Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example

Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example

The treatment for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) can take the form of pharmacologic, psychological, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) or a combination of two or more therapeutic interventions. Therapeutic interventions commence with supportive listening and patient education concerning anxiety. Assisting the patients to understand that anxiety disorders comprise a medical condition that is easy to manage is essential (Locke et al., 2015). The past few decades continue to witness an increase in pharmacologic therapies. Most importantly, existing pharmacologic agents to treat and manage GAD include antidepressants like duloxetine and escitalopram, benzodiazepines like Alprazolam and Diazepam, and others like Busirone and hydroxyzine. The choice of the most appropriate drug is dictated by patient characteristics, comorbid mood disorders like unipolar depression, and adverse effect profile (Bandelow et al., 2017).(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Similarities of Valium and Xanax

Both Valium (Diazepam) and Xanax (Alprazolam) belong to a class of drugs benzodiazepines and have FDA approval. Bourin (2018) notes that treating anxiety disorders is successful as these typical anxiolytics work by improving the effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) through the suppression of overactive nerves. Overactive nerves play a significant role in anxiety, panic, and other psychiatric or neurological disorders. Further comparisons between Valium and Xanax is that each is available in brand and generic status in tablet form, are short term treatments and is typically used in both adults and children. In terms of warnings, Xanax and Valium, compared as the two are classified as controlled substances by DEA, have the potential for abuse and addiction. Using any of them in combination with opioids should be avoided whenever possible. The combination has been known to cause severe respiratory depression, coma or even death.(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Common side effects include but are not limited to hypotension, blurred vision, drowsiness, con\fusion and dizziness(Feinstein et al., 2018).In pregnancy, the two are category D drugs. At the same time, patients with hepatic disorders should be monitored if taking Valium or Xanax because their absorption and effects are impacted by liver function. The two drugs have drug interactions with opioids like hydrocodone and codeine, alcohol, fluoxetine and erythromycin. Other drug interactions are Carbamazepine, Itraconazole, and Phenytoin. Despite these comparisons, Valium and Xanax have salient distinctions as outlined in the subsection that follows.(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Differences between Valium and Xanax

Valium, whose generic name is Diazepam, has a rapid onset of action, taking about one hour to peak concentration. In contrast, Xanax has a generic name Alprazolam with an intermediate onset of action spanning from 1-2 hours. However, Xanax has a shorter half-life of 6- 20 hours than its counterpart, which can reach up to a 100-hour half-life (Schafer et al., 2019). In terms of dosage, the two differ in that Valium has a starting dose of 2mg- 10mg taken two to four times every day as opposed to Xanax, whose starting dose is 0.25 mg to 0.5 mg taken three times every day(Richardson et al., 2019). It is also instructive to note that Xanax is available in the form of immediate-release and extended-release tablets as well as a concentrated oral solution.(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

On the other hand, Valium comes as either a tablet, rectal gel, intravenous solution or oral solution in concentrated or concentrated form. Considering each drug’s interactions, Valium interacts with Cimetidine and Omeprazole, whereas Xanax does not. Both Valium and Xanax effectively treat anxiety disorders, but Valium has been demonstrated to be slightly more effective.(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is essential to acknowledge that the two medications may cause drowsiness and decrease mobility and reaction time. If a physician opts to use Valium, it is necessary to consider that its effects take a comparatively longer time to wear off. At all times, only a qualified healthcare practitioner can establish what therapy or combination therapy is most appropriate to a specific patient. Critical patient-specific factors to consider are the patient’s history with other medications, previous treatment and age.(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

References

Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D. (2017). Treatment of anxiety disorders. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 19(2), 93.

Bourin, M. (2018). Clinical pharmacology of anxiolytics. Arch Depress Anxiety, 4(1), 021-0025.(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Feinstein, J. S., Khalsa, S. S., Yeh, H. W., Wohlrab, C., Simmons, W. K., Stein, M. B., & Paulus, M. P. (2018). Examining the short-term anxiolytic and antidepressant effect of Floatation-REST. PloS one, 13(2), e0190292.

Locke, A., Kirst, N., & Shultz, C. G. (2015). Diagnosis and management of generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder in adults. American family physician, 91(9), 617-624.(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Richardson, K., Mattishent, K., Loke, Y. K., Steel, N., Fox, C., Grossi, C. M., … & Savva, G. M. (2019). History of benzodiazepine prescriptions and risk of dementia: possible bias due to prevalent users and covariate measurement timing in a nested case-control study. American journal of epidemiology, 188(7), 1228-1236.(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

Schaffer, A. L., Buckley, N. A., Cairns, R., & Pearson, S. (2019). Comparison of prescribing patterns before and after implementing a national policy to reduce inappropriate Alprazolam prescribing in Australia. JAMA network open, 2(9), e1911590-e1911590.(Comparing and Contrasting Pharmacologic Options for the Treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Comprehensive Nursing Paper Example)

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