Can I take promethazine to relieve anxiety

Under normal circumstances, it is not recommended to use promethazine to relieve anxiety. It will only be used temporarily by doctors after evaluation in a few special situations. It is definitely not recommended for ordinary people to use it to deal with anxiety on their own.

Many people have the misunderstanding that "promethazine can cure anxiety", but in fact it is mainly because of its side effects. Promethazine is essentially an antihistamine. It is routinely used clinically to treat allergies, dizziness and vomiting. It is also used as an anesthesia aid before surgery. Sedation is just a side effect of it. It is not recommended in the diagnosis and treatment guidelines for anxiety disorders. In the past, I often encountered this kind of situation when rotating in the emergency department: for example, a patient with an acute attack of anxiety would not only suffer from palpitation and chest tightness, but also experience nausea, tense and trembling all over. After checking that there were no organic problems, the doctor would temporarily prescribe half a tube of promethazine for intramuscular injection. After more than 20 minutes of taking the medicine, the patient stopped vomiting and became drowsy and relaxed. When he woke up, he felt that "anxiety was gone." In fact, it only suppressed the physical symptoms of discomfort and had no effect on the regulation of neurotransmitters corresponding to anxiety. It was a stopgap measure that could not even be considered a temporary solution.

Last month I met a young man who was taking the public examination. He didn’t know where he heard the folk prescription. When he got anxious and insomnia, he went to a small clinic near his home and asked for promethazine. He took it for three days. As a result, on the fourth day of the interview, he was so groggy that he couldn’t even read the questions. His reaction was half a beat slower.

There is also some controversy over the use of this drug in the industry. This does not mean that it cannot be used at all. For example, primary medical institutions in remote areas will most likely not stock psychotropic acute anxiety emergency drugs such as lorazepam and alprazolam. When a patient has a particularly severe attack and has developed respiratory alkalosis and convulsions all over the body, Using promethazine to stabilize the mood first and avoid more serious accidents is not a solution. However, the premise of this operation is that the doctor must clearly inform the patient that this is not a routine anti-anxiety treatment, and that he must go to a specialized psychiatric or psychosomatic medicine department for a standardized evaluation later. Promethazine cannot be used as a standing drug to deal with anxiety.

Don’t think that this medicine is common and has no side effects. If you rely on it frequently to suppress anxiety, the after-effects of drowsiness and unresponsiveness will last for several days. If it is used by students, drivers or practitioners who require precise operations, safety issues may arise. Long-term use may cause extrapyramidal reactions, such as uncontrolled muscle trembling and stiffness, which will aggravate the physical discomfort of anxiety. Over time, drug resistance will develop. When it is really necessary to use it to stop vomiting or treat allergies, the effectiveness of the medicine will be compromised.

To be honest, if you only have occasional anxiety, try taking a deep breath, going for a couple of runs, or chatting with a friend to relieve it. If it happens frequently and affects your eating and sleeping, then go to a specialist to register honestly. If it is mild, do some cognitive behavioral conditioning a few times. If it is severe, Using specialized anti-anxiety drugs is much more reliable than taking promethazine randomly. If you encounter an acute attack and can't breathe, first hold a clean paper bag with your mouth and nose and breathe, and breathe back the excessively exhaled carbon dioxide. The physical symptoms will be relieved quickly, which is better than any folk remedies.