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

[[ar...]]

All,

 

I am kind of new here and didn't know about the xanax support group.  I must have missed it in the introduction thread.  Anyway long story short I was taking between .125 and .25mg of Xanax for slepp during an injury at the most for 2 months and my body became dependent very fast since I am sensitive to meds.  Went through hellish w/d symptoms not knowing it was the benzo!  I finally figured it out and my psych doc switched me over to diazepam and started a slow taper so I could keep my job and work full time etc...  So far it's been going well with Diazepam.  I can function at work and life but I am not 100% that's for sure.

 

My concern is since I was on such a low dose I might have had an easier time tapering from Xanax directly?  Since the dose was so low my psych doc did not do a crossover, could this be a concern?  It's been last mid November since I've taken my last xanax dose of .125mg.

 

Hopefully I am on the right track with tapering with Valium?  You're the experts in my mind. 

 

Thanks goodness for this site and all of your efforts in supporting everyone going through this.

 

arcade, I was planning on crossing over to v until I found this group.  I read a lot of posts from people who had crossed, and asked questions of those who stayed and tapered directly off x, and I made the decision not to cross over unless it became absolutely necessary.  So far that has been the right choice for me.  I'm almost done now.  Since you've already crossed over though the point is moot.  I don't think it would be advisable to cross back over, but others who have been here longer can chime in and give you more informed opinions.  Since it seems to be going well for you now that's all that matters.  I hope it continues that way and you're free soon. 

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

 

*edit*  btw, there is probably a group here specifically for people who crossed over to valium.  You might want to check in with them as well.  Again, good luck with your taper!

 

Van,

 

Thanks for the reply.  I know it's too late so I'll stick with the Valium as the taper seems to be going well but it will be longer.  I might be kicking myself for not tapering from Xanax as I was on a low dose and not on it that long and it looks like I could have tapered more quickly that way.  Who knows, the Xanax taper could have been worse for me.  The w/d I was going through on the low doses were hell so who knows....

 

I look up to each and every one of you who have the courage to get off this stuff.  It takes a strong mind, body and support.  Respects to all!

 

Arcade.

[[va...]]

Jumped. Took my last dose today. The pressure in my head is the worst I have ever experienced. Don't know how I am going to make it  :'(

Congratulations Grinch, and you can do it.  I know you've been through hell recently, but now you're DONE!  That's cause for celebration, even if you are in horrific pain right now.    The worst should be over now and you should start feeling better soon as your body heals.  Treat yourself in some way.  Maybe a nice, long massage with a facial.  That should help a little at least.

 

Keep us posted on how you're feeling. 

 

Namaste. 

 

~K   

[[mr...]]

Jumped. Took my last dose today. The pressure in my head is the worst I have ever experienced. Don't know how I am going to make it  :'(

 

Congratulations buddy Its all "upregulation" from here!

 

You make it one day at a time. The head "pressure" is only a "sensation", and its not actually "pressure". No worries

 

PS, it is going to feel 'awkwardly wonderful' tomorrow, when you find yourself not having to "dose" at your normal dosing time This is what life is supposed to be like (LOL, NOT the symptoms ~ I mean the drug-free part ).

 

Rest well, and plan a "rest/respite" day on the day you normally "feel" a cut   And hollar if you need ANYTHING.

 

Mrs.

[[th...]]

I hope to be able to get a massage in the next couple weeks. Can't life my head off the pillow or chew at the moment due to jaw and neck pain. So anything will have to wait. The muscles on my right jaw are so tense that they have swelled. I have done everything I can do. I guess I just have to suffer. I wish I knew how long this pain will last at this intensity.

 

[[th...]]

Anyone deal with this massive head and jaw pain? How long did it last post jump? It's unbearable!

[[Mo...]]

Anyone deal with this massive head and jaw pain? How long did it last post jump? It's unbearable!

 

 

Hey Grinch,

 

Congrats on your jump!   I had head pressure that only lasted a few days.  After that I got it off and on.  I also have sinus issues so hard to tell what is causing what.  It will get better though.  My first day off, I was nervous about what I was in for but after I made it past that first day then I was able to say it is all withdrawal and I will heal.  It is nice not to worry about taking meds though. 

