Benzos 1 month, 1mg Xanax per day, safe to cold turkey?

[outoftheloop]

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for making another benzo taper thread, I tried scouting the forum far and wide, but I got some conflicting information, so I figured I'd make a thread, and hopefully someone will provide some helpful input.

I started using xanax around the 8th of December and had zero tolerance. 0.125mg would make me quite mellow, 0.25mg would knock me out. In a few days, I built up to 0.25mg and continued with this dosage for a week, before running out.

Around the 20th of december I picked up some more 1mg pills. I stuck to about 0.5mg a day, split into a couple of 0.25mg doses until the 28th, when I caught some flu and thought it would be a good idea to time-travel until I was no longer sick. Until the 1st of Jan I took 0.25mg doses daily to help me sleep.

Since the 1st of Jan, I've been averaging about 1mg of usage daily, split into small 0.25 doses. While initially, 0.25 doses would make me really sleepy, the last week, I've needed 0.5mg to feel any real buzz, but would chase a high, leading to doing about 1 mg a day (give or take 0.25). The last week, I've stopped feeling great from taking the xanax, no longer the euphoria it gave me & it just makes me sleepy & relieves some muscle tension and anxiety.

I'm now down to six 1mg pills and have stopped using (as of waking up a few hours ago). I am generally depressed & anxious a lot of days, which was the appeal of xanax - it helped me concentrate, made me feel great, and allowed me to read books and do other tasks I'm usually too distracted to do.

My question is: At this point am I safe to stop cold-turkey? How long would it be until first withdrawal symptoms (if such appear?). Is it adequate to assume that at such dosage I should have none to very mild withdrawal symtpoms? My main concern is that basically, my dosage pattern was wake up > start dosing > increase dose > sleep, meaning that I'm just now going into my first waking hours in the last 3 or 4 weeks without any xanax. If sleeplessness is anything to go by, I don't feel that at all, in fact I'm tired and sleepy and could go to bed right now. How long is it until I can clearly assess what the severity of withdrawals (if any) will be?

I am most likely overthinking it & xanax has been so welcome due to my generally anxious nature, but it would be good to get some second opinion. My current research-based conclusion is that at this dosage, I should have very mild to none symptoms, but also I saw that apparently splitting doses into multiple smaller doses can produce stronger dependence.

PS: I dont know if its worth noting, but whenever Ive done long multiple month alcohol binges in the past, Ive never experienced any withdrawal symptoms at all.

 

[Dextro .45]

Take half

Or ask doc to switch to Diazepam 5mg tablets ……2 daily……then half daily…..then half a day

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Yes, it will be safe to cold turkey that dose at a month of use. You'll probably have some notable rebound and minor withdrawal, though.

But you won't seize or anything.

You'll probably notice the first signs of withdrawal in about 16hr since last dose.

You will likely experience anxiety, moodiness/irritability and insomnia. You may also experience things like temperature sensitivity, lack of appetite, achey muscles.

But it won't be too bad or full blown withdrawal that you hear about, so don't worry too much.

I would highly advise doing a rapid taper, such as only taking 0.25mg in the evening, so you can sleep. Skip the morning dose for a few days then stop.

If you can get your hands on a longer benzo such as diazepam or clonazepam this is a lot better to taper with because they leave your system much more gradually.

But try not to worry too much, it won't be a dangerous or severe withdrawal, and focusing on or anticipating withdrawals will only make it a lot worse. Try not to overthink it.

Overall you should definitely do a rapid taper not cold turkey. This will minimize the worst of it.

Also, avoid alcohol. It will only make it worse.

 

[JackARoe]

Alcohol withdrawal seems to hit people that drink straight through the day. Yet I think we established (maybe) that even once a day dosing of a benzo can cause issues if taken long enough.

Keep us posted OP. If you actually do cut out the dose CT let us know what you are experiencing. All info is valuable. I wonder if after only a month if there is a way to get off painlessly? I mean 1 month is not long and a few days of diazepam would help come down. Maybe it can be painless. Then again the symptoms one was trying to stop probably all come back and that alone is not pleasant.

i actually should not use the words 'painless' and 'benzo withdrawal' in the same sentence.

