Hi! I am so happy to have found this group.

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I'm a58 year old female that worked for 39 years in the banking industry. Worked great under stress until 2012 which was a life changing year:  my son finally got back to the states after his 2nd tour overseas with army but he had PTSD; in May I lost my job; June, I started my own bank consulting business; and in July, I lost I miss you baby husband of 47 years suddenly. I started a downward spiral. In September I had a nervous breakdown. That was my first experience with benzos (Xanax). Several other health events occurred along with with some family problems. In 2013 I discovered I had lupus and along with that severe chronic pain, depression and anxiety. I take morphine and opana for lupus and the associated pain and am always in compliance. Sometime in 2016, my doctor increased my dosage to 2mg bars 4x daily. I don't think I've ever taken that much. Most days I'm around 4-5 mg. Yesterday, my doctor told me that the FDA issued a black box warning about mixing opioids and benzos and said I had to make a choice between taking pain meds or Xanax. I really need the pain meds so I chose them. I have heard and read that you have to take it very slow coming off Xanax. I'm hoping I can find other ways to handle the anxiety. So I need help in obtaining a safe titration schedule. Can anyone help me? Thank you so much for listening and wanting to help. I look forward to reading responses.

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Hello DD1 Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

 

I am so sorry for your loss, it must have been extremely traumatic for you, so sad!!  You've come to the right place for information and support related to benzo tapering and recovery.  You are making the right decision to come off the Xanax, these meds are only meant for short term use.

 

If you have been on benzos more than a few weeks, the generally accepted taper rate is 5-10%, every 10 to 14 days.  The rate can be adjusted to meet your needs.  Tapering slowly can help keep withdrawal symptoms manageable.  Although symptoms can be severe at times, they are temporary.  We do eventually recover from this experience. 

 

The Ashton Manual  is an excellent resource for information about these medications and gives a lot of information about withdrawal/tapering. 

 

Our members are a caring bunch of people who have been through all aspects of benzodiazepine use and withdrawal, and will share their experiences with you.

 

Here are some additional links:

 

General Taper Plans

 

Withdrawal Recovery Support is an excellent board to connect with members and share benzo withdrawal experiences.

Anxiety

 

If you would be so kind as to add a signature (history of meds/doses etc) it will help members give you relevant advice this link will show you how to”Create a signature”

 

Feel free to post on any of our dedicated boards.

 

Welcome Aboard

 

Magrita

 

 

Edit: Fixed Link~Magrita