 

Monique

[[ma...]]

Sorry I have not posted in awhile in have been pretty busy. I have been down to  little pics of xanax a day probably little less then 0.0625. I feel fine but if I don't take them in get a bit of balance feeling and just a weird feeling. Now this could all be in my head I don't know if that little bit would effect me or not.I have been at this dose since Dec.

 

I also am a bit scared to stop taking them all to gather always been afraid of the whole.seizure thing although I have never had one. Anyway thank you all again for being here its been a journey buto I am getting there at my own pace. Hope all is well with everyone.

[[Ch...]]

Sorry I have not posted in awhile in have been pretty busy. I have been down to  little pics of xanax a day probably little less then 0.0625. I feel fine but if I don't take them in get a bit of balance feeling and just a weird feeling. Now this could all be in my head I don't know if that little bit would effect me or not.I have been at this dose since Dec.

 

I also am a bit scared to stop taking them all to gather always been afraid of the whole.seizure thing although I have never had one. Anyway thank you all again for being here its been a journey buto I am getting there at my own pace. Hope all is well with everyone.

 

Seizures are not common and almost always associated with c/t from high doses of benzos.  You're pretty safe with .0625 or less.

 

If you've been on this dose since December and are doing this well, I personally would quit at this point.  The little bits of symptoms you're getting are (my guess) probably things you'd feel for awhile after your taper ended anyway. 

 

Or you could break the bits into bits for a few more weeks, but I think you should be good to go now.  Most of us are afraid to jump, by the way... and most of us also find that no new symptoms come up when we do jump at this amount.

 

[[ma...]]

Thank you Challis99 you all have been such a great help to me i hope that I can help people in the same situation i was and still am some what. It was so reassuring having you all right here I would have never gotten  this far without you all. I did find that throwing myself into work and keeping busy helped alot.

[[oz...]]

Did another 0.125mg jump yesterday. Now on 0.125mg twice a day. I can finally see the end. My next cuts will be 0.0625mg to ensure I don't go into withdrawal. Oz.

[[Ch...]]

Thank you Challis99 you all have been such a great help to me i hope that I can help people in the same situation i was and still am some what. It was so reassuring having you all right here I would have never gotten  this far without you all. I did find that throwing myself into work and keeping busy helped alot.

 

Just saw this...thank you, Marley... 

[[Ch...]]

Did another 0.125mg jump yesterday. Now on 0.125mg twice a day. I can finally see the end. My next cuts will be 0.0625mg to ensure I don't go into withdrawal. Oz.

 

All right, Oz!  You're nearly there!

[[va...]]

Did another 0.125mg jump yesterday. Now on 0.125mg twice a day. I can finally see the end. My next cuts will be 0.0625mg to ensure I don't go into withdrawal. Oz.

 

Right on Oz!  Good work, and I hope things continue to go well for you. 

 

******

 

I talked to my doctor tonight and he told me to send for him tomorrow morning when I get to the hospital and he'll make sure to be my anesthesiologist.  We talked about what happened during my last surgery, and NOT using versed this time, using propofol instead, and he said there would be another one too that I breathe in (I can't remember what it's called).  Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better about it. 

 

I also spoke with my neurosurgeons office and talked about antibiotics.  On both of my previous surgeries they used clindamycin so I asked for that one instead of one of the other two they said they might use, and it isn't going to be a problem.  So YES on that as well.  Hopefully everything will work out OK, but just in case something happens and I die, it's been great knowing you guys and you've all helped me immensely during my taper.    (but let's hope nothing happens and I come out of it ok.  )

 

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

[[th...]]

Did another 0.125mg jump yesterday. Now on 0.125mg twice a day. I can finally see the end. My next cuts will be 0.0625mg to ensure I don't go into withdrawal. Oz.

 

Right on Oz!  Good work, and I hope things continue to go well for you. 

