First time posting. Need some help

[Guest [...]]

Hello Everyone,

I work in retail. High stress, high financial pressure and have for 22 years. I never even thought about taking anxiety medication. My father suddenly passed away in 2011 in the early morning from a presumed heart attack. I got the dreaded phone call and in the beginning yo just react and handle the situation in front of you. Not until later down the road did I start seeing the affects of this event. I went back to work, just entrenched myself there and kept moving. During the next few months I started having what I now know to be panic attacks. My dad was transported in an ambulance to the hospital so every time I heard a siren I would go into a panic attack. My marriage suffered, everything suffered. I finally went and visited a doctor. She prescribed me Lexapro. I have been on that since. So about 10 years. I'm at 20mg. Over time I noticed I would get a little anxious during certain times at work. So asked for some Xanax to use when needed. This was in 2016-2017. So I have used Xanax since then. It started at .25, then.5 and took 1mg 4-5 days a week for the last year or so. I have went back down to at the most .5 a day at this point, but I have noticed that below that the withdrawl symptoms are absolutely awful. Panic, Fear and paranoia are the most difficult. Racing thoughts. Just awful peaking at day 3. I just want to stay home and AWAY from everyone. I don't even want the relaxed feeling as much as I just want to stay out of withdrawl. I have CT at least 4 times, longest was 13 days. Brutal. Makes work very difficult. Can I just stay at the .5 going forward and hold there indefinitly? Withdrawl from .5 to nothing seems to be almost impossible. I have more to this 12 year story but this is a start.

 

Thank you

[[Ho...]]

Hi Nissan31,

Welcome to you, yes, you've had quite a journey!  It's hard to know what you should do about the Xanax, but it does seem as if you've hit a tolerance dose. It's not bringing you much of a benefit anymore, and if you take more you'll end up in this same place. 

Are you familiar with the Ashton method of weaning off of benzodiazepines? I'll attach a link for you. Dr. Ashton, a Benzo-wise doctor (there are very few of them) wrote the book on how to wean off of benzodiazepines like Xanax. Trying to CT is a really hard way to go! She recommends dropping 5%-10% every two weeks, as your body allows. Slow is the way to go. 

https://www.benzoinfo.com/ashtonmanual/

We know this is a tough situation but there certainly is hope! Weaning takes a long time but plenty of healing that takes place along the way. There's a lot of good information and a lot of good people here to walk with you and cheer you on. I'm so sorry this has happened to you! 

[Guest [...]]

Thank you Buddie. I certainly appreciate it.