Panic attack medications are generally of three types—benzodiazepines, antidepressants, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The doctors often prescribe these medications singly or in a combination. In most mild cases of panic attacks, benzodiazepines can give total relief; however, if the panic attacks are severe, the doctor may decide to give a combinations of the above mentioned drug types.

Two of the most common benzodiazepines that are prescribed for panic attacks are as follows:

o    Alprazolam (Xanax)
o    Clonazepam (Klonopin)

As with most panic disorder medications, the first major concern is whether the medication is safe. Alprazolam has been approved by FDA for the treatment of panic disorders. However, most doctors will give you all the pros and cons of this medication when he or she prescribes it. In addition to relief from panic attacks, Alprazolam is also given to patients who are suffering from generalized anxiety disorder. The Alprazolam dosage depends on the severity of the mental condition.

Alprazolam can be taken either on a daily basis or as per the requirement. However, this does not mean that you stop the medication if you are feeling better. Before you discontinue any panic attack medication, you need to take prior permission of the consulting doctor.

One major advantage of the Alprazolam medication is that it gives faster relief than the other medications. Often patients who are suffering from panic attacks and anxiety disorders feel relieved within a week.

Alprazolam has few disadvantages which need to be understood by the patient properly. One of the major disadvantages is that approximately 10 to 20 percent of panic attack or anxiety disorder patients do not respond to this medication. If you happen to be among the unlucky few then your doctor may prescribe other medications. Under any circumstances you must not take Alprazolam if you are pregnant. Even if you are planning to be pregnant during the treatment, you may have to put a hold on the plans.

In addition, if you are a lactating mother, then you are not advised to take Alprazolam. Drinking alcohol during the Alprazolam treatment is very risky because it can cause drowsiness and increased intoxication effects. As long as you are taking the Alprazolam medication, you will have total relief from panic attacks or anxiety attacks. However, as soon as you stop taking the Alprazolam medication, the panic attacks will come back to haunt you as they did in the past. Never give up—stand up against it and fight it.

Most panic treatments by using medications will have a major drawback and that is dependency. Without the panic attack medications, you will feels as if you have come to the point from where you had started. After taking the panic attack medications for few months, you will surely think of methods of curing it permanently. Frustration creeps in and you crave to be like normal human beings. From most places you will get the same reply that panic attacks are not curable. This feeling will at times drive you crazy and your mental condition may worsen.

Most patients try out the panic attack medications and then try out some other alternative therapies such as yoga, medication, self-hypnosis, and so on. For many patients, these alternative therapies do help, but it takes a lot of time and effort to control the symptoms of panic attacks. Some of the patients do these alternative therapies during the panic attack medical treatment and are benefited by the combination of the treatments. Many psychiatrists feel that the panic attacks are behavioral problems and can be easily treated by making changes to the behavioral patterns.

The whole idea of the panic treatment is to come back to normal and the patients must do all that is possible to attain normal behavior. Medicines are not advisable in the long run because of their potential side effects that become severe as the time goes by. Making changes to ones daily life and preventing oneself from entering a panic situation are good ways of keeping a check on the panic attacks. During the panic treatment, the support of your family and friends is needed a lot. They are the ones closest to you and they understand you better.

Living or coping with anxiety attacks is not easy. Many people feel that if they are affected by anxiety attacks or anxiety disorders then it is the end of the world for them. The worry of having such a disorder is more painful than the disorder itself. Most doctors will give you tips on coping with anxiety attacks. If you feel that the doctor’s advice is not sufficient; you can find other means of getting information. Never let the anxiety attacks get the better of you. Fight it till you can and you will definitely succeed.

In severe cases of panic or anxiety attacks, people don’t know what they are doing and the react in a very strange way. Members and relative members need to be informed about your mental condition so that they can help you when you are in distress. During a panic attack, if the family members are close to you, then it is their duty to keep you calm. Along with you, the family members must also be give training for the first aid treatment.

If you have the information on the details of a panic attack, then you need to share it with the family members. If you are about to get married to your spouse, then you need to tell everything about your mental condition. Your spouse is the closest to you so he or she must be the first to know about your bad health issues. Getting away from family and friends will do you no good.