 

[outoftheloop]

I'm at 22 hours from the last dose. Tbf, I'm curious to experience some withdrawal symptoms, not that I'm hoping to have them, but just from a psychonautic perspective, if they do appear, I'm curious to see what they are like. My main concern was whether i'm into health issues territory, but it seems like i'm not. Additionally, is there any way in which going cold-turkey can contribute to deregulating GABA, making tapering a better method?

Right now, I've had a bit too much coffee & still don't feel too strange, even though often too much caffeine can give me an anxiety attack.

I feel oddly energized OR slightly anxious, interpreting the feeling can go either way, but there is a certain feeling of my mind being sharp and scattered at the same time. Nothing that I wouldn't attribute to the caffeine on its own, if it weren't for the last month of xanax usage & wondering if I'll experience any withdrawal.

 

[Survival0200]

If you read the summaries of product characteristics (SPCs) of benzos, they aren't recommended to be taken for longer than 8-12 weeks - and even then tapering the dose down is recommended. So, I guess that's where pharmaceutical companies draw the line.

 

[smokeymcpot42088]

^they will say that prescribe you for 20+ years and than read that piece of info randomly and decide to pull patients off meds. By they I mean docors. Experience says you should be ok although in for a rough ride. Try and grab a bottle or as many as you can find that a roomate/parent/ wtf ever can hold for you and give them to you if THEY decide you are suffering too much or if you dont trust them like that agree on a safeword or just dont hand them over.

 

[outoftheloop]

I'm right now at about t+44h from my last dose.

I don't feel too terrible, but I don't really feel excellent either.

I have waves of anxiety that seem to last about 30-40 minutes at a time and then disperse. They feel very much like a caffeine overdose.

The weird thing is at t+24 hours since my last dose, I felt absolutely amazing - almost like I'd dosed again or as if my gaba system was doing some weird form of gymnastics. Deep euphoria and music enhancement. Then I went to sleep. Sleep was patchy, like taking an amphetamine nap. Woke up five hours later by a phone call and was jolted awake.

There was initial calmness and then a wave of anxiety that lasted until I ate some food.

I now just feel a bit off, like I have the onset of a cold, sensitive to temperature + I'm in a new anxiety wave.

Reading books or bluelight threads is proving to be a pleasant distraction, plus at least so far, the waves of anxiety would just be waves and would dissipate if I were to distract myself for a while.

Some of the mental headspace feels like a bad acid trip with the anxiety and slight derealization, but it's not too overwhelming and using the same mental toolkit I'd use on a bad acid trip seems to be doing the job of keeping my headspace in check.

Am I better off tapering at this point or would it be wiser to stick it out if I've already made it to nearly 48 hours?

 

[JackARoe]

^Hey thanks for the updates OOTL. It helps people a lot when people ask a question and then update more often. I think it keeps continuity. Much appreciated.

I think you will be ok but don't listen to me. I suspect if you stayed on longer or took larger doses you would have way more issues. But plenty of people have done this so hopefully they can chime in if you should back up and taper.

 

[outoftheloop]

^Hey thanks for the updates OOTL. It helps people a lot when people ask a question and then update more often. I think it keeps continuity. Much appreciated.

I think you will be ok but don't listen to me. I suspect if you stayed on longer or took larger doses you would have way more issues. But plenty of people have done this so hopefully they can chime in if you should back up and taper.

Sure thing. I know I got quite annoyed when I couldn't find much information at this dosage and usage range, so hopefully, if someone is in the same situation in the future, they can use my updates as an additional data-point. Will make sure to eventually compile any symptoms and withdrawal timelines into one post in this thread, once I'm out of the woods.