 

******

 

I talked to my doctor tonight and he told me to send for him tomorrow morning when I get to the hospital and he'll make sure to be my anesthesiologist.  We talked about what happened during my last surgery, and NOT using versed this time, using propofol instead, and he said there would be another one too that I breathe in (I can't remember what it's called).  Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better about it. 

 

I also spoke with my neurosurgeons office and talked about antibiotics.  On both of my previous surgeries they used clindamycin so I asked for that one instead of one of the other two they said they might use, and it isn't going to be a problem.  So YES on that as well.  Hopefully everything will work out OK, but just in case something happens and I die, it's been great knowing you guys and you've all helped me immensely during my taper.    (but let's hope nothing happens and I come out of it ok.  )

 

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

 

Take a deep breath and dive in...you will be just fine 

[[Ch...]]

Did another 0.125mg jump yesterday. Now on 0.125mg twice a day. I can finally see the end. My next cuts will be 0.0625mg to ensure I don't go into withdrawal. Oz.

 

Right on Oz!  Good work, and I hope things continue to go well for you. 

 

******

 

I talked to my doctor tonight and he told me to send for him tomorrow morning when I get to the hospital and he'll make sure to be my anesthesiologist.  We talked about what happened during my last surgery, and NOT using versed this time, using propofol instead, and he said there would be another one too that I breathe in (I can't remember what it's called).  Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better about it. 

 

I also spoke with my neurosurgeons office and talked about antibiotics.  On both of my previous surgeries they used clindamycin so I asked for that one instead of one of the other two they said they might use, and it isn't going to be a problem.  So YES on that as well.  Hopefully everything will work out OK, but just in case something happens and I die, it's been great knowing you guys and you've all helped me immensely during my taper.    (but let's hope nothing happens and I come out of it ok.  )

 

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

 

We'll be waiting right here for an update, my friend.  And yes, you'll be fine.

[[va...]]

So my surgery is over with.  It only took them about 1 1/2 hours to do it and I got to come home yesterday.  They used Clindamycin as an antibiotic and I've had no reaction thus far, so hopefully it will stay that way.  They used propofol and some other general anesthetic that I was breathing through the mask, but I forget what it was.  No bad reactions, except MAN!~ I am sore as HELL today.  (sorry about the cursing but there is no other way to describe it!)  The worst thing that happened, is my sister.  She was supposed to pick me up from the hospital.  She came after her doctor's appt around 5, but she was in extreme pain because of her hip, so I told her, "go get your pain pills and then come RIGHT BACK because I'm getting out shortly" (which ended up being about 30 minutes later).  She went home after getting her meds and didn't come back until almost 3 hours later, so I had already been released for about 2 hours and they couldn't give me any more pain medication while I had to sit there and wait for her.  I talked to her over the phone but it was a bad connection, and she kept trying to call me back instead of just coming to get me.  Finally she got there at about 8:40, and when I said something about it I had to sit and listen to how bad her day had been.  Really? Anyway, sorry about the gripe but I had to rant for a minute.

 

I've been trying to get up and walk peroidically, but mostly I've been sleeping.  It's pure torture at the incision site, but my benzo wd hasn't been affected as far as I can tell, so that is HUGE WIN in my opinion.  Over the next few days the pain might stay bad, but then it should start to subside some.  But hey, the pain in my butt, hip, leg and ankle is GONE!  So I'm very happy about that.

 

I'll probably just hold at this dose for the next week or possibly even two, just to give my body time to adjust to all the stuff that was done to it.

 

So Grinch, how goes it for you?  Are the days continuing to get a little better?  I hope so!  Thanks for the well wishes from you and Challis and others.    It really did help me not be afraid. 

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

[[th...]]

Hey Van! So glad to hear your surgery was a success! See...nothing to worry about 

 

I am holding my own. Better than last week for sure! Hoping each week will show improvements little by little!

 

So glad you are doing well!

 

Grinch

[[st...]]

Hey everyone.  So ive been popping in and out of these groups for sometime now.  Im forced to start a xanax taper as of today and to be honest, im pretty damn scared. Ive been on 1mg a day since the end of oct. (I know my sig says different but i did some calculations) im not mentally ready yet and dont know what to do. Im always expecting the worse.  Just need some words of encouragement. Also, does xanax cause depression because i feel like a shell of myself. Always on the verge of tears. I will forever regret the day i took that first pill.

