Looking for help to stop Xanax and alcohol

[[Wa...]]

I am joining this forum because I am starting the process of stopping drinking and Xanax. I've been taking .5 mg Xanax each morning for about 8 years.  At night, instead of the prescribed second .5 mg dose, I have been drinking 4-8 glasses of wine.  I found a physician that specializes in outpatient substance abuse withdrawal.  After my first week, I'm having some trouble and found this website and looking for tapering advice. 

 

Ten days ago, the doctor prescribed a 5 day course of 500 mg Depakote, 50 mg Atenolol and 25 mg Librium, all twice a day for 5 days.  After 5 days I'm now on 5 mg Librium twice a day and 25 mg Naltrexone twice a day.

 

The first 5 days went great... no major effects from withdrawal except an overwhelming urge to sleep for a couple hours at about 4 PM each day.  Starting with the lower dose of Librium and addition of Naltrexone, I started feeling very foggy, tired, unmotivated, anxious and irritable.  Today I stopped the Naltrexone and am calling the Dr.  I have a feeling that medicine is causing at least some of my symptoms.  I'm also seeing that perhaps the Librium dose may not be enough to begin the taper.

 

I took this week off of work, but need to be back on my game next week.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

(I just added this to the Withdrawal Support forum.  Forgive me if I'm double posting!)

[Guest [Le...]]

Hello, Wannalovelifeagain  - welcome to BenzoBuddies!

 

Congratulations on your decision to come off of alcohol and Xanax. I'm not sure how the tapering will work to do both at once, but you've definitely come to the right place for support while you make plan. 

 

I'm so glad you decided to join the forum - you'll find plenty of information and support here. Our members have gone through all aspects of benzodiazepine use and withdrawal, so you'll be able to connect with others who understand what you're going through and can tell you what has worked for them.

 

Please feel free to post your questions (from above) to any of the specialized boards, which can all be accessed from the BenzoBuddies Community Forum homepage. Based on the information provided in your introduction, the following link may be a good starting place for you.

 

  General Taper Plans

  Withdrawal Support During Your Taper

 

When you have a chance, we highly recommend that you take a look at The Ashton Manual, which is an authoritative source on what to expect during withdrawal and recovery, authored by Dr Heather Ashton, who is an expert in the field. It provides a great deal of information that can be very reassuring during any stage of this process, including a list of common symptoms with helpful explanations.

 

For those who are currently tapering, we suggest reducing no faster than 5-10% every 10-14 days, and some taper even slower than that. One exception: very short-term users of a few weeks or less may be able to taper faster than that. 

 

Please take the time to Create a Signature. This will allow members to see where you are in the process, so that they can better support you.

 

Again, welcome!

  Leslie 

[[ma...]]

ITs hard, but you can do it

[[Bu...]]

I am joining this forum because I am starting the process of stopping drinking and Xanax. I've been taking .5 mg Xanax each morning for about 8 years.  At night, instead of the prescribed second .5 mg dose, I have been drinking 4-8 glasses of wine.  I found a physician that specializes in outpatient substance abuse withdrawal.  After my first week, I'm having some trouble and found this website and looking for tapering advice. 

 

Ten days ago, the doctor prescribed a 5 day course of 500 mg Depakote, 50 mg Atenolol and 25 mg Librium, all twice a day for 5 days.  After 5 days I'm now on 5 mg Librium twice a day and 25 mg Naltrexone twice a day.

 

The first 5 days went great... no major effects from withdrawal except an overwhelming urge to sleep for a couple hours at about 4 PM each day.  Starting with the lower dose of Librium and addition of Naltrexone, I started feeling very foggy, tired, unmotivated, anxious and irritable.  Today I stopped the Naltrexone and am calling the Dr.  I have a feeling that medicine is causing at least some of my symptoms.  I'm also seeing that perhaps the Librium dose may not be enough to begin the taper.

 

I took this week off of work, but need to be back on my game next week.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

(I just added this to the Withdrawal Support forum.  Forgive me if I'm double posting!)

 

 

 

Hello Wanna Love again,

 

Welcome to BB, you have made a good choice to get your life back. Please tell us how long that you have been taking the Xanax and drinking to self medicate. This will help us to get you some well tailored advice.

 

My first thoughts are have you figured out what brought you to the point of needing benzos and alcohol to begin with? Was it anxiety, depression, sadness, partying? Getting to the root of what caused you to start using is a key to avoiding a relapse and coping with all that tapering will entail.

 

As you may not know yet, Xanax has a very short half life and that is why a second night-time dose was prescribed. Using alcohol instead of a second dose is not a great idea, but alcohol has similar effects as a benzo so you were managing. But your body and brain are most likely experiencing inter-dose withdrawal every night, the alcohol sort of masks this, but it is happening nevertheless.

 

It is troubling that your doctor would start prescribing other substances on top of the Xanax and booze. If it were me I would stop the new drugs immediately and start dealing with the Xanax and alcohol addictions, not add more stuff to an already confused brain.

 

Once you do this you should start a slow and steady taper from the Xanax. My advice would be:

 

1) Quit drinking alcohol altogether! Do not even touch a sip of it until at least one year after you have stopped taking Xanax. Alcohol is basically a liquid benzo and will only screw up your taper, BIG TIME!

 

2) Due to the fast acting nature of Xanax I would consider crossing over to a longer lasting benzo like Valium. This needs to be considered and calculated carefully, we can help with crossover schedules and ratios. (Read The Ashton Manual)

 

3) Design a steady taper with the help of your doctor and this forum. Get serious, get strong and stick to it.

 

Good luck,

 

Wilson