I just had the truly retarded idea when I got into this, that I could mentally cosplay as the girl from 24/7 lofi beats to chill study relax yt videos if I took xanax and read books all day, listening to house music. I did read a lot of books and listen to a lot of house music, but didn't account in any way for the possibility that such a dosage over such a small timeframe would mean i'd have to worry about physical dependence symptoms at all.

With how often it is prescribed by doctors for anxiety & how prevalent the drug is in popular culture, it's truly wild to me that a seemingly minor binge could be a cause of concern. I was already aware of the risks, just not how easy it is to get into the riskier side of things.

Right now it feels like the anxiety and flu symptoms are increasing slowly rather than decreasing.

Still there's two things I can't figure out:

At this dosage and with no tremors or other extreme symptoms is it safe to assume that a taper is not needed to avoid a seizure? You can probably imagine the anxiety s amplified by expecting the worst

 

[Keif' Richards]

Yes. IT would be an extreme outlier for someone taking this quantity of Alprazolam, 1mg per day for ~30 days to suffer withdrawal effects that could be considered dangerous to their health. The most common issue with Benzodiazepine and sedative/hypnotic drugs in general is that there is a chance of epileptic seizures if the dosage is high and chronic.

Even with 3 months of said usage, it's not a situation that someone with willpower and a desire to change can figure out with a few days off from work and dedication to the process. The biggest issue you will likely face will be the uncomfortable symptoms of withdrawal like malaise (a general feeling of tension and uneasiness throughout the body, often coinciding with illness), anxiety, perspiration, nausea and all the stuff you're probably already aware of. You're not going to feel right for a week or two, but you shouldn't need medical intervention.

Some people do well with going to detoxification programs simply because they are more "locked in, watched and committed". You have to tell staff you're tapping out, sign the papers, tell your wife you can't hack it... all that shit. FOr this reason, a lot of people do well with a 5-7 day standard drug detoxification that is more or less the same throughout the world of modern medicine. In detox, you can gain confidence, get advice and share your pain and truth with others. That last one is a big one. You will leave the detox maybe not feeling quite right, but you'll have a foundation to build on.

I wouldn't expect serious seizures unless you'd been taking that dose thrice per day for three months. This is the advice of someone who is not medically trained but has been through and observed this shit. Some are more prone to seizures than others and safety first is the best option in all instances. I would never advise any person to withdraw from Benzodiazepines like this on their own for reaons of liability, but the straight dope is what has been written above and I think you can take it to the bank.

 

[outoftheloop]

Little update:

Timeline:
At t+60h I couldn't hack it anymore. The anxiety, headache, nausea and vomiting didn't seem too bad on their own> i kept on trying to remind myself how much of a soldier I'd been through multiple meth, speed and mdma comedowns through the years& trying to assure myself that I could also make it through this.

The main thing that got me was the insomnia. I started seeing little lights moving and shadows, basically the first signs of shadow people, plus some minor auditory hallucinations like whispers in my head (which I've previously heard when seeing shadow ppl on multiple day speed binges).

Quitting CT, deciding to taper
Called a friend on the phone and she strongly advised me to switch to tapering and to do a slow taper. With scientific intent, I thought I'd first try to see if 0.25mg would do it, just to see how deep into the shit I am. It did remove some of the nausea and anxiety, but not by a lot and it made me feel more down, but not more capable of sleep.

Took another 0.25mg and was soon sleeping.

Woke up about 6 hours later, with a huge anxiety attack, absolutely terrified. Took 0.25mg and that didn't do anything. Took another 0.25mg and was pretty much euphoric, mellow as hell and feeling great overall. Stayed up for a few hours, trying to make the most of this headspace, clean some dishesh etc and then was too sleepy and went to sleep.

Woke up about 7 or 8 hours later, feeling really anxious. I took what looked like 0.125 (I have ksalol pills that I'm cutting with a knife, so measurements aren't very exact).While I didn't get high, it did stabilise me - I felt quite anxious going to the store and had minor waves of anxiety here and there, but overall wasn't feeling too bad.

