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

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Monique, one of the things that I like about this thread is that because it is for tapering from Xanax, I understand the doses people post.  You are not taking very much anymore either.  Hope you are feeling well !  If all goes well, I will discontinue in about 10 days ! 

[[Ra...]]

KB - I can't wait to hear how you are doing.  It is exciting and scarey at the same time.  So how are your symptoms at this point?

 

Blue, so good to hear from you.  You must be the only one on this forum who didn't have a post w/d acute.  How was your taper, did it go well?  I'm hoping I get lucky 

 

Yeah Monique, you don't know which each drop, will this one be the one you get slammed on?  It just feels like my life is on hold on until this misery is over, UGH!

 

Carita, lovely you see you sweet friend.

 

Hugs to all of you,

 

Love,

 

Bunny

 

 

 

[[Mo...]]

Hey Rabbit,

I know how you feel.  Sometimes I just want to just quit it and go through whatever and be done with it but then I remember I have come this far so I need to stay slow.  You will get there to, just be patient and try not to think about it.  How have you been feeling?

[[Mo...]]

Hey Hopefull,

 

Congrats on your 11 months off.  Glad to see you are starting to feel better. 

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Good Morning,  Well, yesterday was a unique experience !  I felt pretty good when I woke up and then WHAM..... was hit with the worst migraine headaches I ever had.  Well, maybe it wasn't the worst, wouldn't know because I did not take anything for it.  Just felt like my head would be pinched in two all day, nauseated, sensitive to light and sound.  I have not had a migraine for YEARS !  But woke up this morning feeling shaky but OK.  Fingers crossed the rest of the day will be better, come to think of it, in comparison to yesterday almost anything will be better.............  So it's one foot in front of the other and keep going ! 

[[No...]]

Good Morning,  Well, yesterday was a unique experience !  I felt pretty good when I woke up and then WHAM..... was hit with the worst migraine headaches I ever had.  Well, maybe it wasn't the worst, wouldn't know because I did not take anything for it.  Just felt like my head would be pinched in two all day, nauseated, sensitive to light and sound.  I have not had a migraine for YEARS !  But woke up this morning feeling shaky but OK.  Fingers crossed the rest of the day will be better, come to think of it, in comparison to yesterday almost anything will be better.............  So it's one foot in front of the other and keep going ! 

Hi Kb45,

           

                Welcome to the Xanax thread.  Not too many of us who choose to direct taper

  from Xanax.  But it is doable.  Sorry to hear about the migraine. I also had them tapering

  Not fun.  Good to hear that today things are settling down.

    Will keep you in my thoughts for a smooth transition off of Xanax.

 

Hugs from a former Xanax taperer.

You will Heal

 

Notforme 

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Notforme or anyone,  I am having trouble cutting pills evenly so am going to try a titration method but not really sure what I am doing.........  Any thoughts anyone ?

 

I  know we need to keep a sense of humor.  I want to start water titration. I am nervous about the process but it can't be any worse than what I have been doing.  I take a .25 Xanax, cut into fourths, take one fourth and smash with a small hammer into powder between waxed paper.  Then I take a razor blade and divide into two parts, put one part into a spoon of yoghurt.  Well, it went well for a few nights.  Last night, the razor slipped and the powder went all over my chopping block table !  So I took another tablet, and tried to cut into two parts and it broke into about six all differently sized pieces.  I took what I guessed to be about 1/8th of a pill and proceeded to drop that piece on the floor !  Took a bigger piece, sliced a bit off it, swallowed it and went to bed.  So..............  I am sitting here looking at various syringes.  I have lots left from when I was a state permitted wildlife rehabilitator.  Wish me luck !

 

[[ba...]]

i got my 150 ml measuring tube in the mailbox a week ago finally im a lil worried that it'll be affective for me. i been on a very low dose of alprazolam for 9-10 months . severe tinitus frightened me on day 6 on quitting xaanx last month to make me resume taking xanax

 

my doctor recently prescribed Seroquel to me that dr isnt very good he couldve told me why and what it was for i had to google it im worried that i may have schitzofrenia since it can treat that

 

[[Ra...]]

