Valium, Xanax, Ativan: They are among the world’s most popular drugs from populations starting in children/teens all the way up to the elderly. Our nation is under an anxiety epidemic, where we continually reach for the medicine cabinet for relief of anxiety, panic attacks, and all the symptoms related. It’s almost as common to see someone popping medication for anxiety as it is for the common cold. But what are the real consequences? Why is it that we never think twice about swallowing a few pills back with some cold water? It’s absurd how lightly individuals take and understand the real risks of joining the benzo bandwagon.
Anti-Anxiety medications (benzodiazepines) work by stimulating the GABA receptors in the brain to impact mood, sleep, pain, and anxiousness. I want to rephrase what I said: They chemically impact your brain. (The most complex and crucial organ within the body. So, you have been taking Benzo’s for a few years now, and for some reason your memory and clear thinking seems to be diminishing at an accelerated rate? Really?! You don’t say so!? It has been found that even the lowest dose of anti-anxiety medications produce effects where there are alterations in response to emergency and urgent situations due to the chemical effect on the brain.
Does Alzheimer’s scare you? It should! If you know any person or family that has been impacted by Alzheimer’s disease, then you know how difficult it can be. But did you know, using Benzodiazepines for at least 3 months with increase your risk of Alzheimer’s by 50%? Not only that, but emergency room visits due to anxiety medications has doubled in the last 15 years due to respiratory suppression or comas resulting form high doses.
The worst part about anti-anxiety medications, is they can be very habit-forming. Your brain will continually downregulate it’s sensitivity to the drug; therefore, causing individuals to need more over time to reap the same benefits. Which of course means you baseline state of anxiety without the use of drugs is actually increasing over time!! What kind of treatment or cure is that?! Is your anxiety meds making you anxious? Insomnia, irritability, increased panic and restlessness are the most common symptoms of anxiety medications!
These drugs are actually only found to be effective for acute panic attacks or high-risk situations. For all other types of day to day anxiety, there are much better ways to ease your mind. Things like meditation, massage, yoga, physical activity, chiropractic adjustments, and natural supplementation to the brain, GABA, and serotonin receptors is the best way to ease anxiety effectively and for long term. And guess what? These are all good for your health, and you can find these protocols and tools at Optimal Chiropractic in Crown Point, Indiana! Schedule an appointment today to see how we can help you reach a highest state of so you can live and function OPTIMALLY! Don’t forget to check out our new patient specials at www.crownpointchiro.com.
