Weening off Xanax while on Suboxone

[Lambo123]

So i started taking xanax about 8 months ago. Biggest mistake of my life. You know how they say one is too many and a thousand is not enough? Yeah one was too many...anyhow i was wondering what my taper schedule should be? Right now i'm taking about 12mg a day (yes a lot i know). I figured the Suboxone (legally prescribed, i take an 8mg strip a day) would help with the ween but i'm not too sure as i haven't gone through withdrawal's from them yet. Yes i do realize i can die by just cutting off of them cold turkey. Any advice would be great! Thanks, Chris.

P.S. - I've been a lurker here for a while. This site has been very informative!

 

[Allein]

Xanax id not a great Benzo for tapering at all due to it's short half life, switching to Diazepam would be a better bet.

The Ashton manual is a truly fantastic resource for Benzo issue :-

http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/

Work out a schedule form that ( diaz if you are able to source it ) my only words of advice are write the schedule down ( excel is good for this ) and stick to it, if things become unconformable just hold that dose for a little longer but make every effort not to go back up on the dose.

You will need to accept fairly quickly that you won't be getting the heavy benzo hits you were before, tapers are all about reducing the discomfort and avoiding seizures, you will suffer some level of withdrawal and anxiety but it should be minimised.

Best of luck with it

 

[rcc01a]

Hey man. I can definitely sympathize with you on benzo addiction. I'm going to echo what Allein said. You need to find a long half life benzodiazepine or alternative GABAa agonist. Diazepam(Valium) is the most commonly used benzo for tapering. Phenobarbital also works but many consider it to be a more "barbaric" way to taper off of benzos. It can also be a more dangerous drug due to the likelihood of central nervous system depression, especially in combination with other sedatives like opiates. This may not be a good choice for you because of the Suboxone. Those are two drugs out of many that can help. Even a medium half life benzo like clonazepam(Klonopin) would work. It's best to do this under a doctor's supervision of course. Seriously, if you can get a doctor to help you, please do. I'm guessing you have been doing your homework and know that withdrawals can been life threatening. 8mg a day is a hefty dose, so be safe. The Heather Ashton method mentioned is considered to be the best around. It's slow but should be less painful than other alternatives.

I'm currently in an intensive outpatient rehab program, for 10 weeks, because of raging alcoholism. I've been hitting the bottle pretty hard for 10 years or so. It got to the point where in the last month before I detoxed I was downing ~20 drinks/day. I drank from when I woke up till I passed out. I was a bartender/manager at a cool Irish pub for 6 years, making good money w/ benefits. I pretty much had to leave my job without warning for obvious reasons. Now I've moved back in with my dad. Really good for your ego at 27 years old but fuck it.

I am(was) also prescribed 3mg/day of clonazepam. After 3 weeks I was feeling much better after alcohol cessation but now they are taking me off of clonazepam as well. I've been on it for 4 or 5 years; my memory is a little hazy on that. I really want to get off of anything that remotely touches a GABA receptor but I'm not thrilled about the ride I'm in for. They switched me to phenobarbital on Monday, initially 90mg/day. I was very uncomfortable after a couple of days and it ended up being increased to 180mg/day. The normal taper plan for them is 20% per week but they will work with you if stuff gets out of control. Even the switch to a comparable, if not cushy dose of pheno had me feeling like shit for a few days. I didn't help that I went off of bupropion(Welbutrin) for 4 days to ensure I didn't have a seizure. But the fun hasn't even started yet. It's only going to get worse before it gets better, and better is a long ways away I imagine. Decreasing the dosage will probably be painful and then jumping off completely will probably be fucking horrible. My psychiatrist has his concerns about this plan but he's the one who referred me to the clinic and it is highly regarded. I'm also now thinking that maybe the Ashton method might be a better move but here I am. I really don't want to discourage you from getting off of the Xanax. The longer you are on it, the worse it will be. Or put in a more positive light, the sooner you come off of it the easier it will be and the better you will fell. I'm just moaning and groaning.

I'm anxiety ridden to begin with and I'm not looking forward to a long time of rebound anxiety, and other withdrawal symptoms. I'm not super excited about finding a new job and then being a wreck as I start it but c'est la vie. Going to a job interview twitching and then shaking someone's hand with a sweaty palm... ugggg. And I'm sure my brain is still going a bit haywire after all of the alcohol and any other drug that was put in front of me and then just stopping with a few days of a chlordiazepoxide(Librium) detox, just to stave off seizures.

Sorry for ranting but I guess I'm about to start down the same path you are. I wish you the best of luck and hope you will post again on this thread. I also didn't mean to hijack your thread. I went to The Dark Side to see if there were any new posts relating to what I'm going through and just starting typing and rambling. I hope everything goes well for you man.

TL;DR - diazepam and the Ashton method are probably the best suggestions and I'm just starting down the same road as you, my friend. Oh and please find a doctor to help you if at all possible.

 

[buffalobillygoat]

Do you get your xanax legally OP?

 

[TheUltimateEye]

Thanks for the thorough answers! I will go see a doctor and ask about diazepam or phenobarbital. Buffalo, i am not getting prescribed benzo's legally. It's costing me a fortune which is why i want to see a doctor. It's hard though because there's so many script doctors i know i can go to in Philly...very tempting.

 

[Lambo123]

Wow i was actually doing a quick search and completely forgot about this thread. Unfortunately my habit has just gotten worse. I'm taking at LEAST 6mg a day now. If i have enough money i'll take up to 18mg a day. I just got an apartment so i know this isn't gonna last much longer. I do have a roommate who can hold them and will absolutely not give them to me as i taper down but i'm just wondering from experience how slowly you guys tapered to avoid the anxiety? Again, it's so hard not to just go to a doctor and lie about panic attacks and anxiety just to get pills (i have REALLY good insurance) but i really really don't wanna go down that road as i'll be going backwards. I truly want to get off of these but it's so goddamn hard. Hell these don't even get you high. People talk about "Oh the white bars are better than the green ones or the footballs are better than blah blah" but in reality it's all the same ingredient and i just end up taking too many and falling asleep not to mention it's affecting my work since i can't remember shit. Sorry i went off on a tangent. You guys gave me good advice. I guess i should take it.

 

[gr33n3y3z]

I get my benzos legally prescribed I just switched over from Xanax to Klonopin 1mg , Kpins have a longer half life and great for panic attacks.

Sorry I didn't read your post but honestly I would switch to another benzo with a longer half life.

 

[flyhighk]

I think you should go to a doctor and tell him the straight truth. He will (hopefully) prescribe a longer acting benzo and tell you how to taper etc. Good luck

 

[deaf eye]

i tapered successfully with librium, started with 5 days in detox , got my levels normalized then did a 90 day librium taper
with librium i didnt want to indulge with more and more like i always did with all the other benzos
all my attempts of tapering with just xanax failed miserably

good luck , if you go to a doc , try executing a recovery plan before hand, like in my case i went to detox, day 4 out of detox i was a shaking and on the threshhold of seizures , went to the doc , hes like your still going thru withdrawls, was honest told him everything, IOP starting up, , , he was gunna write me one for ativan, that little voice in my head spoke up and was like they gave me librium in detox, the librium made it so i could function, i wasnt comfortable , but i could function and i didnt really get ahead of my schedule, its hard as fuck but once you break its chokehold life is pretty fuckin good , hold on