Buspar For Anxiety: Is It Really Effective?

Buspirone is the most commonly used medicine for mental health disorders. Anxiety-like conditions will make you feel anxious, worried, and even stressed. At this point, nearly 1 in 5 people face anxiety once in their lifetime. 

In the United States, anxiety is primarily affecting 40 million adults. High anxiety levels will affect people’s everyday life events, especially impacting their major life roles. Even if it causes you to suffer from many health illnesses, you don't need to worry about anxiety, for there are many therapies available that you can choose from with guidance from a doctor. 

Treatment options like lifestyle changes, rehabilitation therapies, and medication are available to treat anxiety. Let us now see more about Buspar and anxiety in detail. 

What Is Buspar?

Buspirone is an anti-anxiolytic medication; it comes under Buspar in the United States. It is used to treat anxiety disorders, especially generalized anxiety disorders. It can also be used for long-term anxiety management. The drug will help you to alleviate your anxiety symptoms and make you feel relaxed. It is a prescription drug available only after the doctor's recommendation. 

How Does Buspar work?

Buspar belongs to the group of anxiolytics, also known as anxiolytic medications. It is usually used as an added drug with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Buspar works in the neurotransmitters of the brain, such receptors known as serotonin and dopamine, which helps to increase the action of serotonin receptors in your brain. In effect, this will help to alleviate your anxiety levels. 

The drug can take up to 4 to 6 weeks to attain its full effects for anxiety. Buspar is not indicated for people younger than 18 years of age. 

Is Buspar Effective For Anxiety?

Regarding anxiety treatment, Benzodiazepine drugs are considered adequate for short-term anxiety, mainly in people with panic attacks. But Buspar is one of the non-addictive and non-sedative drugs with a significant advantage over the benzodiazepines group.

Buspar is the safest and most effective with a doctor’s prescription for extended periods. So your doctor probably recommends Buspar as a first-line treatment for anxiety. 

Buspar is very effective in making you feel relaxed and calm. People tend to feel less stressed and not become dependent on medications. 

A recent study shows that Buspar is as effective as with other classes; more than half of users of Buspar see improvement when compared with other anti-anxiety drugs. 

Can Buspar Make Anxiety Worse?

It takes several weeks for Buspar to attain its full effect on the person consuming it. If a person misses the dosage or suddenly stops taking the drug without a doctor's consult, they may suffer from anxiety worsening. 

Because no known problem is associated with Buspar, doctors consider it safe and effective for anxiety according to the user's need with a valid prescription. 

Dosage Of Buspar For Anxiety

Drug dosage will depend upon several factors, including age, health status, current condition, and taking other drugs, among others. Ask your doctor about the drug dose and frequency. 

Drug Strengths: Buspirone tablets are taken orally with the following doses such as 7.5mg, 10mg,15mg, and 30mg.

Dosage For Anxiety

The initial dose will be 7.5mg twice daily.
Continuous Dose: increases about 2 to 3 days, 5mg daily.
Maximum Dose: 30 mg per day. 

How Fast Does Buspar Work For Anxiety?

Buspar can work effectively on your chemical messengers in the brain, such as dopamine and serotonin receptors, to influence your mood to a normal state. Buspar takes 2 to 4 weeks to attain the full effects on your system. However, you can see immediate changes after taking the medication. 

Buspar Withdrawal Symptoms

Withdrawal symptoms arise when you suddenly stop using the drug without a doctor's advice or take medicine in a higher dose for a longer time. Some of the symptoms are, 

• Anxiety 
• Insomnia
• Tremor
• Vomiting
• Sweating
• Seizures
• Agitation
• Irritability 

To not get affected by such symptoms, your doctor will advise you to inform them in terms of overcoming the condition. Once the dosage is completed, the doctor will advise you to lower the dosage for a particular time and slowly stop the consumption.

Possible Side Effects

Side effects are standard on every drug. During the initial period, after one or two days, it will go on its way; if you face any long-term effects due to the drug when it becomes serious, contact medical help as soon as possible.

Common side effects will not affect much and will go off the body after some days. Long-term effects might affect you in a negative way, but if you consult the doctor, it will be easy for you. 

Precautions Of Buspar

Precautions are guidelines of the drug one should obtain before taking the medication, which will help you achieve the effects of the drug properly without having side effects. Each medication has its preventive measures, so you should follow all the preventive measures needed before taking any medicine.

Inform your doctor if you are allergic to drug ingredients or have hypersensitivity reactions. 
If you are prone to any medical condition, ask your doctor whether the drug can be taken.
People with liver or kidney disorders find it challenging to metabolize the drug, so inform your doctor. 

If you are taking anti-anxiety medications, do not stop abruptly. Ask your doctor directly.
Pregnant mothers should avoid using the drug due to its harmful effects on the fetus.

During breastfeeding, it is not known whether to take the medication. However, you can ask your doctor before taking it. Preventive measures are always helpful. Negligence would cause severe side effects and negatively harm you.   

Can You Overdose On Buspar?

Yes, most people overdose on Buspar. When you take it for a higher dosage than the recommended by your doctor, it leads to suffering adverse reactions. Some people will accidentally overdose on Buspar and get higher. This drug won't produce higher euphoric effects but leads to side effects.

A drug overdose can occur intentionally, or sometimes a purposeful drug addiction or a person taking alcohol will suffer from,

• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Extreme sedation
• Stomach pain
• Unconsciousness
• Blurred vision
• Agitation

Drug Interactions

Drug interaction is interacting one substance or drug with another substance; not all drugs will lead to suffering side effects, but in case some unwanted interactions may cause dangerous consequences. 

Before consuming drugs, kindly inform your doctor. The Buspar drug can interact with other medications; some of the interactions are mentioned below, 

If you have taken any Monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) in the last 14 days, kindly avoid taking Buspar immediately because it will cause an increase in the level of blood pressure, which leads to serotonin syndrome. 

Avoid also some antibiotic drugs such as erythromycin and rifampicin and antifungal drugs such as itraconazole and cimetidine, among others.

Bottom Line From Practical Anxiety Solutions

So far, we have come to understand the drug Buspar. Buspar is a trading name that belongs to the anti-anxiolytic class. It is commonly used to treat generalized anxiety and other health disorders. After taking the drug, it will make you feel calm and alleviate your stress.

Healthcare professionals also say that Buspirone is effective and used as first-line therapy for the condition, though it can be potentially abused because it is less addictive than other anxiolytic drugs. But the drug has fewer side effects, so discussing it with your doctor before taking the medication is necessary.