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

[[Sy...]]

I am very happy to report that the last few days have been so much better now that I added in the V. I have had far less sxs and my id withdrawal ups and downs have smoothed way out. Cutting my last .5 in half and adding the equal amount of V has been a good thing for me. The transition itself was just a little rough the first night but every day since has been better than the last. Feeling hopeful and thankful about the last leg of this nightmare.  :)

[[va...]]

Synaps, glad to hear you're doing better. 

 

Pepsi, I dose twice a day, taking a higher dose at bedtime (.75).  Right now I'm cutting the higher dose until I get down to .5mg so it's equal with the morning one.  Once I get there, I'll start alternating my cutting back and forth, and then eliminate the morning dose first and then the evening dose right after.  I hope that makes sense.

 

~K   

[[th...]]

I have a question for all of you that have (and are ) having successful tapering off of Xanax.

At the Present I'm taking .5 mg every 6 hours with the exception of my midnight dose, which I'm cutting .0625 from that dose.

My schedule is as follows for the Xanax:

6AM- .5mg

12 noon-.5 mg

6 PM-.5mg

Midnight-49.9375 (with the .0625 cut)

 

My question is this: When I feel the time is right to move forward with my next .0625 cut, should I choose to cut let's say my 6 am dose at .0625?

Or, continue cutting the same dose(at midnight in my case) down to .125,and keep cutting the same midnight dose until it's completely eliminated,

then start cutting my 6 AM dose in the same fashion? I'm still wondering if I should 'cut' every two weeks, or 14 days,hold for a few days then cut again?

I feel that it would be safer in the long term, if I start/move my next .0625 cut to my 6 AM dose since Xanax has a shorter half life and duration of action,

then cut each dose (each time I cut) to the next pill and so forth, letting my body and brain get used to the cuts instead of cutting the  same pill until it's completely gone, then having a 12 hour 'window' without the Xanax, which could cause trouble. Any and all responses would be greatly appreciated.

 

                                Peace,            PepsiMoon

 

See my signature. You can see I cut a round robin way. I dose like u. I was on 1mg 4xday then decreased one dose to .5 before going onto the next. Till they were all at .5. Then I started again and reduced each dose to .25, which is where I am now. Next I ll work each one down to .125, then to .0625.... And then I ll cut out the doses one at a time leaving me with one dose of .0625 at the very end. I hope that makes sense. I think keeping the doses as equal as possible and dosing 4xday as you taper will help with the interdose wd part of Xanax.

 

Grinch

[[va...]]

I will be making another cut of .125 tonight.  This will be my 6th cut so far, and bring me down from 2mg/day to 1.125.  (yay!  Almost halfway done, although once I get to 1mg/day, I think I'll start cutting .0625 instead of .125, but I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.)  I'll let you guys know how it goes over the next few days.  Hopefully it will be similar to my last cut, which was good.

 

~K 

[[Ra...]]

Pepsi, I also dose twice per day.  I just got my doses equal with my cut on 10/3.  Prior to that my nighttime dose was larger.  Now that my doses are equal, I will cut round robin style.  I cut every 14 days (Friday nights) and last night I cut my 1mg nighttime dose by .0625.  I will hold for 2 weeks, then I will cut my day dose by .0625.  I've done .0625mg cuts all the way and it's worked well for me. I've had minimal sxs.

 

I'm still at a high daily dose of 1.9375mg (down from 3mg), so we'll see if I can maintain the .0625mg cuts all the way to the bottom.  I also take Seroquel, so I don't know if that's covering up some of my w/d or not.  If I can maintain this .0625mg cut and hold every 14 days, I'll be done 1.1.16.  We'll have to see how it goes.  I'm kind of afraid of the lower doses, but some, like Juliea said she did better at the lower doses.  Everyone is different.  I've looked at a lot of tapers and I've seen no 2 exactly alike.  I just hope and pray every day.

 

BabyAngel, I'm SO proud of you!  You are FREE now and are doing so well, keep it up 

 

Grinch, look at you!  You are really getting down there.  How are your symptoms now? I know you really suffered at the start of your taper.  Are sxs a little better now?

 

Vango, you are doing well too.  I wish I could be brave enough to do a .125mg cut, but alas, I'm too chicken.  I'll be keeping a close watch on you to see how you do.  Please keep us posted.

