Hi Im 16 recently I bought a bunch of xanax bars and started doing them at first i would do a half every other day, then a full bar every other day for like 1.5 weeks, then for the past 4 days ive been doing 1mg daily. I have always had really bad anxiety but the thing is today i didnt take any and im feeling numb anxious and sad and i cant tell my parents because they would be so dissapointed in me. I have some of these xanax bars left should i just completely stop?? should i start taking lower doses and then stop? i also just started school and i dont wanna freak out in class, im so stupid for doing this to myself i need someone to help me please i dont even know if im addicted or not.
Benzos 16 yrs old and i think im addicted to XANAX
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falsifiedhypothesi
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I'm no expert on benzos but ill try to help. It's great that you want to quit before it gets bad, when benzos like Xanax are abused they can cause very serious rebound anxiety and depression. It's very mature of you to realize you have a problem even though it's not that bad of an addiction, it's still an addiction.
I don't know if your frequency of use would cause withdrawals, try to stop cold turkey but if you start to feel shakey or very uncomfortable take just enough Xanax to stop the withdrawals then work out a taper plan. Work your dose down slowly over a week or two then when you get down to like .25-.125mg jump off of that dose and your discomfort should be minimal.
Good luck and again good for you for wanting to better yourself.
I don't know if your frequency of use would cause withdrawals, try to stop cold turkey but if you start to feel shakey or very uncomfortable take just enough Xanax to stop the withdrawals then work out a taper plan. Work your dose down slowly over a week or two then when you get down to like .25-.125mg jump off of that dose and your discomfort should be minimal.
Good luck and again good for you for wanting to better yourself.
If you are new to benzos and have in total been only one them for two weeks tops (with most being every other day)-as Xanax is a short acting one I personally think what you're experiencing is the rebound anxiety amplified by guilt. You haven't taken them long enough to develop physical tolerance so you can stop. I would also ask myself what lead to the decision to start in the first place and address it now. Misuse/abuse is addict behavior and even if you aren't doing drugs, if you have the mentality that got you started even after you quit your issue remains. If you have anxiety issues please tell someone who can help you get the treatment that is medically warranted for it.
Ksa
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Cold turkey, throw rest down the toilet.
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If I were in your situation, I'd probably cold-turkey it too. With something like xanax there's almost always going to be some rebound symptoms. Ideally you'd tell your parents.
Yeah all my life i have had really bad anxiety, i only smoke weed but one of my friends made me try bars once and it was like the perfect drug for me because of my anxiety, i feel dumb now because all my friends told me "dont fuck with bars" and I still did Im gonna quit cold turkey but keep .25 mgs just in case, this really sucks because I have to go to school with this and i cant even tell anyone because im embarassed enough already and if i tell my parents it would just ruin my relationship with them because they cried one time they found out i was doing drugs.
Thanks to everyone that answered, BTW how long do you guys think these symptoms will last?? i might skip school tomorrow so i dont freak out in class and then since its friday ill have saturday and sunday to get better. Do you guys think ill have less anxiety by Monday? how things are going right now i dont think ill even get to sleep tonight.
JahSEEuS
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i mean, each individual is different. I would personally taper out. I don't know how much you have left exactly, but if you are up to 1 mg / day. Maybe try taking .75 - .5 - .25 then hopefully you have a weekend to really stop.
Honestly I fucking hate benzo's more than any drug (maybe not heroin), and I've seen what they all can do. You should be careful and ideally talk to you parents / doctor as long term abuse and then stopping can cause seizures. I don't think you are close to that yet but again everyone is different. You should def talk to dr. about your anxiety though and maybe read up on behavioral modifications and techniques/tools that can be used to overcome such feelings without meds.
Honestly I fucking hate benzo's more than any drug (maybe not heroin), and I've seen what they all can do. You should be careful and ideally talk to you parents / doctor as long term abuse and then stopping can cause seizures. I don't think you are close to that yet but again everyone is different. You should def talk to dr. about your anxiety though and maybe read up on behavioral modifications and techniques/tools that can be used to overcome such feelings without meds.
Zerwas
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You should be better on monday and I think your plan to keep 0,25mg in case it gets bad is totally fine. Prepare for some restlessness and insomnia for the next few days and dont psyche yourself out over it.
Try to occupy yourself with activities you enjoy if you can. Physical exercise always helps. If you are prone to anxiety I would also recommend to stop smoking weed because it can worsen social anxiety etc.
You are doing the right thing! If you have further questions just ask, good luck!
Try to occupy yourself with activities you enjoy if you can. Physical exercise always helps. If you are prone to anxiety I would also recommend to stop smoking weed because it can worsen social anxiety etc.
You are doing the right thing! If you have further questions just ask, good luck!
kleinerkiffer
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As others have said, you didn't use them that long, so you should get away with some rebound symptoms (more anxiety and insomnia for a few days) but imo a quick taper could be beneficial and possibly helps you quit without any negative symptoms.
