Trying to come of Alprozolam

[[Ak...]]

Hi Folks,  I have been told by my doc that I have to come off Alprozolm 1mg which I take at bedtime for insomnia.  I have been taking it for about 3 - 4yrs. I have tried it once before with horrific side effects.  I now want to do it very slowly, like over a few months and am hoping to find some information about it in this forum.  Any advice (which I can suggest to my doc) would be much appreciated.  I want to first change from Alprozolam to Diazepam which can then be lowered at a very slow rate.  Many thanks

[[Ch...]]

Welcome to the forum, Akadykie.

 

Glad you're here for taper help.  A number of our members have tapered Alprazolam (generic Xanax), I tapered from 2mg of it over two years ago.  Crossing to Valium can help smooth out the withdrawal symptoms due to its long half-life compared to Alprazolam's very short half-life.

 

A great resource for you and your doctor is the Ashton Manual.  This link will take you to the online version.  There are parts of it that you may want to print and take to your doctor. 

 

To get you started, here's a link to General Taper Plans where you can post to the wider membership.  Another place you may way to check out is Valium/Diazepam Support Group .

 

Please include your benzodiazepine information in your posts.  To make that easier by adding it to each post automatically, you can go up to Profile, choose Forum Profile, write the information in the text box and click Change Profile.

 

Take care, you'll be able to do this and we're here to help you through it.

 

Challis 

 

 

[[Ak...]]

Thank you Challis99 for your reply.  I will look up the Ashton thingy and go from there.  I'm terrified of doing this as my last attempt (my phsyc made me do it) was cold turkey which caused such severe reactions I don't know if I can handle it.  So will try a very slow withdrawal and change over to diazepam if my doc agrees.  If she doesn't................. I don't know what I will do.  Thanks again

[[Ch...]]

Thank you Challis99 for your reply.  I will look up the Ashton thingy and go from there.  I'm terrified of doing this as my last attempt (my phsyc made me do it) was cold turkey which caused such severe reactions I don't know if I can handle it.  So will try a very slow withdrawal and change over to diazepam if my doc agrees.  If she doesn't................. I don't know what I will do.  Thanks again

 

I dry tapered all the way off Alprazolam as have a number of other members here.  You can do this...c/t is a completely different animal and is a horrific way to go.

 

Here's another link for you, as personally I like to see people come off Xanax without the complications that can come from crossing over: Xanax Support Blog