It's now 8 hours later and I started feeling quite bleak, so I took a larger chunk of the pill, which I estimate at 0.2mg. Stabilizing again, no notable high.

Taper Questons:

1. I have ksalol 1mg pills. Very hard to exactly split. Volumetric dosing would be ideal. Is it possible to dissolve them in just warm water? Or vodka and run the syringe under hot water? I keep on reading you need polyethylene glycol, but that's hard to come by where I live & it seems I can only buy really large quantties, that I don't have the money for.

2. In terms of protecting the GABA system in the brain, is there any reason why the slowest possible taper is best? I have enough xanax to do a slow taper, even over the course of a few weeks. On the other hand, 0.25 mg seems to stabilize me and 0.5 mg even gets me kinda high.

Basically, I'm split between: I want to get this over with as soon as possible & ideally I want the only w/d effect I have to deal with to be minor anxiety (not this, I'm going to die & I think I'm gonna puke shit). I'm not sure how compatible these two goals are.

Additionally, I've always been able to drink without getting any withdrawals. I'd like to avoid any possible cross-kindling as a side-effect from this & hope to be able to keep on drinking without getting withdrawals (once I'm off the taper, I don't have any plans to drink soon). This is why I want to make sure I minimize any negative effects on my GABA system. Plus the last few days have taught me the importance of these little receptors in the brain, and after this I'd ideally love to have them back at their optimal functioning.

In such a case, would you say a very slow taper of reducing doses weekly would be best? It doesn't make that much sense to me as an idea, but my friend insists it's the best possible course of action. So far, I've reduced the dose each day by a little and haven't felt too terrible. Furthermore, this was a minor binge, rather than a few month habit, so not sure if doing a long drawn out taper would be best. Seems more sensible to try and reduce the dose every few days.

Huge thank you to everyone's replies, I'm really lost & confused with this shit & a lot of the info on the internet is either aimed at much higher doses and durations, or just descriptions of how ppl completely fucked up their lives, which is obvs a bit scary to read.

 

[Isavela]

I did not read the whole thread but i would go cold turkey, that is so small dosage and so short time. You will be okay in a week..

 

[Dr. Now]

Hey brother, just registered to give you a response as I'm freshly off my 2nd stint in rehab for benzos a few months ago. My dosages at my most recent stint were ridiculously high so that was a different thing. Accidentallly snorting a few hundred milligrams of raw rilmazafone (a water soluble benzo prodrug) while on a FXE binge absolutely destroyed my tolerance which was already really high. I was to the point that taking like 70mg+ of flubromazepam at a time and didn't even feel anything. Shit got really really bad. Needless to say I feel you on insomnia being one of the worst symptoms. Even with the librium and phenobarb and 100mg of seroquel at night and other shit I probably slept like 3 or 4 hours total in around 2 weeks. I was able to manage but it definitely fucked with my head and had my emotions even more all over the place than benzo withdrawal itself brings. Not gonna lie I left rehab after 8 days and no sleep after they stopped giving me any librium, tapered with low dose rilmazafone for around 6 more days and was good with minimal withdrawal symptoms remaining. The long half life of the flub (100 something hours) I'm pretty sure was the reason the withdrawal was so nasty this go round. Pretty sure I'm done using any benzos that start with 'flu' lol bad shit seems to happen, at least for me. Flu-alp and flubromazolam jacked my tolerance years ago.

But the first time I was in rehab, my drug of choice was usually etizolam, was cheap and plentiful and didn't last too long which I liked. Had to actually take some ativan to get accepted into rehab because you have to piss hot and etizolam isn't actually a benzo so won't pop for benzos on a panel. But anyway, for years on and off I'd dose at around 1-5mg of etizolam daily (approx 0.5-2.5mg xanax effect wise). Then I'd taper off over like 2 weeks or so for differing amounts of time. Sometimes I'd stop for a few weeks, months, whatever. Needless to say temptation eventually got the better of me and landed me in rehab 6 years ago the first time. Having basically unlimited benzos tends to do that. I feel like doing 2mg of etizolam everyday for a month (comparable to 1mg xanax) is long enough for some minor withdrawal symptoms, nothing dangerous but definitely enough to be annoying and have you feeling like trash and random panic attacks for a several days.

