Some help and advice on starting my taper

[[Be...]]

Hi BBuddies

As my signature states I have been a long term 10 years but relatively low dosage Xanax user, I am getting ready to start a taper/withdrawal. As also stated in my signature my method of ingestion was through breaking a 1 mg tablet into quarters and with a razor blade chopping up into a fine powder and snorting the the powder up my nose. This for me seemed to work out best and often I would be asleep within 15-30 minutes, insomnia was my main problem . Now if I were to take that 1/4 pill .25mg dose orally I would not get the same instant effect and would probably have to take a higher dose to put me to sleep which again is/was my main problem . I have managed to stay at a regular .25 dose during my entire time on Xanax on occasion a .5mg dose But rarely ever as high as 1mg . So my question is this an oral does is much more an accurate way of ingestion what I swallow will go into my system whereas my inhalation thru my nose is let’s say less accurate, block sinus etc , so should I start the taper using oral ingestion but knowing I would have to up dose for the same effect . I realize that the pill was designed to be swallowed. I know my road like many others will probably be long and uncomfortable I am just looking for advice to get started on the right path . Thanks for reading my story and any input will be greatly appreciated. Peace and joy to all.

[[Pa...]]

As you may know, Xanax has a short half life which means it leaves your system quickly, this prompts most members to dose several times a day in order to keep a theraputic level in their bloodstream.  I feel your delivery system won't be useful as you taper because if you do this only at night, you're going to be in a lot of pain during your waking hours.  And once you get lower in dose, even that nighttime dose won't help you.

 

My suggestion to you would be to start ingesting it orally for now and consider this your first reduction of your taper.  If you'd like to only dose at bedtime the first week or two then continue to do so.  Perhaps you could count your second reduction as dividing your dose into 2 and taking one in the day and the other at night.  Perhaps your third dose reduction could be to divide your dose into 4 doses each day.  This would allow you to get used to taking it orally without actually reducing the dose. 

 

When you feel you've grown accustomed to the oral route and dose splitting then perhaps you could begin your actual taper.  What do you think?

[[Be...]]

Hi Pamster

Thank you very much for your reply, I have never really needed to take Xanax during the day, except on a few rare occasions when I have felt overwhelmed or anxious, I don’t really suffer too much with anxiety or other ailments just sleeping at night or more specifically getting off to sleep. So I feel that it’s best to save my dose for just before bedtime. As I have said my inhalation of .25 gave me what I considered the best bang for the buck in terms of getting to sleep and using a relatively low dose to achieve it.

I know this method is probably frowned upon and is technically not the correct way to take the drug.

I do know that I have lost my ability to fall asleep naturally , In fact I have not fallen asleep/napped naturally in maybe 10 years ! a really sobering statistic !

Last night I did switch to taking a .25mg Xanax pill orally along with half a CBD and melatonin pill  given to me by a friend for the first time , braced and expecting the worst I actually fell asleep and got a good 6 hours , I was really pleased with myself and the out come 😁 yay ...

So maybe I stick to an oral Xanax dose and CBD/Mel dose and take it from there ?

I know I will not always get so “lucky “ but I do feel upbeat right now .

Thanks again for your reply and I welcome any more advice and insight you have .

 

[[Pa...]]

I'm so pleased to hear you got some good sleep, it certainly gives us a much needed boost when this happens. 

 

I couldn't sleep without drugs when I was taking them, couldn't nap either, they rob us of the ability once we become dependent on them.  Now, the rest I get is so deep and satisfying, not that superficial stuff the drug creates.  Of course, there are still times when I can't get to sleep but I'll take that over the nightmare of taking and then withdrawing from these drugs.

 

What you may want to look at as you go through this is to work on your attitude about sleep.  Many of us have had to be more accepting of insomnia and try not to fight it so much.  We have to trust our body will get the sleep it needs to survive until we get past this nightmare.  Getting angry and frustrated only makes things worse, so changing our thoughts about it seems to work a little better. 

 

Keep us posted on your progress, your taper is yours and we're all different, so what works for you is what we'll support.  The only thing I can see where you may get an unpleasant surprise is that when you begin to taper your dose, you may experience interdose withdrawal which will necessitate taking more than one dose a day but if that happens, we'll help you figure out what to do.

[[Be...]]

Hi there

10 weeks now benzo free and a real mixed bag , early on I got some good nights of sleep, I began to think maybe I will get lucky and this might not be too difficult, but this last week has been terrible and I feel somewhat demoralized mentally, like many have said this road can be long and tough and for me it looks like that is the case. I am trying to stay calm at nights , getting angry and frustrated is definitely counterproductive, I have a strong meditation practice and this definitely helps . Nothing else to do but carry on I guess. Attitude will be key .. wish me luck as do for all others in this battle.

[[Pa...]]

Wonderful to hear you're benzo free, it sounds like you know this process is unpredictable.  I'm delighted to hear you're practicing meditation and acceptance, anger and frustration definitely exacerbate the negatives. 

 

Being calm and even getting those little mirco-bursts of sleep can be enough to keep us going for quite awhile,  hang in there, it gets better.