XANAX Support Blog: If you're tapering Xanax/alprazolam, join in the discussion!

[[Mo...]]

Hey Lacey, Breathing exercises have helped me some when my anxiety was bad.  I  tried meditation also.  They both take practice so don't get frustrated if not helping at first.  Someone also told me about a website called calm.com and it has helped me the most.  Your doctor just wants you to find ways to deal with your anxiety naturally and not depending on pills.  I am in the process of getting off of Xanax XR.  My doctor who has weaned many people off benzo's has told me  that most people have no problems at all getting off.  For me, he has me drop and then stay there a while to live my life and stabilize and use my coping mechanisms to overcome any anxiety that may come my way.  I plan on dropping again at the end of March.  Good Luck and take care. I am sure you will do fine. 

[[ma...]]

Lacey,

 

Your posts are upsetting me.  I was on this poison for years and I have suffered.  I don't believe anything your pill pusher told/sold you.  Your supposed "doctor" hasn't a clue.  And neither do you.  Just make that daring leap and be off. 

 

You are experiencing mild anxiety/pain issues.  I honestly don't understand why it has taken your body and mind body to adjust.  Suck it up!  Anytime I feel better, I'm out of here...

 

You'll be fine, honey.

 

 

Babyrex!  This is not a very supportive post, "suck it up"  and telling a member to jump!! I think you are being very mean spirited.  We also do not allow anti doctor comments, some members do have positive experiences with their doctor, I know some of us do have negative experiences but it is unfair to paint all doctors with the same brush

 

 

Anti-doctor, Anti-psychiatrist and Anti-medicine Comments & Links

 

Magrita

 

 

[[la...]]

Hey Lacey, Breathing exercises have helped me some when my anxiety was bad.  I  tried meditation also.  They both take practice so don't get frustrated if not helping at first.  Someone also told me about a website called calm.com and it has helped me the most.  Your doctor just wants you to find ways to deal with your anxiety naturally and not depending on pills.  I am in the process of getting off of Xanax XR.  My doctor who has weaned many people off benzo's has told me  that most people have no problems at all getting off.  For me, he has me drop and then stay there a while to live my life and stabilize and use my coping mechanisms to overcome any anxiety that may come my way.  I plan on dropping again at the end of March.  Good Luck and take care. I am sure you will do fine. 

 

Hey Monique.

 

Yeah, I think the breathing exercises would take a while to see any real benefit.  I didn't really start them the first time my Dr mentioned them because I had no idea if I was doing it right.  This appointment though the Dr took a half hour or so to explain how they work, and showed me how to do them properly, so I feel a little more confident with it this time.

 

Thanks for the link, I checked it out, and it could be very useful. 

 

Good Luck with everything.

[[Ka...]]

Hi There,

 

Baby-sorry you are in a bad wave. Hang in...you are an expert surfer.

 

Carita-thanks for thinking about me. I am still awfully sick. I tried to eat a little later and the heaving started again. I've had this for 6 days now and haven't been able to eat a meal. I think I'm turning the corner but then it flares back up again. It is scaring me because everyone keeps telling me it is only supposed to last 24-48 hours. I'm starting to get anxious that something else is wrong. My stomach hurts really bad. I had some tests at the big University Hospital here and am waiting results to make sure I don't have a bacterial infection or something else. Sure hope I get better soon!

 

Lastly, I have one more drug to taper called Gabapentin. It has a "benzo-like withdrawal" and I have been on it for over 8 years, 3 times per day everyday. It must be slowly tapered with the same rules as benzos. At times I can't believe I have to do another taper but it is what it is. It actually comes in a liquid form and today I got the script for it so that I can start tapering. I'm going to take it slow and steady. At the pace I am starting it could take 3 years-that won't work for me either but since I'm still healing from benzos at least I can start to drop the dose with hopefully not too much of an impact. I was thinkikng that if these drugs were as hard to get on as they are to get off none of us would be on them and have to go through this. I'm pretty scared...much more scared than the first time because now I know how bad it is. There is a thread on BB for people tapering this but it isn't very active so I'm going to be coming here for some support! Carita-I may be calling on you for some support too since you have already walked this path. I'm going to be starting as soon as I get over and recover from whatever bug I have now!