 

Torrence, I too would resist increasing your Zoloft.  Why would you want to increase that?  Your doc probably thinks it will help your w/d.  I doubt that it will as it does not affect GABA.  Goodness, your doc wants you decrease by 1mg every month?  That's nuts!!  Keep educating him    Slow and steady wins this race.  I know my doc wishes I would go faster, but even he admitted that I need to be in control of the taper in order for it to be successful.

 

Synap, I'm a little unclear as to what happened with your taper?  So you've been on Xanax, but then at the lower doses you started having trouble so are you c/o to valium now?  If so, will you do a complete c/o to valium and finish up with that?  I just watch everyone's taper, particularly as they get in the lower doses.  I know everyone is different, but hearing how someone else did it is always helpful.  Options, we need options.

 

Marley, hang in there.  If things continue they way they are and you continue to feel as bad as you do now, are you going to consider a c/o to valium? 

 

A shout out to my friend VCharis 

 

Hugs to all my fellow Xanax taperers 

 

Bunny

 

 

[[Sy...]]

Synap, I'm a little unclear as to what happened with your taper?  So you've been on Xanax, but then at the lower doses you started having trouble so are you c/o to valium now?  If so, will you do a complete c/o to valium and finish up with that?  I just watch everyone's taper, particularly as they get in the lower doses.  I know everyone is different, but hearing how someone else did it is always helpful.  Options, we need options.

 

 

Bunny, Like you said everybody is different and my taper was just getting a bit rough when it came time to cut so I decided to add in the V to help with the id withdrawal and smooth out the tail end of my taper. I was at my last .5 or X so I added in 5 mg of V and cut .25 off of the .5. I am able to work and feel a heck of a lot more stable. I will be cutting my xanax down as I add in 2.5 more of the valium so once my x is down to 0 I will have 7.5 of the valium left to taper off of, So it is a crossover of sorts and so far the best choice for me to take my time at the end of this and feeling much better in the process

[[Ra...]]

Thanks Synaps for the clarification.  Wow, your taper seems really fast compared to mine.  I'm glad you were able to c/o to the valium and have a smoother ride down at the end.  I will keep that in mind.  Please keep posting with how you're doing. 

 

 

Bunny

[[Pe...]]

Thanks Grinch and Rabbit for your insights and the 'Round Robin' type of cutting suggestion. That's exactly what I'm going to do.

I've noticed that I haven't had any w/d symptoms at all and I'm on day 11 of my taper.I think it's because I'm still on Klonopin.

 

                                                    Thanks  again                                    Peace, PepsiMoon

[[Mo...]]

I am done!  It's my second day without any Xanax.    Happy but kind of scary.  Hoping things will get back to normal.  It's been a long 3 years.

[[th...]]

I am done!  It's my second day without any Xanax.    Happy but kind of scary.  Hoping things will get back to normal.  It's been a long 3 years.

 

Yay!!! Please keep us informed on how you feel each week!! Awesome!!

 

Grinch

[[No...]]

I am done!  It's my second day without any Xanax.    Happy but kind of scary.  Hoping things will get back to normal.  It's been a long 3 years.

            CONGRATULATIONS,  Monique!!!   

 

            Notforme 

[[ma...]]

Well I am down to 0.625 from 1mg finally. I have noticed that going back to work and being EXTREMELY busy helps sooooo much. There are times that i forget to take my pill so I am hoping this keeps up. Fingers crossed went to a new Dr today and OF COURSE she is pushing the effexor on my NO THANKS I will keep on going with my slow taper. Hope I can find a Dr that will agree with me.

 

[[va...]]

I am done!  It's my second day without any Xanax.    Happy but kind of scary.  Hoping things will get back to normal.  It's been a long 3 years.

 

Monique, congratulations!  That's awesome!  I imagine it feels pretty good to be free. 

 

Bunny, my understanding from reading Ashton is to make a 10% cut every week or two weeks, or something like that (I'm going from memory of reading this over 2 months ago).  So for me up until right now cutting .125 has been cutting less than 10%, and I've been cutting around every 10 days.  Of course, to make that exact (10%) dosage cut is, I believe, for people doing liquid titration because it's much easier to measure.  I've also noticed that people doing LT will cut every day or every few days, instead of holding for longer periods of time.  But I'm dry cutting (as are many of you) and so far, what I've been doing has been working. 