[[va...]]

starfish, it would be helpful if you could start getting the .25 pills as they're easier to cut into manageable doses for tapering.  Halving a .25mg pill gives you doses of .125mg, and quartering it gives you doses of .0625, which is what most people start cutting at once they get down to around 1mg.  I think most people will cut every 7-14 days, depending on how they feel and how bad their symptoms are, but some will hold for a much longer time, like 3 weeks to a month or longer.  I think a lot of that depends on how sensitive their CNS is, and how soon they experience symptoms after they cut a dose. 

 

Don't be scared though.  I think most people are able to taper with minimal symptoms that are manageable, but a small percentage do experience very horrific symptoms.  Do you have any reason to believe your taper will be especially difficult?  Are you already experiencing interdose withdrawals?  At any rate, I'm sure more people will chime in here and give you good council.  I've found this place, and the people here, to be very understanding and encouraging.

 

For me personally, I stopped CT because I had no idea you couldn't do that, and I went into acute withdrawal.  So I went back on and stabilized at 2mg/day, and then began cutting.  My first cut was .25mg, after that I started cutting .125mg, and once I got below 1mg I began cutting .0625.  So far it's been OK.  I'm almost done now.  I started out cutting approximately every 10 days, and once I started cutting .0625 I started cutting every week or so, sometimes every 6 days.  My symptoms show up almost immediately, so it's easier for me to judge, I suppose.  I don't know if I could have done it without the people here, because I sought out a few people who had tapered directly from xanax and been successful and asked what they did, and that helped me decide how to handle my own taper.    (Right now I'm holding because I just had surgery, so I'll probably hold for another week and possibly two, to allow my body time to heal from the surgery before commencing with my taper.)

 

Just don't allow your fear to control you, because fear is funny thing, and it can end up causing you to experience whatever it is you're afraid of.  So try not to be too afraid.  Some fear is unavoidable, but just don't obsess about it or allow it to rule you.  And remember always, your symptoms are just that... symptoms.  They will eventually get better and go away as you heal.

 

Good luck with you taper!  There is a thread here somewhere where you can get help with a taper plan (I think) if you need that.  Just remember to listen to your body and you should be OK.

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

[[oz...]]

Hi guys just signing in to say I am having another 0.0625mg cut today which takes me to 0.0625mg in the morning and .125mg in the evening. Getting close to that final jump. Oz

[[st...]]

starfish, it would be helpful if you could start getting the .25 pills as they're easier to cut into manageable doses for tapering.  Halving a .25mg pill gives you doses of .125mg, and quartering it gives you doses of .0625, which is what most people start cutting at once they get down to around 1mg.  I think most people will cut every 7-14 days, depending on how they feel and how bad their symptoms are, but some will hold for a much longer time, like 3 weeks to a month or longer.  I think a lot of that depends on how sensitive their CNS is, and how soon they experience symptoms after they cut a dose. 

 

Don't be scared though.  I think most people are able to taper with minimal symptoms that are manageable, but a small percentage do experience very horrific symptoms.  Do you have any reason to believe your taper will be especially difficult?  Are you already experiencing interdose withdrawals?  At any rate, I'm sure more people will chime in here and give you good council.  I've found this place, and the people here, to be very understanding and encouraging.

 

For me personally, I stopped CT because I had no idea you couldn't do that, and I went into acute withdrawal.  So I went back on and stabilized at 2mg/day, and then began cutting.  My first cut was .25mg, after that I started cutting .125mg, and once I got below 1mg I began cutting .0625.  So far it's been OK.  I'm almost done now.  I started out cutting approximately every 10 days, and once I started cutting .0625 I started cutting every week or so, sometimes every 6 days.  My symptoms show up almost immediately, so it's easier for me to judge, I suppose.  I don't know if I could have done it without the people here, because I sought out a few people who had tapered directly from xanax and been successful and asked what they did, and that helped me decide how to handle my own taper.    (Right now I'm holding because I just had surgery, so I'll probably hold for another week and possibly two, to allow my body time to heal from the surgery before commencing with my taper.)

