Benzos Grandma's Xanny Addiction

[Bruce Haze]

Hey guys, I've been reading posts on bluelight for the past half year and made an account a few months ago. I believe this thread would fit here. So to the point, my grandma takes 12mg of alprazolam per day. She has been on Xannies for roughly 40 years now. Which is where my concern and interest come into play.

First thing I'm wondering is if, for a lifer such as my grandma, whether it would even be worth it for her to stop? I personally think she should just go on taking them the rest of her life. What do you guys think?

Second thing I'm wondering is that if she decided to quit, what kind of withdrawal would we be expecting? Reason this interests me is the length of time she has been taking them, remember 40 YEARS. She is also on a low-dose 5mg oxycodone/tylenol prescription for the past 5 years.

Thanks Bluelighters, and I am excited to hear some responses.

 

[Alex000]

Well, Xanax has not been on the market for 40 years. Perhaps she was on another sedative, even a benzo like Librium or Valium, and switched to Xanax at some point. Anyhow, if she has been on a benzo or another GABAergic sedative-hypnotic for 40 years, and takes 12 mg Xanax daily, I would not see much point in getting off. It would take a very long time to do a proper taper, and even with that it would be very unpleasant and PAWS is almost a guarantee. For a benzo addiction of that size and length, if she were to stop cold turkey, I would be almost certain she would die of a tonic-clonic seizure after suffering what would probably be the worst pain she would ever know. As for the oxycodone, I don't see much issue if she has it under control and is not consuming more than 3 grams of APAP daily. It would be better for her to have pure oxycodone like in roxicodone or oxy IR or whatever you like to call it, because there wouldn't be any APAP, but I don't know how much she takes.

 

[J.D.]

I'm a granny, too. Fifty-two years old. I was on xanax for about 10+ years, then switched to klonopin and have been taking that for probably ten years, give or take. I guess I found the perfect cocktail - (beta-blocker and lamictal, etc.) to keep me on an even keel. I haven't had to change my dose for....yeesh....I don't remember how long now. But like the above poster said, there's probably no reason to change her meds now, especially if she has one doctor taking care of all of her needs and is aware of the amount of xanax she is taking.

I can't address the oxycodone issue, as I've never used that drug. I do however use heroin. I don't use a lot, but I use it all the time. Yeah, this granny is a junkie. I stick to my prescribed meds, but can't seem to keep that stupid needle out of my arm. I was taking the above meds before I started on the H, and don't see a reason to stop those particular ones (rationalizing much?) - tho I probably should drop the heroin habit before it drops me.

I do wonder why you came here to ask these questions tho, you're not planning on changing her meds yourself, are you? I know that can be pretty tempting, especially with that much lying around the house.

 

[Prelude2TragedyII]

Well, Xanax can cause some serious memory problems, if she doesn't already have them...
And , getting off of 12mg of xanax, at that age, well... I don't know.
I have mixed feelings about this, I think she should atleast lower her dosage. If she needs xanax, she should atleast be able to take a reasonable dose.
I would hope there is no permanant brain damage within that time frame. I recall taking 6mg of xanax a day for a year, and wow, when I stopped, I felt like I ruined my brain.
Feel alright now though, I notice I can't speak as fluently as I used to be able to, can't speak as quickly, as in I can't think of the words I want to say very quick, and when I do, I try to put them to words, but often stutter on a word or words. This might not be common, not sure, Im just saying, it happened to me.


How much oxycodone does she take? Are you sure she's not taking more than you think she is?

Hope you get things worked out , whats her age? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[Bruce Haze]

Prelude at least 20 mg per day, but she gets that much xanax from two docs so... if she got multiple scripts i wouldnt know.

Oh yes J.D, she is a recluse. She lays around smokin stoges all day haha. Huge arguments with relatives which she looks stupid after and cuts off contact, and she is in her early 70's so yeah haha shes mucked up most of the time..

 

[Utahrd]

dude I think she might die if she tried to quit. but in all seriousness, xanax withdrawal can kill you. I feel for you, my mom was addicted to it for a few years, always fucking strung out 24/7. She went to rehab and she's fine now though. But I think your grandma might literally have to go to rehab and be under constant medical supevision to get off it safely.

 

[sthornl]

I agree with several others, if she does come off it would be best to do a nice long taper. After taking them for so long , ripping her off too fast would lead to seizures. Even if she comes off slow, I had a similar problem and I had some serious anger issues after detoxing off of benzos. Granted they only lasted a month or two until I learned better coping. She could definitely benefit from cutting down because if she's been taking that much for that long, they're not really helping anymore. Once you get physically dependent, what you're taking just keeps you normal. I can't even imagine what she'd have to actually take if she needed them for anxiety. Before my grandmother passed she was addicted to the morphine they gave her. (She had cancer) We had to taper her down because she had to take more and more, or she felt like crap. I can't say much I've used heavily for 15 years but anyone can benefit from tapering off of something they're physically addicted to. I'm actually working on tapering off methadone, and it's been a slow process I've been working on for 7 months now, but I know it's worth it because it would be nice for pain pills to actually work for once. So I guess my answer is that it's really up to what she wants from herself and the medications.