Can Hydroxyzine Truly Help With Anxiety?

Can Hydroxyzine truly help with anxiety? Let’s find out. Hydroxyzine is used to help control anxiety and tension caused by nervous and emotional conditions. It can also be used to help control anxiety and produce sleep before surgery. Also, this medicine is also used to relieve symptoms of allergic conditions (eg, chronic urticaria and atopic and contact dermatoses).

This is the medicine I am currently taking for my anxiety. Accordingly, I have little side effects from it and it does a good job to keep my anxiety in check. I still have panic attacks sometimes, so I tried a different med. In any event, I didn’t realize how much it helped until I tried the new med. Continuous panic attacks and just being all over the place. Needless to say, I went back on Hydroxyzine. Therefore, no medicine is completely perfect.

Generic name: hydroxyzine (hye DROKS i zeen)

Hydroxyzine Pamoate
Capsules: 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg
Hydroxyzine HCl
Tablets: 10 mg, 25 mg, 50 mg
Syrup: 10 mg/5mL
Solution: 25 mg/mL, 50 mg/mL

Brand name: Vistaril®

Capsules: 25 mg, 50 mg

Side Effects

Can Hydroxyzine truly help with anxiety even though there are some side effects? Although not all of these side effects may occur, if they do occur they may need medical attention.

Check with your doctor immediately if any of the following side effects occur:

firstly, chest pain, discomfort, or tightness
cough
difficulty with swallowing
dizziness
fainting
fast heartbeat
hives, itching, or skin rash
irregular or slow heart rate
puffiness or swelling of the eyelids or around the eyes, face, lips, or tongue
trouble breathing
lastly, unusual tiredness or weakness

Hydroxyzine Drug Interactions

Hydroxyzine may interact with other medications.

Therefore, to avoid complications, always tell your healthcare provider everything that you take, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, vitamins, supplements, and herbs.

Even though Hydroxyzine can truly help you with anxiety, do not take the following medications if you take hydroxyzine:

Firstly, other sleeping pills, sedatives, or tranquilizers
Other antihistamines
Narcotics
Fourthly,Muscle relaxers
Certain antidepressants such as citalopram (Celexa) or fluoxetine (Prozac)
Antipsychotics
Anti-anxiety medication
Anticonvulsants
Also, certain antibiotics such as azithromycin (Zithromax), clarithromycin (Biaxin), erythromycin (Eryc), and others
Certain heart rhythm medications such as amiodarone (Cordarone, Nexterone, others), quinidine (Nuedexta), sotalol (Sorine, Sotylize), and others
Certain cancer treatments
Malaria medication
Medication for HIV/AIDS
Finally, anti-nausea medications such as ondansetron (Zofran)

What to avoid
Certain medical conditions make hydroxyzine unsafe.

Even though hydroxyzine can truly help with anxiety, do not take it if you have:

Firstly, allergies to any ingredients in hydroxyzine
Allergies to cetirizine (Zyrtec) or levocetirizine (Xyzal)
Prolonged QT interval on an EKG
A history of heart attack, heart failure, or heart disease
A history of low blood levels of potassium or magnesium
Additionally, older adults (over age 65) should not take hydroxyzine. Other medications are safer and effective for this age group.

Due to an increased risk of birth defects, do not take hydroxyzine if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding.

Why isn’t hydroxyzine (Vistaril) a first-choice option for anxiety?

Drowsiness is the most common side effect of hydroxyzine (Vistaril), which can make doing daily activities much harder. Hence, some people require medications to manage their anxiety for a long time, but the safety and effectiveness of long-term use of hydroxyzine (Vistaril) (over 4 months) for anxiety hasn’t been studied yet. Altogether, there are other medications that might be better tolerated and have stronger evidence to help with anxiety than hydroxyzine (Vistaril). Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), like fluoxetine (Prozac), are commonly the first-choice options for anxiety.

Conclusion

Hydroxyzine truly helped me with my anxiety. I was surprised when I first started taking hydroxyzine, I really didn’t get the drowsiness part of it. Usually I get the side effects full force. So, that made me a little more trusting of this med. Although, my doctor put me on this med because I wasn’t sleeping due to the high anxiety. So, she was trying to kill two birds with one stone. It didn’t exactly work out that way. I’ve been on it for almost a year and I still have sleep issues.

Overall, I give hydroxyzine a thumbs up in my book. If you’re looking for an anxiety med, suggest this one to your doctor. Just make sure your doctor knows all the meds you’re taking (even over-the-counter meds) because there is a possible interaction between them. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed the ride today (oh no. She’s gone off the deep end. Just joking). Just trying to put some humor back in your life because living with anxiety is not easy. We need more laughter in our lives (especially nowadays). Until next time…

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