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Benzos do I need to be worried about withdrawal after 1mg dose, short term xanax use?

N

ner

Greenlighter
Joined
May 9, 2014
Messages
3
Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum. Long story short, I was prescribed xanax for anxiety and sleeplessness and have been taking .25 in the morning and .75 at night, adding up to 1mg total per day, for the last 9-10 days. I have read absolute HORROR stories on this forum and on other boards about serious withdrawals and even deadly seizures. I called my doctor (a general practitioner) and she basically just said I could stop since it's "only been about a week." But, to be on the safe side, and to not go into full blown panic mode, I thought I'd reduce the dose over the next couple of days. I reduced my nightly dose last night from .75 to .5, meaning all I took yesterday (total) was .75. I was thinking of continuing to reduce by .25 every day over the next few days to try to be off of it completely before the two week mark is hit. Do we think this is relatively safe to do? Meaning, do I risk seizure if i do it this fast? I want to trust in what my doc said, but she's not a psychiatrist and I've been trying to be careful.
 
IMHO, with your taper plan seizures are highly unlikely (and I mean pretty much impossible) u less you're very prone to them.
maybe if you quit cold turkey you would have experienced some minor discomfort but it's a great idea to make a fast taper like that anyways.
 
thank you for the quick reply. so far it's been hard to find info for withdrawal/tapering for under two weeks of less than 2mg. most of the posts I see are all about 3-4 mg daily for over two weeks or my dosage, but spread over longer time, so it's nice to get a reply.
 
Are you saying you've only been using it for a week? If so you may experience some mild rebound anxiety if you come straight off but you're not going to have seizures or any dangerous side-effects. You shouldn't need to taper at all but with the taper plan you've been given you'll avoid any chance of rebound anxiety entirely so it's a good call :)
 
ner said:
Hi everyone. I'm new to the forum. Long story short, I was prescribed xanax for anxiety and sleeplessness and have been taking .25 in the morning and .75 at night, adding up to 1mg total per day, for the last 9-10 days. I have read absolute HORROR stories on this forum and on other boards about serious withdrawals and even deadly seizures. I called my doctor (a general practitioner) and she basically just said I could stop since it's "only been about a week." But, to be on the safe side, and to not go into full blown panic mode, I thought I'd reduce the dose over the next couple of days. I reduced my nightly dose last night from .75 to .5, meaning all I took yesterday (total) was .75. I was thinking of continuing to reduce by .25 every day over the next few days to try to be off of it completely before the two week mark is hit. Do we think this is relatively safe to do? Meaning, do I risk seizure if i do it this fast? I want to trust in what my doc said, but she's not a psychiatrist and I've been trying to be careful.
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You should be fine; alprazolam has a half-life somewhere between 8-24 hours (between 10-12 hours is what I hear most consistently). Serious withdrawals usually (note: usually) come with weeks/months of use. A benzo with a short half-life at a moderately-low dose shouldn't be a problem.
One thing I'd say to avoid just for comfort's sake is caffeine or any stimulants.
 
You will be fine all the worry and rebound anxiety is all psychological 1 week of benzo use is considered normal by medical professionals I have been on K-pins for 8 months now and even if I stop for a few days all I get is insomnia
 
So I just wanted to do a follow up. I asked my doc about tapering and she recommended I do a slower taper, so I did, going from .5 for three days, then .25 for three, and then half of .25 for four days... So I basically tapered longer than I was even on the full dose. I have been off completely for 24 hours but last night I did take a 5mg ambien which I'm now reading can worsen withdrawal. Am I still probably okay or do I need to continue tapering the xanax?
 
No you wont feel a thing.

Any withdrawal effects that you will endure will be completely psychological.

1mg for 7 days is no way near enough to become dependant.


You never needed to taper in the first place. Pointless.
 
^This. the tolerance to benzos is relatively slow to form, so the resultant physical dependence is slow to form as well. No harm done witht the tapper though as it will cause no harm and could help any symptoms that result. If you dont want a physical dependence then I would try and limit your dose to an as needed basis of dose once every three or four days.

Benzo withdrawal can be awful so I would try and avoid a dependence.
 
neversickanymore said:
^This. the tolerance to benzos is relatively slow to form, so the resultant physical dependence is slow to form as well. No harm done witht the tapper though as it will cause no harm and could help any symptoms that result. If you dont want a physical dependence then I would try and limit your dose to an as needed basis of dose once every three or four days.

Benzo withdrawal can be awful so I would try and avoid a dependence.
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Now I wouldn't make that a rule of thumb - benzo withdrawals can be ambiguous and show no symptoms. I'm sure we've all heard the horror stories of people getting seizures when they didn't even know they were having withdrawals.
I've also heard of unanticipated withdrawals from just several doses of a benzo like diazepam due to its obscenely long half-life, with less than 10 doses spread throughout a month leading to physical withdrawals.
Developing a physical dependence to benzos can happen very easily without a person even being aware of it.
Although, alprazolam is one of the least risky benzos in this regard due to a moderately short half life (as far as benzos go). However, it also one most prone to abuse.
I don't understand why doctors can't just prescribe 6-8 count bottles of alprazolam 0.5mg a month, used only 'in case of emergency'; a patient would have to call the doctor for more in a month, and the doctor could then assess the patient's dosings to check for the possible development of abuse. It would also prevent physical dependence from ever forming.
 
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