 

The only symptom I've experienced since this last cut 3 days ago is loud tinnitus, sleep issues and fatigue, all of which have been an ongoing thing for me, but also which I've dealt with since way before taking x.  But the tinnitus does get MUCH louder than what I'm used to, and it's very annoying and sometimes drives me crazy, but I just try to distract myself and honestly, that works for me.  I also will push on my ears or hold my palm over my ears and snap my fingers 30-50 x and that really helps lower the volume, at least temporarily.  As far as sleep goes, if I can't sleep at night, I sleep during the day or whenever I can.  I'm not working so that isn't an issue for me.  I really feel for people who don't have the luxury of being able to sleep whenever they can, because insomnia is awful.

 

Oh, right, one thing I have been dealing with that is uncommon for me is constipation, and so far, nothing I've done has worked.  So, I'm trying to figure that out, and it's really, really uncomfortable and kind of scary.  I don' want all that toxic stuff inside me for that long.

 

Now that I'm almost at 1mg/day, I will probably need to adjust my cuts down to .0625, but I'm going to hold out as long as I can.  I really don't want to be tapering for a year.  Many people might think I'm going too fast, but it's working.  Soooo...  I don't know.  Maybe I'll have problems once I get lower in dose, or after I jump, or maybe I just have a really strong CNS, I don't know.  It seems very strange how differently these drugs affect different people coming off them.  If at some point it gets to be too much, I might CO to V as well, but only as a last resort.  But my estimation is I have between 4 and 5 months left to go before I'm free.  That would be a 6-7 month taper.

 

I'm thinking of trying theanine, as I've heard some people have had great success using it to help with brain function, but it's an individualistic thing.  I know people say you need to be careful about using supplements and herbs, but I'm using quite a few things and so far they seem to be helping rather than hindering what I'm doing.

 

Namste. 

 

~K 

[[Tr...]]

How wonderful Monique! It's huge, it really is!

 

Monday marked my one year xanax free celebration and it almost seems surreal. I'm soooo much better even as I continue to heal.

 

Hang in there my friends.

It may not be easy, but it's absolutely worth everything we go through to take back our freedom!

 

[[ba...]]

hi TrueSouth ,

Im a texan southerner too! 

 

wow 1 year off xanax thats awesome !  ,

I took a very low dose of Xanax no larger than .75mg /day 6 months  & 0.0625mg/day my final 10 months months i quit Sept 14, 2014 over 5 weeks ago  i was wondering how many months  did you wait until your tinnitus went away and after 1 year are you 100% again when it comes to comparing how you were  during pre-benzo days ? thanks for your help ,

Katie 

 

[[Ra...]]

Monique!  Congrats!!  How are you doing post jump? 

 

Vango, you are braver than me.  I know Ashton recommends 10% cuts, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that.  I hope all continues to go well for you 

 

Marley, glad to hear you are doing well.  Yes staying busy does help a lot! 

 

True, good to see you still visiting us in taperland.  I would ask the same question Baby asked, so how are you 1 year out % wise?  Would you say you're back to 100% you?

 

Baby, congrats on staying off the X!  We are all so proud of you 

 

My taper continues to go well.  Early morning is my worst, my body tightens as I think about getting out of bed and starting the day.  It could be that I dread work and I do.  I don't like my job right now and that makes each day very hard.  I'm fortunate my taper is OK, I don't know what I'd do if my taper went south on me.  Plenty of time for that to still happen as I'm still on almost 2mg per day.  I'm going to try to stay positive though 

 

Hugs to all my fellow X taperers 

 

Bunny

[[ba...]]

today is exactly week 6 since i quit my year long low dose of 0.0625mg im gratefull being here with kind ppl reassuring me that i'll be ok jumping from that low dose, i take valerian root at night and a melatonin occasioanlly to put me to sleep.

 

i dont sleep very much at night 4-5 hours i still have plenty of energy to activate in the morning such as this morning i went to walmart and hand paste waxed my car i plan to sleep more in a few hours activating alot & vitamins have helped me get thru this ordeal i feel myself improving week after week i still have to carry my xanax bottle in my pocket/purse whereever i go i feel comfort having it with me still

[[ma...]]

