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

[[...]]

Yes, I mean this thread    Everyday I check to see if anyone has communicated here but there is nothing for awhile now. I just don't believe everyone is suddenly cured or having a problem free withdrawal. Have a good day 

[[ga...]]

Sometimes it's quiet here and then it perks up again. Weekends tend to be quiet on most of my threads. Guess people have more of a life than I do! 

 

How are you doing?

[Guest [Ma...]]

No life on my end these days, friends😐

 

Symptoms have flared, stomach pains, nausea, paresthesia, tears, emotional upheaval - yuck!

My poor kiddos are wondering why I'm in so much pain.

I'm going to hold for a while, stabilize and try a micro taper. Need to have my stomach evaluated though. Tough to eat anything 😐

 

Tell me how you are doing Rdb & Gardener?

 

Marija

[[ga...]]

No life on my end these days, friends😐

 

Symptoms have flared, stomach pains, nausea, paresthesia, tears, emotional upheaval - yuck!

My poor kiddos are wondering why I'm in so much pain.

I'm going to hold for a while, stabilize and try a micro taper. Need to have my stomach evaluated though. Tough to eat anything 😐

 

Tell me how you are doing Rdb & Gardener?

 

Marija

 

I'm so sorry to hear you are going through such a rough time, Marija. I had different health problems when my kids were young. I know how hard it is to feel like you are hurting your kids because of your health. Gosh, I still feel that way and mine are college students now! In spite of everything, they are well-adjusted, functioning adults. They have always known I loved them, no matter what. I'm sure yours do, too.

 

I am doing a sort of a micro taper and have had those kinds of waves you describe-paresthesias, nausea, anguish. I get impatient and taper too fast. I think I would do better if I would slow down. Not feeling too bad right now, but sort of feel something coming on.   Hoping it's a very short wave! Planning to hold at least an extra day now.

 

I am going to be going to a cognitive behavioral therapy group starting next week for 4 weeks. I am praying it helps me cope with the anxiety over what might happen before it even happens. Plus, of course, getting through waves. My son is going to drive me because we live in the sticks and it's a bit of a drive to get there. My sleep is not good enough for me to drive myself.

 

Hope you are able to get some good rest tonight and that this wave will pass quickly. (((hugs))) 

 

[Guest [Ma...]]

Gardener,

Glad dosing 6 tines a day is working out for you! 

 

I, too, am guilty of feeling profoundly confident, when symptoms recede, providing a false sense of victory thus stupidly increasing the rate of my taper and ending up a puddle of excrutiating symptons a few weeks later. 😁. I was tapering 2.5% every 7 days - too fast.

 

My kids are very loving, concerned and accepting. I know, with great certainty, they love me. It's my guilt, sorrow and frustration of this process that places despair and sadness in my heart, grieving that I am unable to do more with them, to be the vibrant, athletic, gardening, baking mum they've always relied on. Time. I pray and lift this up to God.

 

Good luck with your new CBT group! And wonderful your son is able to drive you. Very stressful driving long distances.  I look forward to hearing about your sessions.

 

Hugs and healing,

Marija

[[ga...]]

 

I, too, am guilty of feeling profoundly confident, when symptoms recede, providing a false sense of victory thus stupidly increasing the rate of my taper and ending up a puddle of excrutiating symptons a few weeks later. 😁. I was tapering 2.5% every 7 days - too fast.

 

 

Somewhat reassuring that I'm not the only one who does this, but CUT THAT OUT! (Am I yelling at you or me?? )

[[...]]

Gardener99>Marija,

    I am doing OK. Been dealing with some depression. I had my elderly mother sent to the hospital from a nursing home with double pneumonia and a UTI. She almost didn't make it. She has been there a week. She had a stroke in 2011 that made her 100% dependent, she has to be fed. In 2011 she was in the hospital for the same thing and when she got out she went to a nursing home temporarily for physical and occupational therapy. The nurse forgot to give her Coumadin and the next morning she had a catastrophic stroke. She also has congestive heart failure and swallowing issues. She will be 80 this August. I am struggling with the fact that I will have to make the decision of letting her go probally in the next year or so. Each time she goes to the hospital she is a little worse.  :'(

[[ga...]]

Gardener99>Marija,

    I am doing OK. Been dealing with some depression. I had my elderly mother sent to the hospital from a nursing home with double pneumonia and a UTI. She almost didn't make it. She has been there a week. She had a stroke in 2011 that made her 100% dependent, she has to be fed. In 2011 she was in the hospital for the same thing and when she got out she went to a nursing home temporarily for physical and occupational therapy. The nurse forgot to give her Coumadin and the next morning she had a catastrophic stroke. She also has congestive heart failure and swallowing issues. She will be 80 this August. I am struggling with the fact that I will have to make the decision of letting her go probally in the next year or so. Each time she goes to the hospital she is a little worse.  :'(

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. I went through that sort of thing with my dad, who passed 2 years ago. He had an advanced directive that if he went to the hospital he did not want to be treated except for pain relief , so we had to let him go. I miss him. My mom is pretty healthy except that her mind is going very fast. She is in an assisted living for cognitively impaired seniors near her sister and my sister in Arizona. Since neither of us can travel, I know I will never see her again. Saying good bye to parents is so hard. Harder when it is a slow process.

