Benzos Xanax advice after relatively short-term use

[DreamofWinter]

Around February 18th this year I was prescribed Xanax. Was in acute crisis. I was advised to take 0.5mg three times a day. More or less I've stuck to that. Some days I took just 0.5, and some I took up to 2mg, but roughly the average is 1.5 judging by the number of pills I've gone through. It's not possible for me to see a doctor again for a while, and I'm aware that nobody here can give medical advice. I feel like I'm through the crisis I was experiencing and would like to stop taking the pills. I've been using them for roughly 40 days. Would your advice be to stop cold turkey, or to do a bit of a taper? I have roughly 40 x 0.5mg tablets left. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I don't drink alcohol or use any other drugs. I have no history of addiction, although I probably did overdo it a bit with beer and weed as a student, but doubt that's at all relevant. Also, as I mentioned, there's no chance for me to see a doctor for the foreseeable future so I can't switch to a longer acting Benzo.

 

[paranoid android]

Taper with the pills you have left if you cant see a doctor and get more. You wont get very severe wd's using them for that long but it might be enough for rebound anxiety for sure

 

[DreamofWinter]

Taper with the pills you have left if you cant see a doctor and get more. You wont get very severe wd's using them for that long but it might be enough for rebound anxiety for sure

OK, thank you. Do you think it would be more comfortable doing a week at 2 x 0.5mg a day, then a week at 0.5mg would be OK? Or splitting them into 0.25mg doses and doing 4 x 0.25 for a week, and so on?

 

[snmfmy]

OK, thank you. Do you think it would be more comfortable doing a week at 2 x 0.5mg a day, then a week at 0.5mg would be OK? Or splitting them into 0.25mg doses and doing 4 x 0.25 for a week, and so on?

After that long I would reduce my dose only by 0.25 mg for 4 days. So take your 0.5 in the morning 0.25 midday 0.5 in the evening. If You feel fine, then you drop another 0.25 which I would recommend as the morning dose. Dose so now you have morning 0.25, afternoon 0.25, evening 0.5. stay on that dose for 4 days.

So eight days have gone by and you have taken 18 of your 40 tablets.

Then obviously you would go down to 0.25, 0.25, 0.25.

After 4 more days you've now used a total of 24 tablets - You have 16 left

Now reduce to 0.25, 0.125, 0.25. then 0.125, 0.125, 0.25 then 0.125, 0.125, 0.125 - All for 4 days each step.

The way to do this is to dissolve a 0.5 mg tablet in 10 ml of 40% ethanol (80 proof), (Xanax is insoluble in water).

Measure it using a baby medicine syringe, mix the 10 ml of ethanol with the dissolved Xanax tablet with 10 ml of water, because alprazolam is soluble in ethanol and ethanol is miscible in water, it will remain dissolved. Using that ratio a teaspoon = 0.125 mg dose use the baby syringe to administer into a drink or technically you can absorb ethanol sublingually so it would work.

And you used 12 tablets - you have 4 left

So far 24 days elapsed

Drop to 0.125 morning and night for 4 days, (You now have two left)

Drop to 0.125 once a day if you don't want to have possible insomnia than take it in the morning. Otherwise, if you are having insomnia, take it at night. You have eight days of medication left.

You've tapered from 1.5 mg to zero over the course of 36 days with the most gradual I could calculate using the 40 pills that you have.

In my experience being tapered off of benzos, that is the best way I can think of doing it to minimize your withdrawal.

If you start having significant withdrawals, the only thing you can do is try and stabilize yourself and go see a doctor.

A heart rate over 100, sweating, tremor, significant high blood pressure are signs that point possibly significant withdrawal syndrome and need to be evaluated by a medical professional because you can get delirium tremens from benzodiazepine withdrawal. It's not common, and your dose is not that significant, however, I'm being as cautious as possible.

You can PM me if you need more help or any explanation on the taper or the way to titrate using ethanol as a solvent.

 

[snmfmy]

@DreamofWinter

If you're only using 0.5 mg twice a day currently, and you're not experiencing any withdrawal, then contact me and I'll work up another taper schedule because it would be completely different.

 

[DreamofWinter]

Thanks very much. Today I took 0.5 in the morning when I woke (around 7am) and then 0.25 at around 14:30. Seems fine, and don't notice any kind of difference in terms of physical sensations or rebound anxiety. Planning on taking 0.5 early evening