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

[[Sl...]]

I'm here to taper but the benefits of xanix outweigh the risk in my case. I know sooner or later I'm going to have to taper. Last thing I want to do is to start taking 3mg a day, then a few later I'm up to 6mg.

 

But I've always had horrible GAD, OCD and ADD and out of all the meds I've taken, xanax seems to work the best. I never liked Klop and could not deal with the side effects of SSRI's (lexapro, paxil, zolofot) long enough to see if it actually works.

 

I'm here due to scary headlines in the media about benzos (and watching STILL ALICE  ) and it's potential increased risk of dementia later in life. If I never seen those headlines or read the studies, I dont think I would be here.

 

However reading the success stories is making me feel much more optimistic about tapering.

[[...]]

SLIPPINJIMMY The benefits will only out weigh the risks for so long. Eventually Xanax will start causing the GAD, OCD etc to get even worse. As your tolerance builds those problems increase if you don't up your dose, and even that is not a guarantee. I too became curious and slightly alarmed when I read last year that benzos increase your risk of early death and dementia. I didn't investigate for a few months then thought I'd better check it out and what I learned scared me. The more research I did about all the side effects and problems with withdrawal the more determined I became to wean myself off. The smaller the cuts the easier- too fast and too large of cuts cause pretty nasty withdrawals, that is from my own experience. It is a very powerful drug. I am at .687 mg divided in 3 doses now. Good luck and you can do this if you really want to.

[[va...]]

This week I taught my first class, I wrote a way too long post on my Benzo Free thread regarding how it went if anyone is interested. But I had to tell people who understands a very sad and disturbing thing that happened in my class. I was sitting down at lunch on Tues and happened to overhear a conversations between 3 students talking about popping Xanax!! You should have seen my ears perk up! I wanted to shout and scream and shake them till they understood the danger they are in taking such crap! They are around 21 yrs old and have no idea the gamble they are taking with their health. No one should be using benzos IMO! And definitely not nursing students who "just need to take the edge off"!!!! Ggrr!! Makes me sooo mad! And feel so helpless bc it's not like I can say anything to them in my position. Or explain my situation. I have tried to explain to other people and NO ONE believes me! They all think I did something wrong! I didn't, I was just like them, needed some sleep. Ended up completely ruined!!     

 

Grinch, I would tell them anyway.  Not preach to them, but just give them a friendly warning, and then if they want more info you could elaborate.  This is just what I would do, but it's understandable if you wouldn't want to put yourself in that position, especially if it might threaten your job or something.  (I'll go check out your update.  I haven't been around here much lately.)

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

[[Tr...]]

Hey Lacey23!!!

 

I'm delighted that I had an impact on you success. Thanks for saying that. I haven't been here in several months and today I decided I'd poke around and see how everyone was doing.

 

Your story clearly demonstrates how we can overcome adversity when we reach that point of TOTAL desperation, and I was absolutely desperate. My life today is better than anything I'd ever dreamed it could be. Sure, I have lousy days and I'm still healing, but overall I can't complain.

 

If I can do this, anyone Can! 

[[la...]]

Hey Lacey23!!!

 

I'm delighted that I had an impact on you success. Thanks for saying that. I haven't been here in several months and today I decided I'd poke around and see how everyone was doing.

 

Your story clearly demonstrates how we can overcome adversity when we reach that point of TOTAL desperation, and I was absolutely desperate. My life today is better than anything I'd ever dreamed it could be. Sure, I have lousy days and I'm still healing, but overall I can't complain.

 

If I can do this, anyone Can!

Hey man, it's funny how we both decided to randomly pop back on the forums this week.

 

Yeah, you had a big impact on my success of those first couple months. It was very beneficial imo to be able to talk to someone that was a bit further down the road in all this, and had such a positive, persevering attitude about it all.

[[Tr...]]