 

Be kind to yourself. It's OK to grieve. You are going through some really hard things. Some depression is normal. And with the benzo withdrawal, you get more extremes of emotions. At least that's how it has seemed to me. Guilt, sadness, anxiety all magnified. Sometimes I just tap the side of my head to remind myself that the benzos are messing with me. And then I point my finger forward to remind myself that I am moving forward and through this. Sometimes again and again. Tap, tap, forward. Tap, tap, forward. Seems like there are lots of days like that. But I have good days, too. Withdrawal is like that, waves (of high symptoms) and windows (with few symptoms).

 

I have been trying to keep my mood up by posting in the gratitude group every day (or whenever I remember). It seems to help.

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=131316.0;topicseen

 

I am also going to start doing cognitive behavioral therapy once a week in June. I struggle with negative thinking quite a bit. I'm hoping this will help. I read a really good book called The Happiness Trap that teaches sort of a combo of CBT and Mindfulness, and I highly recommend it. I think they are going to teach some of the same things in this group. Since I really lack social support where I live, I think a group will be better for me than just a book, though the book was great and I do use some of its suggestions almost daily. One step at a time. One day at a time. We are moving forward. Sometimes it feels like backwards, I'll admit, but I am getting my dose lower and lower, so I know it's forward!

 

(((Hugs))) and hope you're feeling better, rbd! 

[Guest [Ma...]]

Gardener - yes, yell at me !!! I do not want to mess this up due to my impatience. Yeash.

 

Rdb - I'm so sorry some depression has hit. I've also been dealing with that since last week - miserable.  I prefer the physical pains to the depression.

Heartbreaking reading about your mothers medical situation. Watching your mother deteriorate is painful.  I lost my mother as a teenager and my father in 2012.

Be gentle with yourself and treasure the time you have with her. 😘

 

Hugs my friends.

Marija

[[...]]

Thank you both so much for the encouraging words and caring. You are so kind. I hope the best in your recovery for you. I have been going to 12 step meetings for almost 28 years, will have 28 years clean and sober this August 31st. I never abused Xanax all this time, I stayed at the prescribed dosage of 2mg a day for GAD I've had my whole life, but it became very very exacerbated with nursing school and then with the job, nursing is extremely stressful. I went to school in 2001, hence 14 years on Xanax until I recently decided because of no job related stress I don't need Xanax and went cold turkey for three hellish days- then I learned that you are not supposed to cold turkey. So glad I found this site.

 

It is very hard to lose parents, in 2008 we had to take my dad off life support, just before him and mom were going to move across the state into a new manufactured home on our 7 acres. That way I could manage their health care. Instead, it was just mom- she lived in it for 2 1/2 years then got sick. Her mind was going also. It's so hard to see a parent turn into a different person, it's hard to get used to. My dad had an auto immune disease, Myasthenia Gravis, and because of the massive amounts of prednisone he was taking, which weakens your tissues, he had a bowel perforation but didn't get help for three day, then lots of complications.

 

Anyway ladies, such is life and we must be grateful for what we have every day. Hope this next week is good to you, Rose 

[Guest [Ma...]]

Good morning Rose,

Thank you for sharing your history. It's devestating. Maddening how uninformed or undereducated (my husband us a surgeon and is clueless of all of this) many doctors are on the pharmokinetics and discontinuation of benzos.

Is your prescribing physcian helping with the taper ?

 

Are you experiencing any physical symptoms, interdose withdrawal, burning or tingling?

 

Hope today is better for you.

 

Hugs,

Marija

 

[[Ra...]]

Just an update. I cut 0.625 off my last dose on 5/14/15 and so far so good. Felt slightly different but nothing bad. Also, had a question.. does anyone here drink coffee occasionally while on xanax? Does it affect you at all?

[[ga...]]

Just an update. I cut 0.625 off my last dose on 5/14/15 and so far so good. Felt slightly different but nothing bad. Also, had a question.. does anyone here drink coffee occasionally while on xanax? Does it affect you at all?

 

So are you saying you just completely dropped your midnight dose? I know I will have to drop doses eventually but it's scary! 

[[...]]

Hi Marija, My doctor is aware that I am tapering off and he is glad. He was also clueless as to the withdrawal problems of this drug. He did bring up Klonopin to help but I declined. Yes, I do get physical symptoms- noticeably horrible sweats and hot flashes then cold chills. But it is much better since I divided my daily dose into 3 doses instead of just two. All these years I was having interdose w/d sweating and I had attributed it to menopause. Obviously I was clueless  . The other symptoms  I have is fatigue and I run out of energy quickly. I have an organic garden (2,500 sq ft) and I am struggling with it this year. I do lots of canning, as I believe all the chemicals we are exposed to are very bad for us. I also have three Arabian mares, and I clean their stalls all year except summer when they stay out, but that too has been a challenge. I have tinnitus that comes and goes, and weird muscle twitches under one eye that come and go. And really weird vibrating feeling muscle stuff in my hips- so strange, hard to describe. I have noticed my hearing has improved slightly- am hard of hearing high frequency sounds and whisper type sounds. I think Xanax has done some damage to my earring too. What an evil drug. When I did cold turkey I had horrible symtoms- hallucinations, jolts of pain in random spots, things crawling on my skin, sweating, gi upset, no appetite etc, and I thought I was going crazy, it felt like it. I have never experienced that hell before!    Anyway, take care, Rose

[[...]]

