Benzos Benzo cessation questions

[kozmic]

I'm new to the bluelight commmunity so first I would like to apologize for creating a new thread because I'm sure there is an appropriate thread/forum to voice my concerns.

Anyway I've been self-medicating my anxiety for approximately the past 6-7 days with xanax and ativan. I've been taking fairly low doses, I haven't kept up with the exact amount like I probably should have. I would estimate that I have taken <=6mg of xanax and <=8mg of ativan over the past week. I do not want to develop a dependence to benzos of course and would like to avoid withdrawal symptoms of course.

Do you all think it would be safe to completely stop taking the medication, or should I try to taper my doses to under .5mg xanax and 1mg ativan for a few days first?

Also I don't remember consuming any alcohol over the past week and if I did it would have been at most 2 beers.

-Thanks all

 

[Lorne???]

1 week isn't long enough to devolop physical dependence to any GABAergic. That doesn't mean you might not have some rebound symptoms, such as anxiety and WD.

So yes, it is 100% safe to stop now, but for the sake of comfort, I'd take 0.5mg Xanax OR 1mg lorazepam the first night, cut that in half the second( so 0.25mg Xanax or 0.5mg lorazepam(not both!))

You could even cut that in half again the 3rd night, so 1/8thmg alprazolam or 0.25mg lorazepam.

But this is strictly for comfort. Please, don't play with benzodiazepines, they are powerful drugs.

 

[kozmic]

Thanks for the reply, I'm fairly aware of the dangers of benzos and have witnessed the worst of WD symptoms first hand (father had a grand-mal seizure after quitting ativan cold-turkey). I realize it was kind of like playing with fire so I'm choosing not to remain on them. I plan on eventually seeing a psychiatrist for dealing with my anxiety in a "safer" way.
Thanks again!