Xanax support. Please advise?

[[da...]]

Sorry it's 1.5 mg of Klonopin, not 1 mg. Heh.

 

I'm having a lot of windows and waves. I get HORRIFIC dizzy spells though, is this normal? Like I feel like I can't stand up or hold my head up. and my arms and legs feel like jello.

I had an awful time going up the stairs today too, ran out of breath so easily =/ but when they took my BP it was normal as can be 122/77. It's weird =/

 

I feel very weak right now, but I'm home out on a pass. Hopefully as the days go by and I start getting used to the meds and the Xanax withdrawal wears off I'll feel a bit better.

 

Thanks everyone =)

[[da...]]

BP seems to be stablizing a bit more now being 127/83 just not long ago. I still dont like that its in a pounding rhythm and i get these burning like pains in my shoulder and head =\ Makes me fear for the worst. But my oxygen level is 98% so thats good right? I'm not having any heart attacks.

[[da...]]

Dizzy spells seem to have stopped which is good. Burning pain still really bad though as well as all over tension =/

I hope things continue to progress. I've been put back on Lexapro 20mg, so I'm waiting for that to work. I don't know if it'll do anything but you never know I guess. I've heard opposite things saying it helps with w/d and it doesn't help at all. We'll see I suppose.. -_-

[[fi...]]

Glad you're doing better.

 

Hang in there ...

 

fg

[[da...]]

Thanks fg.

 

In your experience, Klonopin seems like a hard drug to taper...is anyone else able to dry cut this?

I probably won't be reducing it for a while, at least until I'm out of the hospital. It'll have been almost 2 months by that time being on a benzo =/

 

Is it going to be as hard as Xanax or will it ease with the fact that it's longer acting? Or might I have to go to Valium?

[[fi...]]

There are people who have successfully weaned themselves off of Klonopin w/o crossing over to Valium.  This is what I plan to do.  Klonopin is a longer-acting benzo and shouldn't be quite as hard to come off of as Xanax (which is shorter-acting than Klonopin).  When I get down to .125 mg. of Klonopin, I may use a compounding pharmacy to get lower doses before I jump.

 

Wishing you much success ...

 

fg

[[ba...]]

I'm dry-cutting from Klonopin.  It's a pain in the butt to cut, even with a sharp pill cutter, but the very long half life is worth it. 

 

Again, you've been on Xanax for a short while that I wouldn't worry.  I think you're freaking yourself out!  Ask for K if you wish--it comes in as low as 1/2 mg and is supposedly as potent as Xanax (I personally disagree, but that's just me), and doesn't have the very short half-lives of Xanax and Ativan.  I'm doing quite well with my taper.  Jumped from 3 mg to 2 for 10 days, and just began 1.75 mgs for 10 days (today is the 2nd day).  Only w'd's I've had were minor hand tremors, which I took a mild beta blocker for. 

 

I was on Xanax, just as you.  But I was on a massive dose for 3 years, so I HAD to switch to Ativan first, etc., etc. 

 

YOU WILL BE OKAY!   

[[da...]]

Oh I am strictly on Klonopin now. Xanax free for 8 days

 

I was just curious if I could dry cut because I have only been on benzos for a month. I did recieve rough symptoms with Xanax but with Klono having a longer HL i thought maybe I'd be okay doing it with it instead of going to Valium. I'm not cutting yet until i'm out of the Hospital, which will be in about a week. Keep you posted

 

Thanks for the encouragement. LD

[[ba...]]

Good to hear that you're on K now.  I'm tapering and it's going very smoothly-- and I've been on them for WAY TOO LONG!  It's almost like, wait, this is way too easy, is this all in my head? 

 

Glad they let you have internet connection there!  When I was in a 3 day psych ward, I used my iPod, which I said was "just an MP3 player"... I called the operator and asked what the guest account password was to get online and watched Netflix movies at night...   Sneaky, but it got me through! 

[[fi...]]

dsw,

 

You should be able to dry-cut while on Klonopin.  I am just using a standard pill-splitter and using the .5 mg. tablets and decreasing them by 1/4th when I taper.

 

fg

[[da...]]

