Panic and Anxiety: Hell on Earth
This week I spoke with a patient from California who told me her family doctor was going to treat her anxiety with Wellbutrin. While this medication has some use as a medication with no sexual side effects, it is usually not very helpful in treating anxiety. It is a good anti-depressant. An exception might be when the anxiety is only present with depression.
Another patient from New York told me his Internist is going to treat his panic with Lexapro. You will find a number of articles on this site that support Lexapro, but it rarely will treat panic attacks 100%.
Another patient from New Jersey told me their chiropractor was selling SAM-e for anxiety. They liked this treatment since it was natural. Of course I am interested in SAM-e and have a patent pending on transdermal SAMe which does not appear to cause GI side effects. Also, the oral form off my website is 40% the cost she paid her chiropractor. But my real concern is that SAM-e does not help panic attacks and pure anxiety.
Finally, a patient from New Hampshire was treated by an older psychiatrist with trazodone. When I asked the patient if he was aware of the side effects of this medication, he looked at me like I had five heads. This old medication can cause priapism—a dangerous erection that involves blood stuck in the penus. In 33% of priapism cases, surgical intervention was required and can cause permanent impairment of erectile function. Further, trazodone may cause heart arrhythmias in some patients. Finally, trazodone, like most other antidepressants, has a risk of seizures.
There are many options in the treatment of anxiety. Some involve prescription or non-prescription medications or supplements. Others involve special types of therapy.
My concern is that fear of the DEA and state boards will cause physicians to avoid using well-known anti-anxiety medications. If the correct ones are used, these have a high rate of success. If they fail, usually some illness or infection is being missed.
If you have any of these symptoms, get treatment and begin to enjoy life with less fear.
Panic and Anxiety Symptoms
- Palpitations
- Restlessness
- Heart pounding
- A racing heart
- Feeling keyed up
- Feeling on edge
- Sweats
- Trembling
- Shortness of breath
- A sense of smothering
- A choking sensation
- Chest pain
- Chest aches
- Easy fatigue
- Nausea
- Abdominal discomfort
- Muscle tension
- Dizziness
- Lightheaded
- Blank thinking
- Feeling detached from oneself
- Fear of losing control
- Fear of going crazy
- Fear of death
- Numbness
- Tingling sensations
- Trouble falling asleep
- Chills
- Hot flushes
- Difficulty concentrating
These can be helped. So why suffer any longer?
Dr. J
