Idea For Tapering from a Pharmacist

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        Hi All.

                  Last week, when I was picking up my script, Alprazolam. I had a consult with the Pharmacist. I take 1 1/2 mg at bedtime.

During our conversation, I mentioned that getting on this stuff was one of the worse decisions I ever made and I've wanted off for a few years now. I've been on 8 years. She suggested, start taking it every other day and see how it goes. If there are no bad withdrawal symptoms, after a couple of weeks, reduce it to every 2 days and so forth. Then start the process over again, this time with a quarter reduction and proceed as before. I thanked her for the advice, and she told me, she knows so many people who are in this same boat and want off. My prescriber is no help. Question: Has this type of method ever been mentioned before on here?

    My personal opinion is that it seems too erratic and fast. Any advice would be great.

[[je...]]

We generally don't recommend this because if you're dependent your body craves stability. If you take it every other day you create a whiplash effect as your blood serum levels are not stable. For me, if it was that easy, we'd all be doing it and getting off in a matter of a couple of months.

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Having been on Alprazolam, and successfully tapered off, I would not try such a plan. It is a very short acting drug and you would be in continuous w/d. No doubt the pharmacist is well-meaning but this is not a sensible taper imo. Maybe you could taper by percentages -- 5 to 10% every 2 weeks. That worked well for me.

 

Best,

 

Katz