Minor tranquilizers drugs

Minor tranquilizer. A drug useful in the control of anxiety. Also referred to as anxiolytic. 

Antipsychotics are drugs that have a specific sedative effect, and which improve the attitude and calm the behavior of psychotic patients. They do not cause dependence, and have been proposed for treating psychotic disorders (elimination of psychotic symptomatology— delirium, hallucinations) and schizophrenic patients. Drugs of this group are also frequently referred to as neuroleptics. The term major tranquilizer was used previously to distinguish them from minor tranquilizers/anxiolytics. 

Antianxiety drugs or minor tranquillizers used in anxiety. 

By and large the drug treatments for AD merely attempt to diminish the impact of the psychiatric symptoms. Major and minor tranquilizers and antidepressants, which we will be discussing shortly, can help in the management of AD victims in the early stages of the condition. Attempts have been made to treat apparent decreases in the amount of acetylcholine in the hippocampal area of the brain. This is due to lower choline acetyl transferase activity. Acetylcholinesterase... 

The minor tranquilizers include a variety of compounds used to treat anxiety, tension, irritability, and stress. This is in contrast to the major tranquilizers which are found in the treatment of overt mental disease such as schizophrenia and manic-depression. The terms minor and major should not be construed to refer to the relative toxicity of these drugs. All are CNS depressants and this pharmacological class are potentially lethal. 

Benzodiazepines are also known as minor tranquilizers. Not as potent or dangerous as barbiturates, the benzodiazepines do find use as antianxiety drugs because of their safety and efficacy. In higher doses they will also induce sleep. All benzodiazepines cause a dose-... 

There is a very great demand for drugs for the relief of anxiety. This was formerly met by the use of alcohol, bromides or barbiturates, which carried the risk of abuse or dangerous toxicity. The first of the modern minor tranquilizers, introduced from 1946 onwards, were drugs described as skeletal muscle relaxants. These were mainly derivatives of polyhydric alcohols, but heterocyclic examples included metaxolone (161), which is related to the aryl ethers of glycerol, chlorzoxazone (162) and chlormezanone (163). Dantrolene sodium (164) is a muscle relaxant and CNS depressant. 

Schedule IV - Drugs have an accepted medical use and are generally the long-acting barbiturates,hypnotics and minor tranquilizers, e.g., meprobamate, phenobarbital. 

Sedative A drug that produces a calming effect and serves to pacify the patient. These agents are sometimes referred to as minor tranquilizers. 

The term minor tranquilizer (which has been replaced by the more precise terms sedative-hypnotic or anxiolytic ) refers to drugs used to treat conditions such as insomnia and anxiety. Because they reduce anxiety and produce pleasantly sedating or tranquilizing effects, these drugs are more subject to abuse than the neuroleptics. 

Like the neuroleptics, all of the commonly used minor tranquilizers—with the possible exception of bus-pirone (BuSpar)—are CNS depressants. Unlike the neuroleptics, however, these drugs are called sedative-hypnotics because they produce relaxation (sedation) at lower doses and sleep (hypnosis) and eventually coma at higher ones. The anxiolytic (antianxiety) effect is merely an early stage of CNS depression. 

Although the major and minor tranquilizers are used for their ability to depress CNS activity, these classes of drugs are used to manage a variety of specific symptoms and conditions. 

Since the early 1960s, the BZDs have accounted for more than half the total world sales of tranquilizers. As of 2002, the BZDs were the most commonly prescribed class of tranquilizers in the United States. According to FDA data, however, there has been a dramatic decline in the use of minor tranquilizers and other antianxiety drugs since 1975, when prescriptions peaked at 103 million. An American Psychiatric Association task force report estimates that annual prescriptions for BZDs have leveled off since the mid-1980s to about 61 million. 

Regular use of the sedative-hypnotics may result in tolerance—the need for increasing doses to achieve the same effect. Within two to four weeks, tolerance can develop to the sedative effect of minor tranquilizers taken at night for sleep. Thus, these drugs are not usually used prescribed for more than a few days at a time. 

The major and minor tranquilizers are legal as manufactured and prescribed and are classified as Schedule n,m, or IV controlled substances under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). However, manufacturing, distributing, and selling these drugs without a prescription are subject to federal and state penalties. The CSA dictates penalties of up to 15 years imprisonment and fines up to 25,000 for unlawful distribution or possession of a controlled substance. 

Another consideration is the extent of other drug usage. Chronic alcoholics and heavy narcotics users who are on maintenance doses usually need about twice the ordinary amount of LSD to arrive at comparable effects. (Narcotics users who have been free of opiates for less than a year are often hypersensitive, and their dosage must be adjusted with great care. Pretreatment with a minor tranquilizer may be indicated.)... 

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA, 2006), in 1999, there were about 100 million prescriptions written. According to IMS Health (2007), they have not yet fallen off the charts. The BZs were 10th in the nation in sales, with over 80 million prescriptions written. Antianxiety agents (anxiolytics or minor tranquilizers) remain among the most commonly used drugs in both medicine and psychiatry. 

Since their invention, the minor tranquilizers have achieved enormous popularity in medicine. Doctors have written millions upon millions of prescriptions for them, and pharmaceutical companies have made billions of dollars by promoting and selling them as antianxiety agents. In fact, these drugs have been among the most widely prescribed drugs in the world. 

The first minor tranquilizer to be released to the world was meprobamate ii appeared in 1954 under the brand name Mil-town, and within a short time after its appearance, people were holding Miltown parties—taking the drug socially and recrea-tionally, just to get high. 

The most popular minor tranquilizers appeared in the 1960s =— a family of drugs called benzodiazepines. Some of the most famous are chlordiazepoxide (Lihrium), diazepam (Valium), flu-razepam (Dalmane), triazolam (Halcion), alprazolam (Xanax), and lorazepam (Ativan). The manufacturer of Librium and Valium, once a small company selling vitamins and antacids, is now one of the most powerful pharmaceutical corporations in the world. 

The pharmaceutical industry has tried hard to convince doctors and patients that these chemicals arc revolutionary drugs that specifically reduce anxiety, making people calm and relaxed. In fact, the minor tranquilizers are just another variation on the theme of alcohol and other sedative-hypnotics, with the same tendency to produce adverse effects and dependence. 

In most cases, abuse of the minor tranquilizers, particularly of Valium, Librium, and Miltown, has resulted from irresponsible practices of marketing and prescribing. In promoting these drugs, the manufacturers portrayed stresses of everyday life as disease... 

Do not combine psychedelics with other drugs. However, the interesting effects of psychedelics sometimes wear off while their stimulation continues. If you feel agitated, restless, and unable to sleep at the end of an experience with one of these drugs, it may be appropriate to take a hypnotic dose of a sleeping pill or minor tranquilizer. 

Sedative-hypnotics A class of depressants that induces restfulness m low doses and sleep in higher doses. Alcohol, barbiturates, and the minor tranquilizers make up this class of drugs... 

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