 

Thanks for letting me share and for listening! I take such comfort in knowing you are all here for my journey. I am continually amazed by your strength and courage.

 

Love,

 

Hopeful Girl

 

Hi Hopeful,

 

I can relate to you and Carita.  I c/t and am still fighting the residual symptoms after about 13 months, and am tapering (I reinstated 3 months out, with no effect).  My system can only take a small cut for 4 days and then have to hold.  It is so frustrating at to how slow this is going.  As you know, my head symptoms (mostly pressure at the temples) are the worst.  But I am continuing and you, Carita and Mrs have been great encouragement.  Benzy also helped out.  As I taper down, it will be better.  At least I am tapering! 

 

My virus took 2 weeks to get rid off - just hang in there.  And if you have to take antibiotics, so be it, do not worry.  A tea concoction of ginger, cinnamon and clove powders could be helpful (ayurvedic antibiotic tea).

 

Take care,   

 

 

 

 

[[VC...]]

Please help me. I need to sleep. Tart Cherry's not doing much for me and I've come completely undone emotionally. Slept maybe 3-4 hrs past couple nights. Sought help from another person who weaned off benzos (not on this forum) and she said I "NEED" to move to valium, take the Ashton Manual to a psych doc and then start a slow wean. She's kinda bossy. Keeps saying xanax is too hard to taper. Felt encouraged last week and have done everything I know to get stable, but it seems my irregular heartbeats & BP spikes are adrenal-related and worsen with insomnia or pushing things. When I get more sleep I actually experience fewer incidents of these BP spikes & surges...and they're milder. Last two days were awful due to little sleep, I haven't even begun to taper!

 

Also have suspected copper toxicity and tons of stress . Ohmygod, I went from taking xanax PRN prior to Jan. for sleep & adrenaline surges, to 4 x daily now - feeling like an addict. Every time I turn around my cell alarm is going off. Two meltdowns before b'fast. Even a friend I confided in this morning told me I need to see a shrink for tapering help, but we all know how that's likely to go! I don't trust them anymore. But maybe I need sleep medication or I'm not gonna make it. Some days I feel like sleep would fix everything...today feels like a nightmare i'm never gonna pull through.

 

This is all I can figure: Reduced my bedtime dose to 0.375mg about 5 days ago to have a 4th dose (0.125mg) to move to the day so I could dose a little more often to help possibly alleviate symptoms. These pills are not cutting evenly. Could that be a problem? Am I just adjusting to the reduction in bedtime dose? What else could be disrupting my sleep -the Xanax itself? I fall asleep by 12:30 but wake constantly when i was sleeping so much better at one point. Had surges ALL day yesterday so maybe my adrenals are more active at night because of that? Someone said copper could be the issue. All I know is I'm ready to give up. This is some crap to go through at my age...can't even leave my house on days like today - severe adrenal exhaustion. Need to support adrenals but everyone tells me to stop taking supplements. Worried my adrenals will tank. I hear others still working and running errands and cleaning their house - and I'm like, wow 

 

Hugs to all....will catch up on your posts soon. Hopeful Girl - hope you're feeling better.

 

VCharis

[[la...]]

Please help me. I need to sleep. Tart Cherry's not doing much for me and I've come completely undone emotionally. Slept maybe 3-4 hrs past couple nights. Sought help from another person who weaned off benzos (not on this forum) and she said I "NEED" to move to valium, take the Ashton Manual to a psych doc and then start a slow wean. She's kinda bossy. Keeps saying xanax is too hard to taper. Felt encouraged last week and have done everything I know to get stable, but it seems my irregular heartbeats & BP spikes are adrenal-related and worsen with insomnia or pushing things. When I get more sleep I actually experience fewer incidents of these BP spikes & surges...and they're milder. Last two days were awful due to little sleep, I haven't even begun to taper!

 

Also have suspected copper toxicity and tons of stress . Ohmygod, I went from taking xanax PRN prior to Jan. for sleep & adrenaline surges, to 4 x daily now - feeling like an addict. Every time I turn around my cell alarm is going off. Two meltdowns before b'fast. Even a friend I confided in this morning told me I need to see a shrink for tapering help, but we all know how that's likely to go! I don't trust them anymore. But maybe I need sleep medication or I'm not gonna make it. Some days I feel like sleep would fix everything...today feels like a nightmare i'm never gonna pull through.

