Benzos Do I need a alpraz taper?

[HaZeX]

So just a quick question..I am Rx'd 1mg Xanax, Ive been using them 5-6mg a day. Sometimes I have really bad anxiety during the day which I use 2mg at the most during the day. But I really use them in combo with Oxy, I use about 4mg of xanax and my Oxy dose (recreationally) which is over 100mgs. Yes, I know the risks, CNS depressants, done it hundreds of times.

But my question is my anxiety has gotten much better so I find my needing them less, Just unless I wanna mix. Im not mentally addicted to them in anyway. So do I need to taper the dose down? Or can I just start and stop when I want?

Only time I ever need one is when a panic attack happens, but like I said they gotten better, so when I don't have an attack during the day I never feel a need for them or crave them.

 

[Ayrios]

You've forgotten the most critical detail: How long have you been using 5-6 mg a day? If you're only prescribed 1 mg/day, are you saving them and only taking 5-6 mg one day every week or so, or are you buying more on the side to supplement your script? Also, have you been physically dependent on a benzo before? Once you become physically addicted and tolerant to a substance (this certainly applies to opioids, and I'm quite certain to benzos), upon getting clean, you'll find you become tolerant and dependent faster each successive time.

With alprazolam's short half-life, it will likely be apparent within a short period of abstinence if you've become physically dependent or not. If you're pretty certain you're physically addicted but wish to brave those waters, be prepared at the first sign of withdrawal to take your usual dose sublingually to avert serious panic attacks and other horrors, seizures if you've been using that seriously. Then it will be apparent a tapering regimen will be necessary, and the slower you taper, the safer you'll be.

You're familiar with opioid dependence clearly, based on your habit, but for the vast majority of users, benzodiazepine dependence takes longer to develop. I did a little bit under your 5-6 mg/day alprazolam, plus 10-20 mg of diazepam, for 18 months without developing a dependence, but I may not be a typical case. You say you've combined alprazolam and oxycodone hundreds of times, so it's entirely possible you've developed a dependence if these were over the course of hundreds of successive days... It'd just be easier to make an educated guess if we knew how long you've kept up this habit.

The one thing that really suggests to me you're not physically addicted, for what it's worth, is that you can seemingly vary your dose between 4-6 mg per day, depending on your anxiety level. Decreasing your daily dose by 33% like that without any sort of repercussions (your anxiety is improving) suggests you're not physically dependent.

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

if you are getting extra alprazolam on the side to allow higher dosing, than if you taper see if you can get diazepam or clonazepam for the taper as they last longer so would require less dosing and the good thing about doing it with clonazepam is alprazolam is almost exactly as potent (dosage wise) (i know they feel different) but anyways should you need to taper, you will find out if it is needed by not taking any of your script and see how you feel, but if you do need a taper you will need to give us more info for a taper schedule tailored to your needs.. but i suggest getting a dr to do it since how serious benzo w/d can be.
I came off 10mg phenazepam & 5mg clonazepam/day about a year ago along with bupe and i still don't feel completely right.

 

[Trigeminal]

How long were in the worst of it, Hood?

I'm still fucked up myself, unfortunately, almost 5 months later. I was doing really good for a while, essentially back to normal, but I kind of had a set-back and doing bad again now. I fucking hate benzos, goddamn it.

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

the first month with NO benzos at all was like a constant anxiety attack.. im lucky i am on vistaril, tizanadine, clonidine and atenolol or i swear i would have had a heart attack wit just the slightest scare.. sucked also because i took on bupe w/ds at the same time so i dont really know which w/d set each symptom if you get what im sayin. spent most of my time listening to music and smoking cig after cig to help with anxiety.. im bipolar also and on 20mg zyprexa so that did help a little bit.

EDIT: but take everything i say with a grain of salt.. my memory is completely and i mean completely shot. i could be telling you this and it may not even be the worst part of it, but today that's what my memory is saying lol

 

[HaZeX]

Sorry for the late reply..Ive been in it with Xanax for 8 months now. Not sure if I made it clear but when I take my biggest dose its for recreationally and usually is about 4mgs mixed with oxy. And I don't buy any on the side, my script calls for 4 a day, but in the beginning I saved what I didn't need. So I have a stash.

 

[HdoubleODeezy]

Have your doctor that was prescribing it do a taper for you. They should have no problem since they are the ones who were giving it to you in the first place, and wanting to stop an addictive drug looks good to doctors and they will trust you more in the future when it comes to meds that can be abused. They will likely switch you to a longer acting benzo for the taper though. Also it would be easier and safer to have a dr supervised taper ( i don't mean supervised as in in-patient, i just mean with a dr controlling dosage and assessing you as you go down that long road to benzo freedom).
I wish you luck!
%)

 

[HaZeX]

Have your doctor that was prescribing it do a taper for you. They should have no problem since they are the ones who were giving it to you in the first place, and wanting to stop an addictive drug looks good to doctors and they will trust you more in the future when it comes to meds that can be abused. They will likely switch you to a longer acting benzo for the taper though. Also it would be easier and safer to have a dr supervised taper ( i don't mean supervised as in in-patient, i just mean with a dr controlling dosage and assessing you as you go down that long road to benzo freedom).
I wish you luck!
%)

Honestly Id rather do it on my own, otherwise I would be lying to my DR. As Im only supposed to take 1-3 mgs a day....Cant I just reduce 1mg eveyweek? Or would .5 be better?