo's advice regarding Exercise! Generally a balanced life style will help too.
http://gad.about.com/od/treatment/a/cbt.…
http://www.anxietynetwork.com/hcbt.html
http://www.gotosee.co.uk/healtharticles/…