Xanax withdrawals

devildog47

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So ive been on suboxone 8mg every day for about 3 months now and xanax for about a little more than a month about 2-4'mg a day every day and I just went cold turkey off the xanax, the suboxone eases it somewhat, but I still have all the classic benzo w/d symptoms, anyways my main question is, Im 2 days into the benzo withdrawals cold turkey and I just took .50 mg of xanax cuz I couldn't take the agony, will that set me back a lot and keep me in pain for another 2 days or longer? Or will it just be a minor set back since im already 2 days in, I need help ASAP thank you everyone who took the time to read this.

Ps. Not too much of a priority question but will 300mg of gabapentin during the benzo withdrawals put me at any somewhat ease?
 
I noticed each time after going cold-turkey on Xanax that taking another (any dose) of Xanax will set you back a few weeks. AVOID at all times. You're lucky you were on Xanax for a month only. I was on it for a year and WD from it and MIND-BLOWING!
 
Thank you for your response but does it matter how long someones been taking it? Like so you think it won't set me back too much? If anything at all?
 
Yes, the length of time someone takes benzos absolutely impacts the length and severity of benzo withdrawal.

NEVER STOP TAKING BENZOS COLD TURKEY

Benzos withdrawal is very serious and can be lethal. You can also get seizures which can do very real and permenant neurological damage, along with damage to other systems or other physical injuries. Quitting benzos cold turkey causes excitoxicity which does very serious neurological damage that take years to recover from. I suffered from this I. 2010 when my rehab cut me off of Xanax cold turkey. I was not functional for two years because of the severity of withdrawal, and now six years later I am about 80% healed. You do not want this for yourself.

Get back on the Xanax and taper off of them. Here is a link to the Ashton Manual. This has a taper schedule for Xanax, I recommend you follow it. Tapering will keep you on the Xanax for a little longer, but it will greatly reduce the length and severity of withdrawal. Since you were o lay on them for a month, you may not experience much of a withdrawal with a taper.

If you do a taper I would soberly consider staying away from other GABAergics (alcohol, gabapenton, pregabalin, Phenibut, GHB, z drugs, etc) as they can prolong withdrawal, though not all of them act on the same mechanism as Benzos, so the effects differ. Benzos and alcohol kindle, so if you quit one and decide to start the other, or the same again the next withdrawal will be worse, so keep this info in the back of your mind should you decide to take GABAergics again in the future. Feel free to hit me up with questions. Good luck!
 
I was also forced to quit Xanax cold turkey because I overdosed on it + GHB accidentally. I was on Lorazepam for 3 days while in-patient, then nothing. It was the insanest experience. My brain never healed after 2 years because I was put on Gabapentin (GABA A analogue) and Tiagabine (GABA re-uptake Inhibitor), which prevented proper healing. The anxiety level was mind-bending. I was so weak I could not sign my name. All I could do was lay in bed and keep warm, moving as little as possible.

I now vow to not have any alcohol for 2 years because a single drink and I get bad WD again.
 
Benzo withdrawal is insane. These things are ridiculously physically addictive. For me, even very brief use now causes days of mild w/d. As Moreaux said, kindling is a real phenomenom. I do not know if this effect ever diminishes. All GABAergics will 'put you back' in terms of tapering, it is the nature of the brain. It becomes sensitised to exogenous GABA agents and is more than happy to outsource its inhibitory functions.

OP, as has been suggested, you should consider a taper. For most, tapering reduces w/d to something barely noticeable. If you do it consicously and firmly with no backtracking regardless of how you feel, you will get somewhere. I would suggest a short course of diazepam, maybe 10mg a day diminishing over a few weeks. For me, if I take benzo's for a few days in relatively high doses, I know I need to step down off this over a few more days. I usually have my mini-binge and then have 3-4 days after where I have low doses, decreasing to nothing. Even this does not stop the mild w/d but it decreases it significantly. And- maybe I am truly sick in the fucking head- but I find mild benzo w/d to be quite pleasant as I do not feel depressed and my brain feels sharp and healthy. It gets over excited though...:\
 
no man. you will be withdrawing for a while prolly for 3 weeks at least. it's either this or be addicted to this shit for life
 
I wasnt aware of the kindling phenomena till I read this thread. Wow that means I can never have a benzo again in my life or I'll go thru hell again.. just 1/2 pill once in a blue moon gonna mess me up and make me go thru weeks of vomiting and sickness and anxiety/possible seizures h death? No thanks. So disappointed in the human body rn... Thought it could at least heal over time. I'm just gonna take opiates or something if i have an anxiety attacck
 
^Nah, kindling is relevant to most GABAergics including benzos. I've never been an alcoholic but I dont drink because of my previous addiction.