I nad so much love and support I felt compelled to reach out and help others as I'd been helped. When you finally accept how beaten and battered you've become from long term Xanax use, decide it's time to take action, you move forward never stopping. I didn't have a choice once my mind was made up.

 

It was the most difficult thing I've ever done, but certainly one of the best things I've ever achomplished or done for myself. Trust me when I say, If I can do this, anyone can! 

[[ga...]]

I use to post here last year.  I was cleaning out an old drawer today, and came across an old bottle of xanax, which made me think about this place, so I figured I'd maybe pop on here, and share my experience over the last year with some new faces dealing with getting off benzos.

 

My Doc put me on Benzos in June of 2013 once at night, and they made a huge improvement to my life until December when all of a sudden the old anxiety came back.  I'd be fine right after I took my dose at night, but by morning it had worn off, the anxiety was so much more overwhelmingly worse than pre-benzo, and I was just in a constant state of fear over nothing.  This time when I increased a dose by taking some during the day, it helped the anxiety, but made me so depressed too.

 

Anyways, got through my exams dropped out of school, quit my job, and prepared to come off these things.  I planned on jumping back into school the following semester but it took a bit longer

 

Just looking at my signature (I forgot the dates tbh), it looks like I was on 1.5mg on Feb 10th 2014, and then was off Xanax within 2 months. Anxiety was pretty bad after cuts, but I just persevered and wanted off.  TBH, I'm not sure how much this place helped.  There was some great parts, and great people, especially a guy named True South that had jumped right before me, and was encouraging.  But, then there was specifically 1 person that was very insulting towards myself.  I'm not sure if she was angry at how quick I tapered, or had a fundamental  problem with me taking an anti-depressant to help my symptoms, or just quick to snap at me because she was edgy from WD, or what the deal was, but it was pretty negative and not helpful for anyone. 

 

There was also some people that made microscopic cuts, and then complained a lot. I can appreciate that it's possible for others to go through hell with a lot smaller cuts than myself, and would never say anything to someone about it because there's nothing really wrong with them complaining.  Sometimes people just need to vent, and that's fine.  But, I can say that personally, hearing all that didn't help me.  My thinking was almost like, "if that small cut hurt them that bad, this 20x bigger cut I just took is going to kill me".  Then the talk about people taking years to recover on top.  It made coming off Xanax into this big unconquerable "thing". 

 

Basically, from my last couple paragraphs it sounds like others were edgy, and I was edgy, and it resulted in maybe a bit of a negative byproduct that is inevitable when stuffing so many easily-stressed people in the same forum, lol. 

 

Anyways, I stopped posting a little bit after jumping off I think.  It was almost like an attempt that if I stopped thinking about benzo's all the time things would get better.  Well it didn't initially.  I thought my life was over and it would never get better.  I had zero energy to get out of bed, was so depressed, and very suicidal, which was kind of really scary.  It turned into this negative reinforcing loop, where I had no energy, which meant I had to stay in bed, which meant I was getting depressed because how bad my life sucked that I was laying in bed all day, which started the circle over again as the depression, and lack of exercise just re-enforced the lack of energy.  And, on top of it I was smoking cause it seemed like one of the enjoyments I had, but made me incredibly out of shape. Finally my mom said "enough is enough, you have to atleast attempt to move forward and get your life back".

 

This resulted in my going to a new shrink in September.  I was put on Remeron.  It got rid of the suicidal level of depression, thank God.  I wasn't really sad or anything anymore.  Not particularly happy, but not depressed.  I still had no energy, and by the middle of winter (yeah Canada!) I had gained quite a bit of weight due to just lack of exercise from no energy, and awful eating habits while depressed, and not caring.

 

Time went on for a bit, and I think around February my grandfather asked me if I wanted a part time job as a courier.  It seemed like an easy, low stress job, and I was kind of excited by the notion of making some money and buying a few things I needed.  I wasn't ready for a big, full time, high stress job or anything, but I figured, what the hell, I think I can handle this for now.  So, I applied for it, and threw out some resumes for similar positions.  I also lined up an appointment with someone in my actual field (finance), to just kind of talk to them.

