Benzos Xanax Taper help

[556m4]

I've searched and can't find a appropriate taper schedule for my daily intake of Xanax. I have been taking Xanax for about two years and three months I
take approximately .5 mg Xanax 2 times a day. I started taking them at dosages of .5mg at night for sleep the dosages stayed the same once a day for
about 6 months then they increased to where I was taking up to 2mg a day broken up between two doses. I weaned myself down to 1.5mg a day then
down to 1mg a day without any bad side effects. Could someone suggest how to taper off the remaining 1mg a day painlessly I'm having trouble with this I don't take the drug for a high only because I've become dependent on them due to my own stupidity. I would like to get off without having to go to a
doctor and do this on my own but if I have to I will. Your suggestions are appreciated thank you for your time. -556m4

 

[mrflowers00]

thats a small dose why don't you just drop .25mg a week until your down to nothing

 

[556m4]

I've tried that it's like a 25 percent dose reduction to much. I wish it was that easy. I can tell when I'm going into withdrawl because I start to break out in a rash all over my shoulders.

 

[Tommyboy]

Everybody is different. Just try getting by with as little as possible. You may be able to lower your dose by .25 each week, or it may be easier to alternate days of taking your regular dose, then the lowered dose, until you can stabilize at the lower dose. From there, do the same thing lowering the dose by .25 again, alternating days.
Ex: Your at 1mg, so try alternating days of taking .75 and 1mg, and once you get comfortable at .75, lower it to .5 every other day.

Ideally you will do a taper using diazepam or clonazepam since they have long half-lives.

Edit: I see you said you tried lowering by .25 and it doesn't work. It seems that xanax may be too potent and short lived for you to taper with. It's best to see a doctor about using diazepam to taper with.

 

[556m4]

That sounds reasonable I will try alternating days between .75mg and 1 mg until I feel like my body is used to the dose reduction. Thanks for the advice.

 

[556m4]

I thought it was a small dose but evidently it's not and has given a lot of people problems reducing from 1mg a day to nothing. I've tried clonazepam and I don't tolerate the drug very well, but I can tolerate diazepam. I will go that route if I can find a doctor in my area who is knowledgeable about benzos and withdrawl if all else fails.

 

[Tommyboy]

I tapered down from 3mgs of alprazolam down to 1mg using the method I described. I think I made it down to .75 actually, and then I switched to 10mgs of diazepam. It was a lot easier to taper with diazepam at those lower doses, and I would drop 2mgs either every 2 weeks or every month depending on how I was feeling. Once I got down to 6 or 4mgs, then I reduced the dose by 1mg each time. I've been hanging out around 1mg for a while though, but it's a lot better than being on a decent dose of alprazolam.

With diazepam you can actually skip a day of dosing, which was basically impossible with alprazolam. At my best I was dosing every 3 days on diazepam, so I can attest to it's long half-life keeping withdrawals away for a while.

 

[heavyriffer]

yeah man thats the way to keep rocking, off the benzos! You might want to inform your Dr. and go to another benzodiazepine like Valium, Clonazepam has a little bit of a long half life but naw use valium instead.
I just just got off my final dose of Clonazepam last Thursday. I was on 0.125mg morning and night for about 4 weeks then only at night for 3 weeks and now im off it still seeings how things will go. I started today using Valerian tincture to help with any restlessness or nervousness. Maybe you could utilise that too to help.

 

[ErgicMergic]

I was thinking about ordering a few Clonazepam off an IOP to use occasionally, but fuck, I'm not going back to daily benzo use. Granted, I was only taking about 40mg diazepam daily for about 8 months, but this thread reminded me how shitty benzo tapering is, and how much better my life is now with out benzos. Better stay away for my own good.

 

[Tripman]

I tapered off 120mg diazepam, 12-30mg alprazolam and 2mg flunitrazepam daily recently.

Started on 20mg Clonazepam and 300mg pregabalin and weaned down to baseline over 3 months.

You shouldn't find it to hard to taper off the dose you are on. I'd suggest switching onto diazepam to taper, it's long half-life make things much simpler.

 

[556m4]

Thanks everybody your replies and opinions are much appreciated. I'm going to try and taper directly off by going down by .125 mg every two weeks or so rocking back and fourth until I feel that my body can tolerate the reductions. If that doesn't work i'm going to go to a doctor and get put on a diazepam taper. ErgicMergic you are right if I had the choice I would stay away from benzos as they are not worth the horrible consequences on your life, life was much better when I wasn't using. I understand some people have horrible anxiety and panic attacks and some people need benzos to function in everyday life but this wasn't the case with me. I was stupid and used them to get to sleep initially when i should have just went without sleep or found some natural insomnia treatment, hindsight is a real bitch.