Safety and risks of Alprazolam

Alprazolam has potential risks when used during pregnancy and should therefore be totally avoided if possible. Some studies have shown that when used in last trimester the fetus may develop dependence and then exhibit withdrawal symptoms after birth. In addition, it has been known to affect lactation as it goes through the placenta.

Before starting the use of Alprazolam notify your doctor of any former or current medical issues, possible allergies, any metabolism disorders, or any other drugs you are currently taking. Also, in cases of sugar intolerance consult your doctor first because various versions of this drug can contain lactose. Alprazolam should not be used in the following cases:

Heavy liver failure

Sleep apnea syndrome

Heavy respiratory insufficiency

Oversensitivity to any of the drugs from the benzodiazepine family or any other ingredient of the pill

Myasthenia gravis

Alprazolam should never be used without help for the treatment of depression or anxiety coupled with depression. Doctor should be notified if the patient is using alcohol or is addicted to alcohol, drugs or other medications. Alprazolam should not be used longer then prescribed. Longer exposure to the drug can cause physical and psychological addiction. In case of sudden stop in therapy, there is a chance to develop withdrawal symptoms, which can include headache, insomnia, muscle pain, over anxiety, tension, confusion and aggravation. In rare cases muscle cramps, vomit, sweating and convulsions are possible. The risk of developing withdrawal symptoms is increased when the therapy is ended abruptly so the dose needs to be constantly lowered to avoid this, 0.5 mgs every three days is recommended. Consuming alcohol drastically affects the way this drug works and while on the treatment, no alcohol should be consumed. Food does not affect the way this drug works. This drug affects psychophysical abilities of a person and special attention should be paid when operating motor vehicles or motorized machines.

This information can be related to the drugs the patient is no longer consuming, as well as the ones he is planning to use in the future. Please notify your doctor in case another drug was used until recently, including those that go without prescription. Before using Alprazolam, notify the doctor if you have used any of the following drugs:

Depressors of central nervous system (alcohol, antipsychotics, hypnotics, anxiolytics, sedatives, antidepressants, narcotic analgesics, antiepileptics, anesthetics and sedative antihistamines)

Anti fungal drugs (ketoconazole)

Cimetidine, Erythromycin, Fluoxetine, Itraconazole, Nefazodone, Ritonavir, Imipramine, Desipramine, Dextropropoxyphene

As with any other drug, there are possible side effects to using Alprazolam. If any of these should appear, stop using the drug and immediately contact your doctor.

Restlessness, unable to focus on anything;

Excitement, with possible bursts of aggression;

Anger, extreme anger and feeling of losing control over yourself;

Irritability, you easily get irritated by things that normally wouldn’t;

Unreal opinions and beliefs, you start believing in things that are obviously not real;

Memory loss;

Serious sedation and loss of coordination, similar state to that when you drink too much alcohol;

Jaundice, skin and eyes become colored in yellow

How to use and dose Alprazolam

Dosing varies on what Alprazolam is used to treat and it is decided by your doctor in most cases. In addition, depending on the age of the consumer, two main groups are adult and geriatric (Alprazolam should not be used by children). Also not these dosages are the most common used, but you should never take Alprazolam on your own hand, you should only take it if prescribed by your doctor for your specific conditions, and never exceed the dose you have been recommended by your doctor. In addition, to be noted when prescribing to elderly (geriatric) person is that they have increased sensitivity to drugs from the benzodiazepine tree, therefore also Alprazolam, doses over 2 mgs are not recommended because they meet Beers criteria for drugs that are potentially not suited for use by geriatric personnel. Therefore, smaller doses are probably more effective as well as a lot safer, and the daily dosage should only exceed suggested maximums in very rare cases.

Alprazolam has been known to cause withdrawal symptoms and when stopping the usage, it should not be done abruptly but gradually, see your doctor about gradually lowering your dosage. Also, after using this drug for a while, your body can form resistance to some of its effects and it may not work well, in this case do not increase the dosage by your own but contact your doctor. In addition, it is important to keep in contact with your doctor when using this drug and inform him regularly of how your treatment is working.