 

Well, I got 2 interviews (over 150 applied for both jobs)  for the 'easy' courier jobs, and got neither; however, I met with the guy in my field, and he said he could get me a job at his investment bank so long as I took the Canadian Securities Course.  Wow.  That was the single biggest turning point in my year.  All of a sudden it was like I had hope again.  A life to look forward to with a good job.  Possibilities to move to downtown Toronto in the heart of the financial district doing a job I love.  I still had zero energy, and had put on a whopping 40lbs, but this potential job motivated me to lose the weight so I could fit back into my suits for work. 

 

And, guess what?  I've lost 20lbs and my energy's coming back.  I've also quit smoking, am jogging, lifting weights, studying for my Canadian securities exam (series 7 in USA), have been doing some DIY projects around the house, and am happy,hopeful in life, and looking forward to what comes next. I'm no longer sleeping the day away, and can't wake up till noon.  Rather I'm up early every morning and getting things done.

 

Regarding my anxiety levels, it's better than pre-Xanax (which may be the Remeron, I dunno).  1 of my problems was social anxiety that got really bad when I had to do speeches/public speaking.  I'm pleased to announce that I've been to 2 Toastmasters meeting in the last 2 weeks.  For those unaware of what Toastmasters is, it's groups (mine has 40 people) that meets and practices their public speaking skills together.  I wasn't nervous the first time, but as soon as I had to speak in front of everyone my anxiety levels skyrocketed.  But, I went back, and felt more comfortable this time.  I'm trying to meet my fear, and address a weakness head on. 

 

So, here I am.  1 year removed from graduating from university with a 90% average.  Life has gone on.  Things are looking fine again.  I lost a bit of time, sure, but I feel like I have my life back now.  I'm ambitious with my career goals.  I plan on being a stock-broker, and building my client base to the point where I own my own firm (which requires $8 million in sales your first year).  There's currently nothing from my xanax experience imo that is holding me back from achieving that.

 

I really hope I haven't come off as conceited, but I'm just trying to maybe show people that feel like there is no hope, that it's possible to look forward to your life again, and possible to not even think of Benzo's.  I haven't thought of them for month until I came across that bottle today.

 

 

Also, one piece of advice I would give to people to hopefully learn from my mistakes would be, to maybe force yourself to exercise a bit, or work part time, whatever you can, just do something, and give yourself a reason to get out of bed.Don't make your whole life about Xanax withdrawl.  Don't just stay in bed all day letting depression envelope your life.  I genuinely feel like while the Xanax withdrawal symptoms absolutely suck, and while you can't control those, there are other factors that can crop up in this experience that you can control, and can make a difference if you make good choices here.  I feel like my frame of mind was absolutely a huge factor in this, and positivity is essential to improvement. When in the moment I was just blaming all the crap on benzo WD, but in hindsight I could have done more, that would have helped. When you allow yourself to get out of shape, it makes it harder to feel happy about yourself imo.

 

Sorry, for what turned into a long ass post.  I guess a lot has happened in the last year, so I had some stuff to say.

 

Thanks so much for posting this. I'm just at the beginning and hit a rough patch already. I need to hear these success stories! 

[[ga...]]

I nad so much love and support I felt compelled to reach out and help others as I'd been helped. When you finally accept how beaten and battered you've become from long term Xanax use, decide it's time to take action, you move forward never stopping. I didn't have a choice once my mind was made up.

 

It was the most difficult thing I've ever done, but certainly one of the best things I've ever achomplished or done for myself. Trust me when I say, If I can do this, anyone can! 

 

Thank you, TrueSouth!

[[...]]

