Tapering

[[Ta...]]

Hi everyone I’ve just joined today. I’ve currently been tapering Xanax for 90+days. I switched from 2mg bars to 1mg tablets as I was only tapering 1mg, I’ve been feeling really anxious this past while I wondered if it was the switch to the same med but different brand. Also a few weeks ago I tried to switch from Xanax to clonazepam because of the longer half life. So had a few things in the mix here. Anybody have any input ? Would be greatly appreciated Robert

[[...]]

@[Ta...], hi) Welcome to BenzoBuddies! I'm bad at tapering, so will just make your account valid. I'm sure other more knowledgeable members will join in and give you their advice. Just a few questions for them to understand your situation better.

How long have you been on xanax? What is your current dose? What's the rate of your tapering been so far?

As for brand changing, i'm sure it can cause withdrawal issues. Good luck to you!

[[Pa...]]

Hello @[Ta...],welcome!

Anytime we make a change to our medication, whether its the dose, brand or even method of tapering, we feel it so I'm not surprised to hear things are a little unsettled.  

I'll be interested to hear if you gave up on the Clonazepam crossover and what your attempt looked like, it can be challenging to get equivalencies right since there is such a wide range of suggestions. 

We look forward to hearing more of your story.

@[Pa...]

 

[[Ta...]]

Hi yeh I only stuck on clonazepam for around 9 days then switched back to the  2mg bars, now I’m on 1mg tablets. Before I made the switch to clonazepam I was doing fairly ok with my taper but I think I should have held my taper for about a week beforehand as I was feeling pretty low mood and heightened anxiety. But I switched to Clonazepam and I couldn’t adjust to it as it’s more fore other things ie seizures, restless leg syndrome etc and not as an anxiety benzo even though it works for anxiety. I’m going to be switching to Valium to taper off due to its longer half life and hopefully it makes a difference. I’ve since found out different brands have different fillers and binders and this can affect our CNS pretty bad .Hence I think this has played a large part in crossing over to my new med.   

[[Ta...]]

[[Ta...]]

Hi thanks for replying, can I ask are you tapering in any way or are you taking benzos as needed ? It’s a hard road to come off them .

[[...]]

@[Ta...], i've been off any benzo for 15 months and i'll do anything not to take it again. No benzos as needed. Never ever.

Yes, it's an extremely hard road but really worth it. I'm not completely healed yet but definitely getting better 

I think it would be really helpful for you if you share your benzo experience here. How long; how often; your taper rate; etc. As @[Pa...]says, "looking forward to hearing more of your story". 

 

[[Ta...]]

Where do I start.  I first started Diazepam when I was around 20yrs of age I took them for around 22years and never ever had withdrawal when stopping or starting so this is what surprised me now . Around 9 years ago I had a marriage break up where 3 kids were involved and I went to my GP and was surprised to hear I couldn’t get a diazepam script. So I got in touch with my sister who stays in South Carolina and she’s been sending me Xanax ever since also other benzos to help me taper off Xanax . As I stated I tried to switch to clonazepam as it has a longer half life but the change didn’t help as it made me worse. She has suggested I now switch to Valium as it has the longest half life of all the benzos so I’ll be switching in the next few days to withdraw of Valium. The way I get my meds is because my sister is a Psychiatrist and can write the scripts out legally over there and she tells her pharmacist that it’s for me to taper off benzos, because in the UK doctors have no idea how to taper off benzos. The advice I got from a Psychiatrist here was to take small bits of my tablet every day and if I had really anxious days just take the whole tablet again !! And that’s the professional advice I got here. The UK are allowing people to take “street Valium “ which are lucky to have 10% of real Valium and the rest Is fentanyl and other really potent drugs. The death rates in Scotland are rising on a rapid scale from these street drugs , I’m not in support of prescribing benzos but I do think there is a lot of people out there who could use them for a while to get over certain problems that life creates. Sorry for ranting on I went into a completely different context there .

[[...]]

@[Ta...], thank you for your story. For me personally, the drug brought lots of pain and suffering in the end, although i'd also managed to come off it cold turkey without an issue a couple of times prior to the last benzo experience. There is such an idea as kindling, meaning every next benzo withdrawal can feel harder than the previous one. https://www.benzoinfo.com/kindling/ As far as i learned, benzos, however seemingly soft and helpful, mess up with our nervous system to a great extent.. The longer, the more. Luckily, it's supposed to be reversible. 

I think the idea of switching to valium is a good one. I also did smth of the kind while tapering but it depends on your personal reaction to this particular benzo.Hope you'll soon stabilise and taper off your benzo with as little symptoms as possible!

I'd really like to hear other members' thoughts to the point.

 

 

 

 

 

[[Pa...]]

Hi @[Ta...],

I appreciate hearing your story as well, I hope you'll let us help you when it comes time to crossing over to the Valium, I'm sure you're aware it must be added in stages as you withdraw the Xanax.  I'm glad to know you have a sister who can help and support your efforts.