The psychiatrist thinks I should cut by .5 every two weeks. I think that might be wayyyyyyy too much =/ But then again, I've only been on these things for a short time. She's under the impression that with the Lexapro 20mg, it'll help, but it seems like nobody here gained anything from that. I know someone who got away with cutting K 2mg in a month and had no symptoms. So... I don't know....

 

BP was normal today 118/80 which made me relax a bit.

[[ba...]]

Relax.  One month is almost nothing! 

 

Some antidepressants, even though they are also used as safer anti-anxiety meds, often cause some anxiety in the first 2 weeks.  Usually it's not the "internal restless/going crazy anxiety", it's the tension, teeth grinding type.  Very mild.

 

Your doc is most likely right...  Lexapro 20 mg might even help with your anxiety. 

 

Really, relax, and be glad that it's only been a month! 

 

After 5 years of mega high doses of Xanax and Ativan, I tapered from 3 mg to 2 mg of Klonopin, overnight.. Only mild w/ds--mainly hand tremors.  For 10 days.  Now I'm at 1.75-2 mgs.  Most days are 1.75, but I know I'm going fast, so I told myself I have no problems holding at 2 every now and then. 

 

You will walk away from this totally unharmed.    And a heck of a lot smarter! 

[[da...]]

Well I think she wants me to stay on the K dose another month, I was discharged today with a months prescription. I guess it might change if I feel better. But even so, 2 months isn't too bad is it?

 

My BP was immaculate today at 118/75, but my heart was still pounding in my ear and my tension in my body has been bad and I've been dizzy =/

 

I suppose I need to stop worrying about this. A little hypertension before hand isn't going to kill me and a pounding heart doesn't mean I have narrowing arteries!

(I have really bad Health Anxiety, as you might know by this topic by now.)

 

Thanks for the sound advice Banana101

[[ba...]]

Lol... I know what you mean by "Health Anxiety".  People tell me I have it, and sometimes I just laugh, because they don't know what's going on with me and my poor (not even 31 year old) body!  Scoliosis, Sciatica, spinal fusion, spinal degeneration (no pain meds, either), and the worst-- HORRIBLE, AWFUL, CRIPPLING muscle spasms that no one seems to understand.  And possible MS to boot.  I like what Richard Pryor said about MS: "It just stands for more sh#+!".  And high heart rate?  I had rheumatic fever almost 4 years ago, and hyperthyroidism, and while I don't have valve damage (yet), and the thyroid problem is (at the present) gone, my resting heart rate is at least 100.  Tachycardia all the way.  Sooooo many autoimmune disorders, I'm starting to wonder if real anxiety (without a cause) is one.  If you're really freaked out about high blood pressure and heart rate, ask for a low dose beta blocker, like Toprol XL or it's generic--dirt cheap too.  It works for me and is even knocking out the shakes from tapering.  And most docs don't have any problems prescribing this, even if you're young.  I even have low blood pressure and still get it Rx'd. 

 

2 months isn't bad at all.  Count yourself as very lucky.  Don't freak yourself out and trick yourself into having an anxiety attack and take more K.  I know how it goes--I did that in the beginning, and that's exactly how a 1/2 mg of Ativan became a 12 mg Xanax habit.  The more benzos you take, the more anxiety you have.  It's pretty silly, considering that they're anti-anxiety medications, right?  But when you keep getting artificial GABAa agonists like benzos, your brain says "Let's just stop making the natural stuff".  And so it goes...

 

You WILL be okay.   

[[fi...]]

Banana101,

 

You must be a very strong person to endure what you have had to go through.  You're in my prayers.

 

fg

[[ba...]]

"Strong"?  Ha ha, thanks.  Just seriously unlucky!  I'm not a praying person, but by all means, go ahead.   

 

I just wanted Darkskywaves to know that although they make me somewhat stuck in the benzo hole, they can still get out quite easily. 

[[da...]]

Have started my cut back. And I've been going through lovely hell ever since. Worried about my BP being high as always. =\ Hearts pounding, not fast but slow and hard. =\

I feel dizzy and many jolts of pain in my chest and both arms. Burning pain in my head and tightness around the band of my neck =\

 

I started my cut because I started to get tolerance symptoms on the 1.5 mg. Didn't want to updose, and since the cut I notice no real changes. All these things were happening during that time.

[[fi...]]

I hope things improve for you, DSW.

 

fg