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Benzos Tapering off of xanax...

B

budsnbars712

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 15, 2011
Messages
166
Location
NY
So i originally was on 3.0 mg's of xanax a day. I was legally prescribed 2 mg's but would abuse and need to get off the street to get that extra milli a day, sometimes binge up to 5.0 mg's.....I also drank alcohol on xanax at night to increase the effects (I know, it is horrible for you and a mixture that create SEVERE issues). Along with smoking marijuana with I still do daily....I was on xanax for about three years atleast at this point.

I started to taper on April 1 after nearly having a mental breakdown...I binged up to 5 mg's a day before the taper and was drinking on a cruise also for a whole week. So my body probably saw more than the 5 mg's for that week since I was abusing alcohol (alcohol is a multiplier for benzos, correct?) to try and cover up my depression..April 1 I had a panic attack the first day I was home from the vacation probably from tolerance withdrawal. I decided I can no longer live like this and started that taper at 3.0 mg's....just stabilizing on 3.0 mg's a day was hard as I would take random amounts all the time before this. Every week I would lower my dose by .25 for a while. I successfully made it down to 2.0 mg's but OBVIOUSLY was suffering from anxiety because of withdrawal. Once I hit 2.0 mg's it started getting rough.

NOW, I successfully got down to 1.0 mg! I take .25 four times daily....but now I feel like this is getting REALLY tough. I can still tolerate it but I am afraid of what is to come next....I have my birthday next month, and also the birthday of my ex (which shouldn't be a big deal but I still have a big attachment to her). Now i know next month is going to be really rough just in general, let alone with a taper.....

I am unsure on what to do...I started to see a psychologist weekly as I felt I need mental support when I started the taper. He recommended a psychiatrist to see what they wanted to do about my depression, and also maybe help me with the taper....I went to see the psychiatrist, and he told me that I am an addict and need to see a drug councilor... That pissed me off, because I am tapering off of xanax on my own will and I am aware that marijuana fucks my life up...this made me more anxious....

Now I cannot seem to stop thinking about basically everything. I am a huge over-thinker and I dissect any conversation or situation I am in, this is why I was prescribed xanax in the first place. I used to dry heave vomit in the morning before work because of anxiety before I started xanax, and now that is coming back.....this is only day 4 since I was moved from 1.25 to 1.00 mg's, so maybe it will get easier as it usually does, but what if it doesn't...and I know next month will be a battle for me to make it through. My shrink recommended another psychiatrist after I told him what happened with the first. Hopefully he can help me in someway.

Has anyone gotten off of xanax by itself in here? What should I do? This is a battle I can't afford to lose as I was suicidal feeling when I had that panic attack, any thoughts, advice, or words of encouragement would really help me out right about now....THANKS to all!

PS-sorry for making such a long thread, I am ultra anxious right now....
 
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I started taking Xanax when I was 16 (I am now 36) and within the first year of taking them my doctor had me at 3mg/day. I continued that dose for another year or two, then my doctor gradually tapered me off of them over the course of a year. By the end of that year, my final dose was .25/day and it was the hardest for me to kick (mentally). I have been on and off Xanax and other Benzos since then (I did have about a 6-7 year period where I was totally Benzo and SSRI/N type drug free), but my anxiety came back worse than ever about 2 years ago. I could go into my current cocktail of poison, but I don't wanna hijack your thread anymore :)

IME, Xanax was the worse to come off of because of the incredibly short half-life. I have found Xanax works amazing for panic attacks when used sparingly and ONLY as needed. Have you talked to your doctor about trying a longer acting Benzo to taper, ie Valium or Klonopin? You won't need to dose as often and it will be easier to get down to a lower mg dosage without having as much rebound anxiety, IME.
 
Thanks for the response, I did talk to my doctor but he claims it is no problem coming off of xanax by itself (even though I told him I am having somewhat of a hard time). I am still on 1.0 mg daily and have another .25 to go down in 5 days...I am not excited about it, I am anxious and nervous already and I have a couple of weeks coming up on me where are going to be very sensitive as it is my birthday and my longtime ex gf's...
 
maybe try kava root it will help with the anxitey,depression and is easier 2 take evry day than xanax.and it will help with the withdrawls also.
 
I have heard of this kava root but never looked into it......I am having a very hard time even just staying on 1.0mg of xanax a day...I am doing it, but I am having a very rough time.....
 