Staying alone can sometimes have negative implications on your health.
When you are alone, you think more about your terrible mental condition and in rare cases it has induced suicides also. In a typical panic attack the patient may feel as if he or she is going to die immediately. The panic attack may last for few minutes to half an hour, but the after effects often cause a major worry for the patients. Because the panic attack does not come with any warning, the patients feel more and more insecure. Some people suffering from panic disorders run helter-skelter for the panic attack treatment.

Most may land up with the doctors and some may land up doing alternative therapies. Most of the medications that are available for the panic and anxiety attacks are good and safe. They may have some side effects, but you need to take it with a pinch of salt. A panic attack medication without any side effects is very rare and sometimes impossible to find. Therapy is considered to be the best panic attack treatment, when you want good results with zero side effects. There is no permanent cure for panic of anxiety attacks.

Patients who are asked to take any medications must be made aware of the fact that panic or anxiety attacks are not curable. Any website or quack prophesizing that they can cure the panic or anxiety attacks completely, then you may want to see the authenticity of the panic attack treatment.

There are cheap panic or anxiety attack treatments that are giving very good offers such as ‘buy one get one free’ or ‘buy one and get a win a holiday for two to the Bahamas’. Don’t fall prey to these useless offers and always play it safe.

Other than medications, the doctor may recommend a therapy called as the cognitive behavior therapy, which concentrates on developing the positive behaviors for the panic attack treatment. The cognitive behavior therapy may be a little too expensive than the medications, but if the doctor advises this treatment, then you better undergo this treatment option as well.

During the cognitive behavior therapy treatment, you will have to concentrate hard on your behavior. The cognitive behavior therapy encompasses the following:

o    Learning
o    Monitoring
o    Breathing
o    Rethinking
o    Exposing

The main job of the therapist who will be doing the cognitive behavior treatment is to take you on a guided tour of the above mentioned components of the cognitive behavior treatment. A deep understanding of the key concepts is very much necessary for the success of the cognitive behavior treatment. The main goal of the cognitive behavior treatment is to change your attitude toward the panic attack.

Most people who suffer from a panic attack will know how dreadful they feel during the panic attack. During a panic attack, the human body automatically triggers the fight-or-flight response, when there is no danger at all. A mild panic attack may be controlled easily, but when a panic attack is recurring frequently, then it can be an indication of panic disorder. Panic disorder is one level higher than a panic attack. According to experts, if a panic attack is not treated in time, they may lead to panic disorders.

Most of the patients who are suffering from a panic attack find it very difficult to carry out any adventurous activities as they have fear that they may get a panic attack. Identifying the symptoms of a panic attack is very important and when you find the first signs of panic attack symptoms, you need to seek medical advice immediately. Common panic attack symptoms are:

o    Shaking
o    Dizziness
o    Heart pounding
o    Sweating
o    Chocking
o    Chest pain
o    Chills and hot flashes
o    A feeling of unreality or going crazy

In addition to the above mentioned symptoms, the patient may also feel as if he or she is going to die. The terms panic attack and anxiety attack are often used interchangeably. Some experts believe that anxiety attack is the milder version of a panic attack. The three most common treatment options for a panic attack are anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants, and therapy. SSRI or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors are common antidepressants that are taken for the treatment of a panic attack. Paxil and Zoloft are the most common SSRI antidepressants that are prescribe by the doctors.

SSRI antidepressants increase the amount of serotonin in the patient's brain and often give total relief to the patients. It usually takes approximately two to four weeks for this medication to show its effects on the human body, so if you are taking SSRI antidepressants then you need to be very patient with the doctor. In addition to the SSRI antidepressants, the doctors may also prescribe Tricyclic antidepressants. The Tricyclic antidepressants are very similar in action as the SSRI antidepressants.

The Tricyclic antidepressants increase the amount of norepinephrine in the human brain, thereby giving relief to the patient. On the side effects front, one thing that you need to keep in mind is that both the above mentioned antidepressants have side effects. Given a choice, most patients would prefer the SSRI antidepressants over the Tricyclic antidepressants because latter has more side effects than the former. However, in the long run, both SSRI antidepressants and Tricyclic depressants are safe to the human body.

Medications are the most popularly advised and recommended anxiety treatments. With the help of such anxiety treatments, most patients have got a lot of relief from the vicious symptoms of anxiety attacks. If you are not getting the desired medications that are prescribed by the medical professionals, then you may want to get the medications changed immediately.

