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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Xanax withdrawal... help?

PuppySyrup

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 1, 2017
Messages
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On the move
So i have been on 6mg of xanax a day for almost 2 years now, and i ran out of my script on Monday and do not receive my refill till September 8. My question is why do i not feel any withdrawals from the xanax besides muscle stiffness, and mild insomnia? Will these symptoms get worse as time goes on?:? will more symptoms appear over the next week? Thanks in advance for the help!
 
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The problem your facing is that seizures can occur even in people that don't manifest severe W/D symptoms. At 6mg a day to 0 with no taper you could be on the verge of a seizure and not know it's coming. I would advise you to contact your local hospital or medical professional that can administer a cross tolerant benzo or even more alprazolam to prevent this from happening. If you were using .5-1mg a day you might be able to ride it out but 6mg is just too much to cold turkey on without serious adverse effects.

It would be a good idea to have someone with you until you can remedy the situation in case things go awry before you get help. Even if you have to fib about how you ran out like theft of your meds or something, medical intervention is imperative and the sooner the better as you are probably approaching more severe symptoms with each passing day. I hope your able to resolve this with minimal repercussions, best of luck PS and welcome to BL.
 
Thank you for the quick reply i really appreciate it. ill try to get in today hopefully i will be okay till i get into the doctor. and is there a chance i wont have a seizure? i slept last night for about 4 hours give or take. im just scared to go because i dont wanna get red flagged or anything the doctor put the fear of my medication being taken away permanently if i mess up 1 time.
 
Even though alprazolam is short acting it can build up in people's systems, especially heavier people, and be detected for up to 2 months after cessation. Don't be fooled by this though as it will be metabolized and eliminated sooner or later leaving you in bad shape with each passing day.

It's great that you've done okay up until now but withdrawals "are in the mail" as they say. It seems like you might be in a purgatory state at the moment and still sleeping a bit but as time progresses your going to begin to lose your faculties in one way or another. Right now you can still get a coherent story across to a doctor and explain the problem but this might not be the case in a couple more days. Above 4mg / day is considered heavy use and personally I wouldn't risk a seizure or psychosis but this is a decision you will have to make for yourself and hopefully while you are still compus mentis.

Those taking more than 4 mg per day have an increased potential for dependence. This medication may cause withdrawal symptoms upon abrupt withdrawal or rapid tapering, which in some cases have been known to cause seizures, as well as marked delirium similar to that produced by the anticholinergic tropane alkaloids of Datura (scopolamine and atropine)-~https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alprazolam
.

I prefer pubmed over wiki but both are getting to the same point:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12725868
 
Benzo withdraws are no joke. They have a way of sneaking up on you, usually after a few days like Jekyl pointed out, and even if you feel ok you are still at risk of having a seizure. I was taking 10-20mg of xans a day and started having hallucinations, extreme paranoia, insomnia and the worst anxiety I've ever experienced(psychotic episode) for roughly 2 weeks, then towards the end of the second week the symptoms started to subside but I definitely wasn't well. It was right when I started to feel better and thought I had made it through the worst because I was able to eat and keep a meal down that I had a seizure.

The withdraws didn't really set in until the 2nd or 3rd day.

I hope you don't experience terrible withdraw but my thought is that you will and that you probably are just beginning it.. If you live with anyone it would be a good idea to tell them.
 
Hey puppy, can we get an update on your situation? It would be a helpful reference for our other members who are going through the same thing. I hope you are doing okay and wish you well in your withdrawal.
 
Update** so i still havent went to the doctor she cant get me in till wednesday so far i feel way better today than the beginning and slept for 12 hours last night which is the most i have slept in over 2 weeks, last time i took xanax was on monday and it was a half bar. Do you guys think that i should have experienced something by now?? I think ill be okay till friday but maybe im severely wrong?
 
Benzo WD'a are a tricky thing. You won't know they're happening until they... happen. Then your whole life feels fucked up... that's not even including the seizure risks.

