Benzos Could I be going through Xanax withdrawal?

[benzonovice]

Ok to start I am a new member, but I have just searched through old threads for years prior getting information. Sorry if this is the wrong
forum but I wasn't sure and needed this question answered.

Ok so I have been taking xanax since approximately January 8th of this year and took my last .5 pill today. Through this time period I have taken 32.5mgs total, mostly on a everyday basis probably 2 .5 a day a different time but sometimes 3 .5s if I had an extra stressful day. Also to be straight up I was also drinking heavily during most of this period because it was syllabus week in school so I've been pretty much hammered like most days, on weekends easily 10-15 drinks a weekend night and I would drink also pretty heavily if didn't have much school work to do. Whenever I did drink I took max 1mg xanax before drinking and never blackouted besides once when I had taken 1mg but for a football sunday me and like 5 people drank like 4-5 5ths of alc and 2 bottles of wine in a extremely short period of time with me and one other friend drinking the majority. Besides that nothing ever reckless happened on xanax and all i did was end up sleeping on floor till midnight when i woke up.

So recently works been starting to catch up so I did not drink at all yesterday day and took one .5mg xanax in the morning. By the night when the xanax wore off my arms were trembling (isn't super weird I've been nervous whole life and hands would shake), eye twitching and I was extremely irritable. These people talking on silent floor of library not too loud but right behind me really pissed me of and my hand shaking made it hard to do work so just went home. I took one last .5 xanax which didnt really help the symptoms so ended up drinking 4 beers to potentiate it because I only had one more .5 left. That night got terrible sleep and night sweats, and this entire day felt terrible horrible headache and only managed to get out of bed once at 3pm to finally get food. Took the last .5 xanax which kinda helped but not like all symptoms gone. So could I be going through xanax withdrawal with the total amount I did in the time period? Its hard for me to tell cause I was drinking so much too and that day was probably first day without a drink so I can't tell if its the alcohol. I was suppose to get a refill today which would be perfect but snow storm messed everything up and next time I can see doc would be tuesday. It is maybe possible for me to call in and get a refill tn but it have to be done kind of soon within next two hours, and should I be getting a refill anyway? I plan to go on an ssri when I talk to doc on tuesday also and don't want to not have any benzos while that kicks in. So do you think this is xanax withdrawal and should I get a refill or ride it out till tuesday? Its just hard cause I'm in school and I literally couldnt function at all today, and if its going to be like this till tuesday idk if I can do it.

 

[kleinerkiffer]

It might be rebound anxiety, because if I read correctly you took it just for one month straight. Or maybe it's alcohol / GABA withdrawal because you seem to abuse GABAergics.
For the sake of harm reduction, combining alcohol with benzos can result in respiratory depression and in the worst case can result in death.
I would suggest you stay away from benzos, except maybe for stopping a really bad panic attack.
Benzo withdrawal is hell on earth.
Maybe stop drinking for a while, so your body can regenerate.
Stay safe

 

[Larc]

Sounds like minor withdrawal to me. You didnt use very long so I would guess the symptoms will go away within a couple days tops.

Be sure not to drink alcohol for the next few days. It will just prolong it.

Just be thankful you ran out of pills, true benzo withdrawal is a bitch and a half and possibly fatal in extreme cases.

 

[benzonovice]

Thanks for the info guys and taking your time to reply. So my situation was a bit confusing because I think I also caught the flu or some kind of cold the same day as my pills ran out so it was hard to tell what was really doing what and just stopped drinking alcohol. So it was hard to tell what was doing what, but my hands did shake a lot which I don't is a flu symptom so I might've been going through some withdrawal don't really know. Doc filled out a script from klonopin instead this time cause she thinks ive been a lil reckless with xanax, but after popping the kpins my hands did stop shaking so idk. Kpins so far are good for the anxiety and calmness but like they're not anywhere like the xans so I figure this is good and ill just actually use them as prescribed. But the longer time to kick in is kinda annoying because I have to plan my day out much more like usually if I had someone to hang out with kinda impromptu where I took I'd be a lil anxious I'd just pop a xan and head over but 2 hour come on makes it a bit harder.

 

[pbuilder]

Thanks for the info guys and taking your time to reply. So my situation was a bit confusing because I think I also caught the flu or some kind of cold the same day as my pills ran out so it was hard to tell what was really doing what and just stopped drinking alcohol. So it was hard to tell what was doing what, but my hands did shake a lot which I don't is a flu symptom so I might've been going through some withdrawal don't really know. Doc filled out a script from klonopin instead this time cause she thinks ive been a lil reckless with xanax, but after popping the kpins my hands did stop shaking so idk. Kpins so far are good for the anxiety and calmness but like they're not anywhere like the xans so I figure this is good and ill just actually use them as prescribed. But the longer time to kick in is kinda annoying because I have to plan my day out much more like usually if I had someone to hang out with kinda impromptu where I took I'd be a lil anxious I'd just pop a xan and head over but 2 hour come on makes it a bit harder.

You didn't catch a cold or flu when your pills ran out, that is withdrawal. Xanax should be taken for no longer then one week, after a month straight you are hooked physically. Please try to use the klonopin in an organized, planned taper. I am afraid you already hooked, getting of benzos is soooo fucking hard . The alcohol complicates things even more, you should stop drinking, as the withdrawals from alcohol make benzo withdrawal much more dangerous.

