So I've gone through the whole opioid addiction in the past and have stayed clean for 6 years now and just got bloodwork done which revealed I had Hep C. They put me on these new neds,, Ribavirin and Vikera Pak, which apparently have much less severe side effects than the old Interferon/ribavirin treatments, which I believe completely. The main side effect of Ribavirin I've had since day 3 of starting treatment was extreme anxiety. The treatment is only 12 weeks long so my doctor started me with a prescription of 0.25mg xanax twice daily, as it would take up to 6 weeks for an SSRI to begin working just to stop taking it 6 weeks later seemed silly, and over the course of 6 weeks am now taking 1mg up to four times a day. I should also preface this discussion with the fact that I've suffered from general anxiety disorder since I was young, which is what I believe, along with depression, to the opiate usage. But ever since being clean the anxiety has been extremely manageable and not really an issue in my life until starting these medications.
I will admit to taking more than I was prescribed during difficult days to help bring the anxiety to a manageable level, especially early on when I was only getting the 0.25 and 0.5mg pills and I have been very open with my doctor about this as she knows I've had addiction issues with opiates in the past and I want to avoid benzo addiction at all costs. Unfortunetely this seemed to be the best solution as I have to deal with 20 credits of college courses as well as work while taking the chemotherapy. The trouble is, is that I seem to have an extremely high tolerance to xanax. We also tried ativan at 2mg once a day which did almost nothing unless I uped the dosage to 4mg which wore off by 8pm leaving me to need a sleeping pill to sleep. I had two major anxiety attacks a week ago while on the atavan and took 10 of the 1mg xanax pills I had left over, as I knew taking 6mg in the past didn't do much, and barely noticed any affect. To test this, after taking my regular dose of 1mg four times a day I didn't take it at all the next day to see if I would get any of the extreme anxiety I was originally having or any withdrawal symptoms, which I am not sure how long it take to develop as I've only been on the benzos for 6 weeks.
To my surprise I had manageable anxiety levels for the next two days without taking any of the xanax. The third day today, I did have a little attack and took some. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced tolerance build up this fast with xanax? I've talked to friends who have scripts for plane trips and other random stressful situations and say 1mg knocks them out. I've never experimented with benzos before except a Klonopin which left me unconscious in the middle of New Orleans.
Just looking for some general experience from people who use these medications medicinally or recreationally to see if this is a common thing as some days the dosage I'm at works fine and others I need to up it to get through the day. I did find it very strange that for those two days I felt fine and slept okay without it though so just looking for some people opinions.
P.S. One of the drugs in Viekria Pak has a moderate interaction with about every drug known to mankind including xanax, which says that it can increase blood level concentrations of xanax. The xanax also seems to have little effect on my alcohol tolerance, which yes I know I shouldn't be drinking with hep-c, and still get a light buzz from around 3 beers.
Thanks a lot for your time,
Nick.
I will admit to taking more than I was prescribed during difficult days to help bring the anxiety to a manageable level, especially early on when I was only getting the 0.25 and 0.5mg pills and I have been very open with my doctor about this as she knows I've had addiction issues with opiates in the past and I want to avoid benzo addiction at all costs. Unfortunetely this seemed to be the best solution as I have to deal with 20 credits of college courses as well as work while taking the chemotherapy. The trouble is, is that I seem to have an extremely high tolerance to xanax. We also tried ativan at 2mg once a day which did almost nothing unless I uped the dosage to 4mg which wore off by 8pm leaving me to need a sleeping pill to sleep. I had two major anxiety attacks a week ago while on the atavan and took 10 of the 1mg xanax pills I had left over, as I knew taking 6mg in the past didn't do much, and barely noticed any affect. To test this, after taking my regular dose of 1mg four times a day I didn't take it at all the next day to see if I would get any of the extreme anxiety I was originally having or any withdrawal symptoms, which I am not sure how long it take to develop as I've only been on the benzos for 6 weeks.
To my surprise I had manageable anxiety levels for the next two days without taking any of the xanax. The third day today, I did have a little attack and took some. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced tolerance build up this fast with xanax? I've talked to friends who have scripts for plane trips and other random stressful situations and say 1mg knocks them out. I've never experimented with benzos before except a Klonopin which left me unconscious in the middle of New Orleans.
Just looking for some general experience from people who use these medications medicinally or recreationally to see if this is a common thing as some days the dosage I'm at works fine and others I need to up it to get through the day. I did find it very strange that for those two days I felt fine and slept okay without it though so just looking for some people opinions.
P.S. One of the drugs in Viekria Pak has a moderate interaction with about every drug known to mankind including xanax, which says that it can increase blood level concentrations of xanax. The xanax also seems to have little effect on my alcohol tolerance, which yes I know I shouldn't be drinking with hep-c, and still get a light buzz from around 3 beers.
Thanks a lot for your time,
Nick.