In this episode, I discuss 10 medications used to treat anxiety:
Hey everybody welcome back to drug talk as always i’m your host gary campbell in today’s video we’re going to be discussing 10 medications used to treat anxiety before i talk about the medications themselves just keep in mind that this channel is for information purposes only and not to use as a source for recommendations for your personal health care this video
Is really just to give you an idea of what’s out there in terms of medications used to treat anxiety so we’re only going to scratch the surface on each medication if you’re looking for more information on any of these medications i’ve covered them all in the past so just simply type in the name of the drug in the youtube search bar followed by drug talk and you
Should find my videos anyway i put together some slides to go over this information so let’s just jump right into it the first medication to cover here would be lorazepam or adivan which is a benzodiazepine medication would not be used to prevent anxiety rather when you have anxiety you would take this medication to subside the symptoms this medication binds
Highly to gamma aminobutyric acid or gaba benzodiazepine receptor complex without displacing gaba it binds to a specific attachment site to improve gaba’s attraction to its own receptor site on the receptor complex in terms of dosing the initial dose would be two to three milligrams per day orally divided in two or three daily doses for a maintenance dose
We would usually see two to six milligrams per day again orally divided in two or three daily doses doses may vary from one to ten milligrams per day some side effects of this medication would be asthenia or abnormal weakness which may happen four percent of the time dizziness may happen seven percent of the time and sixteen percent of patients may experience
Sedation three percent of patients may experience unsteadiness and some patients may experience depression one serious side effect would be delirium next up we have a similar medication clonazepam or clonopin for this medication the mechanism of action is related to its capacity again to enhance gaba activity which is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the
Central nervous system for dosing with this medication the initial dose would be 0.25 milligrams orally twice daily after about three days the patient may increase the dose in increments of 0.125 milligrams 0.25 milligrams twice daily every three days to a target dose of one milligram per day some patients however may benefit from doses up to four milligrams per
Day in terms of side effects with clonazepam we may see coordination problems six percent of the time eight percent of patients may experience dizziness while 37 to 50 percent high percentage here may experience somnolence problematic behavior may occur 25 percent of the time and eight percent of the time we may see an upper respiratory infection fatigue comes
In at seven percent ataxia up to 30 percent and one serious side effect would be depression another benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety would be alprazolam or xanax this medication exerts its effects by binding to various stereospecific receptors in the central nervous system it may also exhibit antidepressant properties which differentiate differentiates it
From other benzodiazepines in terms of dosing with alprazolam for the immediate release formulation 0.25 milligrams to 0.5 milligrams orally three times daily patients may increase every three to four days if necessary and the maximum dose would be four milligrams per day given in divided doses in terms of side effects with alprazolam we may see a decreased
Appetite seven to twenty eight percent of the time we also may see an increased appetite seven to thirty three percent of the time three to twenty seven percent of patients may experience an increase in their weight and up to twenty six percent may experience constipation reduced salivation may happen 33 percent of the time which could cause xerostomia 10 to
15 of the time cognitive disorder may happen up to 29 of the time and up to 10 percent of patients may experience confusion dominance can occur up to 76 percent of the time with alprazolam irritability comes in at 33 another benzodiazepine used to treat anxiety would be diazepam or valium the mechanism of action is thought to involve potentiation again of gaba
Neurotransmitter resulting from the binding at the benzodiazepine site of the gaba-a receptor or dosing with diazepam we may see two to ten milligrams orally two to four times a day depending on symptom severity we could also see it given two to ten milligrams intramuscularly or intravenously every three to four hours again depending on symptom severity some
Side effects with diazepam or valium would be ataxia dizziness a headache in coordination dominance euphoria and then serious side effects would be suicidal thoughts or central nervous system depression the next medication here used to treat anxiety would be buspirone or bus pair so buspirone exhibits high affinity for serotonin 5ht1a receptors moderate affinity
For brain d2 dopamine receptors and no significant affinity for benzodiazepine receptors this medication is unlike the other ones where it’s not a benzodiazepine dosing with busperone we would start with an initial dose of 7.5 milligrams orally twice daily with the option to increase the dose by five milligrams per day every two to three days as needed and then