Sounds like we all in the same struggle. Trying to break habbits sucks, specially chemical ones. I just started tapering off klons 7mg daily dose to about 4mg. This is not going to be easy combined with other issues I withdrawing from. Trying to strech out my doses and slowly come down but my tolerance is thru the roof on any benzo. I guess this why they say not to do them for long periods. Hows 7-8 year period of use? Ya this sucks. I remember in the beginning. 25 xan would knock me the funk out lol. Now its a blip on my radar.
 
Vals last longer. But also your taking it 4 times a day try to making more less times a day. Or take a valium cuz they last longer and you might be able to skip a day. The more you can put up with now, pain/anxiety wise the easier it will be when you stop all together.
 
first time I tapered off xanax I switched to valium, it does make the withdrawals a hell of alot easier. its no cure for the shitty feelings but its much better than what I was going through before I switched.
 
Just wanted to commend you for working toward getting off of benzos. I tapered off of Klonopin last summer, which is long acting like Valium. That was tough enough. Tapering off of Xanax seems like making a difficult task more difficult than it needs to be. I really hope your new psychiatrist will switch you over to Valium. I also hope you won't rush the taper. Do you have a plan for how to deal with the anxiety once you are off? Are you and our therapist working on skills to use? To be honest, 4 months after tapering off of the Klonopin, I went back on it because I was not able to deal with the anxiety. I wish you the best of luck, and hope you will ultimately be more successful than I have been in staying of off the benzos. Please keep us posted.
 
You guys are the best, I really have nobody helping me thru this. I going to sound like a dumbass but I went from 7mg klon to 1mg in 1 day and about to loose my mind. Just wanted to see how bad it could be and wow, stamp my forhead I ready for looney bin right now. Going to take bigger dose tonight before something bad happens. You guys arent playing these thing are weird coming off. Like I an alien or something, not myself right now. Had to post this while insane to document how stupid I was for dropping that large of a dose in 1 day. Thanks for all advice, I really going thru it. Valium dont work for me at all unfortunately. My ex girl loves them but nothing absolute no effect at any dose for me. Something weird about my tolerance level to alot of drugs but thats another topic. See you in a few hours when I find my brain lol.
 
Sorry for the double post but thru my own experiments have a new discovery. Tapering on xanax seems to be easier than klon, probably due to the half life. I actually took low doses of xanax as replacement dose for my klons. Hoping this will bring my tolerance down ultimately but I have way more klons than xans. Just trying to half my daily intake safely because klon tolerance built up too fast.
 
So I figured I would update this thread...I was all the way down to .75 mg a day of xanax but was battling major stress and anxiety everyday, all day. I wanted to come off of benzo's so bad...Then I go to a psychiatrist as I was scheduled and have never been before. I tell him all the life troubles and the situation I am in today...I tell him that I smoke pot and I feel like an even bigger drug addict on benzos. He tells me that "He has to get me better, and stable before we take any crazy steps"...He put me on 1.0mg twice a day of klonopin....At this point, I was so angry as I was almost completely off the xanax...but I followed the doctors orders and am now on the kpins 1 mg twice daily....They work. I was also given cymbalta, an SNRI as SSRI's have not done it for me in the past..That still has to be authorized from my Insurance...but I was ultra disappointed to be put back on the benzos....the only positives I can think of this is that maybe since hes a PROFESSIONAL unlike my GE who originally prescribed the xanax, that maybe he will correct my brain. Also, I do not have rebound anxiety in the morning and do not puke since I switched to the kpins. It has only been two weeks....And lastly, I hear it is easier to get off of them than xanax...Any thoughts or opinions?
 
The xans wear off fast and abrubtly so that could be a source of wd symptoms. The klons seem to last longer because of halflife. Tapering is going slow for me but I close to 3mg klons now or 1mg 3x per day. There are taper charts and other substitute meds they suggest. I just going to go slow and work it down to 2mg 2x per day like you said. How long this will take is another story. It seems soo easy to drop 1mg but not on benzos.
 
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I am not recommended to taper right now. I was told that I have to go BACK on them and that is why I am at where I am....Like I said I was only on .75 mg of xanax a day when they decided to put me back on....I felt like I was about to win the battle even though I was incredibly anxious..
 
Thanks, I been checking that chart out and making sure I have enough meds to do it. Some weeks I can drop 2-3mgs no problem but now feel stuck at 3.5mg. Still some work just to make it on the chart for me. I going to try without the diazapam for simple reason, I can't find them or way too much money. Some reason diaz and xan are extra expensive here.
 
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