Benzos Xanax/Alprozalam

[Lightituplikefireflies]

Hey! I'm new here.

I've been taking Xanax for a while now because I have severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Insomnia. I also handle stress VERY poorly.

I've tried all holistic ways (yoga, etc, blah blah)

And I was wondering if there are any other drugs (preferably OTC) that will give me the same effect of Xanax.

My tolerance is really high - and I'd love to try other antianxiety drugs from my Dr. but Xanax seems to be the only one that works......

Any ideas????

 

[Dr. Extract]

You're not going to find anything, OTC or otherwise, that has the exact same effects as xanax without being just as bad. Your best bet would be to minimize your xanax usage and, as you suggest in your post, possibly try other antianxiety drugs. Most of the non benzo related anxiety meds can be taken along side reasonable xanax dosages; at least at first.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Hello and welcome to bluelight, now recommending drugs it's pretty tricky, your prescribing doctor is in more of a position to recommend such treatments for you. we can provide you with some equivalency dosage charts so you can dose other benzos accordingly with your current tolerance built up by alprazolam, but please don't try to source here neither. we don't encourage the recreational use of drugs as much we encourage the harm reduction aspect of it. your GP in this case knows your medical record, maybe he has additional reasons not disclosed with you ( he doesn't want to make it sound complicated maybe ) and that's why he only gives you alprazolam.

in my opinion keep the treatment and just decrease the dose till you are on a one that's sustainable, like you can do like this, I did this with other stuff, 3 days you take dose x and then the 4th day you take the x- a part of the dose, and you go like that until you are at a lower point. let's say for 4 days you take your normal dose, the 5th day you take the normal dose - 0.25 mg of alprazolam then again 4 base the normal dose you took at first and again the 5th day you go down 0.25 mg in the next cycle you take the normal dose-0.25 four days and on the fifth day you take normal dose -0.50mg of alprazolam and keep going on as the pattern is described, take it as a blueprint and consider your odds,weaknesses, find workaround if it needs adjustments. you don't give up your needed treatment anyway, you just go to a normal dose, so psychologicaly there are no symptoms.

 

[MaggieV]

Hi, I have GAD, too. I have found that Valium works better for me than Xanax. It doesn’t cover my panic disorder, though.

I hope you find something that is more effective for you. The above is just my experience, not medical advice.

@morpheuspapaverus - that sounds interesting. I may try that for my Oxycodone (IR) prescription.

 

[Wilson Wilson]

Not gonna happen OTC.

There are other benzos though, which ones have you tried so far? Alprazolam is an especially poor choice for GAD since it has a short duration and causes bad rebound anxiety. This ultimately ends up making anxiety worse. It's best saved for panic attacks rather than used daily for GAD.

Clonazepam is the same potency as alprazolam but less sedating, more clearheaded, and should last all day. It's not a benzo that "hits you" like alprazolam. But it certainly works well to take the edge off anxiety.

If you're wanting to avoid benzos altogether, kratom might be worth a look and actually you can buy it legally without a script in most countries and US states, although it's not exactly OTC as such. It's one of those grey area things like RC's are.

 

[MaggieV]

I have GAD and Panic disorder and I agree with @Wilson Wilson on Clonazepam being better for GAD. It *can also be useful for Panic disorder, in my experience - the caveat is that it takes about twenty minutes to “kick in.”

 

[tetert69]

I personally have used kratom with great success for anxiety problems. You could dose one day Xanax, next day kratom, then try and have a clean day or something. Then Xanax, kratom, nothing, xanax, kratom, etc. I have had hydroxyzine work surprisingly well for my anxiety as well.

 

[MomaDance]

Clonazepam is the same potency as alprazolam but less sedating, more clearheaded, and should last all day. It's not a benzo that "hits you" like alprazolam. But it certainly works well to take the edge off anxiety.

^ this is very good advice

 

[Wilson Wilson]

^ this is very good advice

I have GAD and Panic disorder and I agree with @Wilson Wilson on Clonazepam being better for GAD. It *can also be useful for Panic disorder, in my experience - the caveat is that it takes about twenty minutes to “kick in.”

Thanks you two

It can take a while to kick in compared to other benzos via oral ROA but if you take it sublingually it hits within 10 mins or so in my experience. And both the brand name and most generics have some type of flavouring (usually mint) for exactly that purpose. Compared to alprazolam's... "unique" (fucking awful) taste.