 

Just don't allow your fear to control you, because fear is funny thing, and it can end up causing you to experience whatever it is you're afraid of.  So try not to be too afraid.  Some fear is unavoidable, but just don't obsess about it or allow it to rule you.  And remember always, your symptoms are just that... symptoms.  They will eventually get better and go away as you heal.

 

Good luck with you taper!  There is a thread here somewhere where you can get help with a taper plan (I think) if you need that.  Just remember to listen to your body and you should be OK.

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

 

 

 

Thanks. I tried to get my doc to change my script to .25 mg pills for my refill coming up on the 3rd and he wants to see mE before. I can't  even get into see him for another week or so so im stuck with the .5mgs for now. I dont know if im having interdose wd. I have horrible headaches almost daily, anxious, depressed. Would that be wd? I am super sensitive to by body so i feel everything! thats why im thinking i might have a hard time. Ive never exceeded 1mg but that might not even make a difference.  I think fear of the unknown is.what really bothers me. I dont know what to expect.  Heart palpitations scare the crap out of me, it seems like since ive been on xanax they are more frequent. They are the main reason i got on xanax to begin with. Im not sure how i will cope with them. Its just all so scary to me. I know i should be stronger, i just feel im in a really bad place right now

[[va...]]

Hi guys just signing in to say I am having another 0.0625mg cut today which takes me to 0.0625mg in the morning and .125mg in the evening. Getting close to that final jump. Oz

 

Oz, you're exactly where I am, only reversed.    (I take the .125mg does in the am, and the .0625mg dose in the pm.)

 

I'm going to hold a little longer though because I just had surgery.  I'll probably make my next cut in another week, or maybe two.  Good luck!

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

[[va...]]

starfish, it would be helpful if you could start getting the .25 pills as they're easier to cut into manageable doses for tapering.  Halving a .25mg pill gives you doses of .125mg, and quartering it gives you doses of .0625, which is what most people start cutting at once they get down to around 1mg.  I think most people will cut every 7-14 days, depending on how they feel and how bad their symptoms are, but some will hold for a much longer time, like 3 weeks to a month or longer.  I think a lot of that depends on how sensitive their CNS is, and how soon they experience symptoms after they cut a dose. 

 

Don't be scared though.  I think most people are able to taper with minimal symptoms that are manageable, but a small percentage do experience very horrific symptoms.  Do you have any reason to believe your taper will be especially difficult?  Are you already experiencing interdose withdrawals?  At any rate, I'm sure more people will chime in here and give you good council.  I've found this place, and the people here, to be very understanding and encouraging.

 

For me personally, I stopped CT because I had no idea you couldn't do that, and I went into acute withdrawal.  So I went back on and stabilized at 2mg/day, and then began cutting.  My first cut was .25mg, after that I started cutting .125mg, and once I got below 1mg I began cutting .0625.  So far it's been OK.  I'm almost done now.  I started out cutting approximately every 10 days, and once I started cutting .0625 I started cutting every week or so, sometimes every 6 days.  My symptoms show up almost immediately, so it's easier for me to judge, I suppose.  I don't know if I could have done it without the people here, because I sought out a few people who had tapered directly from xanax and been successful and asked what they did, and that helped me decide how to handle my own taper.    (Right now I'm holding because I just had surgery, so I'll probably hold for another week and possibly two, to allow my body time to heal from the surgery before commencing with my taper.)

 

Just don't allow your fear to control you, because fear is funny thing, and it can end up causing you to experience whatever it is you're afraid of.  So try not to be too afraid.  Some fear is unavoidable, but just don't obsess about it or allow it to rule you.  And remember always, your symptoms are just that... symptoms.  They will eventually get better and go away as you heal.

 

Good luck with you taper!  There is a thread here somewhere where you can get help with a taper plan (I think) if you need that.  Just remember to listen to your body and you should be OK.

