How To Use Hydroxyzine For Anxiety? Dose, Effectiveness & Side Effects

An antihistamine medicine Hydroxyzine is helpful to treat anxiety. But do you know how to use Hydroxyzine for Anxiety? If you don’t take it properly, or if your body doesn’t adjust to it, you may feel nausea, headache, dry mouth, and several other side effects. However, drowsiness is helpful to fall asleep if you have been suffering from an insomnia problem. But if you feel drowsiness most of the time, it may be worst while driving or working. So, in this article, we will discuss various things you must know about Hydroxyzine medicine.

Hydroxyzine To Treat Anxiety:

This medicine is generally available and is affordable. You have been reading this article it means you have been in touch with this medicine. However, you or your near or near dear might be a patient with anxiety disorder. It’s one of the most common mental health illnesses. Anxiety disorder affects millions of people every year and ruins their lifestyles.

Moreover, you may be interested in reading about anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders and might have known about this medicine. It’s a single medicine that helps people with anxiety. Do you want to know what it is?

What Is Antihistamine Medicine Hydroxyzine?

This Antihistamine Medicine is an OTC type drug. Over-the-counter medicines are available to treat several types of health issues. If you have any allergic symptoms, colds, runny nose, watery eyes, or feeling itchy, you can buy these drugs, and these medications come with some unique characteristics. So, it’s also usable for anxiety.

Hydroxyzine is prescribed to treat anxiety disorders, but sometimes, doctors suggest it treat other issues, like the following.

• Allergies
• Insomnia
• Nausea
• Skin rashes
• Vomiting
• Itchiness

What Are Antihistamine Medicines?

These drugs decrease the effects of Histamine. It is a chemical available in the body to produce allergic reactions. Most Antihistamine Medicines are available as OTC drugs, but you require a medical prescription to use Hydroxyzine. It is listed as Hydroxyzine hydrochloride (HCL). Or you can see it under the brand name.

How Does It Work? Hydroxyzine For Anxiety

If you take Hydroxyzine, it is like taking SSRIs. SSRIs also help treat anxiety because it makes more serotonin in the brain, and hence, you can say it boosts the levels of serotonin in the brain. It does it by blocking serotonin from getting absorbed in the Nerves of the brain. And this chemical is a neurotransmitter to keep the mood in balance. It can affect the feelings of optimism, satisfaction, and contentment. So, a person has a good feeling of sense of well-being.

To date, researchers don’t have an idea about its function. They don’t know how Hydroxyzine works in the human body and mind to treat their anxiety. However, healthcare providers agree that it affects two chemicals in our bodies. These are histamine and serotonin.

In simple words, you can say Hydroxyzine will block the effects of histamine in the human body. So, the medicine makes the patient sleepy. It is a chemical to affects the human body.

It is not only effective for anxiety. Hydroxyzine helps to treat many symptoms of different mental and physical health issues.

What Is The Exact Dose Of Hydroxyzine For Anxiety?

Have you read about anxiety or Hydroxyzine? You might have read that it needs to be taken regularly. Many of the OTC drugs used for symptoms of illnesses are essential to take every day. So, some anxiety medications are crucial to take regularly. Otherwise, they don’t have effectiveness. Hydroxyzine is one of them. Still, the dose depends on your condition.

However, if you take this only medicine to treat anxiety, it is never desirable for you to take it for the long term, and the doctors will prescribe it for the short period to treat anxiety disorders. The reason is that it can relieve your anxiety disorder as soon as you start taking it. It has quick effectiveness, and you are only required to take it until you experience the symptoms of your illness.

Dosage:

You need to seek healthcare providers to discuss your mental health. If they find you need the medicine, they will prescribe the Dose Of Hydroxyzine. However, the more common Dosage is 50 mg to 100 mg. You have to take it three or four times a day. It depends on how your physician prescribes it. The following points are a must to understand.

• If the doctor suggested you take it with food, take it.
• If you are advised to take it without food, do not consume it with food.
• You can not vary the dose as per your thoughts. So, do not decrease or increase the dosage if the symptoms change.
• For children, the dosage is 50 mg, and doctors mainly divide it into multiple doses for six years old or under 6, and patients above six may need 50 to 100 mg divided doses.

How Long Does Hydroxyzine Take To Work?

The effectiveness of any medicine depends on the type of your body and its response to the drug. Once your doctor observes that the medication has started working and minimizing the symptoms of poor mental health, they will adjust the doses as per the results. So, if you want to know how long it may take to work, do whatever the physician suggests.

Hydroxyzine medicine works promptly once it reaches the inside of the body. Most patients feel the changes in approximately 30 minutes. They have the maximum effects of this medicine around two hours after taking it.

You may be wondering it’s impeccable and exciting to see it working in 30 minutes, but you can not forget about its possible side effects and harmfulness to your body.

Hydroxyzine During Pregnancy:

You can not say it is safe to take Hydroxyzine medicine during the early stages of pregnancy. It may produce adverse effects on the developing fetus. So, if you think you need to take this medicine or continue it, you must consult your healthcare provider to discuss if you are pregnant or planning to have a child. There are other options available to treat your anxiety, so you are not dependent on this Antihistamine Medicine.

What Are Possible Side Effects Of Hydroxyzine?

Any medicine you use to treat your health has some level of side effects. However, the healthcare providers prescribe medication. The reason is that they know that most medicines offer more pros when compared to their side effects, and the same thing is applied to Hydroxyzine medicine, but it can cause some side effects too. The following are seen side effects of this medicine.

• Hydroxyzine can cause nausea, and people may feel queasy.
• It can make the mouth dry. However, this side effect will go in some days.
• You may have blurred vision due to dry eyes. But if you think it is more than usual, you can use some eye drops to ease your discomfort.
• Headache is one of the most common side effects of this Antihistamine Medicine. It will ease as your body adjusts to it.
• You may have feelings of tiredness and weakness.
• It may make you sleepy or dizzy.
• You can not consume alcohol with it. It will produce adverse effects.

Can You Say Hydroxyzine Is Habit-Forming?

Do you think medicines are addictive? They can be dangerous if they’re addictive! Some of the anxiety treatment medicines like benzodiazepines can be Habit-Forming for people. So, if it happens, they may make the patient dependent on it. When people habit taking certain medicines, they need them anyhow, to make their body parts function regularly, and if you don’t take certain medicines after forming their habit, you may experience some other symptoms like feeling of missing something, irritability, and more.

However, you don’t have to worry about it with Hydroxyzine because it’s not the case in it. The fact is that Hydroxyzine is not like benzodiazepines because this Antihistamine Medicine is not a controlled substance. But if you think this medicine is somewhat addictive and forming a habit, you can talk to your physician and ask for help.

What Is The Cost Of Hydroxyzine For Anxiety?

Hydroxyzine is an affordable generic medicine. So, you don’t Have to worry about the cost. You may get so e insurance plan, starting by taking the Hydroxyzine medicine. The most important thing is to discuss your health with the doctor. If you have been taking this medicine regularly, you have to ensure that it doesn’t make you habited to use it.

Wrapping Up:

Have you understood everything about Hydroxyzine for anxiety? In this article, we have covered the basics of Hydroxyzine medicine and how to use it, but if you have any queries regarding it, you can let us know, most drugs are used for short terms, say, for a few weeks or two-three months. But if your condition is not improving quickly, you can take it further if the physician prescribes it. Share your experience of using Hydroxyzine medicine, and also let us know if it made you habited or not.