12th week since my jump from Xanax - 2mg / day for over 20 years

[[Di...]]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on here.  Let me say that finding this site at all was really great for me. Just reading some of the posts made me feel like I’m not the only one going through these feelings. 

I’m 58 years old and as the title says, I’ve been on Xanax for a very, very long time. 

Anxiety started for me in my 30’s while in the Navy. I was a pretty heavy beer drinker. I was sporadically prescribed Ativan for about a year or so. I stared Zoloft for anxiety in 1997.

After the Navy, I moved back home and in the time from 1997 to 2006, I lost 3 grand parents and my mother and father. My world was upside down and my anxiety was through the roof. I was doing the wrong things to deal with it including getting started on Xanax through my Dr. I also changed to Lexapro during this time. 

Long story short, I ended up on 2mg of Xanax per day for the better part of 20 years. I took all 2mg at night. It was supposed to be twice a day.

I’ve been working with my VA psychiatrist and I ended up doing a really slow taper. It took me 2 years to get off of benzos and here I am 12 weeks after my jump from 0.25mg. I guess that I’m pretty functional, I have to be. I’m not married and have 3 adult kinds. I am working and live with my daughter and my dachshund.

Right now, I’m on Lexapro 30mg and Buspar 15mg.

I feel anxious everyday and it can develop into a full blown anxiety attack. I have been through ACT therapy and the techniques really can help. The anxiety does limit the things that I want to do. I don’t really do much at all. It’s like I have to re-learn how to live altogether now. I don’t drink or drug. I quit nicotine during the last 3 years too. I sleep about 6 hours a night which is down from about 7 before I jumped. 

I do have cognitive issues. My memory is not good at all since starting the taper, sometimes I just can’t come up with a word or phrase when at work. Sometimes I’ll just completely lose my train of thought. It’s very strange.

I really hate the stomach issues. I have constipation, insane gas, abdominal pain and acid reflux. I’ve lost weight through this whole process. It’s not an unhealthy amount though. Wow, I just want to feel kind of normal again. I thought that I had something really wrong with my GI tract, I went to my primary care doctor and they just told me that I have constipation and that’s it. I thought that I was going nuts until I read about benzo belly. Haha, as I write this, my stomach is making all kinds of loud noises! 

Anyway, I’m sure that I have more symptoms that I can’t think about right now, but I just wanted to introduce myself.

 

[[Bu...]]

Hi @[Di...],

Welcome to Benzobudies.  Congratulations on being off Xanax! 

I'm so glad that you found the site to be so helpful, and you are definitely not alone!  The symptoms that you are experiencing are typical of withdrawal and you'll find a lot of common ground here.  Sleep changes, memory issues, and G.I. issues are all par for the course (it's also pretty common that many doctors are not educated about benzo withdrawal), but the good news is that those symptoms mean that healing is happening.

Please keep us posted and let us know how else we can support you.  We're so glad you found us!

[[Br...]]

Hello @[Di...] and welcome to BenzoBuddies!

The symptoms you describe are very common with benzo withdrawal.  It sounds like you did a good, slow taper off Xanax.  Congratulations!  Even with a careful taper the brain and body need time for more healing after benzos so it's no unusual that you're having symptoms.  But they are temporary and with time they will be gone.  

We hope you'll reach out for support.  We understand what you're going through and the support you find here can make a huge difference.