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Benzos Coming off Xanax

T

tommydee78

Greenlighter
Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
11
I've been taking 4mg Xanax every day for a month as an alcohol substitute. My supply is just about to run out and I don't intend to replenish them. The problem is I'm already starting to get mild withdrawals even if my usual dose is slightly later than normal, even just 2 hours. Basically i just feel a little insecure and flaky in normal situations where I didn't before. So I fear weeks or months of cold turkey could increase these feelings and would be very unpleasant. But I don't know for sure if I'll get any worse WD's because I haven't even tried to give up yet. I just want to have a plan first. Could I just go back to drinking heavily everyday and not notice any WD's and is this safe thing to do. Basically a straight switch from benzos to alcohol. Advice please. TIA.
 
Go see a doctor and get on a diazepam taper program. Xanax detoxes quite rapidly compared to other benzos and 4 mg is kind of a lot...your withdrawals might get brutal. If insurance is a problem for you, find a free or low income clinic. They will help.
Sorry bro but you might need medical help with this one unless you can score your own benzos...but it's better to get a professional taper plan with the proper drug.
 
Thanks

Thanks for responding Eagleman, I'm going try a few days with nothing just to see how I feel then I'll take the Doctor Route ie professionally monitored taper. My Doc is usually a kind and understanding man so I wouldn't hesitate to ask him for help. I can obtain more benzos from IOP's but at the moment that's not what I want to do, it's best to get out of benzo addiction as early you can.
 
Coming off of four milligrams of Alprazolam per day is not going to be comfortable, and if you don't taper with more Xanax or another Benzo, it will be very uncomfortable, and potentially unsafe. If you don't posess the willpower to do it on your own, think about seeing a doctor who can assist you with a tapering plan. Four milligrams a day isn't a ton, but it's a fairly substantial amount, and it's definitely enough to make life suck for a while if a taper isn't properly executed.
 
tommydee78 said:
Thanks for responding Eagleman, I'm going try a few days with nothing just to see how I feel then I'll take the Doctor Route ie professionally monitored taper. My Doc is usually a kind and understanding man so I wouldn't hesitate to ask him for help. I can obtain more benzos from IOP's but at the moment that's not what I want to do, it's best to get out of benzo addiction as early you can.
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You realize one of the potential withdrawal symptoms are seizures, correct? I'd strongly doing this in a safe, medically supervised manner.
 
Seizure

Yes the seizure thing is my main worry, but I was sorta assuming (naively) they wouldn't come on immediately if at all.
 
a month....come on now ...i have been on 10-18mg for 3 weeks at times ...my "wd" wasnt horrid ,very uncomfy yea,nothing a few beers a night didnt really help with


what i got was very heitened sense of anxiety,felt kinda like coming off alcohol ,i couldnt eat hardly,threw up a bit,sleep was very very hard
 
tommydee78 said:
Yes the seizure thing is my main worry, but I was sorta assuming (naively) they wouldn't come on immediately if at all.
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Thats the main risk though, its not like you will start feeling a seizure come on and have enough time to get to the hospital or something. A lot of people who have seizures don't even realize its happening until afterward. They can really cause some damage, and IMO its just not worth taking the risk when you can see a doc and work out a taper plan or some other safe way to WD.
 
you can if you want(do a taper) ...dont think u would need anything stronger than librium,u could do ativan if they want to give it to u
 
Taper

I think the best thing to do from what I've read is taper down from diazepam. It comes in the small doses that you need at the end of the taper, and is the smoothest of the benzos to come of.
 
Yeah it's all going to depend on the doctor you see, and how willing he is to help you. I think a diazepam taper would be the best route, but I know that a lot of MDs would go the Ativan route...Why? your guess is as good as mine. Doctors seem to have this f&%$#ng love affair with lorazepam, like its some kind of cure-all benzo...which it is not, by any means. good luck man. I hope you have good medical insurance......that'll be important too..
 
Diazepam

I'm going to insist on diazepam if necessary and explain why. I'm sure he'll accept this and it won't make much of a difference to him.
 
dont' cold turkey it. I had to do that for a day, I've been on a similair regiment as you, just a little longer, 5 and a half weeks. the first day might go okay, mild discomfort, no sleep, but by the second day, I started having weird audio sensations and feelings of extreme panic. DON'T cold turkey it. Heroin is the kind of thing you can usually safely tough out if you've got the strength to do it, but with benzo's, it's really just not safe, even if you havn't been on them for that long. That's why they're not reccomended to be used for more than two weeks daily.
 
Can someone get a benzo addiction taking 1/2mg xanax a day for 5-6 mos... and if so, whats the best route to take getting off? Is clonazepam a good taper drug for benzos?
 
Chlordiazepoxide would be an even better route. It's long-acting like diazepam, but with a lower abuse potential. Some docs are hesitant to prescribe diazepam because it's one of the top four abused benzos. Chlordiazepoxide is the very first benzo ever synthesized, if I'm not mistaken. Good ol' standby.
 
Thanks to all

Thanks to everyone who responded, and for the good advice. I now know what needs to be done. :)
 
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blood test

phatass said:
ur doc is a quak... yo get off the booze you should have been taking valium... suggest you switch to valium and diminish by 10% per week... it will be painless, but will take more time... you can NOT safely cold turkey 4mg alprazolam
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My doc isn't a quack, you've assumed he prescribed the Xanax. I obtained the Xanax myself from an online pharmacy. It was my own choice as a substitute for the alcohol. The reason I needed to stop drinking for a month was because a blood test showed higher than normal AST enzymes caused by excessive alcohol consumption. His only advice was to stop drinking and then take another blood test in two months to see if my levels have fallen back within the ordinary range on the second test. I cut down on the booze for a month then no booze and 4mg Xanax a day for the other month along with alot of supplements and vitamins etc. The second test is tomorow.
 
I have seizures regularly, and let me just tell you..the shit is fucking scary. You won't know anything is wrong until you wake up on the ground with someone telling you that you collapsed into a seizure and bit your tongue, hit your head, etc. Living with the fact that you could collapse at any moment is not fun.

Don't mess around with the shit - Do a supervised taper.
 
Advice

I have seizures regularly, and let me just tell you..the shit is fucking scary. You won't know anything is wrong until you wake up on the ground with someone telling you that you collapsed into a seizure and bit your tongue, hit your head, etc. Living with the fact that you could collapse at any moment is not fun.
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Thanks for the advice that's definately what I'm going to do. Living without knowing when your next seizure is going to be sounds like hell.
 
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