Benzo Taper Help

[[Oc...]]

Joining for advice on tapering from xanex. I have been taking for 19 years. Never more than prescribed (4mg daily). Currently at 1.5 mg daily. Looking for suggestions on overcoming withdrawl. Waking up with vivid dreams and coming out of them successfully.

 

 

[[Pa...]]

Hello Oce777, welcome to BenzoBuddies,

 

Congratulations on reducing your Xanax dose by so much, how long has it taken and how did you do it?  We've noticed many members will have to slow down towards the end of their taper because symptoms get more intense, have you noticed this?

 

I'll provide some links to help you get started but we're very interested to hear more of your story.

 

Pamster

 

Colorado  Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidance

 

Planning  Your Withdrawal (Taper)

 

Withdrawal  Support (during your taper)

 

Ashton  Manual symptom list

[[Oc...]]

ce

Hello Pamster (

It took me about 6 months to get to 1.5 mg. I am trying hard not to updose. I take .5 mg in the morning and take 1 mg before bed. I felt good all day yesterday and was feeling like I need to get off these ASAP. So last night I cut my dose to .25 mg instead of the 1 mg. I woke up at 1:15 am. I felt okay and fell back asleep. I had a vivid dream and woke up at 3:30 from it. I couldn't come out of the dream. I got up and splashed water on my face and later back down. I still kept obsessing on the dream and felt out of touch with reality. So I took .75 mg of xanex. Irv was a horrible night and spilled over into today. I did not have to take any xanex today. I have been to many doctors trying to diagnose why I am dizzy 24/7.

Neurologist, ENT, Cardiologist, Oncologist, Had MRI, Spinal Tap, VNG, ENG and the list goes on. I've been dealing with 24/7 dizziness for a year now. I wondered if anyone else has this experience? The only thing I can assume is that is the long term dependence of xanex. I'm scared my brain is damaged and don't know where to turn. The hope of this going away after getting off xanex keeps me going. Any advice on tapering, coping with dreams and this dizziness would be appreciated! God Bless You!

[[Pa...]]

Please don't reduce your dose so drastically, slow and steady is best, its too painful to try to go fast and the thing is, once you're off the drug, there is considerable healing that has to take place.  The drug has caused down regulation of your GABA receptors and they need to get working again and this takes time, recovery is as long or longer than the taper so you might as well try to minimize your pain because once off the drug, you won't have it to mitigate your symptoms.

 

Dizziness is common, we have a support group thread for those who suffer from it, maybe you can pop in there to get some tips on how to cope. http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=128947.0

 

We recommend reducing your dose by about 5-10% every couple of weeks but your symptoms should guide you, this will hopefully keep you functional.  Do you have a pill cutter, what size are your tablets?