Well I am down to 0.625 from 1mg and I have to say i am feeling ALOT better. I still have my days but NOTHING like i was a couple months ago. I do believe that getting out and working and just being active has helped alot with this taper. I place to get down to 0.5 this week and hold there for a bit.

 

Thank you all for your help

[[th...]]

Well I am down to 0.625 from 1mg and I have to say i am feeling ALOT better. I still have my days but NOTHING like i was a couple months ago. I do believe that getting out and working and just being active has helped alot with this taper. I place to get down to 0.5 this week and hold there for a bit.

 

Thank you all for your help

 

[[va...]]

Hang in there marley you're almost done!  woo hoo! 

 

And babyangel, it sounds like you just keep getting better and better.  That's awesome! 

 

Bunny, hang in there.  I sometimes wake up with headaches, so I go back to sleep and they usually go away.  I hope things get better for you. 

 

I'm making another cut tonight of .125, so that will bring me down to exactly 1mg/day.  I will now have equal doses morning and night.  So I'll start cutting my morning dose down next.  I'll hold here for 10 days.  I'll keep you all posted on how it goes. 

 

Namaste. 

 

~K   

[[dy...]]

today is exactly week 6 since i quit my year long low dose of 0.0625mg im gratefull being here with kind ppl reassuring me that i'll be ok jumping from that low dose, i take valerian root at night and a melatonin occasioanlly to put me to sleep.

 

i dont sleep very much at night 4-5 hours i still have plenty of energy to activate in the morning such as this morning i went to walmart and hand paste waxed my car i plan to sleep more in a few hours activating alot & vitamins have helped me get thru this ordeal i feel myself improving week after week i still have to carry my xanax bottle in my pocket/purse whereever i go i feel comfort having it with me still

 

Hey, I jumped off 5 weeks ago. My bad symptom is tinnitus as well, I only sleep like 4-5hours also. Has your tinnitus changed much? Mine seems about the same as taper, mabey just slightly worse. I think I have some sinus issue and fluid in my ear which I think might be making it tad louder, not sure. My ears sound like hissing, shhhh static noise also

[[th...]]

For those of you who have jumped off Xanax. Did you feel some relief at few months post jump. Not completely healed but some significant improvements??

 

Grinch

[[Bl...]]

It has been over a year since my jump from Xanax. I think the first few months it is important to realize that your body is still adjusting to the changes that are going on. You will have your ups and downs, and under stress, symptoms may come back temporarily, but it is a heck of a lot better than having a pill run your life.

 

Blue

[[mr...]]

For those of you who have jumped off Xanax. Did you feel some relief at few months post jump. Not completely healed but some significant improvements??

 

Grinch

 

Hi Grinch,

 

I am hoping that once you're off, you will start to feel better relatively quickly However, if it were me -- and this is just my opinion, of course -- I wouldn't "bank" on feeling better quickly. What I mean is, during my taper, I have experienced times where I felt like my cuts "caught up" to me. I did try a few times to just "push" through it and cut again, but I found myself in great pain and in need of an extended "hold" period because of it. So instead, I routinely practiced a 'scheduled' extended holding period of about six weeks. For me, I found that six weeks was about how long it took for me to go back into tolerance withdrawal -- so this 'magic number' to hold would also sorta "reset" me for tapering again, and I could resume with relative ease.

 

To each their own, of course -- I know this doesn't work well for everyone. I also know you're excited about getting off the meds, too -- which makes the idea of holding much less appealing, lol. However, since there is no guarantee on how you'll feel post taper (or for how long you'll feel that way, for that matter), it is, IMO, always best to err on the side of caution rather than ending up in a situation you don't want to be. You know?

