Benzos Xanax withdrawal after a week?

[Pegasus]

Does anyone have any ideas about my seizures yet a lack of any other withdrawal symptoms associated with Xanax withdrawal?

Maybe the effects are not noticeable to you for some reason? Are you feeling wonderful and suddenly starting convulsing?

 

[Ignant]

Is your heart beating faster than usual?

 

[Trigeminal]

Is your heart beating faster than usual?

Fuck yes it is. Heart's beating fast, chest is tight, sweating, can't sleep. This is not opiate w/d, I'm very familiar with opiate w/d and this is something else. The only explanation is that it's the xanax.

What was it is right. I'd go through buprenorphine w/d with a smile on my face compared to this. I can't fathom how I would survive if this were worse. Whoever has gone through worse benzo withdrawal is a fucking warrior. I know my first post I was unsure. Now there is no doubt in my mind. I guess I'm just extra sensitive to xanax. Fuckin devil's drug. It's weird cause years ago I used to take much more xanax and never had any withdrawal symptoms. I took 16 mg at one time once when I was 17, compared to 16 mg spread over a week this time.

 

[Trigeminal]

Can anyone tell me roughly how long the acute part of the withdrawal should last? For a while today I felt almost normal but now I feel like shit again. This really, really sucks.

 

[Pegasus]

^There's no telling, and honestly, it's hard to quantify. As you've noticed, it comes and goes. It will happen less and less often over the next few weeks, at some point fading below a perceptible level. As I was saying earlier in the thread, there are definite triggers for when it will happen. Anything that causes stress, be it heat, tense situations, etc, will likely set off the bad feelings. On the positive side of things, you'll probably get pretty good at dealing with stress on your own from putting up with this. Since your body can't cope with the stress on its own very well, you'll have to deal with it with preventive actions and this is a bit of good to come from the situation IMO.

 

[DaddyPhatSax]

Is it possible that maybe you have developed an ACTUAL anxiety disorder of some sorts. Maybe its related to the xanax or bupe, but I would probably go see a doctor (physical or psychological).

Just a thought.

 

[What was it?]

Can anyone tell me roughly how long the acute part of the withdrawal should last? For a while today I felt almost normal but now I feel like shit again. This really, really sucks.

ok if this really really sucks it might be benzo withdrawal.....no idea why so fast but lets assume it is.

How to get rid of it:

You can do a rapid taper. Get valium/diazepam (from wherever...doc, street) and take 10mgs, then try and drop the dosage fast. Next day 8mg, next 5mg, then 2mg, then none. SHould all be over in 5 days...if not touch base and we can devise a slower taper.

Diazepam has a long half-life and you wont get this sketchiness you feel when coming off of Xanax. Give it a go, works a charm. And consider yourself lucky you are not deeper into this shit dude!!

 

[Trigeminal]

Thank-you, brother. I'm going to try to ride this out until the end of this week, though, since I'm feeling better today. It comes in waves, it will be absolutely horrible for a while, and then I'll feel somewhat close to normal for a while, back and forth. It seems like the lows are not as low as they were and the "highs" (hilarious word choice) feel more like normal.

I asked my buddy about Valium, and he asked me if I thought he was a street pharmacy, so getting illicit Valium probably won't be easy. If I still feel like this by the end of this week, or next Monday probably at the absolute latest, I'll go to a doctor. Thank God it's summer and I don't have to go to school for another month. By then, at least, I hope I'll be ok.

By the way, can I drink alcohol? I had a beer on Friday and it made me feel so much better for a little while. I'm not trying to get shit faced or anything, just drink maybe 2 beers max. I know alcohol is a GABAergic drug, so I'm curious if this will set me back in terms of withdrawal.

 

[bignbrown]

a week of xanax use can cause very mild withdrawal, but not enough to cause any severe symptoms, DONT try and taper, it will just prolong it, juts ride it out, you are in no danger and will be fine in a few days.


Just think if thats mild benzo withdrawal, what full on months/years of taking it causes when you stop!

