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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Alprazolam AKA Xanax.

fermonos

fermonos

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 29, 2016
Messages
413
Okay so I'm self medicating Alprazolam for my severe anxiety because my Doctor is a fuck and won't give me anything stronger than Propranolol and Fluoxetine.

Anyway after researching I found out 0.5mg is a good starting dose, although it's not working for my anxiety at all. I even tried 1mg and still nothing, I can feel the effects definitely, sedated, heavy body, chilled, warm body high etc but my anxiety is still there.

Here's the question would 2mg dosage be good, I have no benzo tolerance at all apart from 3 days ago doing 1mg and today another 1mg. I did however have Midazolam IV at the dentists but that was a while ago so probably doesn't count. Anyway will 2mg be smart or stupid, I would change medication but I kinda need a short acting benzo since I don't have anxiety all the time. Just when I need to leave the house or face people. I mean I could try Diazepam but it has a long half life etc. What do you guys suggest I do/What other benzos do you suggest. I can get a hold of a few.
 
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I'd say 2mg is a stupid idea, you will just push up your tolerance and get addicted.
 
A full 2mg bar for someone who has no tolerance is kind of a lot in my opinion but then again everyone is different. Chances are it will just knock you out for a while, if half a bar (1mg) is not working for your anxiety then maybe xanax isn't the right choice to treat it. But like I said everyone's different... from my experience and from everyone I know of that had no tolerance, 2mg just knocks them out.

Best of luck to ya! :)
 
To put it into perspective.

SSRI etc medication is sort of like re-arranging your diet and getting in physical shape, it takes atleast 2 months for any noticable benefit.

Alprazolam is like 90% alcohol volume in pill form, its a short term solution that depresses your central nervous system for a short period of time, thus relieving your of anxiety.

Going from 0.5mg Alpra to 2mg is silly and will solely skyrocket your tolerance. If you are suffering from chronic depression id definitely suggest SRI medication before Benzodiazepines.
 
Xanax has never helped my social anxiety at any dose and it sounds like it doesn't help yours either. You need to stay away from benzos if this is how you handle them, you will become addicted in very short measure using in this way.

I got over most of my social anxiety by actually going out and facing people even when I didn't want to. I had terrible anxiety which included panic attacks and severe rumination about what other people thought about me. I was a nervous wreck until about a year ago. It takes a while for social anxiety to resolve by meeting people but it's the better option.

I'm not surprised your doctor isn't prescribing benzos, I'm sorry to tell you but I don't think you need them. I was in the same spot as you a few years ago, frustrated with doctors not giving me the drugs I thought would help
me. Im glad the doctors didn't give me those drugs though because it gave me a chance to actually work on my problems instead of covering them up with drugs.
 
It's not that I'm 'uncomfortable'. It helps immensely, makes it bearable to be outside but it's like. I take it, 30 mins it takes to kick in, 1hr I feel okay then it starts to wear off over the next 30-60 minutes but it still helps in this period just not enough to make me feel comfortable.

So basically, it's too short acting for it to work as a good solution for me. 1 hour of 'bearable' relief isn't enough.
 
fermonos do you exercise and eat healthy? you know the healthy things that someone with chronic anxiety should be doing..

how does alcohol work for you?
 
I'm going to suggest something a bit off the beaten path of many who've answered your question. I say go for the bar and see what happens. I'm a big condoner of benzodiazepines in general, as I've found they can be far less destructive in their consequences than many other drugs. I started taking Xanax at a time when morning-to-night drinking was destroying my life; and for the four years I was prescribed them, I didn't touch a sip of alcohol, coped with life situations I'd have otherwise found intolerable, and had no worse repercussions than falling asleep a handful of times and, in two instances, fragmentary blackouts. For me, .75mg worked in the beginning and for quite some time after. I'd take one full .5 and break another one in half. I gradually increased over the four years, though, eventually topping out at around 7-8mg per day and having to resort to buying illicit pills to supplement the scrip. This gradually rising tolerance was the single most inconvenient part of the whole experience.

There are two reasons I suggest you try the bar. First, as I've implied, I can't imagine suffering from any side effects save unwanted sleeping or blacking out, and the latter seems awfully unlikely to occur with only 2mg. The basis for the second reason is something I learned while visiting my sister in the hospital. She was going through a troubled pregnancy and, as a result, was frequently suffering from severe episodes of panic. When she asked why she felt no relief after twice being given Ativan, the doctors there told her that the severity of her anxiety had rendered the drug less effective - as if the fear was just too much for it to quell. I had never heard of this effect before, nor have I experienced it, so I'm admittedly just going off what the hospital said. But this may be what's happening to you, and if so it seems unreasonable to think a high enough dose wouldn't eventually get the best of the fear.

If 2mg makes you fall asleep or you feel you're getting too sloppy from it, than clearly you've taken too much; don't do it again and there's no harm done aside from wasting the Xanax. But if your issue is the limited amount of time you feel relief, then it seems to me you can either explore longer-acting benzos like Klonopin or try taking smaller doses of Xanax more frequently. I took the latter route for my four years, but I suppose everyone doesn't react the same to these things. At any rate, I believe it would be better for you to redose more frequently with smaller amounts than to take too much in preparation for potentially stressful situations, something that could potentially lead to drowsy sloppiness. Take the absolute lowest amount necessary and see how it goes. If you're out of the house and getting nervous, take an even smaller amount on top of it. Go to the bathroom if your concerned about people seeing you take it, or stash one between your fingers and act like you're biting your nails or itching your face. Hope this helped. Good Luck to you.
 
fermonos said:
It's not that I'm 'uncomfortable'. It helps immensely, makes it bearable to be outside but it's like. I take it, 30 mins it takes to kick in, 1hr I feel okay then it starts to wear off over the next 30-60 minutes but it still helps in this period just not enough to make me feel comfortable.

So basically, it's too short acting for it to work as a good solution for me. 1 hour of 'bearable' relief isn't enough.
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That's kind of different from what you were saying before.

If Xanax does work but isn't lasting long enough for you, then yes, actually, what you want is actually something more along the lines of diazepam.
 
9manicxhispanic4 said:
fermonos do you exercise and eat healthy? you know the healthy things that someone with chronic anxiety should be doing..
Click to expand...

OP, these are excellent suggestions. If you're not seeing a talk therapist as well you should be. Using benzos as a crutch to get over your anxiety may work for a short period, but it will only leave you worse off.

1-hour of relief is about right for Xanax, as you noted, it has a short half-life. Other benzos have longer half-lives. You need to figure out how to stop almost as soon as you start though, we'll all seen this story before (and you can too if you go back a couple pages in this forum).
 
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