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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Xanax Help

Melancholy Hill

Melancholy Hill

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 24, 2016
Messages
121
Hey guys,

Hope all is well.

I just had a question in regards to tapering your Xanax dosage. I have been taking Xanax for a year now and take 6mg a day (2mg Xanax bars three times daily). However, I don't want to be "barred out" for the rest of my life and I would like to get off of these things soon and was wondering what the best way to go about doing this would be. I know Valium is great for getting off of benzos due to it's fairly long half life and withdrawal reduction, but my question is:

Should I slowly taper my Xanax dosage to say; 4mg a day, and then to 2mg a day, AND THEN get on Valium to decrease withdrawal symptoms and help completely get off of benzos? Or should I just start taking the Valium immediately after my last daily dose of Xanax? I do have pretty moderate anxiety, trouble sleeping, and agitation due to a traumatic brain injury I received in 2015 hence while I have been on benzos to begin with.

ANY and ALL help would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to go about this the safest and most correct way possible.

Thanks again, guys. Have a great night and be safe.
 
Last edited:
Hey, switch to a long acting benzo, yes Diazepam is good and then taper slowly. For withdrawal symtoms there are very good options
 
Melancholy Hill said:
Hey guys,

Hope all is well.

I just had a question in regards to tapering your Xanax dosage. I have been taking Xanax for a year now and take 6mg a day (2mg Xanax bars three times daily). However, I would like to get off of these things soon and was wondering what the best way to go about doing this would be. I know Valium is great for getting off of benzos due to it's fairly long half life and withdrawal reduction, but my question is:

Should I slowly taper my Xanax dosage to say; 4mg a day, and then to 2mg a day, AND THEN get on Valium to decrease withdrawal symptoms and help completely get off of benzos? Or should I just start taking the Valium immediately after my last daily dose of Xanax? I do have pretty moderate anxiety, trouble sleeping, and agitation due to a traumatic brain injury I received in 2015 hence while I have been on benzos to begin with.

ANY and ALL help would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to go about this the safest and most correct way possible.

Thanks again, guys. Have a great night and be safe.
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This is probably the closest to the gold standard guide - http://benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm#s1

Good luck ;)
 
Thanks a lot guys! I took a quick glance at that link and it seems like it's going to be very helpful. I would look more into it once I am fully awake. :)

It's nice to know that you have people on this forum who actually seem to care.
 
I relapsed and went down to Mexico and brought back 600 assorted benzos, I'm tapering off them now with the help of an "Addiction Psychiatrist." I know Valium has a longer half-life, but all three of my previous docs said clonazepam was better. And let me add some personal advice.... You do NOT want to be on this crap. I don't care how much it helps anxiety and whatnot, benzos are ****ing POISON. After a few years of use, 95% of people will never be able to get off benzos, the withdrawal is just TOO horrible and TOO long, wrecks your life. I lost 13 months of my own life self-tapering off Etizolam, couldn't even leave my room. I would rather go through heroin WD THREE TIMES than go through benzo WD ONCE. Its THAT BAD. Saw some documentary where they said benzos cause brain damage to. There are whole websites dedicated to people who have been in benzo withdrawal for YEARS to get support and help. Get off it as FAST AS YOU CAN dude.
 
Stillwaters said:
I relapsed and went down to Mexico and brought back 600 assorted benzos, I'm tapering off them now with the help of an "Addiction Psychiatrist." I know Valium has a longer half-life, but all three of my previous docs said clonazepam was better. And let me add some personal advice.... You do NOT want to be on this crap. I don't care how much it helps anxiety and whatnot, benzos are ****ing POISON. After a few years of use, 95% of people will never be able to get off benzos, the withdrawal is just TOO horrible and TOO long, wrecks your life. I lost 13 months of my own life self-tapering off Etizolam, couldn't even leave my room. I would rather go through heroin WD THREE TIMES than go through benzo WD ONCE. Its THAT BAD. Saw some documentary where they said benzos cause brain damage to. There are whole websites dedicated to people who have been in benzo withdrawal for YEARS to get support and help. Get off it as FAST AS YOU CAN dude.
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^ This sounds horrific. I'm glad you're seeing an addiction specialist. Thanks for sharing your story with us!

Melancholy Hill, Can you show your doctor the Ashton Manual that Pally Pete posted? I'm sorry to hear about your brain injury. I think many doctors are unaware of the potential dangers of benzos when they prescribe them. 9 mg is a pretty high dosage. Perhaps you could slowly taper off the Xanax while introducing Valium. Hopefully, your doctor will work out a schedule with you because it may time some time to adjust. Keep us updated on how you're coming along! :)
 
T. Calderone said:
^ This sounds horrific. I'm glad you're seeing an addiction specialist. Thanks for sharing your story with us!

Melancholy Hill, Can you show your doctor the Ashton Manual that Pally Pete posted? I'm sorry to hear about your brain injury. I think many doctors are unaware of the potential dangers of benzos when they prescribe them. 9 mg is a pretty high dosage. Perhaps you could slowly taper off the Xanax while introducing Valium. Hopefully, your doctor will work out a schedule with you because it may time some time to adjust. Keep us updated on how you're coming along! :)
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I could, but honestly, I don't think it would do much help. He is an 83 year old retired psychiatrist who runs his office voluntarily. Doesn't even get paid. It is a little hole in the wall for people with no medical insurance. You pay 50 bucks to get in and he sees approximately 30-50 patients per day spending literally 2-3 minutes with each one.

Not only that, but he is VERY hard of hearing and has pretty bad Parkinson's Disease. He doesn't even write the scripts, his assistant does and he just signs them.

He's not exactly a "private" doctor when you can go in and sit with him for 20-30 minutes and discuss treatment options...
 
I don't think he realizes the harm he his causing the community. I appreciate and respect the fact that he is retired and still wants to voluntarily work to help patients but he's just getting to that age where his mental health seems to be deteriorating...

I'm from Florida (near Manatee and Sarasota county) and I'm pretty sure 75% of Xanax scripts from both counties come from his office...

The only thing I could do would be to ask him to switch me to either Valium or Klonopin on my next follow-up visit to help with the tapering process. Which do you think would be better?
 
^ Wow. You would think someone would have caught on to this doctor by now. If I were going to taper, I would use valium but's it's advised in the Ashton manual to start off using both. For your first few weeks, you would take mostly Xanax and small amounts of valium. Gradually you get to where you're taking only valium and you lower your dosage from there. These are only guidelines and you can make adjustments as you see fit.
 
T. Calderone said:
^ Wow. You would think someone would have caught on to this doctor by now. If I were going to taper, I would use valium but's it's advised in the Ashton manual to start off using both. For your first few weeks, you would take mostly Xanax and small amounts of valium. Gradually you get to where you're taking only valium and you lower your dosage from there. These are only guidelines and you can make adjustments as you see fit.
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Not disagreeing with you at all, but may I ask what the problem with Klonopin is? Is it just stronger/more addicting and habit forming? Or is Valium just a much more suitable drug to taper benzo usage?
 
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