Xanax Tapering

[ThunderDizzle]

I apologize if this has been discussed in the past. I am new here, I did perform a search but my situation seems rather unique.

I've been taking Xanax for several years. For many years it was .5MG as needed, over the past few years, for various reasons, my dosage has increased to three .5 MG/day. My last appointment was 5/17. I was prescribed 270 pills and that was to get me through to 8/16. Well, do to a number of factors, I only have 8 left but I'm 24 days from a refill. How should I proceed?

As far as I see it, these are my options:

1) Go in early, tell the dr that I have had an abnormal amount of stress and went through them early and it won't happen again.
2) Just try to take 1 pill every 3 or 4 days to get me through
3) Taper from 3 to 2 to 1


My dr would prefer I'm not on Xanax, we've tried other things, but nothing has helped. If it just means I'm uncomfortable for the next 3 weeks, I can handle it, but if I'm at risk for a seizure or something, I think I need to go in.

Again,I know this topic comes up a lot, but I haven't been able to find a similar situation. I apologize if it is redundant.

Thanks

 

[Moreaux]

You're in a tough situation. Spacing them out 3 or 4 days isn't going to help you much, Xanax has an incredibly short half life so waiting that long between is going to make you miserable. If you tell the doctor who prescribed them to you you risk being forced on a taper. Is there another doctor you can see who could give you am emergency supply of klonopin or valium, they're longer acting? If you live in the United States you won't be able to get more Xanax until your refill date, but you can get a different benzo. When I would run out of Xanax scripted by my psychiatrist I would let my GP know and she would prescribe me klonopin. I didn't care for klonopin but it did keep seizures at bay. The longer acting the benzos the better off you are going to be.

That being said, if you are going through that many pills so quickly I think you need to examine why you are using, and do a taper regardless. It doesn't seem that Xanax is helping you, or you are very addicted and from experience, that is a painful drug to come off of.

I used to have the .5 as needed which also got bumped to multiple times a day, and it did not end well. They eventually made my anxiety significantly worse - I suspect because I built a tolerance and they have a short half life. I was forced to go cold turkey after being on them for ten years and that was a long excruciating process.

I think you may want to begin preparing for that now by self tapering down some (if you mention that to your doctor they will force you into it without much say). I think you should look into other avenues to handle stress and axiety - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy takes some time to learn but works great. I'm assuming you are on them for anxiety as they're usually not prescribed for other issues, why are you taking them?

 

[Muzda Jonxx]

If it were me, I'd admit to a doctor the bind you now face yourself. I absolutely could not deal with xanax withdrawal, and it's a very real threat to your life if you go without. I would switch over to valium or similar (at x10 the dose) aswell. It lasts much, much longer in the system so is much better suited for tapering. Simply put - you're going to need a very long time to taper off these things, or you'll either put yourself in hospital with the seizures.

 

[ThunderDizzle]

If it were me, I'd admit to a doctor the bind you now face yourself. I absolutely could not deal with xanax withdrawal, and it's a very real threat to your life if you go without. I would switch over to valium or similar (at x10 the dose) aswell. It lasts much, much longer in the system so is much better suited for tapering. Simply put - you're going to need a very long time to taper off these things, or you'll either put yourself in hospital with the seizures.

Thanks, All. I am going to make at appt for the Dr tomorrow. If he forces me to taper, that's fine.

 

[Jabberwocky]

How should I proceed?

As far as I see it, these are my options:

1) Go in early, tell the dr that I have had an abnormal amount of stress and went through them early and it won't happen again.

Thanks

THIS ^^^^

And also investigate a long acting benzo to cross over to instead of Xanax. Xanax has this nasty little habit of upregulating the CYP enzyme the metabolizes it -- the more you take it, the faster you metabolize, and get breakthrough anxiety.

Librium and Valium are low potency, long acting benzos with a high therapeutic index.