 

This is all I can figure: Reduced my bedtime dose to 0.375mg about 5 days ago to have a 4th dose (0.125mg) to move to the day so I could dose a little more often to help possibly alleviate symptoms. These pills are not cutting evenly. Could that be a problem? Am I just adjusting to the reduction in bedtime dose? What else could be disrupting my sleep -the Xanax itself? I fall asleep by 12:30 but wake constantly when i was sleeping so much better at one point. Had surges ALL day yesterday so maybe my adrenals are more active at night because of that? Someone said copper could be the issue. All I know is I'm ready to give up. This is some crap to go through at my age...can't even leave my house on days like today - severe adrenal exhaustion. Need to support adrenals but everyone tells me to stop taking supplements. Worried my adrenals will tank. I hear others still working and running errands and cleaning their house - and I'm like, wow 

 

Hugs to all....will catch up on your posts soon. Hopeful Girl - hope you're feeling better.

 

VCharis

 

Hey V. I wish I could be of more help, as it sounds like you are going through a hard time.  Maybe others be able to give some help.

 

Have you tried melatonin to help sleep at night?  That is what I've been relying on for a while, and it seems to help me.  I was using a tiny dose of seroquel at one point to help sleep (as do some others around here) but I ended up quitting that.  On one hand it helped me sleep 9 hours, but otoh the doctor felt it could be contributing to fatigue.  So, take that for whatever it's worth.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about adrenal exhaustion.  It's just an extra stress to worry about.  I've spent a decent amount of time researching it, and from what I can conclude adrenals aren't the problem even if you have low cortisol, DHEA, etc...  The adrenals are still there and functioning, but when in fight/flight mode due to some kind of stressor (sounds like you are going through stress right now), the adrenals start producing different amounts of those hormones.  The key isn't to worry about the adrenals, so much as to worry about removing the stress, and the adrenal hormone production should return to normal. 

 

When was the last time you felt stable on Xanax, and what dose was it?

[[Ju...]]

Please help me. I need to sleep. Tart Cherry's not doing much for me and I've come completely undone emotionally. Slept maybe 3-4 hrs past couple nights. Sought help from another person who weaned off benzos (not on this forum) and she said I "NEED" to move to valium, take the Ashton Manual to a psych doc and then start a slow wean. She's kinda bossy. Keeps saying xanax is too hard to taper. Felt encouraged last week and have done everything I know to get stable, but it seems my irregular heartbeats & BP spikes are adrenal-related and worsen with insomnia or pushing things. When I get more sleep I actually experience fewer incidents of these BP spikes & surges...and they're milder. Last two days were awful due to little sleep, I haven't even begun to taper!

 

Also have suspected copper toxicity and tons of stress . Ohmygod, I went from taking xanax PRN prior to Jan. for sleep & adrenaline surges, to 4 x daily now - feeling like an addict. Every time I turn around my cell alarm is going off. Two meltdowns before b'fast. Even a friend I confided in this morning told me I need to see a shrink for tapering help, but we all know how that's likely to go! I don't trust them anymore. But maybe I need sleep medication or I'm not gonna make it. Some days I feel like sleep would fix everything...today feels like a nightmare i'm never gonna pull through.

 

This is all I can figure: Reduced my bedtime dose to 0.375mg about 5 days ago to have a 4th dose (0.125mg) to move to the day so I could dose a little more often to help possibly alleviate symptoms. These pills are not cutting evenly. Could that be a problem? Am I just adjusting to the reduction in bedtime dose? What else could be disrupting my sleep -the Xanax itself? I fall asleep by 12:30 but wake constantly when i was sleeping so much better at one point. Had surges ALL day yesterday so maybe my adrenals are more active at night because of that? Someone said copper could be the issue. All I know is I'm ready to give up. This is some crap to go through at my age...can't even leave my house on days like today - severe adrenal exhaustion. Need to support adrenals but everyone tells me to stop taking supplements. Worried my adrenals will tank. I hear others still working and running errands and cleaning their house - and I'm like, wow 

 

Hugs to all....will catch up on your posts soon. Hopeful Girl - hope you're feeling better.

