How many different types of meds are there for anxiety?

[worrier123]

There seems to be quite a few out there, iv had anxiety all my life but recenlty its got worse, my GP has put me on Citalopram 10mg. What other drugs are there out there and what do they do? are they all different? how do you know if your on the right one?

x

[jessed03]

Hundreds!

Sadly theres no science involved. It involves a lot of trial and error. At my worst I had to try several types of meds before I got relief. But then again, I'm mega sensitive to even multi-vits!!!

There are different categories, which work on different parts of the brain. There are the SSRI's, like citalopram, prozac etc... which work by simply altering the levels of seretonin to the desired amount. There are SNRI's, which alter serotonin and noraderaline, these can be pretty stimulating, so while good for depression, may not always work well for anxiety. Then you have others like NASSA, MAOI's, and even low doses of anti-psychotic medication can act in a sedating way.

Basically all anti-depressants work in the same way, they alter your serotonin levels to the required level, they just use various parts of the brain to do it on, therefore if you anxiety is caused by a certain faulty neuro-transmitter, it can take a couple of tries to find one that hits the spot. Our bodies also tolerate certain forumula's better than others, so if your body doesn't like one thing, it can change to another similar anti-depressant, and be surprisingly effective.

Basically you know when it's working, because you don't keep questioning if things are working. The plan is for your mood to lift, and to become more pre-occupied with more interesting issues.It takes a few months to get there though

[Robbed]

There are LOTS of drugs out there prescribed for anxiety disorder. But many are basically the same. There are really only a few categories of drugs used for anxiety disorder they are:

1. SSRIs, such as Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, etc

2. SNRIs such as Effexor, Pristiq, etc.

3. EDRIs such as Welbutrin

4. Benzodiazepines such as Valium, Ativan, Xanax

5. Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors such as Parnate, Selegeline, stc.

6. Tricyclics such as Elavil, Amitryptylinr, Nortryptiline, etc.

7. Antipsychotics such as Seroquel, Zyprexa, Selazine, etc (last resort for anxiety).