Take the xanax like once a day when you need it, skip a couple days a week, and you shouldn't build a tolerance or go through w/d's.. The problem is that its easier to get a habit using lot of little doses rather than a couple of larger doses. so taking the .5mg 3x a day for 6wks will get your body use to taking the drug. and if your looking to wean, the best way is to switch over to an equivalant dose of a longer acting benzo like klonipin or valium, but you could do it the way your talking about, its just a little more of a hassle. And I think you should just be prescribed a longer acting benzo like k-pin or valium in the first place. usually xanax is used for panic attacks and the longer acting ones for GAD..
I think its pretty normal for a prescriber to put someone on a couple of weeks worth of benzos while they start a new anti-anxiety drug like an SSRI/SNRI or BuSpar because some people get anxiety in the beginning of treatment, while others need somthing that is going to help them right away (obviously xanax deals with anxiety in minutes, not weeks).
Buspar is definately a unique drug. Just a couple of things to note about this drug:
It has equal efficacy in helping with anxiety as SSRI's and Benzos.
As far as time it takes to kick in, it is sort of in the middle. Benzos kick in right away, while SSRI's may take up to 4-6 weeks to have an effect. Buspar is in the middle of these, taking up to 3-4 weeks to see the full effects.
There may be an increase in anxiety when you first start taking this medication, like you see with the SSRI/SNRI's. It just depends..
One thing to elaborate on with BuSpar is that, one of the metabolites is 1-PP, which is an alpha-2 antagonist. What this means is that it inhibits the body's natural way of decreasing the amount of norepinephrine in the synapse in the brain. Its usually more worrisome for people with panic attacks, but idk if it will increase anxiety or not, so it might not be the best medication..idk. but everyone works differently so it could work for you
-cap