 

VCharis

I use Melatonin for nights when sleep is difficult.  This works great for me.  When I first jumped I also used SunTheanine and L-Tryptophan.  My doctor also prescribed Vistaril to help and this helped a bit.  Melatonin helps me the most.

 

Whoever is telling you that Valium will help you with sleep does not seem very knowledgeable about this medication, in my opinion.  I have read this on the board over and over --- Valium, when first prescribed is extremely sedating, but the sedation wears off after about 2-weeks.  "Valium is not a good sleep med", I've read this many times too.  Maybe open a post under substitution tapers and ask about the experiences of people who substituted with Valium from a fast acting benzo they were taking for sleep?

 

I know exactly where you're coming from.  It would have been difficult for me to taper if I'd had severe insomnia.  That's why I'm so glad I didn't have interdose withdrawal.  I was able to keep my full dose at bedtime until I jumped.  Then the insomnia started .......  But it resolved for the most part 3-months after jumping.

 

I know our member Perseverance has done a great deal of well documented scientific research about how benzos effect the HPA Axis including the adrenal system.  Have you read her research VC?  From what I gather from reading her research, the best thing we can do is slowly taper off of the benzo and wait for our systems to reset.  There may be some tips you can pick up by reading her threads.  Please post back if you need a link.

 

I'm sorry things are so rough. 

[[Ma...]]

VCharis:

 

my heart toes out to you and i feel the same as you at times....how are people living normal lives? other times, when not in a wave like i am now, i think I was just overreacting or being lazy and i could do more.  truth is, i do what i can, and it changes.

 

in a bad wave months six and seven.  way worse than acute.  did you experience that too?  i can't remember if you cold-turkeyed.....

 

i really need support right now.  having a very hard time physically, emotionally & mentally.  feel very afraid.

[[mr...]]

Hi gang,

 

Well, aren't we all doing dandily recently? I am also overcoming some taper challenges, and am in need of support

 

mamashos, hang in there with me The mental symptoms can be brutal. Anxiety, obsessive thoughts, hypochondria, fear/paranoia, etc...awful. But it is temporary. I just hate it when the brain tries to tell you otherwise -- it can contrive the most "convincing" arguments as to why you won't heal! You should hear some of the humdingers my brain has concocted recently! Erroneous. And I must remember that in the midst of a "brainstorming session" lol Chat with me here tonight and we'll distract ourselves, eh? For me, a wave of these mental type symptoms can often be associated with tummy ick as well (nausea, loss of appetite, loose stools, etc). Just laying low and riding it all out

 

VC, you and I are alike in our sensitivities, girlfriend. I have not posted much at all because of my current state, but please know that you are not alone. I found a support group recently that is for "bedridden" folk. And although I'm not bedridden, they have accepted me with open arms there. So many of them are sensitive ad tapering slowly, and many have a couple other things they are dealing with as well. Anyways, I am not sure if you would find comfort there yet or not, but the folks there are great

 

Lacey, just keep moving forward and you'll get there You're doing great thus far

 

Baby, hang tight in your wave it ain't gonna last

 

Everyone else: Thanks for being here with me This is the toughest time I've had in taper thus far, and I'm just grateful I'm not battling it by myself. So thank you for being here

 

Love on a Friday night

 

Mrs.

[[ho...]]

Hey MRS.

 

So nice to see you here. You are doing so great and you are so right! Your brain is drumming up some crazy stories. Who can blame it? This benzo w/d is insane!  It's pretty clever isn't it? Concocting all kinds of stories...I know because mine is great at it. The truth though is that it does get better. I've had a rough go this week with this virus but it still has been manageable. I've seen my healing through this. The doc thinks part of the reason I can't shake it is due to the gaba receptors in the gut still being messed up. Anyway, I'm so proud of you and see you are now 80% free!  :clap: You are going to get through this last 20% and I can't wait to celebrate you hitting zero!!! Hang in there!

 

Love,

 

Hopeful Girl

[[mr...]]