Will your doctor call in an emergency script of something like diazepam? They would know it's an emergency if they know anything about benzo WD's. The only risk there is that they would know you were "abusing" by taking too much, as a result of your script running out early.

My other suggestion, and I know promoting illegal activities is probably against the rules, but this is HR... find a benzo on the street. Or from a friend. There can be serious repercussions if you don't. Not trying to scare you, but you're entering a danger zone.

Whatever you choose, If I was in your shoes, I would consider a diazepam taper, facilitated by your doc, and maybe introduce an SSRI at the same time. I'm not judging benzo addiction. Hell, I'm fighting a clonazepam habit myself. But 6mgs a day for 2 years...that's a lot. You've done a lot of re-wiring of your brain. Might want to consider putting some of those wires back the way they were.

Just my 2 cents, from one benzo user to another.

Good luck. Keep us posted. I'm particularly interested in this story. As I can personally relate, and will be going through my own benzo battles soon. My dr has already said he wants me off the clonazepam.
 
It's great to hear you're doing well P.S. I think I will borrow some advice from Keif' R. and dispense with the absolutes and predictions about your withdrawal & instead just share some of my experience with it. When I jumped off from 3 1/2mg I was a wreck 4 days later, I was using modest amounts of Tegretol followed later on by Gabapentin as a prophylactic but seizures are not the only aspect of W/D. I began to sleep with a loaded shotgun next to my bed and an AR-15 covered by a sheet in the hall closet as I became Hyper-vigilant towards perceived threats of burglars and home invasion type threats, despite others trying to dissuade me and very little of that type of crime in my area.

A week later the firearms went back into the gun safe but it was disturbing that my good judgement and cognitive abilities wore so thin so quickly. Just something to keep in mind if you feel you're starting to deteriorate. While I still think seizures are the most immediate threat of harm, they are in no way the only threat. Anyways I would rather look like a fool and err on the side of caution when advising others on benzo W/D. Good on you for staying active and keeping up good nutrition.

Hang in there and do keep us posted as your case seems atypical..
 
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Just a little background on me im a 23 y/o male who had extreme panic disorder and "bipolar disorder" which i think is a crock of crap. I was a heroin addict for 6 years quitting 10 months ago, i was extra susceptible to opiate withdrawals getting extremely sick withing 4-6 hours after my last dose. when i quit i put myself into precipitated withdrawal and i went to literal hell and back for 20 hours (i did a suboxone quick taper)... i also was doing meth for 5 years almost everyday and mixing with RCs and MDMA and psychedelics and of course my heroin. I also took tons of research chems like methylone, mdpv, mephedrone, u-47700 ect ect... i also fried on 25i 18 times in one month so maybe i just fucked some shit up in my brain? i Also come from a long family line of alcoholics.

UPDATE** So i slept 8 hours last night and i also took a 3 hour nap today which was magical. I have eaten a shit ton today and i am not feeling any anxiety my brain doesnt feel cloudy, now shouldn't i be feeling something by now?? Has anyone on bluelight whos been on benzos for an extended period of time like this ever experienced something like this, or heard something like this? i feel like a freak of nature, my friend who's a pharmacy tech told me that i should not be fine i should be experiencing atleast some depression, shaking and whatnot which i havent! But i do not take advice from anyone who has no personal experience with the drug in question thats why i came here to see from people who actually have experience with benzo withdrawals instead of just reading them! Thank you jekyl, shartito,kief, and mafioso!
 
UPDATE** So i have been great yesterday i slept the night before and felt amazing! Today i woke up and had to RUSH to the ER due to a testicular torsion, had surgery on my nuts and they wouldnt give me any opiates because my grandparents showed up and told them i use to be a heroin addict SMH.. I am going to the doctor tomorrow and then getting my xanax on friday i appreciate EVERYONE who has read or kept up with this story and everyone who has commented. i will update this post till i receive my xanax and may end up not taking it but ill have to see when this comes!
 
