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Do You Need To Choose Panic Pills? – Three Reasons For and Against Using Medication For Panic Attacks

8th September, 2010 - Posted by health news - No Comments

Let me mention to you some important issues related to dealing with panic attacks. I have written articles on dealing with panic attacks and how the physical symptoms of panic attacks, such as chest pains, breathlessness, or dizziness, can cause people really worry for quite some time. It is unsurprising, therefore, that the first plan action often involves seeing your physician. This can happen even more so if you already suffer from real physical problems like lung or heart issues. However, visiting your physician just to receive a “quick-fix” recipe of panic pills or panic tablets may not be the best idea. Let me describe to you what I feel are the main pros and cons of using panic medication.

So how to stop panic attacks then? What is essential in learning about how to stop panic attacks is the notion that the core problem is not physical at all but is in your mind. No, you are not crazy, but it is well-known and well-documented that panic symptoms themselves are not dangerous. Naturally I agree they are awful to experience, but they do not bring your health in actual danger. Therefore, discovering ways how to get rid of panic attacks needs to relate to what you believe your panic symptoms to mean. But despite that, of course your panic attacks can feel so awful that you honestly think you’re left with no choice but to visit your doctor and get panic pills. Can panic tablets be a solutions?

Allow me to describe when I feel you might well need them:

1. If your life is so disrupted by your panic symptoms that you feel it is impossible to function normally. For instance, your social and/or close relationships are suffering indireclty (fewer meetings, stress in the family etc.), or you are just not functioning at work, or your life is getting very tough indeed because of you avoiding certain places or situations.

2. If quite some time has passed you did not yet overcome panic attacks with other help, such as from controlled breathing techniques, distraction, counselling etc.

3. If the reason you experience panic attacks is a result of some other problem you have, and which does need medication.

Of course you could not just look at the situations I described above and if none of them are the case for you, then perhaps panic pills are not the solution. Yet, I want to add 3 extra and important reasons for avoiding panic tablets.

1. If you don’t feel too much disrupted by your panic symptoms, and this is, in your opinion, very unlikely to get worse.

2. If you feel a temptation for a quick-fix solution, but realize within yourself that panic can only really be solved by psychological strategies.

3. If you admit to yourself that you suffer from a kind of dependency on, or even addiction to medication.

Of course, if you do take ‘panic pills’, you need to make sure that they do not interfere with other medications you are taking. You also need to feel comfortable with taking the tablets for a prolonged period of time.

In general though, it really is important to be aware that your first resort solution to get rid of panic attacks shouldn’t always be panic pills, as overcoming panic attacks long term is not likely to be achieved by medication alone. It will help you get rid of panic attacks better perhaps, and also, in might make it more possible for you to use psychological treatment.