 

I've sorta looked at it like this, from practically day one: if I were to just "cold turkey" or rapid taper, gauging how ill I had felt in tolerance, chances were good that I would experience a hellacious first 6-12 months, followed by a pretty rough next 6-12 months, ending in an up/down pattern for the final 12-18 months, before being 100% "healed" -- right? So that equals about 2-3.5 years spent on tapering and withdrawal, right? My other option was to take my time tapering...holding when needed, slow cutting when not, etc...and here I find myself now: Nov 14th will be two years since I began my taper. The first 12 months were symptomatic, but better than tolerance, and very manageable! The next 6-9 months were hellacious, and the past 2-3 months have moved from very challenging to very bothersome. I forsee the next 3-6-9-12 months being similar to my first year of tapering (very manageable) and moving quite smoothly into healed. So I'll have 2.5-3 years invested into it -- the EXACT SAME TIMEFRAME as if I'd rapid tapered or cold turkied, but WAAAYYYY LESS traumatic of an experience, both emotionally and physically on my body. And doing it this way has also allowed me to keep my life going as well (albeit being very tough through my "hellacious" months).

 

Again, this is just my thoughts and opinions of course Everyone needs to figure out what they will choose to do, for them and their goals and desires I hope that whatever you decide to do, that it goes very well for you! Take care buddy; I hope this helps you!

 

Mrs.

[[th...]]

For those of you who have jumped off Xanax. Did you feel some relief at few months post jump. Not completely healed but some significant improvements??

 

Grinch

 

Hi Grinch,

 

I am hoping that once you're off, you will start to feel better relatively quickly However, if it were me -- and this is just my opinion, of course -- I wouldn't "bank" on feeling better quickly. What I mean is, during my taper, I have experienced times where I felt like my cuts "caught up" to me. I did try a few times to just "push" through it and cut again, but I found myself in great pain and in need of an extended "hold" period because of it. So instead, I routinely practiced a 'scheduled' extended holding period of about six weeks. For me, I found that six weeks was about how long it took for me to go back into tolerance withdrawal -- so this 'magic number' to hold would also sorta "reset" me for tapering again, and I could resume with relative ease.

 

To each their own, of course -- I know this doesn't work well for everyone. I also know you're excited about getting off the meds, too -- which makes the idea of holding much less appealing, lol. However, since there is no guarantee on how you'll feel post taper (or for how long you'll feel that way, for that matter), it is, IMO, always best to err on the side of caution rather than ending up in a situation you don't want to be. You know?

 

I've sorta looked at it like this, from practically day one: if I were to just "cold turkey" or rapid taper, gauging how ill I had felt in tolerance, chances were good that I would experience a hellacious first 6-12 months, followed by a pretty rough next 6-12 months, ending in an up/down pattern for the final 12-18 months, before being 100% "healed" -- right? So that equals about 2-3.5 years spent on tapering and withdrawal, right? My other option was to take my time tapering...holding when needed, slow cutting when not, etc...and here I find myself now: Nov 14th will be two years since I began my taper. The first 12 months were symptomatic, but better than tolerance, and very manageable! The next 6-9 months were hellacious, and the past 2-3 months have moved from very challenging to very bothersome. I forsee the next 3-6-9-12 months being similar to my first year of tapering (very manageable) and moving quite smoothly into healed. So I'll have 2.5-3 years invested into it -- the EXACT SAME TIMEFRAME as if I'd rapid tapered or cold turkied, but WAAAYYYY LESS traumatic of an experience, both emotionally and physically on my body. And doing it this way has also allowed me to keep my life going as well (albeit being very tough through my "hellacious" months).

 

Again, this is just my thoughts and opinions of course Everyone needs to figure out what they will choose to do, for them and their goals and desires I hope that whatever you decide to do, that it goes very well for you! Take care buddy; I hope this helps you!

 

Mrs.

 

Holding doesn't do anything for me, so it's just wasted time IMO. I don't even have upticks or downticks. I am just in a constant wd state of misery. And you are right. No way would I hold for 6 weeks bc this would mentally do me in  10 days is my hold max, unless I would seizure or something equally terrifying. I don't think I am going too speedy though either. I only cut .0625mg now so it is a small cut. And I ll do that hopefully all the way to the end. One yr is, for me, a crazy long taper already, which it will be by the time I jump. I honestly sometimes can't believe I held out this long without ct!  Yay for me! Ha. Seriously bc every time I have to take a dose I want to chuck them pills and be done! It has taken all I got to stay the course I have been on.

 

I just wonder if I ll start to have relief as the months go by post jump. I am not asking for complete healing, just improvements from the syxs.  I hope I do!!