To understand the negative effects of prescription Xanax, you have to understand how it works. There are connections in the brain that make a natural sedative that the body needs during times of stress and anxiety. This sedative is called gamma amino butyric acid or GABA for short. This can be found in over three quarters of the nerve receptors in the brain. Some people do not produce enough GABA and are more prone to anxiety because of it. This GABA is supposed to level out thinking, but without it, that does not happen. Xanax works with what little GABA someone with anxiety may be making on their own to balance them out.

One drawback of taking Xanax for some people is that they have problems when they decide to come off of it. This pill can be addictive and is not something someone can stop taking cold turkey. Because it helps with the little GABA a person is making, the brain may feel that it does not have to make as much, and then a person is left with even less GABA. If this pill is stopped too quickly, the brain does not have enough time to adjust and make more of its own GABA. When that happens, the effects of stopping Xanax quickly can be quite painful and terrifying for the patient.

Some of the major negative effects of taking Xanax are the side effects. Some tolerate them well but others feel they are too strong and outweigh any benefit they get from taking this prescription drug. Some of the stronger side effects that come with Xanax for some patients are dizziness and sleepiness. Some feel that they are unusually clumsy when taking this pill, leaving them afraid to care for young children or drive a car. For some, headaches are a very common side effect that comes with taking Xanax. Some other side effects can be excitability, restlessness, problems with urination and bowel movements, changes in normal sex drive, and blurry vision. In some severe cases, patients have problems with involuntary muscular motions, memory loss, strange behaviors, and depression.

Quite often, anxiety issues are both physical and mental. You may not know it, but your body comes with a sedative that it can produce on its own. This is known as GABA or gamma amino butyric acid. This is active in nearly 80 percent of your brain in the nerve connectors. This is what your body is supposed to release when you are feeling anxious to help calm you down and to think more clearly. You can think of GABA as something that stop the run away train of stress and anxiety in your brain. Without enough of this, the brain is not going to work as it should in regards to stress and obsessive thought.

In some most patients that suffer from anxiety and overwhelming stress, there is far too little GABA being released in the brain to stop the worry and thoughts that make anxiety a problem rather than something to help a person deal with problems effectively. Xanax works with what little GABA a person may be making on their own and intensifies what it can do. That should help the brain balance back out and the connections within the brain that deal with stress and anxiety work as they should. Patients should feel better relatively quickly when they start taking Xanax.

When a person wants to quit taking Xanax, it is important to do so under the supervision of a doctor. If this is something a person has been on for a long time, sudden withdrawal can be very painful and scary for the patient. This is because some brains react to Xanax by making even less GABA and if someone stops suddenly, they will feel horrible and anxiety will skyrocket. Instead, this is something that should be tapered off very slowly. When that is done, most patients on Xanax find that they do not have a hard time and can come off it successfully without feeling overwhelmed or overly anxious.