Hey Rabbit,

I know how you feel.  Sometimes I just want to just quit it and go through whatever and be done with it but then I remember I have come this far so I need to stay slow.  You will get there to, just be patient and try not to think about it.  How have you been feeling?

 

Hi Monique, actually my taper has been pretty good as far as physical symptoms go, that's what concerns me.  I know that some folks have an easier time at the beginning and a harder time at the end and some folks the other way around.  So since I've had a fairly uneventful taper so far, it makes me very nervous that I will really struggle at the lower doses.  Not something to look forward to at all.  The first of October I will be 1/3 done, my projected jump date is 1/1/16.  UGH!!  It seems like light years away!  I MUST be able to work which complicates my situation greatly.  I try hard not to think about the taper but it's always right there at the front of my mind.  I just can't seem to forget it and live life until I get slammed.  I will just try to get through it the best I can.

 

Thanks for the encouragement 

 

Hugs,

 

Bunny

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Good Morning,  I switched to a milk titration.  I was very nervous about it.  And it was so easy that I wish I had done it sooner instead of trying to dry cut these pills into a tiny dose.  When I was attempting to dry cut to a dose of 0.0325 of Xanax, I don't think I was being very accurate.... just sort of... somewhere in the range.  The milk titration dose is 0.040.  I know that is up dosing just a bit but I had only taken the 0.0325 dose for four nights so I don't think it will make much of a difference.  (or at least I hope not)  This will be my last cut before discontinuing the Xanax.

[[Mo...]]

I know what you mean by trying to cut those small amounts.  I just break it and go with it.  I know it isn't accurate but so far it has worked for me.  I am stuck with a bunch of small pieces. 

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Monique,  Dry cutting worked for me with the 0.125 dose and the 0.0625 dose but I really had problems going down to my attempted 0.0312 dose.  I am with you,  we do what works for us.  Hugs,  KB

[[ma...]]

Just cannot seem to shake this crappy weird jittery inside,fog thinking,weird feeling I am getting. I am JUST fine in the am

I usually take my first dose around 7-8 then again at 12-1 and then again at 5 and that is it.

 

So i tried yesterday to go 7,12,5 i take 0.25 each time and i had to take 1/2 of 0.25 at 630 then i was fine.

 

today i took it at 7,1230,230, and was feeling terribly weird so took 1/2 of 0.25 at 7pm it is now 1030pm and here i sit with my mouth feeling weird i am like just feeling off balance a bit a little shaking inside so so sick of this.

 

Like i have said i have GOT to get this under control I am moving from NC to PA on the 28th driving all the way with my animals and kids my husband will have the rental truck so i have to drive. I CAN NOT be like this i cant.

 

Some say to up dose until i get settled and then taper again my script is written for up to 4 0.25 a day. and I have a little over a 3 months supply.

 

I just dont know anymore it is like if i wake up fine and then after my 2nd dose i am a mess the rest of the day and night.

 

Please Help any suggestions thank you all

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Marley,  Have you read The Ashton Manuel ?  Professor Ashton recommends that people crossover to Valium because it has a longer half life.  Xanax is known for it's short half life.  I am probably saying this very awkwardly but my understanding is that it prevents exactly what is happening to you. It makes the taper easier to tolerate.  Valium keeps the level of the drug in your system more level, Xanax hits fast and leaves fast.  Perhaps you should post about the problem on a valium thread and see what those experienced with that drug have to say.  I imagine there are others who switched to valium because of the same problems you are having.  I hope you are able to find a way to taper more comfortably.  Moving in of itself is so very stressful.  It would be stressful even if you were not tapering from a benzodiazepine.  I feel inadequate to give any advice to others on their taper but you asked for any suggestions.  Please let us know how you are doing.  Hugs,  KB

[[Mo...]]

Hey Marley, sorry you are having a rough time.  I hate those inner shaky feelings.  My mornings were worse.  For me, I notice the lower I go on my dose the better this is getting.  It is hard but I expect it to come a few hours after I take my dose and  then ignore it. I just tell myself it is a withdrawal symptom. Hope you start to feel better. 

