Tapering from 0.25mg Xanax twice a day

[[...]]

Hi, I've been taking .25mg Xanax twice a day for 5 years now and looking for guidance on tapering with the Ashton Method given my dosage. In early February, I decreased the dose to .1875mg (1/2 a .25mg pill + 1/4) twice a day at first with few issues, then started experiencing insomnia, tremors, shaking, and a slight uptick in anxiety and underlying condition symptoms (POTS) in March. Was this too much of a decrease? I'm not sure how to follow the 5-10% decrease when the pills are low dose. Also, would the 5-10% decrease apply to morning dose and evening dose?

[[Pa...]]

Hello @[...], welcome to BenzoBuddies,

The 5-10% guideline we suggest would be for the total dose per day, so 5-10% of .50.  It looks like you reduced too much and your body is letting you know.  We typically suggest letting your symptoms guide your reductions, this can hopefully allow you to remain functional.

I take it your tablets are .25, is this correct?  Some members will use a jewelers scale to weigh their dose, others will make a liquid with it and reduce that way, Xanax also comes in a concentrate if you're in the US, or some will ask their doctor to prescribe using a compound pharmacy.

We can help you figure this out, I know its difficult to think when we're in so much distress so we'll be here to help.

@[Pa...]

[[...]]

Thank you! Yes, my tablets are .25mg.

Given that I reduced too much, would you suggest staying at this dosage and waiting for symptoms to resolve before decreasing again or increasing dosage to reach the 5-10% reduction range of .50?

[[Pa...]]

I suspect your body will stabilize at some point if you hold this reduction, this is what we hope to see rather than going back up in dose.  The trouble is, we don't know when this will happen so if you're suffering too much, then you might want to consider going up. But yes, if you decide to hold this dose, please wait until you feel a little better.

Members will usually hold until they feel stable, then reduce again but we need to define what we mean by stable, it doesn't mean feeling good.  If you're able to perform your basic daily tasks such as showering or simple meal preparation and if your symptoms have settled to the point where new ones aren't popping up, this is what we call stable. 

The good thing is you have time to decide how you want to proceed from here, what method you'd like to use to reduce again.  I know I mentioned using dry and liquid titration but many members feel comfortable dry cutting their tablets all the way down.  They'll use a razor blade or a file to shave their pill into little piles, others need a more precise method, its all about your confidence in your method.