Usual adult doses:

For treating Depression: Initial dose should be 0.5 mgs orally, three times per day. This daily dose may be gradually increased, but not by more than 1 mgs every three to four days. Recommended average dose is to be around 3 mgs a day divided into three separate doses. Maximum allowed that has been tested is reportedly 4.5 mgs per day.

For treating panic disorders: Initial dose should be around 0.5 mgs orally, three times per day, and if needed and tolerated later increased every three to four days. Recommended average dose is anywhere between 1 to 10 mgs per day in separate doses.

For treating anxiety attacks: Initial dose should be 0.25 to 0.5 mgs orally three times per day. In addition, this dose can be increased every three to four days gradually if needed and tolerated. Recommended average dose should not exceed 4 mgs per day in separate doses.

Usual geriatric doses:

For treating Depression: Initial dose should be 0.25 mgs orally usually two to three times per day in elderly patients.

For treating Panic Disorders: In case of immediate-release tablets, initial dose should be 0.25 mgs orally two to three times a day. In case of extended release tablets, a dose of 0.5 mgs once per day (preferably in the morning) is recommended.

For treating Anxiety Attacks: Same as before an initial dose of 0.25 mgs orally two to three times a day is recommended

Effects & Benefits of Alprazolam medicine

In today’s busy lifestyle it is easy to get preoccupied with our jobs, our relationships, our family and everything else to take some time for ourselves and just relax and take it slowly. This will often lead to increased anxiety and possible panic attacks when put under a lot of stress. Alprazolam will not take those problems away, but will make them easier to manage and handle, and give you back the ability to focus and think without being overwhelmed and blocked by your anxiety. Main official uses of Alprazolam are the treating of panic attacks (sudden, unanticipated outbreaks of extreme fear and worry about such attacks), anxiety disorders, anxiety disorders coupled with depression, and some of the side effects of chemotherapy like nausea. In the US, the FDA has recommended that due to Alprazolam’s wide range of effects its uses be reassessed from time to time. This drug is only for short-term use and a doctor should be notified if any other drugs are used simultaneously.

Alprazolam has positive effects on handling of panic disorders, which may or may not include agoraphobia, it is also quite successful in assistance with medium to heavy anxiety and / or panic attacks. In clinical studies, patients have been treated with this drug usually for a period of four to ten weeks; however real patients have been treated for panic disorders non-stop for up to eight months without any obvious loss to the benefits. In case of anxiety disorders, patients have been successfully treated for up to four months without any loss to the drugs effect. In addition, it is proven to help patients who are suffering from cancer and have to undergo regular chemotherapy to get over the post treatment nausea effects. Alprazolam is also proven very effective for being taken as a precaution measure, examples include public speaking, for instance on a trial, or when having to have to fly an airplane if you are not comfortable, and all sorts of activities you would normally find stressful. Therefore it is always highly recommended to see a doctor and ask for a prescription of this drug if you are about to experience any of these or anything related, that you know will cause you stress. It is much better to take Alprazolam, considering its low chance of side effects, than experiencing anxiety with all its known effects that will surely make you take other drugs later to battle those symptoms.

It is also proven to have long lasting benefits on patients mental health, letting him sort out the problems that plague his life and to get back in control without being paralyzed by fear. In many cases, only a few rounds of this treatment have permanently changed the people’s life for better. Some studies have also shown that alprazolam when used with some other narcotics can alleviate the pains associated with cancers. Therefore, it has a lot of potential in that field and it is definitely something that will be researched in the future.

Basic facts about Alprazolam anxiety medicine

Alprazolam (Also known as Xalol, Xanax and other trade names) is a rather short duration anxiolytic medicine. It belongs to the benzodiazepines class of psychoactive medications. Alprazolam has positive effects on the central nervous system, and is often used to treat patients with most forms of panic disorders and anxiety disorders, such as SAD (socialized anxiety disorder) or GAD (generalized anxiety disorder). Alprazolam is usually administered orally via tablets. Alprazolam affects among others anticonvulsant, anxiolytic, hypnotic, skeletal muscle relaxant, sedative and amnesic properties.

