I need help with withdrawal

[[lo...]]

Hi I'm hit tolerance about 3 months ago on my xanax... After 3 yrs.. i have been taking 0.25 mg twice a day sometimes 3 if needed... Tapping out at 0.75 ... I need help in feeling absolutely awful... And dont know how to start tapering or how to stabilize... Its absolutely awful I am feeling like i am going crazy and not going to recover... I am bed ridden and cannot do anything.. barely can shower..im reading the numbers to taper but i do not understand my cognitive wont let me understand....the dosing of percent cuts

[[Co...]]

Hello @[lo...]. Welcome to BenzoBuddies.

It is late for me, and I am about to log off. But I am sure others will respond to you shortly. Try not to worry - you are amongst friends, and most of us have been there.

[[pi...]]

Hello @[lo...]and welcome, to the forum from me as well!

Tolerance can be very unpleasant, I know this from experience. The only way to stabilize is to find a dose that minimizes the symptoms and then begin and slow and steady taper. 

While it seems like it’s impossible, recovery does happen. For some of us it can take time but  in my opinion it’s worth the effort.

I’m going tot move this thread to the Benzodiazepine Taper Strategies. I think you’ll get more feedback and help planning your taper, and help with the math. 

Try not to worry, you are not alone. We understand what your are going through and will support you through the process.

pianogirl

[[Ch...]]

What does a dose that minimize symptoms when on tolerance? 

[[...]]

Hi. @[lo...] - I'm so sorry you're going through this. The inter-dose withdrawal with Xanax is really rough. I think the only way to escape it is to get on a longer-acting benzo. Valium is longest acting, but Klonopin has a half-life of 30-40 hours, which is longer than a day, and a lot longer than Xanax, so it's also an option. 

I also was on Xanax and even though I tapered to Valium, if I could do it over again, I would have tapered to Klonopin. For me, I have a genetic mutation that makes Valium literally make me sick. (I didn't know that at the time I cross-tapered). If you got sick because you've got the same (fairly common) genetic mutation that causes reduced DAO production (and you found you had food intolerances when you tried to switch to Valium), then Valium can make that genetic issue worse. So Klonopin might be more tolerable for the duration of the taper. 

So I guess you have two options. If you might have tried too quickly to switch to Valium and that's why you got sick, you could try it again more slowly. Or you could try a cross to Klonopin. 

Either way, it might be helpful to expect the cross taper from Xanax to be as hard (or even harder?) than the direct taper from the longer acting benzo. 

If I were going to do a cross to Klonopin, this is how I would do it. But there are lots of different ways. It's just one example. Sometimes a coach can be helpful to figure out what would work best for you. 

Klonopin has a 1:1 dosing conversion with Xanax. Unfortunately, the lowest dose for Klonopin is 0.5. So you need some good pill splitters. I think the scissor style works best so it doesn't crumble.  

• Cut the 0.5 Klonopin pills in half to make 0.25
• Week 1 and 2 - swap out the morning Xanax for Klonopin
• Week 2 and 3 - swap out the evening dose
• Week 4 and 5 - swap out the evening dose and then hold until stable. 
• Two to three weeks, cut the morning dose to 1/4 of a Klonopin or 0.125 mg. 
• Two to three weeks, cut the afternoon dose the same
• Two to three weeks, cut the evening dose the same
• Two to three weeks, eliminate the afternoon dose, switching to twice daily of 0.125. Hold until stable. 
• Three weeks, eliminate the morning dose, so it's now once daily of 0.125.
• Three weeks, cut the 0.125 in half again to 1/8 of a pill or 0.0625 mg. Hold until stable and then jump off from there. 

Some people can go faster and some need to go slower. Also some steps are easier than others. I kept finding I could go a bit faster and then I'd hit a wall and just had to hold until I got stable before doing another dose reduction. 

The two times I tapered off Klonopin were a lot easier than this time I'm trying to taper off Valium. But the difficulty this time might be because I'm more kindled. IDK.  

Hope this is helpful and makes sense. 

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by [...]

[[An...]]

2 hours ago, [[l...] said:

Hi I'm hit tolerance about 3 months ago on my xanax... After 3 yrs.. i have been taking 0.25 mg twice a day sometimes 3 if needed... Tapping out at 0.75 ... I need help in feeling absolutely awful... And dont know how to start tapering or how to stabilize... Its absolutely awful I am feeling like i am going crazy and not going to recover... I am bed ridden and cannot do anything.. barely can shower..im reading the numbers to taper but i do not understand my cognitive wont let me understand....the dosing of percent cuts

Hi @[lo...], welcome to BB.

Have you considered using the Ashton protocol or a variation of it? It is very easy to do but may not work for everyone. It can be tweaked if SXs become intolerable.

This youTube video describes a very easy way to micro-taper off your Xanax in 300 days using water titration. It can also be tweaked for a slower, longer taper. This may be something for you to consider.

Do you plan on trying to do a direct taper from Xanax? 

 

[[Mi...]]

Hi Lorena,

 If I were you, I would try and find a suitable dose per day first. Whether it be .75mgs everyday, or .5mgs everyday. Whatever works. Pick specific times to dose and stick to them. I would also become familiar with the Ashton manual and watch as much as you can on  https://www.youtube.com/@wdpsychiatry. I would say this practice is probably the most knowledgeable in the U.S. on this subject. The information on this channel is incredibly helpful in getting off of this drug. There are also multiple coaches you could work with that they have links to, or if you are in one of their states you may be able to work with them directly. As for the taper, once you have a dose per day and when you are comfortable, I would advise in dosing more times per day with the Xanax. I would also advise in finding a suitable compound pharmacy to start getting your prescriptions from. This way, whether it be liquid or tablets, the pharmacy can compound smaller and smaller quantities for you as you taper. This will make things much easier going forward and accuracy will be better. Recommended cuts are 5 - 10% every two weeks, but that is too fast for a lot of people. Be sure to be on the same page with your doctor and taper as slow as needed. There are also various ways to taper, all can be found on the internet. Also, in my experience, try to stick to a specific manufacturer of the drug. I was always hesitant to switch over to a longer acting Benzo because my body didn’t even tolerate different manufacturers of the same drug well. Hopefully this helps! Lemme know if you have any questions on anything I said here! Thanks!!

Edited November 13, 2023 by [Mi...]