Has anyone had the experience of the vicious circle of insomnia, then getting sick from not enough sleep, then being blasted with sweating all night from being sick resulting in poor sleep again? Sometimes I feel like I will never escape this hell. I can hardly stand the unpredictable nature of the up and down roller coaster of withdrawal symptoms.

[[va...]]

rdb, I never got the sweating, but the insomnia and then crashing, yea.  Also, tinnitus.  Screaming loud tinnitus.  It was awful.  I'm still suffering from the insomnia and tinnitus.  I wish it would stop already.  Since those are both things I suffered from pre-xanax though, I'm not sure if I'll ever be rid of them completely. 

 

Namaste.

 

~K   

[[ga...]]

Hello fellow Xanax taper-ers. I just posted a long story in the cold turkey/rapid detox thread about a scary and narrow escape from a rapid, inpatient detox off of xanax. Maybe it should have been here because I actually did escape. But just wanted to tell you it's over there. Happily, I am home and safe and back on my own taper. I need to make decisions now about whether or not to continue my taper using xanax. If you would go over and read my story and then offer advice over here, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

 

[[Mr...]]

Hey everyone!

I've made some calculations and if I continue to dry cut xanax by .0625 every ten days it will take me 340 days to go down to ZERO...I'm aware of the fact that i'm repeating myself with this question.  I just wonder is there more BB's out there who went so slow. Now at 2.25 daily. 340 days of taper + 6 months or more of getting back to normal...This is insane to me. Any advices, personal experiences are welcome and much appreciated.

[[Bu...]]

Hello fellow Xanax taper-ers. I just posted a long story in the cold turkey/rapid detox thread about a scary and narrow escape from a rapid, inpatient detox off of xanax. Maybe it should have been here because I actually did escape. But just wanted to tell you it's over there. Happily, I am home and safe and back on my own taper. I need to make decisions now about whether or not to continue my taper using xanax. If you would go over and read my story and then offer advice over here, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

 

 

I couldn't find your original post so I'm just going by your current question and your profile.  I'm in my 60's.  I recommend a dry .0625 cut every 10 to 14 days.  I started out with ridiculous cuts and paid for it.  Take a look at my profile.  I'm not a patient person but I learned to be after some nasty withdrawal symptoms.  I'm not saying at .0625 there won't be withdrawal symptoms they just won't be as intense.  At least it was for me.  Slow and easy is the was to go with the devil's drug. 

[[Mr...]]

Hello fellow Xanax taper-ers. I just posted a long story in the cold turkey/rapid detox thread about a scary and narrow escape from a rapid, inpatient detox off of xanax. Maybe it should have been here because I actually did escape. But just wanted to tell you it's over there. Happily, I am home and safe and back on my own taper. I need to make decisions now about whether or not to continue my taper using xanax. If you would go over and read my story and then offer advice over here, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

 

 

I couldn't find your original post so I'm just going by your current question and your profile.  I'm in my 60's.  I recommend a dry .0625 cut every 10 to 14 days.  I started out with ridiculous cuts and paid for it.  Take a look at my profile.  I'm not a patient person but I learned to be after some nasty withdrawal symptoms.  I'm not saying at .0625 there won't be withdrawal symptoms they just won't be as intense.  At least it was for me.  Slow and easy is the was to go with the devil's drug.

BunnyT Your post brings some hope that it can be done! How are You now? I hope all good!!

[[Ch...]]

Hey everyone!

I've made some calculations and if I continue to dry cut xanax by .0625 every ten days it will take me 340 days to go down to ZERO...I'm aware of the fact that i'm repeating myself with this question.  I just wonder is there more BB's out there who went so slow. Now at 2.25 daily. 340 days of taper + 6 months or more of getting back to normal...This is insane to me. Any advices, personal experiences are welcome and much appreciated.

 

I started tapering at 2mg of Xanax.  I was able to cut by .25mg until I got to 1mg.  I had anxiety and insomnia, but I think anyone would after ten years of use.  I didn't start cutting by .0625 until I got to .25mg, but listen to what your body is telling you.  If you're having symptoms with small cuts of .0625mg (more than a little anxiety and insomnia) I'd keep going with those small cuts.