If the antidepressants don’t work, then the doctors may prescribe another group of medications known as anti-anxiety drugs. The anti-anxiety drugs often work as tranquilizers to the body and mainly increase the activity of GABA or gamma-aminobutyric acid. GABA is a neurotransmitter and is present in the brain of human beings.

If you find that antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs are not giving you the desired results, then you may want to try out alternative anxiety treatments such as therapy. Most of the doctors will ask you to try out therapy in conjunction with antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs or other panic medications. Always do as the doctor tell you and you will surely find relief with the various anxiety treatments that are available.

One of the most commonly accepted therapies for the treatment of a panic attack is the cognitive behavioral therapy. This therapy is often used in conjunction with the panic medications and is totally safe for the human body. Many believe that the cognitive behavioral therapy has many side effects in the mind and behavior of the patients. Yes, the cognitive behavioral therapy has a profound impact on the mind of the patient, but it is on the positive side. Cognitive behavioral therapy makes the patient believe in themselves that they can fight the mental condition.

When you get an anxiety or panic attack, life is not normal anymore. Finding the best cure for the anxiety or panic attacks is on top priority of all the patients suffering from anxiety or panic anxiety attack treatments attacks. The first source of information for most patients is got from their family and friends. If the patients don’t get any substantial information from their family and friends, then they turn toward doctors or other medical professionals. Many people don’t like to go to the doctor for various reasons.
Such patients who don’t want to go to doctors or medical professionals rely on alternative anxiety attack treatments or over-the-counter medications. Most medications that are available in the market today show good results and are very effective in controlling the symptoms of panic or anxiety attacks. Some of the symptoms of panic attacks are as follows:

o    Chills
o    Tingling sensations
o    Trembling
o    Palpitations
o    Shortness of breath
o    Chest pain
o    Dizziness
o    Sweating

Most of the above mentioned symptoms of panic attacks overlap with the symptoms of other health problems such as heart illnesses or asthma. Due to these reasons, patients get totally confused and start with the wrong over-the-counter medications. For example, if a person feels shortness of breath during a panic attack, he or she may wrongly assume that he or she has asthma problems and take over-the-counter medications for asthma. The panic attack condition of such patients goes unnoticed and they never get relief because they are taking the wrong medications.

Never experiment with your body with over-the-counter medications because you never know which medications may be harmful for you. Doctors who prescribe medication for panic disorder are well trained in the science of medicines and they know what is best for you and your body. You must learn to trust your doctor, but also never accept any medication blindly. Try and probe on the type, benefits, and side effects of the medications that are being prescribed for you by the doctor.

Most doctors will disperse the medication information to you and tell you the good and bad effects of the medications. Most medications for panic disorder are long term medications and need to be taken on a daily basis. This can be a little too much for patients who are very forgetful and not diligent. Most medications for panic disorder will give you total relief from the symptoms of the anxiety or panic attack. However, with the advantages of these medications, you will have to live with the darker side of the medications—the side effects.

If the side effects of the medications are giving you sleepless nights, then you need to look for other therapies and treatments. Some of alternative treatments are exposure therapy, cognitive- behavioral therapy, relaxation techniques, hypnosis, and exercises. Among these, cognitive-behavioral therapy is very popular and gives good results in a short period of time. Cognitive-behavioral therapy gets to the root of the panic or anxiety disorder and gives you the confident to fight the mental condition. So, if you’ve decided to go in for the cognitive-behavioral therapy, then you will have to select a good therapist for the cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Before you select the therapist for the cognitive-behavioral therapy, there are few things that you need to keep in mind. First, you must select a therapist who has the experience and the expertise to treat anxiety and panic disorders. Second, check the address of the clinic and make sure that the clinic is either close to your house or office. If you select a therapist who has his or her clinic very from your house or office, then you will have to spend a lot of time traveling to the clinic.

The therapist may call you for multiple sessions either once or twice a week. The frequency of the sessions depends on the severity of the anxiety or panic disorder. Most anxiety attacks treatments are very expensive and will surely burn a big hole in your pocket. Remember the age old saying ‘Health is wealth’; if you are in good health, you will surely make up for the money lost in the treatments. In addition to the money, you will also have to spend a lot of time at the therapists.

Fear, Anxiety, Stress, Anger