New to group and need answers

[[Jo...]]

 

 

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new to group and need answers

« on: February 12, 2017, 10:38:25 pm »

 

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Hello everyone...to make a long story shorter, I have been on 2mg Xanax XR divided dose every day for at least 16 years.  I felt great for 11 of those years.  Then I suddenly became anxious, tired, and depressed.  When I told my psychiatrist how I felt, he insisted I needed to take an additional .5 around 2 p.m.  I did and felt much worse.  Finally I had to leave his practice because he wasn't taking my insurance any longer.  I found a new psych doc. this past December, 2016.  When I told him what I was taking and how badly I felt, he wasn't surprised.  His comments ran from "who ever put you on this high a dose at your age (81) to "it's the Xanax that's making you feel so anxious".  WHAT??  How could that be? But he convinced me that 2mg. daily was too high a dose for me.  We discussed going off the Xanax XR whenever I was ready...I decided I was ready and off we went.

 

I decided that I wanted to go the compounding route.  However, the compounder, doctor, and I agreed to get a genetic swab test done first to see what psychological meds my body could metabolize without any problems.  Unfortunately the test came back that Valium was not good for me.  Since the XR type of Xanax could not be compounded, they decided to put me on Klonopin as a subsitute for XanaxXR.  That took about a month, starting off a high dose and weaning down to 1.5mg. Klonopin.

 

I've now been on the Klonopin dose steadily for three week and though it's been that long I still have some pretty bad days...feeling anxious, night sweats, palpitations, rapid heart beats, etc.  I have one more week to go.  On the 21st they will slowly titrating me down from the Klonopin by .125mg a day.  How many days or weeks I will be on that dose before we go lower I don't know yet.

 

Here's my question...has anyone gone this route and can tell me what to expect?  I've felt lousy for so long that I can't remember what it feels like to feel good.  I would appreciate hearing from anyone that can give me something to hang on.  I'm anxious and scared.

 

Thanks,

litlmom 

 

[[Te...]]

I think if I were you I would go to the Support Groups area of BB and post something in the Klonopin Klub#2. You might get some good answers.

 

Since you are going to begin your titration, you could also post something in Withdrawal Support (during your taper).  Even though you haven't started tapering K yet, this will give you an idea about different options and how slow of a taper you should do. Some doctors want to go way too fast.

 

GOOD LUCK!!!

[[Be...]]

Whoa whoa whoa!

 

.125 mg drop per day is wwaaaaaaay too fast! .125 mg K every 2 weeks would even be ridiculous. Please, put out an S.O.S. out for tapering help on Withdrawal Support (during your taper) -- specifically with a subject line of Need Taper Plan, and indicate your age.

 

Please don't let your doctor rush your taper. YOU need to be in charge.

 

Best,

Bennie

[[Ch...]]

Bennie is right, this is very fast.  I've moved this post to Taper Plans and PM'd you the link.

[[Ge...]]

So you went from 2 mg X to 1.5 mg K in 1 month?  Someone experienced with X --> K needs to comment but that seems fast, if I understood you correctly.  And yes, I didn't have an anxiety disorder before xanax either.  The drug can turn on you like that....but it's still important to taper slowly...   

[[Jo...]]

  Thank you to all you replied to my first post (message? topic?).  I've been moved around and I want to make sure everyone who took the time to reply to my post got my thank you.

 

You already stopped me from making a big mistake in my compounding amount that I was going to start next week for titrating down.  Special thank for that.  Waiting to hear back from my compound pharmacist later this afternoon. 

 

Litlmom

[[Te...]]

That's good!!! Glad you ended up in the right place!!!

 

Yes, doctors want to taper people WAY too fast. Don't let it happen to you. Slow down. This is no race to the finish line. You want to make sure your CNS can handle it.

 

Doctors and their tapering schemes!