Dry cutting Xanax looking for buddies

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I took ten days of antibiotics for something the doctor thought was a parasite and it gave me chronic constipation. Be sure you really need the antibiotics before taking them.

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Hi all,

 

Lori - I also meant to tell you that if by some chance you do have h pylori and they put you on antibiotics, make sure you get a good probiotic and that helps a lot.  While the antibiotics kill the bad bacteria, it kills the good too and the probiotics help with that. 

 

I am still having minor symptoms today, just trying to get through the day!!

 

Take care all,

Julia

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Hello all!

 

Well... Not great.  I've come to realize that I never truly stabilized on 1.5 before going down to 1.35.  It's been a horrible few weeks with symptoms being constant.  Granted, I'm sure that some of it is psychological but there's no way that all of it could be.  I had done well in the past with stabilizing a few days after a reduction.  I'm starting to see that at lower doses, the reductions can hit hard.  Maybe it's also because I've been on this for 20 years.  Who knows!  However, just one day of an updose and 80% of my symptoms went away!  That tells me something.  I guess the concept of "listening to your body" is pretty accurate!

 

So my plan is to go back to 1.5 and stabilize!  After that, I'm going to attempt a DLMT.  I originally was going to wait to try this when I reached 1 mg but I think it's probably worth it to give it a try since these cuts are really affecting me.  I was literally housebound for 2 weeks and cannot do that again.  It was a nightmare! 

 

Hope all are doing well and I'll keep you posted.

 

Fondly,

Lori

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Xanax, for me, was too horrible. Took it 14 years daily. I crossed to 40 mg valium and am dry tapering.The short half life of x made me in constant withdrawal. Now there are blessed windows at least. Have you considered a crossover? If not, at least divide your dose throughout the day

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Xanax, for me, was too horrible. Took it 14 years daily. I crossed to 40 mg valium and am dry tapering.The short half life of x made me in constant withdrawal. Now there are blessed windows at least. Have you considered a crossover? If not, at least divide your dose throughout the day

 

I soooo wish I could have crossed over to Valium!  I tried it several years ago and had a horrible paradoxical reaction!  I didn't sleep for 4 days and got slammed with depression.  I didn't even take out my Xanax.  Tried it again a week later, same thing happened.  It was horrible.  As soon as it was out of my system, the insomnia and depression lifted.  When I say depression, I mean DARK!  I've had never suffered from depression prior and haven't since. 

 

The experience forced me to put off my taper for over a year as I did not know that tapering from Xanax alone was even  possible.  At the time, there was little help here on the boards for X users.  It seemed like all I saw was Klonopin and Valium or the Ashton Method.  I was so discouraged.  If it had worked for me, I would have been finished my taper by now.  Frustrating! 

 

Lori

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Hello all,

 

Doing a cut today to 2.25 mg Xanax.  I hope I do ok.  Trying to be positive.  It has been a month since my last cut.  I hope doing .25 mg cuts is not too much.  I started this in January and was at 3.5 mg when I started.  Have been doing ok for the most part but had some issues related to health and my husband's health so have not gone as fast as I wanted to on this taper journey.

 

If anyone has any advice or thinks I am going to fast or making to large of cuts, please share with me.  I am not good at figuring out the percentages.  I have no idea if this is a 10% cut or more.

 

Thanks for any help with this.

 

Julia

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Hello all,

 

Doing a cut today to 2.25 mg Xanax.  I hope I do ok.  Trying to be positive.  It has been a month since my last cut.  I hope doing .25 mg cuts is not too much.  I started this in January and was at 3.5 mg when I started.  Have been doing ok for the most part but had some issues related to health and my husband's health so have not gone as fast as I wanted to on this taper journey.

 

If anyone has any advice or thinks I am going to fast or making to large of cuts, please share with me.  I am not good at figuring out the percentages.  I have no idea if this is a 10% cut or more.

 

Thanks for any help with this.

