subject: Choose the best medication, a balanced lifestyle is to keep away panic disorder or anxiety attacks [print this page] Choose the best medication, a balanced lifestyle is to keep away panic disorder or anxiety attacks
The human body is the most complicated machine in this world, as best experienced by doctors. Often irregular or lack of maintenance of machines causes ruin or damage, similarly an unbalanced and irregular lifestyle may lead to serious ill functioning of human body causing several kind of diseases. One of these several medical diseases which are directly related to your lifestyle is termed as "Panic disorder or Anxiety disorders". According to DSM-IV-TR[1], when someone is having a sudden and intense feeling of terror, fear or apprehension, without the presence of actual danger, he seems to have a "panic disorder". DSM-IV-TR has classified anxiety into five different types:
Generalized anxiety disorder
Social phobia
Obsessive compulsive disorder
Posttraumatic stress disorder
Specific phobia
There is no preknown cause to panic disorder but genetics, biological misbalance, family history, stressful lifestyle are some of the common cause of anxiety or panic disorder.
A physical and psychological evaluation can diagnose the existence of panic disorder but there are some common symptoms that are present in most of the patients. These common symptoms include:
Palpitations, pounding heart
Sweating
Shaking
Feeling of choking
Chest pain
Fear of losing control
Fear of dying
Chills
Sensations of shortness of breath.
Feeling dizzy, unsteady, and faint
According to the American Psychological Association, the symptoms of panic attacks generally stay for thirty minutes, but it may last as short as fifteen minutes or last long for some hours.
These days, medical science offers an extensive range of panic attack medications which includes:
Medicine:
The frequently used firstline treatment of panic disorder are, Selective Serotonin-Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), or the Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRI) Venlafaxine (Effexor). And for chronic forms of panic attacks Antidepressants, like Tricyclic antidepressants may be prescribed. But the problem with these kinds of medicines is that it has severe side effects like suicidal tendencies.
Benzodiazepines are generally safer to use daily. But long-term use causes dependencies and abuse and it takes long time to work too.
Buspirone is recommended to treat generalized anxiety disorder.
Beta Blockers like, Propranolol (Inderal) and Atenolol are also used for treating anxiety attacks.
For treating major depressive types of panic disorder Atypical Antipsychoticsis very useful. But excessive use of this may cause weight gain problems.
Besides these, Anticonvulsants (Antiseizure Drugs)like, Pregabalin (Lyrica) and Gabapentin (Neurontin) are also given by the doctor for treating other forms of anxiety disorders.
Psychotherapy:
According to the American Psychiatric Association, a specific form of psychotherapy called "Cognitive- Behavioral Therapy (CBT)" is the most effective cure to panic disorder. The objective of this therapy is to gain control over someone's reaction to sudden situations so as to reduce the feeling of helplessness. Several reports say that another useful psychotherapy is "Panic Focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy". Another form of psychotherapy is the "SystematicDesensitization". Systematic desensitization is a special technique to break the link between the anxiety-provoking stimulus and the anxiety response. There is emotion-based psychotherapy (EBT) also to cure anxiety attacks.
Herbs and Supplements treatment:
A dietary supplement Inositol which is part of the vitamin B complex is proved to fetch benefits in the context of treating panic attacks. For some patients, herbal aromatherapy is used as a relaxing aid for treating panic disorder.
Diet and exercise:
A healthy diet, regular exercise like walking, cycling, and normal lifestyle can contribute effectively to keep away panic disorder. Besides, one has to completely avoid caffeine and alcohol, soda and sugar plus fruit juices. Junk food has a high Glycemic index (GI) which is more susceptible to panic attacks. It is advisable to take more fruits, vegetables which have low GI.
Surgery:
A surgical technique named Cingulotomy is sometimes used as a last hope for treating severe panic attacks.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Other Neurostimulation treatment
This treatment involves high frequency magnetic pulses for targeting and stimulating specific areas of the brain.
In the assessment of managing anxiety or panic disorder, we should stick to a balanced, healthy lifestyle to have a natural cure. After all it is always said that "Prevention is better than cure".
[1] DSM stands for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association. It is used in the United States as a system to classify, describe and diagnosis mental disorders. The DSM has undergone five updates since its first publication in the early 1950s. In 1994, the fourth update, the DSM-IV, was published. A "text revision" was added to the DSM-IV in 2000, making the most current publication the "DSM-IV-TR." The DSM-V is currently in the works and is scheduled for publication in 2012.
