Have you been trying to find the right medications for your fibromyalgia? As you likely know, there are a lot of different things that you can take and try in order to find the right mix for your particular set of symptoms.
You may try some natural remedies combined with traditional Western medicine treatment plans. One of the types of medications that may be utilized for your particular case is known as benzodiazepines. What are they, and how can they play a role in our overall fibromyalgia treatment plan? Read on to learn more about these drugs.
What Are Benzodiazepines and What Are They Used For Normally?
Benzodiazepines, in short, are a type of antidepressant. Unlike other types of antidepressants, these are used to help with anxiety disorders instead of depressive disorders, even though they can help with both. Over the years, Benzodiazepines have become a lot more popular, and are usually used when the more common SSRI’s (Prozac, etc) are not doing what they need to do in order to help you feel relief from your daily symptoms.
Basically, what they do is that they help your brain to make certain neurotransmitters which cause the body to relax more easily. They basically “shut down” some of the different processes that are going on with your brain that cause you to feel anxious. In some cases, the Benzodiazepines will actually make you feel sleepy, which in turn will make it so that you are able to sleep better throughout the entire evening. This is a huge help for a lot of anxiety sufferers and those who have other disorders that may cause them to have trouble sleeping.
There are a few of them, including Lorazepam, which are used to help relieve overwhelming stress and anxiety that may occur with panic attacks. Others are used in order to help fight off feelings of depression. Other people may just use them in order to get past their insomnia during the night.
All that being said, many times, Benzodiazepines are considered to be a last resort medication, used only when other types of medication aren’t working as they need to for your particular symptoms. They’re a last resort for a few reasons. First, because they react very poorly with other types of medications that you may be taking.
They may also become toxic if you don’t take them correctly. On top of that, you may also notice that it makes some of your mental clarity worsen. You may get confused or you may stumble around, in the worst cases.
How Can Benzodiazepines Help with Fibromyalgia Symptoms?
As you likely know, there are a lot of different anxiety disorders that go hand in hand with fibromyalgia. Generalized anxiety disorder is the most common disorder that you will see when you’re talking about what is related to FM, but you can also see other anxiety disorders as well.
Panic attacks and/or panic disorders can cause a lot of problems for those with FM because of the oversensitivity that the nervous system is already dealing with due to the disease. Social anxiety may also creep into the mix, and selected phobias may also be tied with fibromyalgia.
Because of this, it’s really important that we consider all of the different options that we have here. Benzodiazepines can really play a role in helping us to be more relaxed. If we’re fending off stress and anxiety, we don’t have the energy to cope with some of the other problems that we may be dealing with as well. Benzodiazepines may also help to clear our minds, especially with the fibro fog, but there is still research out on that.
There are also Benzodiazepines that have been shown to help with insomnia, which can be a huge help for those who are trying to deal with that as part of the fibromyalgia symptoms that they’re coping with. It can help to make it so that we don’t wake up in the middle of the night as often, and it can prevent other issues in your sleep as well, depending on what is going on.
Pain management with Benzodiazepines is still being researched. A few of them, including Lorazepam and Clonazepam, have been shown to help with the chronic pain that fibromyalgia patients feel on a regular basis. The others are still being researched, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest because of some of the issues that you may have to deal with if and when you take the medication for extended periods of time.
Of course, there’s a warning that you will want to make sure and heed as well. Benzodiazepines are a controversial category of medications, mainly because people are very likely to get addicted to them. They have addictive qualities due to the chemicals that are used to make them. That being said, if you are working with your doctor and you start to notice these issues, you won’t have to worry about it becoming more of a problem than it may have been.
On top of that, many people will get upset stomach for the first few times that they take the medication. You should not drive or use machinery until you know how your body is going to react to using it. On top of that, most doctors will only prescribe Benzodiazepines for the short term – you usually only have it for a couple of weeks, or you only use them “as needed” while you are on the medication.
There are a lot of different types of medications out there, and with time, you will find ones that give you the help that you need with your particular symptoms.
Benzodiazepines are just one of the many different types of medication that you and your doctor may explore while you are determining what way that your treatment needs to go in the future. Talk to your doctor about your options so that you can ensure that you have the best treatment possible for your needs.
Further reading:
Muscle Relaxants: Do They Work For Fibromyalgia http://www.fmnetnews.com/free-articles/article-samples/muscle-relaxants
Benzodiazepines http://www.fibromyalgia-symptoms.org/fibromyalgia_benzo.html
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