Generalized Anxiety Disorder & Epilepsy

Tracey - posted on 02/07/2011 ( no moms have responded yet )

Even when logic is telling us different, we often still ignore all the very real possibilities of any serious repercussions that taking certain medication, food, or other substances could have. Sure we see the warnings, but everything around us says these products are generally o.k. Therefore we continue to assume that it’s safe to use them. Why? ... Because the people or companies that are promoting them are the ones we trust, "the accepted ones". So when a prescription is given by a doctor or something has passed government legislation and it’s available to buy; it must be o.k. – Right? Not always.



And I find one of the scariest things is trusting medications. Because sometimes some of the very medications we so desperately want to believe will be the answer to helping a problem can also, from time to time, manifest into a whole new set of problems; sometimes just as complex as the ones we started out with. For instance, some anticonvulsants have properties that can increase symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. And if you are on a combination of medications you might be at an even higher risk of suffering from GAD…Have you ever felt generalized anxiety disorder? I have; and thankfully not for too long. I thought I was just panicking because I had some stressful events within my family situation. You know, things I figured I just had to work through emotionally and get to a point where I was accepting; then I would be up to the challenge of dealing with them and I could move on. In part, this was true. However, how I was handling it inside was slightly more than typical.



So what does this mean? We all have to deal with stress and unfortunately, even traumatic situations sometimes. But no one should ever feel so overwhelmed by their work or their personal life that it consumes their every moment and in turn takes a toll on their health. If this is the case, you could be suffering from an anxiety disorder. And depending on how severe the symptoms are, it can sometimes be debilitating; causing the individual to be unable to successfully juggle all the challenges of daily expectations. But don’t panic. Feelings of anxiety that are beyond the norm and are classed as GAD are brought on by a number of things. Benzodiazepines and alcohol are common contributing factors. As well, sometimes anxiety disorders can also be brought on if an individual has had a large amount of trauma to deal with throughout their life. And more rarely, there may be a genetic connection. Sometimes it's a combination of traumatic events and benzodiazepine dependency. Nevertheless, recognizing the symptoms and what’s causing the anxiety is important in order to attempt reversing the effects of an anxiety disorder and finding a possible solution to changing/discontinuing a benzodiazepine dependency drug.



Generalized anxiety disorder often exhibits a variety of physical symptoms, including fatigue, fidgeting, headaches, nausea, numbness in hands and feet, muscle tension, muscle aches, difficulty swallowing, bouts of difficulty breathing, difficulty concentrating, trembling, twitching, irritability, agitation, sweating, restlessness, insomnia, hot flashes, and rashes and inability to fully control the anxiety. These symptoms must be consistent and on-going, persisting at least 6 months, for a formal diagnosis of GAD to be introduced. Generalized anxiety disorder is estimated to occur in 5% of the general population. Women are generally more affected than men.



Although alcohol and benzodiazepine drugs initially have a sedative and relaxing effect. Often the long term repercussions tend to play havoc on the central nervous system and can soon have the opposite effect; causing cognitive problems that will exhibit varying symptoms of anxiety. Since it’s common for most individuals with epilepsy to be drug dependent; with more severe cases using 3, 4, even 5 different anticonvulsants at a time in order to try and gain some seizure control, it can also be more common for some of these individuals to show symptoms of anxiety disorders that may relate to their medication dependency. However, because it can be difficult to differentiate between anxiety and certain types of seizures, sometimes symptoms of a medication dependency anxiety disorder can be overlooked or dismissed or can even be mistaken for another condition. Lorazepam (often used for status epilepticus) is a high potency benzodiazepine drug which has all five intrinsic benzodiazepine effects: anxiolytic, amnesic, sedative/hypnotic, anticonvulsant and muscle relaxant. As well it’s important to note that individuals with alcohol dependency can often exhibit anxiety and panic disorder behaviors; especially when mixed with benzodiazepine dependency.



For more information on this topic please go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalized...

http://www.benzo.org.uk/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-term_u...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazep...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ben...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticonvuls...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazep...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazep...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_wit...





Sincerely,

Tracey Alderson, Epilepsy Awareness 2009



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