 

Julia

Hi Julia- if you cut down to 2mg from 2.25mg you’ll be in the 11% range. If you stick with 0.25mg, each one of your future cuts will increase percentage wise.

 

For me, when I got below 0.5mg a cut was a cut and the percentage didn’t really matter but many have trouble at lower doses since the cuts tend to be larger. That’s where a DLMT comes in as an option. I didn’t do one myself but others on this board could help much more than I can. Good luck and you’re doing awesome!

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Hi Jim,

I hope you are continuing to do well!!!  Happy Memorial Day!!

 

Yeah, I figured that once I got to 2.0 mg that I would go slower and also do the DLMT as I think that will be better.  I am thinking I am going to start the next cut tomorrow.  I have been taking 1.0 mg at 9am then .5 at 1pm and .5 at 5pm.  then .25 at 8:30 or 9 pm.  I am thinking I will go to .5 mg 4 times a day and see how that works.  If I need to, I will change what I am doing.  This way I will not have to cut any of my .5mg pills as well.  This past cut I have stayed with for 30 days and its been rough on and off but I think I need to cut again and maybe that will help stabilize me.  I may not be thinking the right way but my mind is still not working properly.  I have alot of memory loss, even though its short term loss, like I asked my husband a question and then 5 minutes later I asked the same thing but its getting better.

 

I read something you wrote about not staying on BB constantly and I wanted to say I agree with that 100%.  When I first started on here in January and then started my taper, I would read all I could as I was trying to figure out how to taper safely and also looking for support, but I soon found that I could really get myself upset but reading some of the posts on here.  I get on here every couple of days to see if anyone has responded to a message or check on someone's progress but I do not do alot of reading of post that are negative that could scare me and mess with my head.

 

I am so happy that you are doing well.  That is great! 

 

Thank you for your encouragement and for being there for those of us who are still fighting the good fight.  I actually started to feel alot better once I got to 2.5 mg from the 3.5 mg I started at and am better in alot of ways.  I just have to remember that I need to listen to my body and do this taper in the safest and most gentle way for my mind and body.

 

Take care.

 

I hope everyone is having a decent day!!!!

 

Julia

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Hi everyone,

I hope things are going well for everyone.

 

Jim - I reached out to Builder about my intention to cut another .25 today but he said that would be a big cut and then he said he did not know why people waited until they get to a lower dose to start the DLMT so I asked him to help me with a plan.  He said he will, thank goodness, so I am going to wait to cut until I get a plan from him and start the liquid taper and see how it goes.

 

I hope you are doing well still.  You are an inspiration to me.

 

Take care all and have a good day.

 

Julia

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Hi everyone,

I hope things are going well for everyone.

 

Jim - I reached out to Builder about my intention to cut another .25 today but he said that would be a big cut and then he said he did not know why people waited until they get to a lower dose to start the DLMT so I asked him to help me with a plan.  He said he will, thank goodness, so I am going to wait to cut until I get a plan from him and start the liquid taper and see how it goes.

 

I hope you are doing well still.  You are an inspiration to me.

 

Take care all and have a good day.

 

Julia

 

Hi Julia- I’m glad I’ve been able to help. I had a bit of trouble with sleep last night but I chalk that up to sleeping in over the long weekend. Had a good solid 8-9 hours all weekend and took no time at all to pass out. Almost back to normal. I got probably got 5 1/2 hours last night and it took an hour and half of broken sleep to get there but I’ll take it.

 

Anyway, I’m glad builder was able to help. A DLMT doesn’t have to take longer it’s just very small cuts every day so your brain doesn’t really notice. I actually purchased all of my materials for a DLMT but then I decided that I was going to try cut and hold one more time and it worked out.

 

I think a DLMT is also effective because you’re always making progress and much of a taper is psychological. I cut my dose every week by 0.125mg which was a very fast pace but I felt better that I was moving forward. I’m in personal unchartered territory right now because I don’t know when I’m going to feel 100%. There’s a ton of normalcy but one night that takes me a bit longer to fall asleep I tend to have the anxiety come back for a couple days. I just need to get better about restricting my sleep to less than 8 hours even on the weekend.

