Beta Blockers for Anxiety

The heart is one of the most important organs in the body. People can live with only on one kidney, an eye, an ear, or one testicle but no one could ever live without a heart. With the ever growing population of the world, only 16.7 million are affected with cardiovascular disease. These type of diseases are maintained with a variety of medications in order to live longer and liver better. One of the most common medications to be used by patients with cardiovascular diseases are beta blockers.

Beta blockers are a classification of medications that work by blocking the action of catecholamines epinephrine and nor-epinephrine at selected beta adrenergic sites. Blocking these sites will prevent the catecholamines from increasing the heart rate, blood pressure, and dilating the air passage in response to “fight or flight”. These type of drugs are mostly given to patients who are hypertensive since it will cause the dilation of blood vessels causing the slow pulse rate and the lowered blood pressure. The majority of beta blockers users are patients with cardiovascular disease, but lately, research have shown its effectiveness in the control of anxiety in patient’s with anxiety disorders.

Anxiety is an evolved adaptive mechanism that helps any species to survive in a dangerous world. Anxiety can be produced by either an internal or external stimulus in which an individual experiences an uncomfortable and apprehensive tension. When anxiety is experienced, it triggers the body’s adaptive mechanisms that activates the sympathetic nervous system to produce the physiologic clinical manifestations of the “fight or flight” reaction. This reaction is manifested by increase pulse rate and blood pressure, dry mouth, sweating, muscle tension, rapid and shallow respiration, tremors, tightness in the throat and chest, frequent urination, dizziness, and queasy stomach. The most pronounced psychological manifestation of anxiety is a sense of impending danger or doom.

There are several levels of anxiety which includes mild, moderate, severe, and panic. Mild and moderate anxiety would only be experienced when the stimulus is not that threatening. This enables the individual to think and function efficiently. In severe and panic level of anxiety, the individual has now distorted perception and he/she can not maintain a clear thinking or function. Giving beta blockers to these people can help lessen the anxiety experience since it will not manifest the classic “fight or flight” response.

The drug will cause the individual to have a parasympathetic response to anxiety causing more focus and more function. Like with any other drug, this should be taken in moderation because it may cause dependence among individuals. These drugs should not be used during mild or moderate anxiety experience. Diminishing anxiety can cause the individual to lose natural coping mechanism causing a total body disequilibrium. Anxiety is not a curse that we all have. Instead it is a tool for us to sense intense stimulus and it enables us to react quickly. If humans did not experience anxiety, then our species would have been extinct years ago.