Or Paxil. Or Prozac. Or Clonazepam. Or Lexapro. Or any of the myriad drugs that are prescribed to mask the causes of anxiety. Explained in a single sentence, they simply don’t solve anything.
In one study, 57% of all subjects taking one of these medications will be back on it again within 4 years.
Let’s look at it this way…
Pretend that it’s a Summer Olympics year. Both you and your best friend stopped taking Xanax on the day of the Opening Ceremony. Before the next Summer Olympics arrives, one or possibly both of you will be back on the drug. That is an abysmal chance for any long-term recovery. Clearly, this isn’t working. Essentially, the issue boils down to this: all medications that are prescribed to suppress the panic, racing heart, and paralytic feelings that accompany anxiety and PTSD remove all possibility of healing the underlying causes. And there are numerous possible causes and complications to the syndromes that go far beyond the event(s) that created it.
Brain Circuitry
The brain is driven by 2 systems. One is electrical. If we look at the brain as an enormous electrical component, the actual circuitry becomes mis-wired by the traumatic event(s). When the brain is unable to make proper connections, jam ups and misinformation are created. These foul-ups lead to faulty thought processes, brain fog, poor decision making, struggles with impulse control, frustrations, depression, lack of motivation, and explosive anger. Not only are you struggling to assimilate the enormity of events that caused the initial trauma, but now everyday occurrences are misinterpreted as well. This creates problems in relationships, difficulties holding a job, and poorly reasoned problems.
Brain Neurochemistry
In addition to electrical impulses, the brain is powered by a chemical system, known as neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are released at the meeting site of 2 or more nerves, filling the gap from one nerve to another. When secreted, the chemical signals the transfer of energy and enables the brain to send information along the circuitry to reach its final destination and create its ultimate goal. That goal could be a thought, or the release of a hormone, or the monitoring of your digestive system. The proper balance of the chemicals is crucial for the system to not only send the proper information so your body works efficiently, but also to create mood. These chemicals, when in balance, keep you calm but alert, happy but focused. They signal when it’s time to awaken in the morning, time to relax and digest a meal, time to focus on a task, time to fall asleep. It is crucial to have proper levels of neurotransmitters in a harmonious balance to complete the wide range of tasks you face in any given day.
The Pituitary-Thyroid-Adrenal Axis
Emotional distress affects you on an organ level as well. The thyroid gland, known as the Master Gland, is responsible for driving all metabolic functions. Digestion, sugar balance, cognitive thinking, libido are all set in motion by thyroid hormone since every cell in the body uses it. Under duress, the thyroid tends to go into overdrive, like too much gas creates acceleration in a car. Speeding out of control causes the uncomfortable symptoms that you seek to alleviate with a sedating medication. The switch that activates the thyroid can get stuck in the “on” position and wreak havoc on your health. Too much thyroid hormone can overstimulate the adrenal gland. The adrenals are responsible for sugar metabolism, and the release of fight-or-flight chemicals like adrenaline. When it is over-excited you will interpret this as a physical threat, causing rising heart rate, high blood pressure, anxiousness, hyper vigilance. When the situation worsens, the adrenal gland becomes fatigued and finally nearly exhausted. Poorly regulated adrenals result in fatigue, weight gain, sluggishness and lack of motivation.
Side Effects
Clinically, once you begin a medication like this, there is little chance of ever getting off of it permanently. Even if it has no physiological dependence these medications often create psychological dependence. You fear stopping the drug because “if life is so difficult while on the drug, imagine how bad it will be without it?” And worse, certain classes of drugs are highly addictive.
Medicines, by their very nature, take over the body’s role of regulation. When a medicine is taken to supplement a chemical naturally found in the body it overrides the natural system of checks and balances that keeps these levels normal and stable. The body has a natural rhythm of release and usage that is maintained by a tidal rise and fall in levels ultimately controlled by complex systems. When we circumvent these systems safeguards are bypassed, bombarding the body with excessive levels of chemicals. The body responds in a panic by curtailing and even eliminating your ability to produce or utilize these chemicals. The situation then worsens. Symptoms created by poor hormonal balance create more problems than they often solve, and usually at the expense of the very relationships we seek to improve by taking them. Excessive eating, weight gain and loss of libido are a triad of complications that can dramatically intrude on your social/personal life in a way that can be very destructive.
The good news? There are non-drug therapies to support the physiological changes that are so necessary for talk therapy and cognitive behavioral therapies to be fast and effective. Rather than rely on medication to permanently numb your feelings, there are ways that support the life changes, neurotransmitter balance, glandular support and brain circuitry changes necessary to facilitate a reversal of this debilitating condition. A comprehensive plan can be created, including your current medications, so you can ease your way into a non-drug treatment plan designed to rewire your brain, reestablish proper neurotransmitters and properly regulate your hormones to achieve true healing. Your wellbeing depends on it.
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