I wasnt aware of the kindling phenomena till I read this thread. Wow that means I can never have a benzo again in my life or I'll go thru hell again.. just 1/2 pill once in a blue moon gonna mess me up and make me go thru weeks of vomiting and sickness and anxiety/possible seizures h death? No thanks. So disappointed in the human body rn... Thought it could at least heal over time. I'm just gonna take opiates or something if i have an anxiety attacck

Its due to repeated withdrawal so a one off use every now and then would be okay. If you get addicted and decide to withdraw, you may find the experience increases in intensity. Its unlikely that a single dose will fuck you.

Im convinced that the GABA system is too vulnerable to repeatedly fuck with but YMMV.
 
I'm 7 months into benzo withdrawal and i still feel fucked up by it. I was on them for a long time and not large quantities but I had a already extremely damaged cns from years of chronic stress and drug abuse. I'm pretty debilitated beyond comprehension and should of tapered slowly when I had the chance. Cold turkey is a another way of saying I wish I were dead In benzo land.
 
True that, never quit benzos cold turkey. <snip>

I don't have panic attacks, I have GAD, I need long lasting benzos (hence the addition of Bromazepam, now Valium is only used for a muscle relaxant for me, they script benzos for muscle relaxants up here, all other options suck, either in the aisles (Robaxin mixed with tylenol, or aspirin or ibuprofen) and a script of pure Robaxin is not covered, expensive as hell, orphenadrine makes me feel really weird, even at the regular 10mg dose, I start to smell something like mothballs when taking it, it kinda works though for muscle spasms. So that leaves 2 rx only ones, Flexeril, <snip> and finally Zanaflex, not covered, so doctors normally don't script it unless you ask. It's not sedating at all, only seen them when I was playing Midget AAA hockey, second best under for maximum 20 year old players), a guy torn his ACL and he was a friend outside the team, we would listen and buy a shitload of music then we'd tape each other what the other bought on cd to cassette...wow I can't believe a med I never used makes me recall nostalgic moments of my life where my only flaw was my under average skating, had to wear orthosis in my regular shoes due to my incredibly flat feet, the left one has no arc at all. My parents bought me some for my skates too, which demand a different kind of orthosis, I lost one of my mine for my regular shows sometime, and my dad had lost his big job because they literally moved everything to Malaysia, so no insurance to pay for seeing a podiatrist and get new ones. Once you're done growing, your feet won't be able to take the shape it should have, they try to sell you that it works for adults who never even had anything to put in their shoes for flat feet while growing up, but I just know it doesn't work.

Feet pain is actually one of the first things that had me get opiates, had a summer job at a big industrial sawmill, my feet really hurt, when I bought those bubble things to put in one's shoes for workers, well, yeah, it made the feet pain go away, but then it moved right to the bottom of my back, only then did I understand how painful back pain can be, I mean I have had experienced severe pain before (accidental windmiller in a hardcore punk/thrash metal show which degenerated, pieces of bone cutting some facial nerves health at some, which also brought me to my first serious 12 renewal script from a neurologist of clonazepam 0.5mg twice a day for all the headaches related to that damn TMJ did, then, when I really didn't want to quit, I told my old doc who unfortunately is dead now (that was in 2000), I tried a lot of venues before, but advil(ibu) does not work, I bought some of those feet protection blah blah, and he scripted me Empracets 30's (what does American call codeine 30mg or 60mg with tylenol but no caffeine? I always wondered, it seems like they go straight to hydrocodone like how they go straight for codeine here, if allergic you'll be scripted Demerol. Hydrocodone is almost only an antitussive up here.

Fuck, seriously I'm sorry, there is stuff on topic in there, I think I'll show myself out now :) it'll be great to sleep, I'm able to now with just bromazepam and valium, the temazepam I keep for those days I can't wake up late, even if i put an alarm clock i'll semi-consciously turn it off and resume sleeping, that caused a lot of problems back in college and high school. I finally brought my tolerance down enough that a single 0.5mg clonazolam blotter will work if taken with 1 bromazepam 6mg. Soon I'll be back to where I was. I have to say the OTC promethazine 50mg (brand name Histantil) is making bupe kick ass, I got a script for atarax 50mg too, but it's good to change potentiators (sp?) And I'll be getting some Lyrica 150mg 3 times a day like I used to for 8 years, it would make it so i could skip a dose of clonazepam and when I was on clonazepam, at my max dosage before the partial taper (2/3 of a victory), it was a rather big daily dose of a 2mg pill after breakfast and one in the evening.
 
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Oh, I actually didn't know which forum I was in, sorry!, I clicked on the Activity Stream link and saw that post. I don't remember what I said that could be a big "trigger". If you can pm me with my actual text, I'll know what to post and not to post in TDS better.
 
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