Haha, OK...thought we could use a good laugh!! This was a post from guitarman over in the Nexus, called "Ten Things To Be Grateful For In Withdrawal". It is meant in jest and to lighten hearts, of course I hope it does not offend anyone or trivialize the pain of withdrawal anyone is experiencing.

 

Anyways, love you all and I hope this can bring a smile to your faces!

 

Enough negativity....here are the 10 best things about withdrawal.

 

1. Early Retirement- you can't work, so you might as well enjoy the time off

 

2. There's always music in the air- (well, some people call it tinnitus). It's more like one note being played endlessly. But hey, some people think rap is just noise.

 

3. Your computer skills vastly improve. You'll spend so much time on forums and researching benzo sites on the internet, your speed and efficiency will double in a month.

 

4. You won't waste valuable hours of your life sleeping. You'll now know the exact time your morning paper is delivered. If you watch out the window at night, you'll learn the interesting habits of nocturnal animals, and see what time your neighbors go to bed and get up.

 

5. Out of body experiences- why go through the annoying chore of dying on the operating table when you can just go through benzo withdrawal.

 

6. Save big money on vacations- A trip to the mailbox or to the grocery store is an adventure on its own. Will you panic, will you freeze up, will you sit down and cry...who knows what's around that corner.

 

7. Exercise? Who needs no stinkin' exercise! Your muscles will feel like you just ran a marathon, yet all you did was get out of bed and go to the bathroom.

 

8. Learn how much your spouse and/or family really loves you. Enough said.

 

9. Relive your ill-spent youth- Withdrawal can feel like an LSD trip. Might as well live it up. Crank up that old Woodstock album on the turntable, put on your best pair of bell bottoms, stick some flowers in your hair, and peace out, dudes.

 

10. Save money on vitamins, supplements, herbs, coffee, and alcohol- basically everything you USED to enjoy. All of them rev up your symptoms so you can't take em anymore.

 

Well, that's my top 10 list. Feel free to add your own....and enjoy this happy time

[[mr...]]

Hey MRS.

 

So nice to see you here. You are doing so great and you are so right! Your brain is drumming up some crazy stories. Who can blame it? This benzo w/d is insane!  It's pretty clever isn't it? Concocting all kinds of stories...I know because mine is great at it. The truth though is that it does get better. I've had a rough go this week with this virus but it still has been manageable. I've seen my healing through this. The doc thinks part of the reason I can't shake it is due to the gaba receptors in the gut still being messed up. Anyway, I'm so proud of you and see you are now 80% free!  :clap: You are going to get through this last 20% and I can't wait to celebrate you hitting zero!!! Hang in there!

 

Love,

 

Hopeful Girl

 

Thanks HG

 

Sure wish the "going" wouldn't get so tough sometimes, ya know? But alas, I am healing either way, no matter how I feel about it emotionally sometimes

 

I was suspecting the same thing your doctor did regarding your tummy! I'd imagine the bug is gone, but your tummy is just taking some time to settle back down again Just take it real sloooow over the next few days with eating. Maybe do all liquid/low sugar for the next couple days, like protein shakes or meal replacement shakes or something? In my worst days of nausea, I lived off those :-P I've also partook in drinking Pedialyte too Childish, yeah. But replacing electrolytes & such

 

Hope you feel better very soon, dear. Sleep well tonight, okay? We'll chat soon

 

Mrs.

[[ba...]]

i dont feel so well right now i was fine earlier even though i woke up around 420am i still slept 5 1/2 hours , i had a stressfull day yesterday with my car breaking down i took my meds early a .25mg of xanax instead of 0.125 mg im worried if i would do more harm than good if i take 0.125 mg right now , because i was taking the 0.125 only once every 24-36 hours before

[[Mo...]]

Please help me. I need to sleep. Tart Cherry's not doing much for me and I've come completely undone emotionally. Slept maybe 3-4 hrs past couple nights. Sought help from another person who weaned off benzos (not on this forum) and she said I "NEED" to move to valium, take the Ashton Manual to a psych doc and then start a slow wean. She's kinda bossy. Keeps saying xanax is too hard to taper. Felt encouraged last week and have done everything I know to get stable, but it seems my irregular heartbeats & BP spikes are adrenal-related and worsen with insomnia or pushing things. When I get more sleep I actually experience fewer incidents of these BP spikes & surges...and they're milder. Last two days were awful due to little sleep, I haven't even begun to taper!

