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

[Guest [Ma...]]

Thanks for responding Blue.

I'm holding 7 days. Up until 5 weeks ago, I was cutting every 10 days and that seemed better but was at a higher dose.

Do you mean micro taper?

 

Marija

[[Bl...]]

Here is a link to water titration that I found

 

http://www.benzosupport.org/water_titration.htm

 

Blue

 

 

 

 

[Guest [Ma...]]

Thanks. I am familiar with that, yes.

Would that be symptom based?

Thanks! Marija

[Guest [Ma...]]

Any other words from the wise?

 

[[Bl...]]

Any other words from the wise?

I hope others come along and are able to help you make a decision to stick it out with directly tapering off X or crossing over to V. Personally, I was afraid to cross over to V because I did not want to get accidentally addicted to it too.

 

Blue

[Guest [Ma...]]

I feel exactly the same Blue!  Terrified to change but totally debilitated since my last cut.

Titration is interesting. I will forward to my Pdoc and see if he will agree to try.

Thanks again for responding. Greatly appreciated:)

Marija

[[mr...]]

I feel exactly the same Blue!  Terrified to change but totally debilitated since my last cut.

Titration is interesting. I will forward to my Pdoc and see if he will agree to try.

Thanks again for responding. Greatly appreciated:)

Marija

 

Hi Marija,

 

I water titrated my way down to zero, directly from Xanax.  I am not very active on this thread now-a-days, but would be happy to answer any questions you may have.  If you need me, shoot me a PM first letting me know you're going to ask some questions on this thread, and then post on this thread your taper-related questions, okay?  I get email notifications of PMs, and will have a better chance of seeing your questions   I'm not available all the time, and I won't have all the answers for you of course, but I'll be happy to help out as I am able

 

There are a few other buddies who also water titrated that I will give you the names of; feel free to PM them as well with questions if you choose:

 

-Carita - water titrated to zero directly from Xanax, and is now finishing her taper from valium/diazepam.

-Hopefulgirl - dry-cut to the low doses, and then water titrated the rest of the way to zero when the symptoms became too much.  She is not as active on the forum any more, FYI, but she's a WEALTH of information if you can get a hold of her!

-VCharis - is in the process of water titrating her Xanax.  She is currently a little tied up in some personal matters, so I am unsure of her availability at the moment, but she'd be someone to keep in your "back pocket" so to speak, for down-the-road conversations.

-FluterByee - she is also in the process of water titrating off her Xanax.  She is very sensitive to cuts, and a great support person to talk to! 

 

NotForMe is also another amazing buddy   She did not water titrate (I don't think?), but she was very sensitive to cuts and interdose withdrawal.  She may have some good insights on how to do a slow and proper taper, if you are sensitive to cuts.

 

I hope this is helpful for you!  Feel free to hollar at me, or any of the above buddies if you choose Take care for now,

 

Mrs.

[[ni...]]

Hello everyone.

 

I've been taking .0625 to .125 mg of xanax daily for a year and 2 months. I know that's a small dose, but I'm uber sensitive to medication. ( I took Tylenol daytime once and landed in the ER with a heart rate of 160) anyways, my anxiety is always highest in the morning, so that's when I dose. I'm not even convinced I have panic disorder anymore, I think it's just the start of w/d from xanax. Ashton says the  life is about 12 hours to get out of your system. Anyways, I can usually control my anxiety through mindfulness after that morning dose for the rest of the day. But first waking up is another kind of hell. I think it's w/d symptoms, not panic attacks. Is hard to tell though because the sxs are so similar. Anyways, I want to get off this stuff, but I'm not sure I can. I don't know what to do since my doses are already so small.

[Guest [Ma...]]

Mrs,

Thank you for responding & for the names of other X buddies.

I will collect my thoughts and send you a pm.

I'm leaning towards staying on X and trying the water titration and need thoughts on how to best proceed. I too, am extremely sensitive to cuts.  Very symptomatic.

Thanks again

 

Marija

[[mr...]]

Hello everyone.

 

I've been taking .0625 to .125 mg of xanax daily for a year and 2 months. I know that's a small dose, but I'm uber sensitive to medication. ( I took Tylenol daytime once and landed in the ER with a heart rate of 160) anyways, my anxiety is always highest in the morning, so that's when I dose. I'm not even convinced I have panic disorder anymore, I think it's just the start of w/d from xanax. Ashton says the  life is about 12 hours to get out of your system. Anyways, I can usually control my anxiety through mindfulness after that morning dose for the rest of the day. But first waking up is another kind of hell. I think it's w/d symptoms, not panic attacks. Is hard to tell though because the sxs are so similar. Anyways, I want to get off this stuff, but I'm not sure I can. I don't know what to do since my doses are already so small.

