Don’t panic! Take Clonazepam.

The minor tranquilizers, or benzodiazepines, include Ativan (10-razepam), Centrax (prazepam), clonazepam, Xanax (al-prazolam), Serum (oxazepam), and Tranxene (chlorazepate). Benzodiazepine sedatives used for sleep include Dalmane (flurazepam), Halcion (triazolam), Versed (midazolam), and Restoril (temazepam).

These drugs reduce anxiety by depressing the activity of your central nervous system. All these drugs have the serious side effect of making you physically dependent on them, which means you’ll have a difficult time when you try to stop taking them, especially if you take high doses over a long period of time. If you’re taking Xanax or Halcion, withdrawal symptoms can occur daily between doses, worsening the original anxiety symptoms. To top it off, in one clinical trial, 70 percent of persons taking Halcion “developed memory loss, depression and paranoia.” Breggin and Cohen state that, like most psychiatric drugs, Halcion eventually causes an increase of the very symptoms that the drug is supposed to ameliorate.

Besides addiction and withdrawal reactions, if you take these drugs, you can face problems similar to those experienced by people who abuse alcohol, including intoxication without realizing it, slowed thinking, slurred speech, lack of coordination, clumsiness, impaired walking, tremor, poor judgment, drowsiness, drugged feelings, and hangovers with amnesia. These drugs work by impairing brain function and pose a risk of irreversible mental dysfunction. Students taking these drugs can experience severe amnesia and forget the material they studied.

These drugs may cause drowsiness, so avoid driving or other tasks that require alertness. Other possible side effects include depression, apathy, fatigue, decreased activity, light-headedness, memory impair-ment, disorientation, amnesia, restlessness, confusion, crying, delirium, headaches, slurred speech, loss of voice, stupor, seizures, coma, euphoria, nervousness, irritability, difficulty concentrating, agitation, inability to perform complex mental functions, paralysis of half the body, unsteadiness, loss of coordination, strange dreams, glassy-eyed appearance, increased anxiety or hyperactivity, behavior problems, hysteria, psychosis, suicidal tendencies, constipation, diarrhea, dry mouth, coated tongue, sore gums, nausea, changes in appetite, vomiting, difficulty swallowing, increased salivation, stomach inflammation, incontinence, changes in sex drive, urinary and menstrual problems, changes in heart rhythm and blood pressure, cardiovascular collapse, retention of fluid in the face and ankles, palpitations, visual disturbances, twitching of the eyeballs, decreased hearing, nasal congestion, auditory disturbances, rashes, itching, hair loss or growth, hiccups, fever, sweating, tingling in the extremities, muscular disturbances, growth of breasts in males, milk production in the breasts of females, breathing difficulties, hepatitis or jaundice, changes in bloodcell counts, decrease in body weight, swelling of lymph nodes, and joint pain.

These drugs may increase levels or prolong the effects of barbiturates, narcotics, phenytoin, probenecid, and sedating antihistamines. They have potentially dangerous interactions with digoxin. When combined with alcohol and other medications, Xanax can cause death, even in low doses. When taking this medication or any other, never take more than is prescribed, and always ask to take the lowest dose that achieves the prescribed effect.