Medicine use with chronic hyperventilation

Medicijnen bij chronische hyperventilatie

Doctors prescribe various types of medication in the fight against chronic hyperventilation. Many medications are prescribed without the diagnosis of chronic hyperventilation being made. This is mainly due to the lack of sufficient knowledge among general practitioners about the chronic hyperventilation syndrome. Unfortunately, insufficient attention to this disease in the training of the physicians. The medications that are are commonly prescribed are benzodiazepines and antidepressants.

Medications from the benzodiazepine group

Medications for chronic hyperventilation. Beware of benzodiazepines!
Medications for chronic hyperventilation
beware of benzodiazepines!

These are medicines with a calming and anxiety-resistant effect. Examples are diazepam (valium) and oxazepam (seresta). The problem with these drugs is that they seem to work well. But the dampening effect comes – popularly speaking – from blocking interactions between nerve cells (neurons). They therefore do not solve the underlying problem of chronic hyperventilation. Worse, the blockages also inhibit the body’s natural processing of stress. For a detailed explanation, see the relationship between stress and hyperventilation.

Finally, a warning about the use of this type of medication. The benzodiazepines are highly addictive. The patient soon becomes dependent on the use of these medications. We advise to use these medicines only in emergencies. And then also as short as possible. These medications are not suitable for healing chronic hyperventilation.

Antidepressants (AD medicications)

Antidepressants are medicines that actually do the opposite as the benzodiazepines. They increase the levels of various neurotransmitters (transfer agents) in the central nervous system (the brain). They stimulate and facilitate the processing of the underlying stress. These medications thus form a good complement for the HyperVen therapy.

The disadvantage of these drugs are the often (especially in the beginning) occurring heavy stress discharges. They can become so intense that the patients decide to stop using these medicines. Getting through the start-up phase of the medication is sometimes too heavy a task. In addition, these drugs can have various other (undesirable) side effects.

Alternative medications

The benefit of AD drugs – increasing neurotransmitters in the central nervous system – can also be found in some natural products. Examples are the well-known St. John’s Wort, 5-HTP, Rhodiola and various other types of natural AD. The effects of these drugs are significantly less than the chemical variants. But they are sometimes a better solution for people who can not tolerate the heavy side effects of the chemical antidepressants.

Nevertheless, we would like to stress to be very careful with these medications. They contain often all kinds of other substances (the products are impure). And not everybody can tolerate this. Especially combining several of these types of natural AD’s can lead to unpleasant and very undesirable side effects. 

So should you use medications or not with chronic hyperventilation?

Our conclusion is, be cautious. Medications do not resolve the syndrome of chronic hyperventilation. Because they do not change the setting of the respiratory center. So they are tools. In particular, the chemical AD – which general practitioners prescribed often – can be a good addition to therapies such as HyperVen. Provided you can tolerate the side effects. There are alternatives for the use of medicines that equally supportive. Examples of this are a healthy lifestyle and yoga and meditation.


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