 

Hi Nispe,

 

I'm not on this forum or thread very regularly anymore, but I just wanted to drop in a post to you briefly.  I, too, was sensitive and only on a low dose to begin with (0.125 - 0.25mg alprazolam 2-3 times/week), but experienced every bit of "tolerance" withdrawal symptoms as those who were on a regular and higher dose.  I relate well with your experiences, so I will share my history with Xanax, and what I did to become benzo-free.  This does NOT mean that this is the route that you need to choose for you, of course!  Please know that I am not trying to offer you medical advice or to try and design a taper plan for you; you know you best, and therefore please feel free to decide the best route for YOU, okay?   The below is merely my experiences and thoughts

 

I was taking it "PRN" ("as needed") until I discovered I was in withdrawal, and then I stabilized on a daily dose for about 3-4 weeks before beginning to taper.  Since I was on a small dose and already sensitive, I chose to water titrate directly from Xanax.  I gently "updosed" a bit and stabilized on 0.25mg/day for two weeks, and then began dropping my daily dose into 250mL of water every morning and drinking the full solution for two weeks.  Since I was experiencing what is called "interdose" withdrawal, I also gradually converted my once-per-day dose into four equal splits, and dosed every six hours.  Interdose withdrawal is when you experience symptoms at about the same timeframe after taking your dose, as it wears off.  For me, this was occurring between 4-6 hours after my dose.  Xanax has about a 6-hour halflife, so I divided my doses into four equal parts, like I mentioned before, and drank a dose every six hours.  Anyways, between stabilizing on a daily consistent dose, and dosing every six hours, I stabilized very well and was able to eliminate most of my troublesome symptoms.  Full stabilization, for me, took 4-6 weeks.  Once I was stable, I began to slowly taper by removing 1mL per day for ten days and then holding for ten days.  I would do four successions of this rotation (10 on / 10 off), so 80 days, and then I would do an "extended hold" for 28 days -- this helped my body to sort-of "reset" itself and prepare for the next drop.

 

My tapering supplies consisted of a protein shaker bottle (to mix my 250mL water & 0.25mg tablet each day), a 10mL baby medicine syringe (that I recieved for free from my pharmacy), and four mini containers that I used to carry my four doses.  I always mixed fresh solution each day, as it would not hold its potency for me for more than 24 hours.  Every morning, I mixed my solution, withdrew my doses quickly and re-shaking the solution inbetween each drawl of dose (to ensure the solution stayed suspended), and placed them in my water-tight containers and sealed them until I was ready for them.  I would then "toss" the remaining solution and refrigerate the mini dose bottles until their dose time. 

 

I was able to follow this pattern of taper (10 days on / 10 days off, with intermittent 28-day "extended" holds) from 0.25mg until 0.06mg per day.  Once I reached the lower doses, I moved to a slower, symptom-based taper where I removed 1mL as I felt I was "able and stable".  My personal taper lasted two days shy of two years, and I took my last dose on November 13th, 2014.  This method worked for me because I was able to keep working and engaged at life, to at least some capacity, during my whole taper.  I also believe that if I weren't able to microtaper as I had, I may have had a very rough time becoming benzo free. My taper was not, unfortunately, what I would categorize as "easy" and nor was it symptom free, but I can tell you that I was able to have a much 'gentler' taper than I probably would've with a faster, dry-cutting taper. 

 

I hope this has helped you gather more information regarding your taper.  I would gently suggest that you take some time to read around and research, and then make a decision on what you wish to do based on what you believe is best for you.  I will say that, in my opinion (IMO), there are no trophies waiting for you at the finish line of a fast taper, and that there is plenty of healing that occurred for me over the past two years, even though I was still "technically" on the drug.  I hope the best for you, whatever you decide.  Take care, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in case we don't speak again until after the new year Oh, and congratulations also for "discovering" your benzo issues!

 

Mrs.

[[mr...]]

Mrs,

Thank you for responding & for the names of other X buddies.

I will collect my thoughts and send you a pm.

I'm leaning towards staying on X and trying the water titration and need thoughts on how to best proceed. I too, am extremely sensitive to cuts.  Very symptomatic.

Thanks again

 

Marija

 

M,

 

I would encourage you to read the post I just posted to Nispe   It has much of my tapering information contained within it already

 

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you in case we don't speak again until after!