 

Good luck with the DLMT!  It really seems to work well for people and I’m sure it’ll make things easier here on out.

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Hi Jim,

If you are like me, patience is not a virtue I have.  I hope your sleep pattern will get better.  I believe it will the longer you are off the benzos.  You are doing great and are inspiring me to keep going.  You show me there is hope.

Once I get the information from Builder I am going to start immediately and know it will be better than what I have been doing.  I have a few of the supplies but will know what else I need once I hear back from Builder.

 

The strangest thing just happened to me.  I had not been able to drive for a long time and since I have been tapering and getting better, I have been able to drive short distances by myself, like 2-3 miles to the grocery store.  This morning I went to the Food Lion by myself and I do not know what happened but I had a panic attack.  I was so scared I would not get home.  We sold my car last year because I could not drive anymore due to panic and the dose of Xanax I was on so there was no way my husband could have come to get me.  I did make it home ok but my husband could tell right away I was NOT ok.  He had me sit down and try to calm down.  I had to take half of my 1:00 dose of Xanax to calm down.

The only thing I can think of that would bring this on is that I have not seen my therapist in 3 months and have an appointment with him in the morning.  I do not want to see him but my psychiatrist said he wanted me to keep seeing the therapist right now and I am afraid if I don't, he will stop writing my prescriptions and I need them to do my taper.  I blame the therapist for my getting on such a high dose of the Xanax because he kept saying i needed to increase the dose and I did what I was told to do.  When I wanted to get off the Xanax the therapist asked me why- he said he had taken it many different times and when he stopped taking it he had no problem and that he felt that I needed it for my anxiety and panic attacks.  Its strange that I had not had one since I started tapering and had not been seeing him.  Now I have to see him tomorrow and have had a MAJOR panic attack today. 

 

Anyway - I am trying to calm down and stop crying and shaking.

 

I am slowing getting better now.  I think writing this is helping.

 

Thanks for being there.

 

Julia

 

It's crazy what the mind will do to you.

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Thank you all for being here !!!!  The people here are awesome and I am so happy that I found this site.  It is a God send to me!!! 

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Thank you all for being here !!!!  The people here are awesome and I am so happy that I found this site.  It is a God send to me!!! 

Hi Julia- I’m glad everything has turned around for you. One day closer to this being over!

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Hi Jim,

Thanks.  Started DLMT today and found my starting dose of the day is not going to work for me - too much of a cut to the first dose of the day.  I will have to ask how to figure that out.  I feel so bad today and this evening, I will wait to do that in the morning.  I am going to bed soon.

 

Have a good night.

 

Julia

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Hello fellow Xanax prescription friends.

 

We all heal. I promise.  I’ll check on you if you have questions. I’m here. Healing. I am 9 months off. After 20 years. Awesome!!

 

Kristin.

 

Ps. I help in the groups of]n Facebook too. I’m here.

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That is awesome!!!!  Glad you are healing!!!!

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PowerPearl,

 

I just saw this. I have no idea how I missed it!  How are you making out? I'm so sorry to hear that you had so much trouble with Valium. I can relate. It happened to me a few years ago when I tried it. I'm here if you want to talk/vent. Hang in there!

 

Fondly

Lori

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HI Lori,

 

Thanks for your reply.  I am not doing great with my taper.  I had to updose back to my original dose and now I have to start over.  The first time was easy until I got below 1mg.  Now it is hard because i think my body is tolerant to the xanax.  My doc put me on gabapentin to help ease some of the symptoms and it does but it scares me that its just another drug to get off of. Let me know if you have any knowledge in that area.

 

I am currently holding but I think I am ready to start up again. 

 

Your sig is such an inspiration.  I hope I can do that too.

 

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Lori. I’m so sorry you are going through that. I totally feel your pain and can empathize. I’m curious was your taper easier when you were at higher doses and then got hard as you got lower?