Side Effects of Anti Anxiety Medications

The side effects of anti anxiety medication is very strong, especially when it comes to Benzos (Klonopin, Xanax etc).  These type of medications are really meant for short term.  For an example, they are prescribed to people that are going through a job loss, death in a family, or any other short term stressful event.  However, doctors seem like they pass these things out to anyone that has a little anxiety and don't care about the long term consequences.

Anti anxiety side effects from taking these medications can include depression, disorientation, sensation of skin crawling, headaches, nausea and a host of many more problems.  If you are thinking about taking Xanax or Klonopin for a short time to get you through a rough patch of your life, that's fine.  However, I wouldn't recommend you taking it more than a week.  There's been to many people with the advice of their doctor to take these type of meds and end up becoming addicted to them.  So if your considering going on any type of Benzo medication, only take them for a few days and that's it.

However, if you are already on Benzo medication and have been on them for months or even years, then I'm pretty sure you are aware that you are addicted to whatever med your taking.  If this is true, there are ways of slowly tapering off the medicine that you are on - but it won't be easy.  It's very tough to do and it may take up to two to three years to totally recover.  However, there are ways to relieve the withdrawal symptoms.  A few of them would be meditation, exercise and taking something called gaba. 

Please do not exercise any of the above opinions until you consult with your doctor.  I believe these medications should be taken only a couple times.  However, many people will swear by Benzo medications and will say that it has helped them in many ways...but there are also many more people who wished they never took these anti-anxiety meds in the first place.