 

Mrs.

[[Al...]]

HELLO everyone I love you all and miss you all and a very merry christmas and a blessed new year.  im going to copy and paste something i just posted on another blog and see if i can get any chiming in form any of my old veteran buddies here  like mrs or any of the oldies who know me well. 

 

Hello All  I spent 14 months of living hell tapering off xanax. I jumped in august of this year 2014. The first 2 weeks were a little rough with lots of anxiety. Then it just went away and I did great until just after Thanksgiving.

 

I have been going to a great counselor working thru my childhood issues. then all of a sudden I was back into withdrawals or what I think was withdrawals. My old typical sxs's i had all thru withdrawals. body pain whole body nerve pain mental issues and so on.

 

My doctors kept telling me i had a virus going on but after 2 weeks of it i knew it had to be some kind of withdrawal come back to haunt me  lol.. Then after 2 weeks they said it was HOLIDAY PTSD !!!!!

 

I got really stressed and started taking little bites of my left over Xanax  aaaarrrgggggg  i have now done this for about a week or so... anywhere from a tiny bite off a .25 mg pill up to a whole pill at times.  i stopped it yesterday and this evening i felt like i was gonna die.  stomach pains, aches and pains all over, headache, nausea.  OMG can you get addicted that quick in like 7 or 8 days on just tiny bites ?  am I going to have to taper off some amount of xanax again   this stuff sucks  lol

I would appreciate any input that anyone can give me that ahs been there and done this before.  thanks and blessings to all  deb

Modify message

 

[[Al...]]

BLUEBELL !!!!!!!!!!!!  MRS !!!!!!!!!!!! BABYREX !!!!!!!!!!!!!  I c you 3 here  i love u all !!!!!!

[[Bl...]]

Hey there Almostfree. I do not have any advise right now, but I wanted to say hi to you.

 

Blue

[[ba...]]

BLUEBELL !!!!!!!!!!!!  MRS !!!!!!!!!!!! BABYREX !!!!!!!!!!!!!  I c you 3 here  i love u all !!!!!!

 

 

Deb,

 

It's never too late.  No more nibbles!  Throw that crap away and I mean now!  (Do not flush these poisons down the toilet as they eventually leach into the soil and water treatment plants. God knows we don't want to poison the fish...that would be inhumane).

 

You will need to take more time from your life in order to fully heal.  For some, this can take years!  But if you don't face the reality of long-term benzo withdrawal, it's likely you will be a "lifer".    In my case, it's not gonna happen.  Seriously, I'd rather be dead than put this rat-shit, pill shaped poison in my mouth again.

 

Take another year if you must.  Drop out of life to save your own. 

 

Hugs Deb,

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Ch...]]

HELLO everyone I love you all and miss you all and a very merry christmas and a blessed new year.  im going to copy and paste something i just posted on another blog and see if i can get any chiming in form any of my old veteran buddies here  like mrs or any of the oldies who know me well. 

 

Hello All  I spent 14 months of living hell tapering off xanax. I jumped in august of this year 2014. The first 2 weeks were a little rough with lots of anxiety. Then it just went away and I did great until just after Thanksgiving.

 

I have been going to a great counselor working thru my childhood issues. then all of a sudden I was back into withdrawals or what I think was withdrawals. My old typical sxs's i had all thru withdrawals. body pain whole body nerve pain mental issues and so on.

 

My doctors kept telling me i had a virus going on but after 2 weeks of it i knew it had to be some kind of withdrawal come back to haunt me  lol.. Then after 2 weeks they said it was HOLIDAY PTSD !!!!!

 

I got really stressed and started taking little bites of my left over Xanax  aaaarrrgggggg  i have now done this for about a week or so... anywhere from a tiny bite off a .25 mg pill up to a whole pill at times.  i stopped it yesterday and this evening i felt like i was gonna die.  stomach pains, aches and pains all over, headache, nausea.  OMG can you get addicted that quick in like 7 or 8 days on just tiny bites ?  am I going to have to taper off some amount of xanax again   this stuff sucks  lol

I would appreciate any input that anyone can give me that ahs been there and done this before.  thanks and blessings to all  deb

Modify message

 

There may be some truth to the 'Holiday PTSD' in that the holidays are stressful in one way or another...they bring on a lot of emotion and wide ranges of emotion.  Our bodies read that as stress and for me, that usually means a wave will probably follow.