It fucking pisses me off that a shrink got you unknowingly hooked on benzos. They are literally the hardest drug on the planet to get off

 

[tacodude]

Crush up your pill and hold it under your tounge for a good ten minutes maybe with a ml of water also held in mouth to help it wash away the filer allowing the non water soluble klonopin to absorb through the bottom of the tounge for sublingual dosing. Nasal usage does not work and making a liquid solution is quite hard without the chem knowledge as the clonazapan is not water soluble.

 

[kleinerkiffer]

You didn't catch a cold or flu when your pills ran out, that is withdrawal. Xanax should be taken for no longer then one week, after a month straight you are hooked physically. Please try to use the klonopin in an organized, planned taper. I am afraid you already hooked, getting of benzos is soooo fucking hard . The alcohol complicates things even more, you should stop drinking, as the withdrawals from alcohol make benzo withdrawal much more dangerous.

It fucking pisses me off that a shrink got you unknowingly hooked on benzos. They are literally the hardest drug on the planet to get off

This
Please try to taper while the withdrawals are still not that bad. Benzo addiction sucks and makes everything worse in the long run.
Maybettry CBT.
And try to lay off the alcohol for a while, alcohol addiction is as bad as benzo addiction.
Good luck

 

[benzonovice]

Tbh I think I probably am already hooked, and I did think it was withdrawal symptoms originally actually. But after seeing a doctor today she made it seem like maybe I was withdrawing, but she said she didn't think I was on it long enough to be withdrawing and probably just got the flu and maybe had some withdrawal symptoms. I can't blame my shrink or anything like that because I got it from a family doc before this semester cause I had bad insomnia and anxiety, and wanted something to start the semester off. But the shrink did just keep throwing more and more scripts at me, and you know I kinda knew I was abusing it the whole time but I tried to justify it in my mind because well I did have some anxiety and panic attacks. I've had a huge alcohol problem in past and I realized it was because I just super anxious and uncomfortable in certain scenarios sober so I'd get fucking hammered and be super social. But that had a lot of its on problems so I figured benzos would be the better move. TBH there's no one to blame but me like I was aware they're highly addictive, but I didn't realize that after just one month of using I'd feel this shit. I thought you got withdrawals after like months or years of use, but addiction has seemed to have snuck on me fast. But I have an addictive personality so I can't say I was in the dark on this. I do think ideally I will attempt to taper down using the kpins, but my doc wants to put me on ssri's and more benzos while they kick, but tbh I don't think I need them like I went most of my life without them and had a ton of friends etc, but like last 6 months have been super stressful and you know drugs are the easy way out. So thanks for all your help, I think I will attempt to taper but I can tell I am like fiending for the benzos already. Like the 1mg kpin I took today didnt do much in my eyes like when first kicked in a little drowsy in class but after initial drowsiness I couldn't really even feel them. I think I just have some social anxiety and just need to be like more comfortable with myself if I really look at issue. The doc kinda cosigning the benzos to me in my mind basically was like hey go out at, and seemed to have dug myself in a hole. But I think I'll just talk to my doc about an organized taper on tuesday and won't go on ssri's. I think I just gotta face my anxiety and get over it.

 

[kleinerkiffer]

Maybe try to find a psychologist, mine helped me a lot with (social) anxiety.
Tapering is a good idea, I suggest you look up the Ashton manual, it's the golden standard to tapering benzos
Good luck

 

[benzonovice]

Maybe try to find a psychologist, mine helped me a lot with (social) anxiety.
Tapering is a good idea, I suggest you look up the Ashton manual, it's the golden standard to tapering benzos
Good luck

Would you know how long withdrawal is suppose to last? I took my first klonopin dose around 5pm yesterday 1mg, but last night I still had insomnia woke up coughing and bunch and been still have a bunch of flu like symptoms. Took second dose today around 30mins ago. I really hope I stop feeling like Utter shit by tomorrow night, which at this point doesn't really seem possible. But the entire reason I went on benzos was for social anxiety, and I'm planning on bringing some girl ik to a party tomorrow night. And well if I'm sick as shit that won't happen, and like that was kinda the whole reason I started taking xanax lol so its really kinda backfired in that regard. But it was helping a lot before socially but right now its really fucking me, and tomorrow is my friends 21st which should be fucking crazy and I dont wanna miss it. So what are the chances the worst of withdrawal will be over tomorrow if take one more kpin tn 12 hours later and another that morning. Do you think I'll be mostly over the withdrawal since I'll started getting benzos in my system again? But yea Im 100 percent doing a planned taper as soon as I see psych on Tuesday. Don't ever want to go through this again, I've dabbled in benzos before like once a week max before but never enough to give withdrawal so I never knew exactly how bad it be even tho I read its like the worst withdrawal ever and luckily I was only on it for a month and not like years.

 

[kleinerkiffer]

First, maybe you really have the flu and it's not withdrawal.
Second, the length of withdrawal depends on a lot of things, like how much did you take per dayhohow long etc.
You just did em for a month, right? I don't think withdrawal will last long, maybe you even don't have withdrawal at all and it's just rebound anxiety and the flu.
I can't tell you if you will be alright tomorrow, but maybe take enough to get you through the party and then just stop.
Do you wanna drink? Alcohol acts on the same receptor so it would more or less substitute for the benzos (not harm reduction)
Some people don't experience withdrawal after one month of use, some do