No I don't take anything else, although it's funny you mention how you think some meds perpetuate alcoholism because I think xanax did exactly that for me. Tbph I loved the combination of alcohol and benzos at first until I started getting a tolerance to both. Also made detox fun since they just give you more benzos lol.
I used to really enjoy the synergy between the two. Yes, tolerance skyrocketed as well as memory issues. It became a frequent thing where I would forget that I had taken a Xanax and then start popping them until I ended up in the hospital for the evening. Also would burn through scripts too quickly and had to have Klonopin on standby which is absolute crap compared to Xanax. I also think the Xanax caused my tolerance to alcohol to go through the roof. For years I was a light weight - pretty drunk after four beers. Around six months after taking Zoloft and Xanax I could polish off a twelve pack and not even slur my words. Toward the end of my active addiction I was drinking over a case of beer a day. Ironically, after I quit Xanax and then got some sober time from alcohol when I went back to drinking my tolerance was pretty low again, and respectively speaking, stayed that way. Four martinis would have me passing out where as prior when I was taking Zoloft and Xanax I could drink a bottle of scotch in a couple of hours and move on to wine and beer at the club.
On a bright note, I think if it weren't for the meds accelerating my alcoholism I probably wouldn't have sought help and the problem would have built up over decades. I think it forced me to deal with all my issues that otherwise would have gone unresolved so I can't complain too much. My few times in rehab I always felt bad for the older people (50's and 60's) who dealt were just now confronting thier issues, and waited because the drinking never got so bad that it had to be confronted. I feel bad for them because they probably would have had happier lives if they were aware of their issues earlier on and dealt with them. While I hate starting over at 40, I would have hated life more having to go through benzo withdrawal and alcohol withdrawal in my 50's or 60's as I would have no remaining family to help me as my parents would have passed, and the way I behaved intoxicated would have had no friends. Probably would have ended in suicide. I feel like I have a chance now, even if it is late.
Mostly just in my hands, sometimes in my arm a little. A good example of when it's worse is when I'm trying to do something like clean and put my contacts in or things like that, so yeah I'd say it's definitely worse when trying to make precise movements.
I used to call those intention tremors, meaning I would get tremors when I intended on doing something. They come on when you flex a muscle. Toward the and of my active addiction I would get them in my core and diaphragm and it was absolute hell. I'm glad to hear it's just your hands and arms, if you're able to stop the GABAergics they'll probably go away shortly after.
Out of curiosity do you have any loss of feeling in you feet, toes, hands, or fingers or pins and needles sensations there? One thing I got at the end was the palms of my hands would be really warm and itchy - it drove me nuts. Now if my hands get slightly warm I get paranoid like I relapsed or something, similar to having a using dream. I also had the beginning or neuropathy in my feet which fortunately went away in time. I figured I'd mention this stuff in case you're dealing with it. If you're not that's great, and means you haven't extensively damaged yourself so a lot of symptoms you are experiencing will stop shortly after you do.
I've been taking xanax for 4 years now so I have a bit of a dependence. Knowing what I know now I regret my old doctor prescribing it to be taken daily for years on end. It should've been something I just took when my anxiety was at it's worse. I guess hindsight is 20/20 as they say.
Yeah, I have those regrets as well. I was 24 when I began Xanax and had implicit trust in my doctor. I was a university student with no insurance so I saw the county psychiatrist. I didn't realize back the that they just assembly line process people and usually just hand out meds to keep people out of the office. He kept me on Xanax for years. I knew absolutely nothing about it or that it was dangerous. I feel blindsided.
Four years is a long time but it can be worse. If you decide to stop, get some diazapam and do a
very slow taper. It should be relatively painless if it's slow. If you ever hve questions feel free to hit me up.
Not only were they super easy on us, but we had the gourmet coffee too. Who wouldn't have played gay?? Anyways, the point of my post is that I had to share a room with a newly sober alcoholic who had about 25 days, but was still shaking bad. Last I saw him he was ranting and raving saying he was going to jump out the window and grab the power lines. An ambulance took him away.