Trust me, you are in no danger, and trying to taper after just a week of use is stupid and will just give you more symptoms. Thats if it even is the xanax causing it.

good luck

 

[Trigeminal]

a week of xanax use can cause very mild withdrawal, but not enough to cause any severe symptoms, DONT try and taper, it will just prolong it, juts ride it out, you are in no danger and will be fine in a few days.


Just think if thats mild benzo withdrawal, what full on months/years of taking it causes when you stop!

Trust me, you are in no danger, and trying to taper after just a week of use is stupid and will just give you more symptoms. Thats if it even is the xanax causing it.

good luck

Thank-you. Yes, I am definitely feeling better today. And you are absolutely right, I cannot even imagine, it makes me sick to my stomach, to think what these would be like if they were worse. Already I'm having trouble recalling how bad the worst moments were.

My emotions are still a little fucked up, I feel like crying right now because I feel like this is almost over. I know for a fact it was Xanax, though. I've never really had anxiety problems ever before, and then right when I got done taking the bars it starts up, bad.


My symptoms: Racing heart beat, high blood pressure, weird feelings in skin (sometimes it felt like there was a balloon in my head/throat that was being inflated, it was weird but very unpleasant), sweating, feeling like I was going to die, feeling dizzy like I was about to pass out, insomnia, irritable, mood swings, feeling like nothing is real, loss of appetite, nausea, tight muscles (especially in my chest, neck, and shoulders, this was horrible at night), "electric zaps", tingling in body, shakiness, couldn't get my dick hard, memory and concentration were shit, oh and a fucking bad headache

^That is how I know it was the Xanax. That was way, way too fucked up and horrible for it to be anything else. And I'm not even out of it yet, but the way I've felt today, I think I could deal with it for a month or two and I'd be alright.

I am going to enjoy life so much when this is over.

 

[Pegasus]

^Yeah, that's the attitude man... I agree, I think you will enjoy life quite a bit when you feel totally normal again.

Also, the symptoms you describe are exactly the same as what I felt from alprazolam w/d, especially the horrible headaches.

 

[Trigeminal]

Thanks for the support. I was looking through your posts and saw your benzo thread. And your post about feeling like you were going to throw up/seize/head exploding all at the same time made me laugh (cause I now unfortunately know exactly what that feels like), which was painful because my chest and shoulders are extremely tight right now.

But I'm at least glad that I'm now at the point where I can genuinely laugh. I'm going to try to get some sleep, I'm hurting a bit right now, night's are the worst. But I can already tell tonight won't be as awful as the last two.

 

[What was it?]

Thanks for the support. I was looking through your posts and saw your benzo thread. And your post about feeling like you were going to throw up/seize/head exploding all at the same time made me laugh (cause I now unfortunately know exactly what that feels like), which was painful because my chest and shoulders are extremely tight right now.

But I'm at least glad that I'm now at the point where I can genuinely laugh. I'm going to try to get some sleep, I'm hurting a bit right now, night's are the worst. But I can already tell tonight won't be as awful as the last two.

once you are off benzos, staying off is easy as it is so blatantly clear they are not worth the sid effects/WDs....different story with opiates though. Completely stopping them is very very difficult, but they are not as dangerous imo.

 

[Trigeminal]

once you are off benzos, staying off is easy as it is so blatantly clear they are not worth the sid effects/WDs....different story with opiates though. Completely stopping them is very very difficult, but they are not as dangerous imo.

Oh, I know brother. I've had a love/hate affair with opiates going on 7 years now. Just Suboxone for the past 3, though.

I'm better today than I was yesterday. Every day I'm getting better. Right now I almost feel back to myself. Wish I could just skip the next week of my life, and I'm thinking I'll be back to normal.

 

[Trigeminal]

OP if you're so close to recovery then I'd say staying sober is the best way.

However, if you find yourself still coping with the powerful anxiety you're describing in a while and want some help, without recurring to psychoactive drugs, I was prescribed propranolol (a beta-blocker) for a while to help with my panic attacks and it does wonders for anxiety when taken on an as-needed basis. Beta-blockers are far kinder to the body than benzos as well.

Apologies for having taken your situation so lightly in a previous post (when I denied your WDing). Jesus, benzo WDs in a week. What shit luck.

