Need help with Xanax

Hello everyone; I'm new to this forum but unfortunately not new to Xanax


I've had panic attacks & GAD my entire life (56 yrs old).... I have numerous fears & phobias & one of my fears is being terrorized of becoming addicted to a drug. I hate prescription meds of ANY sort due to all the side effects. I will typically try to find an herb or natural alternative. Over the years, I have fought tooth & nail with my psychiatrist about taking Xanax. I'm terrified of it but it does calm my anxiety. At first, it made me sleepy, but after awhile, that stopped & it makes me feel normal (no irrational thoughts, fears, worries, panic or anxiety)..... So here's my issue. I've been on this stuff now for over 10 yrs, and it still works great but I just really want to stop. I've never tried any other drug because my Dr insists that if it works, just take it & live your life. He has me on 1mg pill 4x per day. I try very hard NOT to ever take that much. A typical good day is maybe 1mg twice and .5 at night.


Something happened recently that caused me to want to pull up & out totally! My husband was diagnosed with clogged arteries & had to have triple bypass surgery. I was so tensed & nervous, it really has affected me negatively. I had taken my Xanax dose but it didn't work because when I took my blood pressure, it was 140/90!!!! I had to take 1 mg more before it came back down. I don't like that!!!!! My BP is usually around the 110 / 70 to 120/75 range. If this situation is getting to the point where my BP rises if I don't take enough, I want to get off! I know I can't just stop but I really really need advice from a few seasoned experienced benzo patients who have been given back their great quality of life. Right now, I only take it to feel normal & I never feel high, but it's worrying me with the BP thing.


thoughts?

from anon

You should never take a benzo for BP ! Acute BP increase is normal during intense anxiety.

I recommend doing a taper : choose a starting dose (the minimum dose at which you can function properly), then slowly reduce it.

A simple taper would be :

Week 1 : 2.5mg/day (you current daily dose)
Weeks 2-5 : 2.25mg/day
Weeks 6-9 : 2mg/day
Weeks 10-13 : 1.75mg/day
etc.

That's a relatively slow and easy taper. You could do it faster or even slower...

Moving to Sober Living

I recommend that you follow your doctors advice and stay on the Xanax. After 10 years of use the taper you need to do will be long and somewhat mentally painful. Also with all due respect to the poster above me taking taper advice for a 10 year benzo on bluelight is borderline suicidal. I recently had a run in with benzo withdrawal and it opened my eyes to the absolute horror of the withdrawals. I honestly never thought anything could be worse than opiate withdrawal, I was wrong. So my advice is stay on the Xanax. Continue managing your dose and listening to your doctor.

And for gods sake if you do make the decision to taper do it under the close observation of a doctor.