Hello, I am new here to the forum and this is my first post. It may be unnecessarily long so I did put a TL;DR: at the end.
For this post I am going to assume the .5mg of Alprazolam is equivalent to 1mg of Etizolam, as that is what I have experienced. Recently I haven't been taking the Etizolam as much, just Alprazolam. I started with about 1mg of Alprazolam a day (or 1mg of Etizolam and .5mg of Alprazolam at night to sleep, depending on my mood). At this point I am taking about 2mg of Alprazolam a day (or 1mg of Alprazolam and 2mg of Etizolam depending on my mood).
It's only been 8 weeks, so I was considering stopping cold turkey as it doesn't seem like my addiction could be too bad. However, I am starting my work in 4 days so I don't think I have time to go through the withdrawal symptoms and rebound anxiety and still perform my functions of my job.
My question is, what would be the best way to wean off of this? I am going to run out of both very shortly, so a visit to a doctor is necessary.
I am looking at http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm and I see quite a lot of options, but it seems like this is more for people who have been taking benzos much more long term than me. I am thinking (and hoping) I can wean off of this addiction much quicker. I see that in all the plans, it starts with slowly switching from Alprazolam to Diazepam. Would I experience any withdrawal symptoms if I went from one day taking 2mg of Alprazolam and the next 40mg of Diazepam? If so, I am thinking of starting with 40mg of Diazepam a day, and every week going down 10mg. That way I could wean off of it in one month, which seems to me reasonable as I have only been taking it for 2 months. However I am in no an expert so I have no idea if this would be possible without experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
Any advice on any plans of weaning off or any tips would be greatly appreciated.
TL;DR: I've been taking Alprazolam daily for 2 months. Currently I'm taking on average 2mg of Alprazolam a day. Would I experience any withdrawal symptoms if I switch to 40mg of Diazepam a day and reduce my dosage by 10mg every week? If so, what would be the best way to wean off of this short term addiction?
For this post I am going to assume the .5mg of Alprazolam is equivalent to 1mg of Etizolam, as that is what I have experienced. Recently I haven't been taking the Etizolam as much, just Alprazolam. I started with about 1mg of Alprazolam a day (or 1mg of Etizolam and .5mg of Alprazolam at night to sleep, depending on my mood). At this point I am taking about 2mg of Alprazolam a day (or 1mg of Alprazolam and 2mg of Etizolam depending on my mood).
It's only been 8 weeks, so I was considering stopping cold turkey as it doesn't seem like my addiction could be too bad. However, I am starting my work in 4 days so I don't think I have time to go through the withdrawal symptoms and rebound anxiety and still perform my functions of my job.
My question is, what would be the best way to wean off of this? I am going to run out of both very shortly, so a visit to a doctor is necessary.
I am looking at http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm and I see quite a lot of options, but it seems like this is more for people who have been taking benzos much more long term than me. I am thinking (and hoping) I can wean off of this addiction much quicker. I see that in all the plans, it starts with slowly switching from Alprazolam to Diazepam. Would I experience any withdrawal symptoms if I went from one day taking 2mg of Alprazolam and the next 40mg of Diazepam? If so, I am thinking of starting with 40mg of Diazepam a day, and every week going down 10mg. That way I could wean off of it in one month, which seems to me reasonable as I have only been taking it for 2 months. However I am in no an expert so I have no idea if this would be possible without experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
Any advice on any plans of weaning off or any tips would be greatly appreciated.
TL;DR: I've been taking Alprazolam daily for 2 months. Currently I'm taking on average 2mg of Alprazolam a day. Would I experience any withdrawal symptoms if I switch to 40mg of Diazepam a day and reduce my dosage by 10mg every week? If so, what would be the best way to wean off of this short term addiction?