Oh another thing. DON'T underestimate exercise as a very powerful tool in overcoming anxiety. Best kind for anxiety is high-intensity cardio. You really should give it some thought.

Thank-you for your help, pontifex. Don't worry about thinking I didn't have w/d--I desperately wanted to believe your post, to think that I was alright, but when I woke up Saturday morning after an awful night's sleep with my heart pounding out of my chest, I knew I was in trouble haha.

My plan is to reassess my condition at the end of this week. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were a complete clusterfuck, but since Sunday I've been improving every day. I'm hoping this is more like a short term, mild withdrawal than one of those months long, protracted withdrawal syndromes. That would fucking suck. But if by next Monday or so I still have this anxiety, I'm going to probably look into getting a beta-blocker. Did you get this from a psychiatrist, or just a family doctor?

And great tip about the high intensity cardio--I've been running the past couple of days, and it helps a ton. Right now, running and taking a shower are the only two tools I have to help combat this w/d.

I've been running only 2 or 3 miles (very slow pace compared to what I normally do), but tonight I'm going to try to step it up a little. Maybe 4 miles at a higher speed, if I can.

 

[Trigeminal]

Thanks pontifex.

I think you're right about this not lasting very long--it just doesn't really make sense that if I was only on it for a week, my withdrawal could last much longer than that.

Oh and dude, totally right about the "high intensity" exercise. I ended up doing 4 miles last night, pushing myself even when it hurt. I had like a tiny anxiety attack as soon as I finished, but for the rest of the night I was golden. Felt like myself. Even felt good enough to have sex--if I feel good enough to fuck, I guess things can't be all that bad anymore haha.

 

[Jackie Chan]

Thanks pontifex.

I think you're right about this not lasting very long--it just doesn't really make sense that if I was only on it for a week, my withdrawal could last much longer than that.

I guess your question's already been answered, but just wanted to add that it is possible to get withdrawal effects from less than two weeks of using a benzo. I once took 40mg of lorazepam over 10 days (almost equivalent to the amount of xanax you took) and that left me with really bad insonmia, headaches and depression for 2 days, it took around 5 days for me to completely get over it. Also, I took 2mg of xanax on Wednesday and Thursday and I got rebound effects that are still affecting me today, hopefully will be completely gone tomorrow though.

 

[Trigeminal]

Do you guys think buprenorphine withdrawal could cause the Xanax withdrawal to flare up again?

I can't figure this out. All last week, I felt great. Basically completely back to myself again. I felt so good I even thought I would try to start tapering my Suboxone. Well, I dropped my dose by 0.25 mg, and 36 hours later I had insomnia (I had been sleeping fine before that). Then, the next day I felt what I at first thought was Suboxone withdrawal (sweating, gooseflesh). However, a few hours later I started getting pissed off and anxious (definitely Xanax w/d, I don't get this from bupe w/d).

Anyway, I went out and had 3 or 4 shots of whiskey. Felt good. Next day was OK, but then that night I was having insomnia again. Took a LOT of extra Suboxone, and then fucking started having a bad anxiety attack, racing heart, all that shit. Today wasn't great, but I feel better than last night for sure.

Is this just a normal part of withdrawal, even from the tiny amount of Xanax I was on? I might go try to get a beta blocker prescribed.

I'm thinking I'm going to stay on Suboxone for the next few months (at least 6) before I start tapering.

^^Jackie Chan, good to know. I was wondering if one-time benzo use would be cool, but it sounds like it isn't. Good, even more incentive to never take another benzo.

 

[CrackAndScrabble]

I'm not trying to call anybody out or anything but I gotta throw my two cents in.

As someone who has been prescribed benzos long term (a year and a half), I find it hard to believe you'd have any
physical withdrawal after only a weeks used.

Any withdrawal "symptom" your having was probably already present before the xanax.

I sympathies with your anxieties man but its not quite the bitch that is benzo withdrawal.

Just remember, its easy to say a benzo would improve your quality of life.

 

[mcgrCONTIN]

nah, not after a week. not even really after three weeks if dauily use is kept under four mg