 

Also have suspected copper toxicity and tons of stress . Ohmygod, I went from taking xanax PRN prior to Jan. for sleep & adrenaline surges, to 4 x daily now - feeling like an addict. Every time I turn around my cell alarm is going off. Two meltdowns before b'fast. Even a friend I confided in this morning told me I need to see a shrink for tapering help, but we all know how that's likely to go! I don't trust them anymore. But maybe I need sleep medication or I'm not gonna make it. Some days I feel like sleep would fix everything...today feels like a nightmare i'm never gonna pull through.

 

This is all I can figure: Reduced my bedtime dose to 0.375mg about 5 days ago to have a 4th dose (0.125mg) to move to the day so I could dose a little more often to help possibly alleviate symptoms. These pills are not cutting evenly. Could that be a problem? Am I just adjusting to the reduction in bedtime dose? What else could be disrupting my sleep -the Xanax itself? I fall asleep by 12:30 but wake constantly when i was sleeping so much better at one point. Had surges ALL day yesterday so maybe my adrenals are more active at night because of that? Someone said copper could be the issue. All I know is I'm ready to give up. This is some crap to go through at my age...can't even leave my house on days like today - severe adrenal exhaustion. Need to support adrenals but everyone tells me to stop taking supplements. Worried my adrenals will tank. I hear others still working and running errands and cleaning their house - and I'm like, wow 

 

Hugs to all....will catch up on your posts soon. Hopeful Girl - hope you're feeling better.

 

VCharis

 

 

Hey VCharis, When my anxiety first started, I would wake up all night with panic attacks.  My doctor put me on Trazadone and it helped me a lot.  Slept all night and woke up feeling like I slept. It is an old antidepressant that is mostly used for sleep now in lower doses.  It is not addicting and I had no side effects. When my sleep got back on track, I just stopped taking them.  Only antidepressant for me that didn't cause side effects.  I don't really have problems sleeping now but a few times a week a take Epsom Salt baths.  I still get morning jitters most mornings and this seems to help this.  I am hoping this goes away after I am completely off.  Good Luck and I hope you start sleeping better.  Monique

[[Ju...]]

i dont feel so well right now i was fine earlier even though i woke up around 420am i still slept 5 1/2 hours , i had a stressfull day yesterday with my car breaking down i took my meds early a .25mg of xanax instead of 0.125 mg im worried if i would do more harm than good if i take 0.125 mg right now , because i was taking the 0.125 only once every 24-36 hours before

Babyangel, I saw in another post on the board where you were talking about your insurance, that you had 1mg Xanax tablets, I believe?  How do you get such tiny doses, (.125mgs), out of 1mg pills?  .125mg is 1/8th of a 1mg.  A 1mg tablet is very, very concentrated with Xanax.  I'm wondering if you're having problems due to uneven doses due to cutting 1mg pills into so many pieces.

 

Are you going through a taper right now and if so, how long have you been holding?  I'm not a big fan of up dosing during a taper.  If you regularly take .125 and your already took .25 and are thinking about adding another .125, this would bring your dose for the day to .375mg.  That's a big jump up in dosage. 

[[VC...]]

Thanks to everyone who offered kind support: Mrs, Juliea, Lacey, MamaSho, Monique - hope I didn't miss anyone.  Was too wiped out yesterday to respond. Really appreciate you all. Think my adrenals are firing too many stress hormones under the strain of no sleep/other stressors. Somehow that affects my heart...

 

I think my gaba/glutamine system is struggling to keep BP & heart regulated, or either it's dysregulation from chronic lack of sleep and adrenal stress or ALL.

 

Does anyone know if you're glutamine-deficient (confirmed via testing) if its okay to supplement with glutamine& zinc (protein pwdr) for gut healing? ...or at least consume homemade bone broth (usually has glutamine too but it's a food source). ...cause I need to fix a leaky gut or else I'll never correct my mineral deficiencies...

 

HUGS to MamaShoshanna  Sorry I haven't been there for you much. You're on my heart today.

 

hope to write more later -just so very tired.

