How much Anxiety are those on Benzos experiencing?

[[el...]]

Hi everyone,

 

I have a question about anxiety withdrawal symptoms from Xanax and their longevity. I've been going through Xanax withdrawal hell (due to an accumulated series of events that culminated in a panic attack after about 3 weeks of building). Then the doctor cut me off after 12 days of 60, 0.5mg pills (I quickly became addicted to this wonder/horror drug). I quickly got in to another doctor who prescribed Valium (or the Diazepam generic) and suffered acute Xanax withdrawal symptoms for at least 7 days. Unfortunately my Diazepam prescription ran out towards the end of this acute stage and I got to experience another terrible 2 days before I could get the Diazepam prescription refilled. My brain and central nervous system have been through the wringer from this over the last 35 days. I've been off Xanax for 22 days for the record.

 

So my question is, is all the anxiety I'm still experiencing (although it has been considerably less and sometimes non-existent for periods of the day, with very few cases of high, high anxiety and no panic attacks since being on 6mg initially, now 8mg of Diazepam a day) a normal part of the Xanax recovery? I'm not tapering the Diazepam yet and am wondering when I should start tapering as well. Should I expect all if not most of the Xanax withdrawal anxiety to be gone before I attempt the tapering process of Diazepam?

 

I'm just looking to see what others are experiencing when crossing over (or being thrown directly into a different Benzo, as in my case) and how long these withdrawal symptoms are lasting for others. Kind of a: Is this normal and to be expected?

 

Thank you and Godspeed to everyone who has gone through or is going through the Benzo addiction nightmare.

 

[[an...]]

Have you planned yourself a nice long taper, have you checked out the Ashton Manual? I cold-turkeyed off without knowing what I was doing, and I still struggle with anxiety. Actually it's more like I'm learning to live peacefully alongside my anxiety...