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

 

 

 

Thanks. I tried to get my doc to change my script to .25 mg pills for my refill coming up on the 3rd and he wants to see mE before. I can't  even get into see him for another week or so so im stuck with the .5mgs for now. I dont know if im having interdose wd. I have horrible headaches almost daily, anxious, depressed. Would that be wd? I am super sensitive to by body so i feel everything! thats why im thinking i might have a hard time. Ive never exceeded 1mg but that might not even make a difference.  I think fear of the unknown is.what really bothers me. I dont know what to expect.  Heart palpitations scare the crap out of me, it seems like since ive been on xanax they are more frequent. They are the main reason i got on xanax to begin with. Im not sure how i will cope with them. Its just all so scary to me. I know i should be stronger, i just feel im in a really bad place right now

 

Well, that could be interdose wd symptoms, but since you had some of them before, then probably not all of them are.  If I were in your shoes, I would probably wait until I saw the doc and got the lower dosage pills before cutting, but you could still do it with the .5 pills if you wanted.  A quarter of a .5mg pill is .125mg, which would probably be OK to cut from a 1mg dose.  I cut .125 two more times after reaching 1mg and I was fine.  But not everyone will be.  You could try dividing the pills into eighths, and that would be a .0625mg dose, but it might be a hassle.  Or you could do liquid titration.  I know nothing about that though so I can't give you any advice or anything on how it works.  Hopefully more people will chime in here at some point.  Just don't be afraid.  Fear of the unknown can be a powerful thing, but the unknown isn't necessarily bad.  It can be good.  So just try to be positive about it. 

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

[[th...]]

starfish, it would be helpful if you could start getting the .25 pills as they're easier to cut into manageable doses for tapering.  Halving a .25mg pill gives you doses of .125mg, and quartering it gives you doses of .0625, which is what most people start cutting at once they get down to around 1mg.  I think most people will cut every 7-14 days, depending on how they feel and how bad their symptoms are, but some will hold for a much longer time, like 3 weeks to a month or longer.  I think a lot of that depends on how sensitive their CNS is, and how soon they experience symptoms after they cut a dose. 

 

Don't be scared though.  I think most people are able to taper with minimal symptoms that are manageable, but a small percentage do experience very horrific symptoms.  Do you have any reason to believe your taper will be especially difficult?  Are you already experiencing interdose withdrawals?  At any rate, I'm sure more people will chime in here and give you good council.  I've found this place, and the people here, to be very understanding and encouraging.

 

For me personally, I stopped CT because I had no idea you couldn't do that, and I went into acute withdrawal.  So I went back on and stabilized at 2mg/day, and then began cutting.  My first cut was .25mg, after that I started cutting .125mg, and once I got below 1mg I began cutting .0625.  So far it's been OK.  I'm almost done now.  I started out cutting approximately every 10 days, and once I started cutting .0625 I started cutting every week or so, sometimes every 6 days.  My symptoms show up almost immediately, so it's easier for me to judge, I suppose.  I don't know if I could have done it without the people here, because I sought out a few people who had tapered directly from xanax and been successful and asked what they did, and that helped me decide how to handle my own taper.    (Right now I'm holding because I just had surgery, so I'll probably hold for another week and possibly two, to allow my body time to heal from the surgery before commencing with my taper.)

 

Just don't allow your fear to control you, because fear is funny thing, and it can end up causing you to experience whatever it is you're afraid of.  So try not to be too afraid.  Some fear is unavoidable, but just don't obsess about it or allow it to rule you.  And remember always, your symptoms are just that... symptoms.  They will eventually get better and go away as you heal.

 

Good luck with you taper!  There is a thread here somewhere where you can get help with a taper plan (I think) if you need that.  Just remember to listen to your body and you should be OK.