 

If you're tolerating the .0625 cuts well, you might give .125mg a try and see if it works out okay.

 

[[Mr...]]

You are an angel Challis! Thank You.

It's like a russian rulette- 2 weeks ago cut by .0625. Nothing Lasting window! A 747 jumbo could go through. Next cut, same size- hell. And it is so hard to explain it to my wife...But that's a different story. This web site is my safe haven. You guys are saints!

[[Ch...]]

You are an angel Challis! Thank You.

It's like a russian rulette- 2 weeks ago cut by .0625. Nothing Lasting window! A 747 jumbo could go through. Next cut, same size- hell. And it is so hard to explain it to my wife...But that's a different story. This web site is my safe haven. You guys are saints!

 

Right.  Normal life stressors may be hitting you harder at some cuts than others… symptoms may be a reaction to stress rather than necessarily to the cut. 

 

You could wait for a smooth patch and try a .125mg cut.  I'm not using a calculator, but seems like that must be about 5% which is  conservative for most.  But you are you and your daily stress is unique, too, so you kinda have to roll with it.  I could make cuts every five or six days when I was going along well, then slow it or stop it if I ran into problems.  I don't know if it's common to be able to cut purely by reacting to symptoms, I was tapering by taking as little as I could to ward off the worst of the anxiety, so there was not a lot of continuity or stable dosing until I got to .25 and crash landed by trying to jump.

 

I'm not trying to talk you into deciding whether to stick with Xanax or cross to Valium, that's all up to you.  This isn't easy no matter what benzo you're tapering.

 

Beyond my own experience, I'm relaying what I've seen here in the three years I've been here, and that's why I'm cautioning you to get lots of feedback before you decide to cross over.  It's the right answer for some and the wrong for others and there isn't any way to predict how it might go for any one individual.  Xanax is a known entity for you.  You're familiar with it.

 

The biggest drawback to tapering Xanax is also its biggest strength… because it's so short-acting, the symptoms of an overly aggressive cut show up fast and a quick dose correction can often be done with Xanax, whereas the long-acting benzos take weeks to build up to strength and weeks to have all the w/d symptoms show up.

 

Just my two cents.    Again.

[[Bu...]]

Hello fellow Xanax taper-ers. I just posted a long story in the cold turkey/rapid detox thread about a scary and narrow escape from a rapid, inpatient detox off of xanax. Maybe it should have been here because I actually did escape. But just wanted to tell you it's over there. Happily, I am home and safe and back on my own taper. I need to make decisions now about whether or not to continue my taper using xanax. If you would go over and read my story and then offer advice over here, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

BTW, I was gardener59 and am now gardener99. Different numbers, same avatar, same me. 

 

I couldn't find your original post so I'm just going by your current question and your profile.  I'm in my 60's.  I recommend a dry .0625 cut every 10 to 14 days.  I started out with ridiculous cuts and paid for it.  Take a look at my profile.  I'm not a patient person but I learned to be after some nasty withdrawal symptoms.  I'm not saying at .0625 there won't be withdrawal symptoms they just won't be as intense.  At least it was for me.  Slow and easy is the was to go with the devil's drug.

BunnyT Your post brings some hope that it can be done! How are You now? I hope all good!!

 

I'm ok but still dealing with some waves.  By what I'm reading in the forum it takes a while to completely heal.  I wish I'd hurry up, ha, ha.  I'm getting there.  Best wishes to you.  Don't give up hope or get discourage because it all takes time.  You can do it. 

[[Mr...]]

You guys are great! My intuition and research tells me to stick to X for now and I'd rather do all the way! Time will tell. You'll hear from me for sure!

 

[Guest [Ma...]]

Challis,

Just wanted to say I agree with your comment regarding Xanax and it's greatest strength is it's weakness.

