20 yrs of Aprazolam, 1 year long taper!

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Hi everyone, I hope all is well. just some advice if possible. 

 

So I was prescribed Alprazolam when I was 16 for anxiety and panic disorder. I was on 2mg three times a day for a total of 6mg. Fast forward 20 years to last year and I end up in a private facility after having a breakdown.  My psychiatrist changed me to 120mg of Valium so I Gould begin taper.  I went down 5mg every 2 weeks, then when I got to 10mg, we went down 2mgs every 2 weeks..        I have been off diazepam for 3 weeks now.  It took a year the taper.  I don’t mean to scare ppl as everyone will have a different experience, but pure hell is an understatement.

 

During the taper especially the last 3 months severe paratheseia, skin burning, constant tremors, muscle twitches, body shocks, brain zaps, headaches and terrible anxiety, muscular pain, cold hands and feet, brain fog, derealusation, very uncomfortable sensory issues..

 

The above were extreme for the last 4 weeks of the taper and then settled a tad for the first week and a half off the Valium, now they are flaring up massively again.      Does this make sense that they got a tad better when really they should have peaked, and now are worse when they should be improving slightly. 

 

I guess everyone is different.?

 

Any input would be awesome.

 

Sorry for the long post

 

This is a great community As well!

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I’m also having the same feeling pschologically and physically again that I had when things were extremely bad before Mt breakdown. Etc... leaving the house, or just stuff in general then my mind goes directly back to how I felt and it’s as if I’m living it, and it scares me too death that I am going to go back to where I was.

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Congrats on making it off.  That's a lot of xanax and for a long time so it seems like you're doing well (based on only this post) relatively speaking if you just got off 3 weeks ago.  Re the flaring symptoms, it doesn't seem surprising to me at all.  My experience once I got off the medication is that symptoms would come and go in waves with varying time between.  Also the withdrawal is not a linear process so it's very possible for things to get worse before they get better and these patterns may continue for quite some time.  I wish you the best and welcome to the board.

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Congrats on making it off.  That's a lot of xanax and for a long time so it seems like you're doing well (based on only this post) relatively speaking if you just got off 3 weeks ago.  Re the flaring symptoms, it doesn't seem surprising to me at all.  My experience once I got off the medication is that symptoms would come and go in waves with varying time between.  Also the withdrawal is not a linear process so it's very possible for things to get worse before they get better and these patterns may continue for quite some time.  I wish you the best and welcome to the board.

 

THANKYOU so much.  Yes a very long time, and it took the worst time in my life, to begin the road to  hopefully the brightest to come.

 

Things are extremely tough atm, but considering how long I was on the stuff for, we are making great process. I spent more than half of my life prescribed the medicatio, so I’m only assuming it’s going to be a long road. But hey if I can get to where I am now, trust me, anyone can! 

 

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