As JahSEEuS has said: .75 - .5 - .25 and maybe .125
This should eliminate possible rebound symptoms/withdrawal
And don't forget, benzo (and GABAergics in general) addiction is hell on earth and it's really wise to stop now, when you still can
Good luck man!
As JahSEEuS has said: .75 - .5 - .25 and maybe .125
This should eliminate possible rebound symptoms/withdrawal
And don't forget, benzo (and GABAergics in general) addiction is hell on earth and it's really wise to stop now, when you still can
Good luck man!
Mushwood
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Avoiding stimulants when you're withdrawing is a good idea too. I found that even drinking tea would really put me on edge (and coke brought on seizures... but I was taking large amounts - maybe the equivalent of about 10mgs Xanax - for years..)
If it was me I'd do a quick taper just to make it easier for myself (something like .75 one day then .5 then .25 then stop) but as other posters have said you should avoid the bad physical WD symptoms as you've not ben taking it very long.
Benzo dependency is truly horrible, it took me years to get off them ... So doing it now while it's relatively easy is a great idea, well done.
Good luck!
If it was me I'd do a quick taper just to make it easier for myself (something like .75 one day then .5 then .25 then stop) but as other posters have said you should avoid the bad physical WD symptoms as you've not ben taking it very long.
Benzo dependency is truly horrible, it took me years to get off them ... So doing it now while it's relatively easy is a great idea, well done.
Good luck!
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Oh my goodness PLEASE stop now...flush the rest and just be happy that all you have is some insomnia and rebound anxiety...also I would put down the weed, I had anxiety into my 20s and weed always made it way worse...once i admitted to myself that I hated smoking pot and quit for good my anxiety totally went away. What's weird is that I loved to get stoned right up until a very particular episode when I was like 22, and from that night on weed made me feel awful but I kept smoking for like another year thinking it was just temporary...haven't smoked since and I'm 43 now.
Go read some benzobuddies threads if you need some motivation, that will scare you straight.
Go read some benzobuddies threads if you need some motivation, that will scare you straight.
Anxious.Individual
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I honestly don't find benzo WD as horrific as most people claim it to be. I tapered down from a 30mg/day Xanax habit, and it wasn't even remotely as bad as tapering down from phenobarbital. Even pregabalin WD was more excruciating. + Weed really helped with my social anxiety. I feel like every time I smoke my anxious thoughts become less realistic, which makes them laughable/scary at the time but easy to overcome.
Speed King
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My friend. Technically, your on a lower dose already. Follow the advice here and back off at a steady pace. Don't pussy out about it, just rip that band aid off. People will help you taper off with what you have left.
Let this be a lesson two you. A. Xanax habbit can be waaaaay worse then yours. Learn your lesson now.
Let this be a lesson two you. A. Xanax habbit can be waaaaay worse then yours. Learn your lesson now.
Speed King
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My friend. Technically, your on a lower dose already. Follow the advice here and back off at a steady pace. Don't pussy out about it, just rip that band aid off. People will help you taper off with what you have left.
Let this be a lesson two you. A. Xanax habbit can be waaaaay worse then yours. Learn your lesson now.
Let this be a lesson two you. A. Xanax habbit can be waaaaay worse then yours. Learn your lesson now.
I have also been lucky to never have WD from benzo usage.. Although I have never abused them, I have taken them for short periods of time and then abruptly stop..I think it is because of being scared to death of the stories I hear about using them for long periods of time. I have never found anything alluring about them and used them only for anxiety or my sleep disorder. There is one time though that I realized after the fact that I did have some sort of withdrawal. Back in 2000 i was on xanax, 1mg daily, for 5 months after I was recovering from a serious operation. When my refills ran out, I didnt think anything of it.. 4 days later I remember the most horrid, depersonalizing experience that lasted for 3 days. Having said that, I am extremely glad that you realize that benzo usage is nothing to play around with.. As all the others posted, DO NOT play around. Flush the rest and chalk up the experience to "lesson learned". Please take all our advice very seriously.
Well what I found alluring about Xanax was that it makes me feel like Im in control of everything like im invincible but I know its nothing to mess around with now.
"Not gonna...anymore" and "just once a week max" are conflicting statements within the same sentence. You are treading on very dangerous ground. If you need help get the help you need. Using behind closed doors, when as you say no one knows, under your own judgement, without your own script, is a recipe for disaster especially when you're already conflicted over using it or not. I know because that was me. Not once or twice but every time I thought I could handle it, every "once in a while", snowballed into personal hell. EVERY TIME. It's a lot easier to ask for help with anxiety than full-blown addiction. And once you have a history of addiction good luck getting a doctor to prescribe anything for your anxiety besides shit drugs.