 

I didn't take any Xanax after I finished my taper but I know someone in the 'real world' who did.  It didn't work very well at all and she had a bad reaction too after taking some.  If it were me, I probably would not taper, I would just stop taking it if it had been little bites/one pill for a week.

 

I hope you're doing better now.  It looks like this thread hasn't been visited much in the last week or so.  Please check in and let us know how it's going. 

 

[[...]]

Ahhh I finally found a psych who suggested a clear taper plan.

 

1. Work on quitting Xanax as follows

 

- 1st 3 days: 10 mg- 5 mg- 10 mg Valium

- next 3 days: 10 mg- 5 mg- 5 mg Valium.. SOS upto 40 mg Valium a day

 

and so on till I taper off.

 

Stage 2:

 

Address anxiety and depression by using meds like Zoloft etc..

 

Stage 3:

 

Address OCD and obsessive thoughts and behaviors..

 

and so on...

 

She also suggested working through this- https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome and one more link which I forgot.

 

I *hope* I shake off the Xanax demon this time around..psych says she's cured people who've taken as much as 12 mg Xanax everyday for years together..but she says my willpower is what really matters in the end...

[[va...]]

Ahhh I finally found a psych who suggested a clear taper plan.

 

1. Work on quitting Xanax as follows

 

- 1st 3 days: 10 mg- 5 mg- 10 mg Valium

- next 3 days: 10 mg- 5 mg- 5 mg Valium.. SOS upto 40 mg Valium a day

 

and so on till I taper off.

 

Stage 2:

 

Address anxiety and depression by using meds like Zoloft etc..

 

Stage 3:

 

Address OCD and obsessive thoughts and behaviors..

 

and so on...

 

She also suggested working through this- https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome and one more link which I forgot.

 

I *hope* I shake off the Xanax demon this time around..psych says she's cured people who've taken as much as 12 mg Xanax everyday for years together..but she says my willpower is what really matters in the end...

 

So wait, I'm confused.  Are you saying your doctor is taking you straight from X to V with no cross over period of adjustment?  Did I miss something?  I don't understand the schedule.   

 

I totally agree about having willpower.  Good luck ash!

[[...]]

Ahhh I finally found a psych who suggested a clear taper plan.

 

1. Work on quitting Xanax as follows

 

- 1st 3 days: 10 mg- 5 mg- 10 mg Valium

- next 3 days: 10 mg- 5 mg- 5 mg Valium.. SOS upto 40 mg Valium a day

 

and so on till I taper off.

 

Stage 2:

 

Address anxiety and depression by using meds like Zoloft etc..

 

Stage 3:

 

Address OCD and obsessive thoughts and behaviors..

 

and so on...

 

She also suggested working through this- https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome and one more link which I forgot.

 

I *hope* I shake off the Xanax demon this time around..psych says she's cured people who've taken as much as 12 mg Xanax everyday for years together..but she says my willpower is what really matters in the end...

 

So wait, I'm confused.  Are you saying your doctor is taking you straight from X to V with no cross over period of adjustment?  Did I miss something?  I don't understand the schedule.   

 

I totally agree about having willpower.  Good luck ash!

 

Yes, she says cross-overs only help in maintaining the dependency and may make me reach out for Xanax again and again. Which is mostly true, considering my past history.

 

However, diazepam kicks like a horse or a donkey and one feels it only much later. And the kick remains in the system for days. Oh and of course, the hangover and headaches which accompany high Diazepam dosages makes one wonder if it's all worth it but I guess it will be all good when we finally quit Xanax.

 

And yeah, there have been phases in the past where I was too scared to even cross the streets for fear of having a sudden panic attack and blacking out. Standing near someone and speaking used to make me weak in the knees and I had this urge to run away to safer places. I couldn't even stand without holding on to a rod or something. Zoloft proved a lifesaver back then.

 

Acc. my psych, I don't just battle Xanax dependency, but also anxiety, OCD, and almost everything else in the psych manual and everything needs to be addressed if ever I need to go back being myself again.

[[Ch...]]

Ahhh I finally found a psych who suggested a clear taper plan.

 

1. Work on quitting Xanax as follows

 

- 1st 3 days: 10 mg- 5 mg- 10 mg Valium

- next 3 days: 10 mg- 5 mg- 5 mg Valium.. SOS upto 40 mg Valium a day

 

and so on till I taper off.

 

Stage 2:

 

Address anxiety and depression by using meds like Zoloft etc..

 

Stage 3:

 

Address OCD and obsessive thoughts and behaviors..

 

and so on...