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

 

 

 

Thanks. I tried to get my doc to change my script to .25 mg pills for my refill coming up on the 3rd and he wants to see mE before. I can't  even get into see him for another week or so so im stuck with the .5mgs for now. I dont know if im having interdose wd. I have horrible headaches almost daily, anxious, depressed. Would that be wd? I am super sensitive to by body so i feel everything! thats why im thinking i might have a hard time. Ive never exceeded 1mg but that might not even make a difference.  I think fear of the unknown is.what really bothers me. I dont know what to expect.  Heart palpitations scare the crap out of me, it seems like since ive been on xanax they are more frequent. They are the main reason i got on xanax to begin with. Im not sure how i will cope with them. Its just all so scary to me. I know i should be stronger, i just feel im in a really bad place right now

 

Well, that could be interdose wd symptoms, but since you had some of them before, then probably not all of them are.  If I were in your shoes, I would probably wait until I saw the doc and got the lower dosage pills before cutting, but you could still do it with the .5 pills if you wanted.  A quarter of a .5mg pill is .125mg, which would probably be OK to cut from a 1mg dose.  I cut .125 two more times after reaching 1mg and I was fine.  But not everyone will be.  You could try dividing the pills into eighths, and that would be a .0625mg dose, but it might be a hassle.  Or you could do liquid titration.  I know nothing about that though so I can't give you any advice or anything on how it works.  Hopefully more people will chime in here at some point.  Just don't be afraid.  Fear of the unknown can be a powerful thing, but the unknown isn't necessarily bad.  It can be good.  So just try to be positive about it. 

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

 

I began cutting .0625 at 1.25mgs and under 1 mg it got harder. Maybe you could make one .125 mg cut and see how it goes. I would switch to .0625 mgs as soon as possible if you get hit hard with syxs with that first cut.

 

Grinch

[[mr...]]

Hi Marija, to answer your question we were PMing about...

 

I dosed four times per day, every six hours (literally: 9am, 3pm, 9pm, 3am). I did this because I also did not have (much) issue falling back asleep after a 3am dose. I know some buddies who just spread their doses throughout the day - its whatever works for you.

 

My taper plan was simple: I dropped my original daily starting dose (in my case, it was 0.25mg) into 250mL of water that was in a protein shaker bottle (you know, the ones with the metal round ball in it). I then shook it really well and used a mL syringe to remove my cut (for me, it was 1mL per day for ten days). I would then recap and carry syringe and shaker bottle with me all day (kept it out of heat, etc) and would shake/withdrawal my doses at the proper times.

 

You can control your cut size by how much water you begin with. For instance, for me, a 1 ml cut equated to a 0.001mg cut. This is found by taking your initial dose that you drop into water, and dividing it by the total mL of water. So for me:

 

0.25mg / 250mL = 0.001mg per 1 mL cut.

 

I want you to understand that this is only one version of this method ~ I used it because it worked well for me. You may need to adjust and figure out what will work well for you, okay? IMO, there is not a "magic method" that will be 'one size fits all' I say all this to let you know that its okay to adjust and change things so that it works well for you.

 

I will also mention that if you find that water tapering does not work for you, that is okay too. When I was transitioning from dry to water, I spent the first week taking my normal 0.25mg per day, but just dissolving it in water versus taking it dry - I treated that transition as a 'cut' and held it for seven days, just to be sure it would work. I've seen some buddies who felt it metabolize differently for them in water versus taking it dry, and therefore did not move forward with a water taper. Not to worry, there are plenty of other options besides this. I believe that NotForMe was one who was unable to carry through a water taper, and found a way to finish tapering xanax via a dry cut micro taper. I believe she dosed six (or more?) times per day, like you as well. She may be a good person to reach out to if you find that water titration is not for you.

 

I know you've also been considering a crossover to valium. I might encourage you to perhaps stop by the Valium/Diazepam thread and see if there are any Xanax-to-valium crossovers that can provide you some pro/con feedback in making such a transition. There is a buddy, Jackie Brown, I know crossed over and tapered off of valium. You might try and reach out to her as well, perhaps. I mentioned Carita to you in my PM, as she has completed a xanax water taper and is also almost dome with her valium taper, so she has experience with both drugs (and with nerve pain, I think?).

 

I hope this provides you some good information to begin with, M. I know that figuring out how to proceed with a tapering plan that will best suite your needs can feel a bit "challenging" to do, but I have full confidence that you'll be able to figure it out and move forward with no issues. Take care dear, and PM anytime

 

Mrs.