I'd try sticking it out the best you can and at the very least commit to reducing the dosage. I have been doing like 1-2mg of brentazenil daily for about a week and stopped yesterday. Got 0 hours of sleep last night but that's to be expected. Might take 50mg or 100mg of seroquel tonight to try and sleep, not sure. I really ought to just throw this shit out.

If I were you I'd try my best to do 0.75mg/day for a few days, then 0.5mg/day for a few days, then 0.25 at night for a few days, and even can do a few days at 0.125mg at the end. I know it sucks but this way should be pretty painless (other than rebound insomnia, for me) and is basically how I got off etizolam many times over the years. Just adjusted the dosages to what I think would be appropriate for you. Very doable in under 2 weeks I think. You'll still feel a little 'off' most likely, a little more on edge than usual, and I know it sucks because you probably wouldn't have been using them in the first place if you didn't feel anxious or whatever else. But that will go away in not too long and you'll be back to normalcy, feels like a long time as you're going through it for sure. It's definitely better to get off these things though.

Good luck man, all the best to you.

Also, as far as volumetric dosing do you have a .001g scale? Imagine you could break the pills down into small pieces (or a powder) and weigh them on the scale. Could even cap them that way and adjust the dosage to what you want. Just an idea, I'm not sure what the answer would be regarding solubility, I always used PG but I always worked with raw benzo powder and not pills.

 

[JackARoe]

The main thing that got me was the insomnia. I started seeing little lights moving and shadows, basically the first signs of shadow people, plus some minor auditory hallucinations like whispers in my head (which I've previously heard when seeing shadow ppl on multiple day speed binges

Whoa so this turned out to not be as easy as some of us thought. One month of a therapeutic dose can cause such issues. I did know of someone that suffered a year after taking .5 every night before bed for 6 months. I always thought there had to be a constant amount of the drug in the system to cause worse symptoms.

To make matters more confusing we all have read of the person that took a benzo daily for a month or two and quit without issues. Then we have these issues.

Again thanks for the detail OP. This will help someone else looking for any info. Feel free to keep posting the way out of this pickle, I know more people will chime in.

 

[ketquest]

I have just finished reading everything, it seems to me that those withdrawal symptoms were self inflicted... Like, you worried about it so much that it triggered a psychosomatic reaction in your body. You took such a small dosage for such a short period of time, you really shouldn't feel anything to be honest.

 

[crazyhairman]

...yes, you will feel it though. I took only 1mg a day for 6 years. I wasn't right again for a year. I will never take that stuff again

 

[Keif' Richards]

Hey @outoftheloop

I'll start by answering the two questions that the bottom of your post.

1. Volumetric dosing is possible with Benzodiazepines. Most are not water-soluble per se, yet that doesn't make them unusable. You can achieve pretty good homogeneity just by stirring the powder in water and injecting directly after mixing. If you wait several minutes, the powder will likely come out of solution ans settle on the bottom of the container.

Generally, I'll use an oral syringe with dosin units on the side. I use 10ml as the usual content of my rectal administration. When you do your volumetric setup, you'll use the numbers to help determine the strength of a given volume of your tincture.

Alcohol would be the most practical choice for a solvent. We're not doing chemistry here, so just buy something clear and high-proof, at least ~35%-40%. Everclear is a great choice for its high potency of 96%. Mix the Benzodiazepines with the Alcohol, stir gently and you should then have a homogenous solution.

2. I don't believe it has to be done "extremely slow". I think it's up to the patient and the prescriber. A slower taper often is a great indicator of long-term success. Whatever protocol is used, it needs to be tailored to the patient's needs. We know that abrupt cessation of Alcohol and other sedative hypnotics is potentially lethal. For this reason, doctors will try to find that goldilocks zone, in which there is discomfort, though nothing that can't be handled.