The usual dose would level out between twenty and thirty milligrams per day given in divided doses the maximum dose would be sixty milligrams per day in terms of side effects with bisperone eight percent of patients may experience nausea 12 percent may experience dizziness and a headache may happen six percent of the time ten percent of patients may experience
Somnolence and nervousness comes in at five percent a serious side effect with this medication would be congestive heart failure next up we have e-citalopram or lexapro also known as ciprolex so this medication is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor it is also the s enantiomer of racemic cetalopram another medication you may have heard of esatalopram enhances
Serotonergic activity in the central nervous system as a result of its inhibition of 5-ht or serotonin reuptake in the central nervous system neurons in terms of dosing the initial dose would typically be 10 milligrams per day orally as a single dose given in the morning or in the evening the patient may increase the dose to 20 milligrams per day after at least one
Week of therapy in terms of side effects with esotalopram abdominal pain may happen two percent of the time three to six percent of patients may experience constipation diarrhea can happen six to fourteen percent of the time and up to eighteen percent of patients may experience nausea zero stomach can happen between four and nine percent of the time and then we
Have dizziness between four and seven percent of the time up to twenty four percent may experience a headache and up to fourteen percent of patients may experience insomnia there’s a possibility of sexual dysfunction with this medication as well as fatigue which comes in at five to eight percent of the time one serious side effect with isotalopram or lexapro would
Be serotonin syndrome the next medication here used to treat anxiety would be chlorazipate or genzine so chlorazipate is a benzodiazepine anxiolytic or medication used to treat anxiety with the depressant effects on the central nervous system in terms of dosing if you’re using the immediate release formulation we may see 15 to 60 milligrams per day orally given in
Divided doses the usual dose would be 30 milligrams per day again in divided doses however some patients may start with 15 milligrams give given at bedtime one side effect with this medication a common side effect would be somnolence next medication we have to discuss here would be doxa pin or cylinder but doctor possesses pharmacologic properties similar to other
Tricyclic antidepressants the exact mechanism of action on anxiety is not completely understood in terms of dosing using the capsules the initial dose would be 75 milligrams per day orally for mild to moderate severity illness if anxiety is very mild it may be the patient may be controlled with 25 to 50 milligrams per day orally they may gradually increase the
Dose to 300 milligrams per day in more severe cases and the usual dosing range would be 75 to 150 milligrams orally daily in a single dose or in divided doses or side effects with doxa pen constipation may happen four percent of the time nausea may happen two percent of the time zero stomia or dry mouth may happen fifteen percent of the time up to ten percent
Of patients may experience dizziness and up to nine percent may experience somnolence urinary retention may occur as well as an upper respiratory infection which may happen two to four percent of the time one serious side effect with doxa pin would be hypotension or low blood pressure next up we have duloxetine or cymbalta the duloxetine is a selective serotonin
And norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor in terms of dosing the initial dose would typically be 60 milligrams orally daily but some patients may start with 30 milligrams orally once daily for one week and then increase to 60 milligrams orally once daily the maximum dose would be 120 milligrams orally once daily for side effects one percent of patients may experience
Weight loss nine and a half percent may experience constipation and a decrease in appetite may happen six to eight percent of the time diarrhea comes in between six and nine percent and nausea may happen up to twenty five percent of the time dystomia or dry mouth may happen up to 14 of the time fatigue may occur and one serious side effect with duloxetine would
Be a hypert hypertensive crisis and the last medication we have to discuss here is trifluoperazine or stellazine so trifluoroperizine is a phenothiazine that has effective activity against anxiety and schizophrenia it also exhibits anticholinergic activity in terms of dothing dosing with trifluorophyrazine we may see one to two milligrams orally twice daily and
Should be noted here that doses should not be administered at doses of over six milligrams per day or longer than 12 weeks in terms of side effects we may see hypotension or low blood pressure diminished sweating hype photosensitivity sorry constipation dyrostomia or dry mouth dizziness dystonia parkinsonism dominance or tardive dyskinesia blurred vision urinary
Retention and then a serious side effect would be prolonged qt interval all right everybody that’s all we’re going to talk about today with 10 different medications used to treat anxiety as always i’m very thankful you took the time to get by watching my videos if you found the information valuable you’d like to help grow this channel remember you can like the
Videos share the videos and most importantly subscribe to the youtube channel there’s also some links in the description you can check out as well for today take care
Transcribed from video
10 Medications That Treat Anxiety | Lorazepam, Clonazepam, Alprazolam, Buspirone, etc. By Drug Talk