That's insane man! TT sounds friggin' painful and narced on by the Grandparents no less. As always I'm glad you're okay and sound like you're in great shape considering the day/ week you've had. A prime example about speaking in absolutes even if you are one in a million. I look forward to your post when you hit the finish line Fri. and if you abstain that's even better if you continue to feel fine, as crazy as it would normally seem. Even if it's some polymorphism it seems to be helping instead of hurting.
 
^^Hahaha yeah man fucking crazy day lol was rushed around the hospital with my junk hanging out because it was so serious! When the doc said you may loose a testicle because of this, i almost shit myself! Thank god i didnt loose one and am fully okay but had to quit my jobs because i cannot lift more than 10lbs for 6 weeks! And this was by far one of the most painful experiences in my life, i didnt realize pain could be like this. I have broken both hands, mutiple fingers, my wrist, and my face, and have a horrible back and none of this even came close to this pain, it felt like my nuts were being ground into powder the entire day and still are. And a nurse blew 2 veins this was just icing on the cake lmfao.

And i feel EXTREMELY lucky over this whole thing and know im an exception and definitely not the rule thats for sure. If i end up quitting it then ill make either a blog or a new post and make an update weekly on my progress and hope it helps someone else. Any moderator please PM me and let me know which would be better and more beneficial to the community. Also i really wanna thank everyone who commented, you guys brought reality to a situation that could have been catastrophic to me and my mental and physical health! And to be honest i was actually being very stupid and today really made me realize this even if i didnt feel any withdrawals i was on this medication for 2 years and 99% of people would have negative repercussions. I believe everyone should speak in absolutes in the thought of harm reduction and that is what all of you did.
 
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That first paragraph had me writhing just thinking about it. The second was very well said P.S. A longer term account of this sounds intriguing and I hope it turns out uneventful, at least from benzo complications that is. Godspeed on healing up the boys and I hope they stay a pair.
 
Wait. You went through all of that with no pain management because your grandparents narced on you? Duuuuuude. I'm sorry I can't even imagine!

Hope all is well.
 
Wait. You went through all of that with no pain management because your grandparents narced on you? Duuuuuude. I'm sorry I can't even imagine!

Hope all is well.

yeah but mate, you're an adult? regardless of what your grandparents said you are a patient and can make your own choices yh? did you just go along with it cause your grandparents were there and you didn't wanna upset them or did the hospital staff actually refuse you medication? either way i would be like MORPHINE. NOW. ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽
 
The doctor said it was illegal for her to give me narcotic pain meds they shot me with 4 doses of dilaudid then i got narced out. The doctor was gonna give me fent until that happened.... And yeah no pain meds for a cut open scrotum and my testicles being tacked to the scrotum walls 0.0. So i have had the worst week ever and had no panic or anxiety which is absolutely amazing!! To jekyl: haha thanks man i hope they stay a pair too and i appreciate all your help and words of wisdom! To Shartito: Yeah i was given dilaudid until i got out of surgery then nothing at all it was fucking horrible i was in more pain after the surgery than when i twisted my testicle!! To keeping: Yeah i am and i told them i dont give a shit if i have to go through opiate withdrawals again i just didnt wanna be in pain and the doctor and nurses straight refused! They said they legally cant give me any pain meds so i hope i didnt get labeled as a drug seeker or red flagged because i wanted narcotics for my extreme pain...

UPDATE** SO i slept last night and have been feeling much better besides physical pain lol. I still plan on not taking the xanax when i get my script filled and will just hold onto them for a as needed basis! I will continue to update everyone for as long as its still beneficial to the community! Thanks everyone who has kept up with me and my crazy ride through life lol!
 
UPDATE** SO i slept last night and have been feeling much better besides physical pain lol. I still plan on not taking the xanax when i get my script filled and will just hold onto them for a as needed basis! I will continue to update everyone for as long as its still beneficial to the community! Thanks everyone who has kept up with me and my crazy ride through life lol!

glad to hear you had a decent nights sleep pup, and best of luck with your plan and yes do keep us updated :)
 
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