Do you struggle with anxiety? Have you tried to address it, but still feel anxious?
Maybe it’s your medication.
Suzy Cohen, RPh, writes on her blog about certain medications that can actually make anxiety symptoms worse. She notes the difference between general anxiety disorder (GAD) and instances of anxiety or individual panic attacks. People who have GAD struggle with anxiety constantly. Getting through life can be difficult if worries about issues like personal finance or one’s health are constant.
A Prescription for Anxiety?
Cohen argues that anxiety may be linked to the medication prescribed by doctors everyday. For instance:
- Allergy medication: These meds contains the stimulant pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine is a commonly used decongestant.
- Tranquilizers: Drugs meant to help you relax, but can contain medications derived from anxiety-inducing benzodiazepine.
- Sleeping pills: These pills help you sleep, but don’t actually allow a natural sleep experience, interrupting REM sleep. Lack of sleep or is linked to anxiety.
- Antidepressant medication: These meds help with your mood. Often they induce anxiety instead. They may also cause other issues such as tremors, nervousness, and insomnia.
- Migraine drugs: These drugs contain triptans which often trigger feelings of fear in people.
- Birth Control or hormone replacement therapy medication: Birth control contains estrogen hormones that can cause anxiety. These drugs also sap the body of B vitamins, which are useful to the human body for preventing stress.
- Asthma medication: Albuterol inhalers are helpful for those in respiratory distress, but may leave you feeling hyperactive. Other asthma drugs like salmeterol or theophylline can cause anxiety temporarily too.
- Levodopa: Used in Parkinson’s medications, this drug can not only cause anxiety, but also induce crying spells for those who take it.
Want to learn more about how medications can play a role with causing anxiety? Read the full article here: “Are You Taking a Medication that Causes Anxiety?”