V

[[la...]]

Have a little bit of good news.

 

I signed up for a course at university this summer, so hopefully I can get back on track with my studies. It's just the one course, but feels like an important step to me.

 

Also, my Dr. took me off seroquel, and I was still able to sleep last night.  Just took 0.0625 mg of xanax, and some melatonin.  I don't think I'de have a shot at sleeping without the melatonin, but it feels good to be able to sleep without pharmacutical drugs at this point I guess.

[[ho...]]

Have a little bit of good news.

 

I signed up for a course at university this summer, so hopefully I can get back on track with my studies. It's just the one course, but feels like an important step to me.

 

Also, my Dr. took me off seroquel, and I was still able to sleep last night.  Just took 0.0625 mg of xanax, and some melatonin.  I don't think I'de have a shot at sleeping without the melatonin, but it feels good to be able to sleep without pharmacutical drugs at this point I guess.

 

Congrats, Lacey! That's great news!

 

HG

[[mr...]]

Well done, Lace That is awesome!

 

Mrs.

[[la...]]

Thanks guys!

[[Ra...]]

This is for Juliea, what did you cut your pills with.  My pill cutter is the one recommended, but it just doesn't seem to cut straight.  I may buy another one and see if I get different results.  I have .5 orange football shaped pieces and white .25 football shaped pieces.  I think the football shape makes it harder to cut. I don't know, I just know I'm becoming OCD over the size of my cuts not being equal.  I know that sounds silly at the mega 3mg dose I'm taking (minus .0625mg), but it does really stress me out.  Any tips?

 

Thank you!

[[ho...]]

Hi Everyone,

 

I found a site today that I found to be just fantastic. Tons of great resources, inspiring stories, and good information. It is www.cepuk.org Hope it helps!

 

Love,

 

Hopeful Girl

[[VC...]]

Hey Lacey, that's good news! Proud of you. Way to go!

 

Rabbit, that pill cutting is frustrating for me, too. All my little pieces fall apart sometimes...rarely do they cut evenly. I'm ready to buy a new pill cutter. Maybe the blade will be sharper.

 

Hopeful Girl, I'll check out that link!

[[Mo...]]

Great news Lacey, I know how it feels to get rid of different meds. 

[[Ju...]]

This is for Juliea, what did you cut your pills with.  My pill cutter is the one recommended, but it just doesn't seem to cut straight.  I may buy another one and see if I get different results.  I have .5 orange football shaped pieces and white .25 football shaped pieces.  I think the football shape makes it harder to cut. I don't know, I just know I'm becoming OCD over the size of my cuts not being equal.  I know that sounds silly at the mega 3mg dose I'm taking (minus .0625mg), but it does really stress me out.  Any tips?

 

Thank you!

 

Here is the pill cutter I used:

 

[nobbc]http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-deluxe-cut-n'-crush-pill-crusher/splitter/ID=prod6098640-product[/nobbc]

 

I bought it off the shelf at my local Walgreens.  This particular pill cutter is a real work horse, compared to some others from what I've been told by another buddy.  Her cutter breaks a lot of pills and pieces of pill go flying around.  She's also had to replace her cutter several times.  My cutter is still going strong and cutting well 19-months later.  I use it to cut melatonin, aspirin, whatever, and the blade is still as sharp as ever.

 

I snapped the pills in half at the scoreline with my fingers and then used the pill cutter to cut the half in half.  I put the tip of the half-pill into the V of the cutter and lined it up as straight as possible.  I then snapped the cutter very crisply, (snapped it like I meant it, lol), to get the most even cuts.  My pills were football shaped too.  I did not stress over uneven cuts.  I cut my pills for the week and lined them up from larger to slightly smaller and placed them, in order of larger to smaller, in a Sun-Mon med organizer and forgot about them, taking my doses when it was time.

 

I had no problems cutting my pills this way all the way down.  I should also note that I made about 3, .0625mg cuts with 1mg Xanax tablets.  I had to cut these 1mg pills into 16 'as even as possible' pieces to get a .0625 out of a 1mg.  But thankfully, my 1mgs were round, unlike my .25's which were football shaped. 

 

Try not to stress over it Rabbit.  You're doing and are going to do great.