For me, knowing I'm gong to feel symptomatic within a few hours is easier than waiting for a few weeks.

 

Marija

[[ga...]]

Challis,

Just wanted to say I agree with your comment regarding Xanax and it's greatest strength is it's weakness.

For me, knowing I'm gong to feel symptomatic within a few hours is easier than waiting for a few weeks.

 

Marija

 

I've had the same thoughts and am trying to stick with tapering straight off of Xanax. I like to know what's going on sooner rather than later. I'm dosing 5 times a day but it's still rough.

[Guest [Ma...]]

Hi Gardner,

I have dosed 6 times a day since beginning my taper at 2.65 mg.

Unfortunately, when I hit .85 mg a day, symptoms became too difficult leading me to the decision to add in 4 mg of V - a partial cross.

For now, that seems to be working.

 

Take care,

Marija

[[ga...]]

Hi Gardner,

I have dosed 6 times a day since beginning my taper at 2.65 mg.

Unfortunately, when I hit .85 mg a day, symptoms became too difficult leading me to the decision to add in 4 mg of V - a partial cross.

For now, that seems to be working.

 

Take care,

Marija

 

A partial cross, that's very interesting! Did your doctor have any reservations about that?

 

I was dosing 6 times/day and reduced to 5 for convenience. And one dose is in the middle of the night. I'm only down to 1.26 and discouraged that I seem to be stuck. Going to try another .02 cut tonight.

 

Did you try to cut evenly across all doses or keep more at bedtime? This is something I'm not sure about.

 

[Guest [Ma...]]

Gardener,

I cut evenly.

My capsules are compounded and I reduce each capsule total by 2.5% every 7 days.

Surprisingly, I'm able to sleep 5-6 hours a night.  For now.

Mornings are rough though. I typically wake up with burning, searing, tingling neuropathic pain. I think it's the interdose withdrawal from X. I dose at 10:00 pm and then not until 6:30 am.

 

My doctor is extremely flexible. He is willing to allow me to try any means necessary to accomplish this goal: cut & hold, micro taper, partial cross, frequency of cuts, adjuvant meds. I'm very thankful for this.

 

What are your most troubling symptoms?

 

Marija

[[ga...]]

Gardener,

I cut evenly.

My capsules are compounded and I reduce each capsule total by 2.5% every 7 days.

Surprisingly, I'm able to sleep 5-6 hours a night.  For now.

Mornings are rough though. I typically wake up with burning, searing, tingling neuropathic pain. I think it's the interdose withdrawal from X. I dose at 10:00 pm and then not until 6:30 am.

 

My doctor is extremely flexible. He is willing to allow me to try any means necessary to accomplish this goal: cut & hold, micro taper, partial cross, frequency of cuts, adjuvant meds. I'm very thankful for this.

 

What are your most troubling symptoms?

 

Marija

 

 

I have randomly flaring up neuropathy, but I don't know if it is from the withdrawal or not. I had it before from an autoimmune disorder. However, it was under control until recently. You say you wake with the neuropathy. Does it last all day? Does it stay in one place or move around?

 

I struggle with fear and dread and difficulty eating. It's like my brain is at war with itself.

 

I have lost a lot of weight. I don't think I can afford to lose one more ounce, and yet I have very little appetite. I sleep very little and wake over and over, but, again, I had that problem before the Xanax.

 

The neuropathy nags at me. It comes and goes randomly. Every little thing causes me to startle and fear because I live like this, always braced against the pain. This only started with my last cut about 2 weeks ago. Before that I was making tiny cuts (.02mg) every few days and it was hard but doable. I believed I could win. I no longer believe I can win. I am stuck and don't know if I should wait to feel better or keep going. I feel trapped. Of course, my recent nightmare inpatient experience just makes me feel more like this is all hopeless and there's no help for me.

 

Sorry to be so negative. I've been having a very rough several weeks and it has worn me down.