Alprazolam is known for being fast acting and being able to relieve some of the symptoms in very short time. In case of panic attacks or preparations for a panic attack, some effects take place within the first hour after taking the tablet, and maximum effects exhibit around one and a half hour. In case of generalized anxiety, disorder more time is needed to reach full potential in some cases it may take over a week of using the drug regularly. In most cases, the tolerance development is observed for the sedative effect in a few days, but it does not appear for the anxiolytic effect. Withdrawal symptoms are also often observer if the treatment stops sharply, and therefore it is highly recommended that it be done gradually by slowly lowering the dosage. In practices, every drug from the benzodiazepine tree is known to cause a scaling, depending on the dose, lowering of the central nervous system activity, which can go from mild impairment of an ordinary task to almost cationic like hypnosis. It has been reported that unlike other drugs of its kind, alprazolam can also exhibit some antidepressant properties, but there is no clear clinical evidence of this occurrence.

Alprazolam has been firstly used in 1976 as the version named Xanax (as is most used today) and since then has seen a sharp increase in its uses. Even now, everyday new uses for it are found, but it is still a subject of many debates. This is mostly because a lot of doctors believe that taking sleeping pills in general is not a good idea, not only cause of the known effects of dependence, tolerance and withdrawal effect, but also daytime sleepiness or even memory loss. Latter effects have not been fully proven, but to counter those claims a new method of incorporating the drug into a liquid diet has been invented, and so far, it has successfully solved all of the concerns related to the traditional use of the drug.

Alprazolam is definitely the most famous and the most used drug from the benzodiazepine group in the world. Because of its famousness it is commonly misused and taken without prescription. When compared to other drugs, its potential for abusing is relatively low, because not many people increase the dosage on their own initiative or use Alprazolam before starting any drug seeking behavior. Now that you have the basic info you can go on and learn more about the facts that are making this medicine one of the best selling.

History and good sides of Alprazolam use

When this drug was firstly invented in 1969, it was primarily used to treat anxiety attacks with hospitalized patients, as there was not so much anxiety and stress involved daily as it is now. In today’s culture and lifestyle, it is normal for someone to live fast and to be under amazing levels of stress. In particular, management has become one of the leading jobs on the market and everything involving managing includes a great deal of stress. A person’s body can only take so much stress before the level of tolerance for it lowers, when we are young we are able to take large amounts of stress easily but later in life we lose that ability.

Then comes a time when a normal amount of stress affects us more than we are used to. It often leads to us breaking or taking it out on those people in our lives that have not deserved it. Not to mention most people are crippled by it and stop to function almost completely. After some time our body even physically starts to react on this and one by one our organs start losing their function and the whole machine system that is our body just starts falling apart. Therefore it is always much better to take simple dose of Alprazolam when we sense that this is happening to stop it in its tracks and not let the stress run rampage through or body and our lives. In the end, it will end up saving us a lot of money on many other medications that we would have to use later to remove or to manage all the side effects of prolonged exposure to stress, not to mention it will cost us our health, which really has no price. That is why Alprazolam is a great way to prevent these when we feel that we need it in our lives. Instead of being paralyzed by anxiety stop for a moment, take a deep breath and face your problems, when you cannot and need a little help Alprazolam is there for you.

Alprazolam is a great drug in its field, it is much better than any similar drugs because it also acts fast and because it can be used for a prolonged period. Alprazolam is widely recognized as the alpha and omega when it comes to treating anxiety and panic disorders. It is the most famous drug of it is kind for a reason, because it really works; it has been used effectively since the seventies by millions of people worldwide. It has been sanctioned by the entire world leading drug control organizations to be safe and effective. Alprazolam is and has been the most prescribed drug of its kind on the market since its discovery in 1970s and up today, there are many drugs of similar effects but only original Alprazolam (or the local variety) is the best solution for anxiety disorders, not only long lasting ones, but also for all the short term ones like speaking in public, or flying on an airplane.