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Benzos Coming off of Xanax after 1 month of habitual use; What to expect?

G

General A.N.

Greenlighter
Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Messages
3
Hello everyone,

I'm relatively new to this forum, but i can relate to many of you through my history of drug (ab)use. I've kicked 240 mg/Oxycodone and have been clean of any opiates for about 1 year. What's been fucking me lately is 2 mg Xanax bars. Since the beginning of September, I've used it every day up until now from 1-4 mg. I've made the decision to stop before the addiction evolves, but I can already tell that detox is not going to be easy.

I have 1.75 bars left and have tapered down to 0.5 mg per day.Could I stop cold turkey without any severe symptoms? Obviously I'm expecting some withdrawal symptoms, but I don't know what to expect. I'm at the point where addiction is a serious possiblity and if I don't stop here, it will get a lot worse. The other problem is that I'm going to college (UC Santa Barbara) and have an obligation to school. I'm pending detox within the next 4 days.

So please, any advice from those who have been through it would be immensely helpful. Any alternative medications, suggestions on how to limit the pains of GABA-upregulation would be great.
 
It's not really considered stopping cold turkey if you have tapered down. You will likely have a shitty night or two of sleep. I would recommend getting some benadryl (diphenhydramine) to help with that. Only use more of the xanax if you need to. Keep in mind that everybody is different, and some peoples symptoms in this case may be more or less severe.
 
Thanks for the advice. I've just heard and witnessed friends go through seizures and other horrendous symptoms which makes a little fearful of what's going to happen.. I bought Kava and stocked up on a bunch of vitamins, hopefully it will get me through
 
ehhh 1 month is not too bad at all. chill out, u're just overreacting.

i was abusing it for 8 months, after about a week or 2 abstinent i felt normal again. granted that first week was like hell.

but it's not gonna take u a few months to a year to recover.
 
I went through the same thing about a month ago, you'll feel a little jittery for a few days. And your mind will probably be racing when trying to go to bed. Get some over the counter sleep aid like Valerian root, and also exercise near bed time. That should allow you to sleep alright
 
Thanks for the advice guys.

@Ludacris:
maybe so, but I've never detoxed from benzos so im not sure what to expect, but getting off of oxy i was horribly sick for about 3 weeks, and it wasn't too bad after that.

@F1n1shed:
Yeah, I'm stocked up on Kava and probably will get some valerian. How hard was to get to sleep and also would it be dangerous to drive while withdrawing? (gotta go to class even if im detoxing)
 
expect one to two nights of REM Flood (REM Rebound) sleep, where your body recovers from lack of REM sleep which benzos cause. Other than that you should be fine.
 
I find I fall asleep easier after a month long xanax binge. I sleep harder and longer...
 
Personally, I think you will be fine. I was on 2mg Xanax (1mg in the AM, 1mg in the PM), did this for over a year. I ran out, and due to my agorophobia at the time, was too panicky to even get to the Dr for my visit. No visit = no refill. I went cold turkey. I didn't feel good for about a week. My sleep SUCKED for 3 or 4 nights. My arms and legs made me feel like punching them (creepy crawly). However, it was much easier than Vicodin withdrawal, which I did the year before. I came off 12-15 Norco per day and THAT was hell. The amount of Xanax you are taking....shouldn't be too bad. You''ll be fine. I don't recommend alcohol, but I did have a few drinks per day, and it DID stop my legs and arms from twitching, and DID allow me to get a lil sleep during those first 72 hours.
 
^Well, your story is certainly atypical! Also, just for the record, alcohol isn't a great idea for benzo w/d... a benzo or barbiturate would be far superior. IIRC, I believe alcohol actually potentially worsens the effects of benzo withdrawal in some sense.
 
you should be right, if you aren't though just go to a doc and explain your situation and you will most likely get some more to help you taper. :)
 
Vitamin B12 is something you should avoid high doses of, something I learned the hard way during my last withdrawal period.
 
^ Why, I'm curious? I imagine you were taking it to help with the shaking... what went wrong?
 
Pegasus said:
^ Why, I'm curious? I imagine you were taking it to help with the shaking... what went wrong?
Click to expand...

Also curious, I can't say it helped with my opiate withdrawl because I didn't take them but if I'm not mistaken doesn't that make you feel better?
 
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