[[th...]]

Yep, I too get those feelings...the am is the worst. But taking extra dosage wouldn't do anything for me as I know longer get any benefit from the Xanax. So I just try and distract, breathe and deal. It's been several several weeks of these morning feelings and I can only hope they decrease as I continue down in dose. We are moving too and it will be very hard to be in wd during the move but I am unwilling to stop my taper, or change my direction, for my only way to freedom is off. Tapering is my full-time job right now, and it is a 24/7 shift!!!

 

Grinch

[[ma...]]

Thank you all,I do not think I want to cross over at this time with the move and all,i have read that crossing over can be rough for some. When I do get back home to where we are moving I will go back to my old Dr who I have known for years and pray he will have some answers to help me with this mess these idiot dr in NC have put me in.

 

I am wondering this tho and thoughts like i said i am totally fine most days til around 10-11 even longer some days,of course i want to figure out a schedule and stick to it. From 4-9 i am at my worse of course prob from the inter dose i assume. But if i take a whole .25 before bed i feel like CRAP in the am. Would it be beneficial to take most of my dose in the afternoon? I might be able to get away with the .75 and not up dose that way not saying i will but would this be ok to do?

 

thank you all again

Good luck to everyone

[[th...]]

Some people take more than 3 doses, I take mine in 4 separate doses but others have even gone to 6 doses in 24 hrs. They say it helps a lot. I know when I went from dosing only at bed to dosing 4xday I had a huge change in head pressure ....relief! I know things would be even worse if I had cont to only take Xanax at bed for me, maybe try to split your dose into 4???

 

Grinch

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Good Morning,  I have never taken Xanax more than once a day.  I took the same low dose 0.25 for 16 years.  ONCE, I took .25 in the morning and .25 in the evening and then .25 the next morning (when visiting my elderly, very ill parents).  Well, I was so out of it the next day I could barely function.  I had to just sit in a chair all day like a zombie until it wore off. And for the past few years, maybe once or twice a month I would take 0.50 at night because of neck pain, would wake up in the morning and the pain was gone but I felt a bit "out of it" for most of the next morning.  And yet I have had all the same withdrawal symptoms as people who took much higher doses.  I cut last night from 0.04 to 0.035 using a milk titration.  Making tiny cuts is much easier and more accurate for me with the titration method. 

[[th...]]

That's the issue with these meds. They affect everyone differently. I was on 6mg at my highest dose and having no therapeutic effects or effects period! Then took 1mg four times a day when I got to 4mg and still had no reaction. But ya, I have a friend who has been on Xanax for years at bed and only takes a very small dose (1/4 of a .25mg tab) and is OUT for 12 hrs!!! So she would not be able to split her dose and take it during the day. Crazy how these meds react diff in each person!!! 

 

Grinch

[[ma...]]

Well i am going to try .125 6 times day and see how that goes PAIN IN THE BUTT,but if it helps so be it better then up dosing it was hard to get to .75 from 1mg trying my hardest not to go back. Thank you all 

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Marley,  Hopefully six equal doses daily will work better for you.  I know you need to find a stable level for the upcoming move.

 

Grinch,  Thanks for letting me know about your friend who takes 1/4 of a 0.025 tablet and sleeps all night.  It is really interesting how everyones system reacts differently to these drugs.

 

Wishing a good day for everyone,  Hugs, KB

[[th...]]

Kb45,

 

And that same friend quit her Xanax cold turkey which she took at bed for 5 yrs no probs....go figure  None of makes sense!! 

 

Grinch 

[[th...]]

Poll:

 

1. How many of you Xanax users started feeling better on the lower doses?

 

AND..

 

2. When does your uptick after a cut hit? I seem to get hit the very next day.

 

Grinch

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Good morning, Grinch,  my uptick seems to hit 24 to 48 hrs after a cut.  But I have been in a window for slightly less than a week now, am making micro cuts with no additional symptoms. Hugs, KB