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Benzos Question Regarding Alprazolam

R

renoise

Greenlighter
Joined
Sep 26, 2013
Messages
4
Question Regarding Alprazolam (Xanax)

Hey all, I have been browsing the forum for about a day before I created an account.

Anyways,

There is a question that a friend of a relative has been asking for some time now, that he/she can't seem to get answered. Actually he/she has heard several differing opinions from both medical and civilian sources that he/she does not know what to believe.

He/she recently tapered off a methadone program(=D=D=D) and is finally free of that. During the hard parts of the taper, he/she started taking small amounts of alprazolam to help her/him sleep. This started about 3 months ago. He/She initially started taking 1mg a night, every night, and only one dose a day. After a month this person dropped to 0.5mg every 24 hours, and then just tonight this person dropped again to .25mg every 24 hours.

The question this person has regarding the use of alprazolam is how far should he/she taper before making the jump off completely, and if they could just stop usage now given the above information?


This person has gotten several different answers, including some extreme, such as that they will have to remain on for years unless they want a seizure, and some good advice that have told this person is on such a low dose, and only takes one dose a day, that they could stop at any time.

I was hoping that I could get advice from people more experienced than me as to what the right answer is...


Thanks ahead of time for anyone taking the time to look, it will be much appreciated!

Thanks<3,

Sarah
 
Last edited:
You should be able to discontinue 0.25mg alprazolam per day with pretty much no problem. In general seizures and the like only happen when you discontinue large, regular doses.

We don't do the identity obfuscation stuff here. It offers no protection and makes your post hard to read .Just say "I" and "me".
 
I just jumped off 1.5 mgs a day ... pretty much c/t.

Yes I did not sleep well for 6 days.. yes I sweat during the night time.. a LOT. But.. I didn't have a seizure.. or anything that I couldn't handle.. I am aware benzo withdrawl CAN be worse than opiates.. definitely.. but 0.25 mgs? Not a problem!
 
Your friend should be completely fine jumping off now. Maybe some general discomfort for a few days but your friend didn't take it long enough to cause a hardcore dependency.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, I didn't know that identity obfuscation wasn't necessary. Anyways I took most of your advice and just quit c/t. the last dose was Wednesday night at 0.25 mg. But basically I was only on 0.25 for one night, so the real drop off was from 0.5mg every 24 hours. Anyways it has now been 42 hours since my last dose and I am 42 hours COMPLETELY drug free! This has been the longest time I have been without taking opiates or benzos since about 2007. I don't use any form of nicotine, nor do I drink. I have also abstained from all caffeine and processed sugar since I got off methadone. I don't even want to put an aspirin in my body right now.

It was a long uphill battle from 2 years ago being on 135 mgs a day of methadone, and Ativan every night, to tapering off, to take the initiative to quit xanax before I start a whole new addiction.

tricomb said:
How are you feeling now?
Click to expand...
I feel like I'm healing, I have been since I quit methadone a short while back. There are still times I have hot flashes or wake up with that nagging pervasive uneasy feeling, but no cravings =D. To tell you the truth, I'm enjoying sobriety. I feel awake, like I can actually feel emotions and feelings again instead of just being numb and apathetic, just waiting for my next dose. The biggest pleasure I have had since quitting methadone has been rediscovering music and literature from a sober and awake standpoint. I've been reading Murakami and listening to the album 'Pet Sounds' quite a lot. Really looking forward to seeing what I'll be feeling in 1 month.

Thanks everyone who took time to read.<3
 
thats really good to hear, its also encouraging as i am tapering from 110mgs of deathadone. At this point im down to about 80 and i feel like im making progress. How long and what was your dose, if you dont mind?
 
'medicine cabinet' said:
thats really good to hear, its also encouraging as i am tapering from 110mgs of deathadone. At this point im down to about 80 and i feel like im making progress. How long and what was your dose, if you dont mind?
Click to expand...

It took me about two years to get down from 135, but I constantly messed with my dose and would go back up, and down for a while. I finally was determined to get off, so I did 5mg every two weeks. When I hit 20 mg, I did it with the help with what they called a 3.5 'helper' dose. Basically it just allowed you to add 3.5mg to every dose you took. So after I hit 20mg it went like this:

Week1-2:20mg
Week3-4:18.5mg
Week4-6:15mg
Week7-8:13.5mg
Week9-10:10mg
Week11-12:8.5mg
Week13-14:5mg
Week15-16:3.5mg
Week17:3.5mg every other day
Week18-20:I used these "blind doses" every other day I made myself by taking 10 of my old methadone containers and filling them up with water, I then put crystal light in all of them and then put 3.5mg of methadone in 2 of the bottles, then I mixed them up so I wouldn't know which 2 were the ones with methadone. I took them every other day like I said and have been counting the days sober since my last blind dose. This whole thing was just to take my mind off the drug because making that jump was such a mental hurdle for me. I don't know why but it really did make it easier.

It wasn't all that hard, but somewhere towards the end I started tossing and turning on some nights so I started taking xanax, wish I hadn't but now that's over as well.

Just trust me when I tell you that methadone has you in a mental fog, and you don't even know it until your off, and when it's gone you'll never know how on earth you ever lived with it. You'll never want it back. There really is joy waiting at the end, so good luck to you, and get that poison out of your body, it's soul destroying!
 
Hi, in my experience, I took them for sooo long that even stopping 2 mg.'s cold turkey, I was tired and dragged out for a couple days only. BUT, I did try once before and did get a seizure (I do have Epilepsy though). But that was because I was very new to taking them. A lower dose once a day should not have much side effects.
 
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