Anxiety drugs relieving

In anesthesia drugs from several groups are used as premedication. Pre-anesthetic medication can decrease the anesthetic doses which otherwise would be required to induce anesthesia and so decrease the risk for adverse effects. Pre-anesthetic medication will increase the rate of induction of anesthesia and can reduce pre-operative pain and anxiety. Drugs include benzodiazepines for sedation and their muscle relaxant properties, opiates for pain relieve and anticholinergics or histamine Hi receptor antagonists against nausea and vomiting. Neuroleptics are also used as premedication for their antiemetic effects. 

Kava contains a substance called dihydrokavain, which is a mild sedative and pain reliever. Preliminary research shows that kava reduces nervous anxiety, tension, and agitation, although these effects usually take at least a week, and often a month or more, to set in. Although other anti-anxiety drugs such as benzodiazepines are more effective than kava, the herb does not seem to impair mental functioning or reaction times the way benzodiazepines do. 

Anti-anxiety drugs. The most used of the anxiolytics are the benzodiazepines which not only relieve anxiety, and relax skeletal muscle, but can suppress convulsions, all accomplished apparently by augmenting the inhibitory transmission effected by gamma-aminobutyric acid in the spinal cord (Choi, Farb, and Fischbach, 1977). Discovered in 1933, the benzodiazepines gained clinical acceptance about 1965 (Zbinden and Randall, 1967). The first used member was chlordiazepoxide ( Librium ) followed by the simpler, but more potent, diazepam (/J.//) ( Valium ). Some think that diazepam is a pro-drug for oxazepam ( Serax ) which is a N-demethylated and 3-hydroxylated metabolic product, and is frequently prescribed as such. Related benzodiazepines such as nitrazepam ( Mogadon ) and flurazepam are much used as hypnotics in the place of barbiturates. 

Midazolam (Versed), a short-acting benzodiazepine CNS depressant, is used as a preanesthetic drug to relieve anxiety for induction of anesthesia for conscious sedation before minor procedures, such as endoscopic procedures and to supplement nitrous oxide and oxygen for short surgical procedures. When the drug is used for induction anesthesia, the patient gradually loses consciousness during a period of 1 to 2 minutes. 

The nurse usually gives tiiese drug in die outpatient setting. If the patient is in the hospital or clinic, the nurse observes the patient for die expected effects of die antihistamine and for adverse reactions. The nurse reports adverse reactions to the primary health care provider. In some instances, drowsiness or sedation may occur. When the drug is given to relieve preoperative anxiety, these adverse reactions are expected and are allowed to occur. 

Antidepressants are commonly used to treat both acute withdrawal and persistent anxiety or insomnia. There is evidence to suggest that they are effective in relieving some acute abstinence symptoms, but it has been more difficult to establish their effectiveness in long-term discontinuation. Antidepressants with sedative and antianxiety effects are the preferred drugs. 

The oldest anti-anxiety agent is undoubtedly alcohol and it is certain that this drug is still routinely self-administered for this purpose. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, bromide salts were used to relieve conditions akin to anxiety despite the risk of a characteristic toxic delirium, known as bromism . Alternative treatments, such as paraldehyde and chloral hydrate, were also widely used but these too had adverse effects the former can cause psychosis but the latter is still used as a sedative and anaesthetic agent. 

As the first SNRI drug approved, venlafaxine has become one of the first-line choices for depression and anxiety disorder [45,46]. An active metabolite, desvenlafaxine (19), is also under clinical development for the treatment of major depressive disorders [47], Preclinical studies also indicate that 19 may be effective in relieving vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause (e.g., hot flushes and night sweats) [47,48]. Desvenlafaxine is reported to be in clinical development for the treatment of fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain, as well as vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause [68]. 

The selectivity of the SSRIs does not mean that they are totally without side effects. First, serotonin-secreting nerve cells are distributed throughout the brain and control a wide array of nervous system activities. As a result, increasing serotonin not only relieves depression, it can also produce many side effects such as abdominal discomfort, sexual dysfunction, and anxiety. Second, the selectivity of the SSRIs is not absolute but relative. Although the main action of the SSRIs is the same, they do have differences. For patients, this means that the drug interactions and side effects of the SSRIs vary somewhat. It also means that a patient who does not respond to one SSRI may respond to another. 

A series of tranquilizers, drugs that relieve anxiety and nervous tension without impairing consciousness, have a benzene ring fused to a seven-membered ring containing two nitrogens. As a group they are called benzodiazepines. The two most successful are diazepam (Valium ) and chlordiazepoxide (Librium ) introduced in 1964 and 1960, respectively. Flurazepam (Dalmane ), first used in 1970, is a hypnotic. 

Mephobarbital is used as a sedative agent for relieving anxiety and tension as well as for major and minor epileptic attacks. Synonyms for this drug are barbefenal, enfenemal, and methylphenobarbital. 

All central nervous system depressants have some ability to relieve anxiety. However, most of these drugs... 

Buspirone (BuSpar) is the first example of a class of anxiolytic agents that can relieve some symptoms of anxiety in doses that do not cause sedation. Buspirone is structurally unrelated to existing psychotropic drugs. 

Withdrawal from long-term high-dose use of alcohol or sedative-hypnotic drugs can be life threatening if physical dependence is present. Benzodiazepines, such as chlordiazepoxide Librium) and diazepam Valium), are sometimes used to lessen the intensity of the withdrawal symptoms when alcohol or sedative-hypnotic drug use is discontinued. Benzodiazepines are also employed to help relieve the anxiety and other behavioral symptoms that may occur during rehabilitation. 

Buspirone has selective anxiolytic effects, and its pharmacologic characteristics are different from those of other drugs described in this chapter. Buspirone relieves anxiety without causing marked sedative, hypnotic, or euphoric effects. Unlike benzodiazepines, the drug has no anticonvulsant or muscle relaxant properties. Buspirone does not interact directly with GABAergic systems. It may exert its anxiolytic effects by acting as a partial agonist at brain 5-HTia receptors, but it also has affinity for brain dopamine D2 receptors. Buspirone-treated patients show no... 

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