 

She also suggested working through this- https://moodgym.anu.edu.au/welcome and one more link which I forgot.

 

I *hope* I shake off the Xanax demon this time around..psych says she's cured people who've taken as much as 12 mg Xanax everyday for years together..but she says my willpower is what really matters in the end...

 

Because Xanax is short acting and Valium is long-acting, a direct cross will most likely be pretty brutal.  Have you posted in  Valium/Diazepam Support Group?  They are pretty good at helping with crossovers.

 

[[Al...]]

Deb,

 

It's never too late.  No more nibbles!  Throw that crap away and I mean now!  (Do not flush these poisons down the toilet as they eventually leach into the soil and water treatment plants. God knows we don't want to poison the fish...that would be inhumane).

 

You will need to take more time from your life in order to fully heal.  For some, this can take years!  But if you don't face the reality of long-term benzo withdrawal, it's likely you will be a "lifer".    In my case, it's not gonna happen.  Seriously, I'd rather be dead than put this rat-shit, pill shaped poison in my mouth again.

 

Take another year if you must.  Drop out of life to save your own. 

 

Hugs Deb,

 

 

Hey babyrex  Thanks for your awesome reply. I am doing GREAT now  i was fine the next day and have not touched it since then  thank god. I did dispose of the left over benzos the next day. I started a great supplement regimen today and so far its going great. Im taking L-tyrosine and its awesome stuff. I felt great with the first pill its an amino acid and great for healing the cns and mood to help the brain make serotonin. Im also taking 5-HTP at night that will calm you down and help the brain with other chemicals. Im very hopeful and positive this new regimin will help me in the healing process and bringing by life back to me totally. Yes i am learning about the after the jump healing now and i feel i have it under control, at least right now  LOL

 

Have a wonderful new year and I pray it brings all your hearts desires to your life.  Deb

[[Al...]]

Hey there Almostfree. I do not have any advise right now, but I wanted to say hi to you.

 

Blue

 

hello BLue its ok Im doing much better now and on a good and healthy track now in my healing.  Just a little stumbling block to a newly jumped person i guess  LOL  Hope you had an awesome christmas and the new year is a blessed one for you and yours.  always  deb

[[Al...]]

There may be some truth to the 'Holiday PTSD' in that the holidays are stressful in one way or another...they bring on a lot of emotion and wide ranges of emotion.  Our bodies read that as stress and for me, that usually means a wave will probably follow.

 

I didn't take any Xanax after I finished my taper but I know someone in the 'real world' who did.  It didn't work very well at all and she had a bad reaction too after taking some.  If it were me, I probably would not taper, I would just stop taking it if it had been little bites/one pill for a week.

 

I hope you're doing better now.  It looks like this thread hasn't been visited much in the last week or so.  Please check in and let us know how it's going.  /quote]

 

Hello lovely challis.  I have missed you and your good wisdom like the toher veterans in here. Yes I am much better and did not taper just stopped and disposed of the left over poision. I am on my way back on track wiht a good plan in action and good things in my plans for each day. Im starting a great suplement plan and joining a gym and took a lot of things that were stressing me out of my life.  I have slowed donw my pace of every day life and it feels much better now. The body wide nerve pain stinks but hopefully it will all go away one day.  one day at a tme is what i do now.  I know now that it will take a good year for my CNS to heal and i will give myself that time that is needed.. thanks again so much for alway being there and always being so kind. Your a blessing to BB and all who enter here. Merry christmas and a Blessed new year for  you and yours.  much love  deb

[[...]]

A direct cross over from Xanax to Valium can be brutal but then I've *really* decided to kick Xanax into outer space. Headaches can be managed with Advil or something..sleeplessness with Nyquil..

 

In the end it will all be worth it the day I am 100% benzo free.

[[th...]]

A direct cross over from Xanax to Valium can be brutal but then I've *really* decided to kick Xanax into outer space. Headaches can be managed with Advil or something..sleeplessness with Nyquil..

 

In the end it will all be worth it the day I am 100% benzo free.

 

If you have more syxs than that be sure to know it's Xanax wd. I have over 20+ syxs a day and am bedridden most days due to Xanax wd. Advil and NyQuil do nothing for me. The headaches aren't an "I will just pop an Advil" type of headache. Maybe the V added will help and you won't be tortured with severe Xanax wd. I sure hope so. Just know and be prepared what could come up as you basically ct off Xanax with a direct crossover so you don't go bat shit crazy. Be informed as much as you can. Good luck.

 

Grinch