Raven15---Yes I drink coffee every day but keep it at 1 or 2 cups. I haven't noticed any thing in particular from it. I know it is recommended to not drink coffee, but I just can't give it up.

[[Ra...]]

Just an update. I cut 0.625 off my last dose on 5/14/15 and so far so good. Felt slightly different but nothing bad. Also, had a question.. does anyone here drink coffee occasionally while on xanax? Does it affect you at all?

 

So are you saying you just completely dropped your midnight dose? I know I will have to drop doses eventually but it's scary! 

 

I took two doses of 0.625 spread 3 hours apart. I'm planning on dropping 0.625 every month, and yeah it was kinda scary but it's all in your head 

[[ga...]]

Just an update. I cut 0.625 off my last dose on 5/14/15 and so far so good. Felt slightly different but nothing bad. Also, had a question.. does anyone here drink coffee occasionally while on xanax? Does it affect you at all?

 

So are you saying you just completely dropped your midnight dose? I know I will have to drop doses eventually but it's scary! 

 

I took two doses of 0.625 spread 3 hours apart. I'm planning on dropping 0.625 every month, and yeah it was kinda scary but it's all in your head 

 

Hmm, you mean .0625, right?!  Right now I'm round robin cutting .02 every couple of days. As soon as I start to feel a wave coming on, I stop and hold a couple of days, and then I start up again. Cutting .06 all at once does not sound so good to me.    And I do mean to me. I know everybody is different in how they react to cuts. I'm glad your system is working for you!

[Guest [Ma...]]

Rose,

Your garden and Arabians sound lovely!  Are they show horses?

I too, love canning fruits and vegetables and have done so for years. Firmly agree that our food chain has been polluted - far too many chemicals. I need to relocate my garden to a better full sun location, though.

I am far too symptomatic this spring so will plan for next summer 😐

 

It is amazing how every benzo journey differs so greatly. I dose 6 times a day and still experience interdose withdrawal. Horrible paresthesia, muscle & joint stiffness, burning stomach, fatigue - yes, such an evil drug.

My last cut slammed me so will hold for a long while. Also, want to enjoy my summer with my children. Hard to do with these extreme symptoms so need to rethink my taper strategy.

 

All my best to you Rose. 😊

Marija

 

 

 

[Guest [Ma...]]

That is fantastic Raven!👍

 

I would love to have no symptoms.

 

Hope this trend stays straight through to the end!

 

Marija

 

 

[[Mo...]]

Just an update. I cut 0.625 off my last dose on 5/14/15 and so far so good. Felt slightly different but nothing bad. Also, had a question.. does anyone here drink coffee occasionally while on xanax? Does it affect you at all?

 

That is great Raven.   

 

I drink coffee and I don't seem to have any problems with it.  I don't add any sugar to it, just a little milk. 

 

Monique

[[Ra...]]

Just an update. I cut 0.625 off my last dose on 5/14/15 and so far so good. Felt slightly different but nothing bad. Also, had a question.. does anyone here drink coffee occasionally while on xanax? Does it affect you at all?

 

So are you saying you just completely dropped your midnight dose? I know I will have to drop doses eventually but it's scary! 

 

I took two doses of 0.625 spread 3 hours apart. I'm planning on dropping 0.625 every month, and yeah it was kinda scary but it's all in your head 

 

Hmm, you mean .0625, right?!  Right now I'm round robin cutting .02 every couple of days. As soon as I start to feel a wave coming on, I stop and hold a couple of days, and then I start up again. Cutting .06 all at once does not sound so good to me.    And I do mean to me. I know everybody is different in how they react to cuts. I'm glad your system is working for you!

Sorry, 0.0625 is correct. That would be incredibly hard to cut 0.625 lol. Yeah that's kind of what I'm doing and it seems a month is a good speed for me.

 

 

[Guest [Ma...]]

Hello  xanax warriors,

Anyone experience burning & tingling pain in feet and legs?  This has been a close, unwanted friend throughout my taper.  All my regular tools to beat it into submission, are no longer working.

Thoughts?

 

Marija

[[ga...]]

Hello  xanax warriors,

Anyone experience burning & tingling pain in feet and legs?  This has been a close, unwanted friend throughout my taper.  All my regular tools to beat it into submission, are no longer working.

Thoughts?

 

Marija

 

I have that a lot, though for some reason it is very, very low today. No idea why. Just have my head in the sand and  pretending it's not going to come back. 

[Guest [Ma...]]

Gardener,

I will try the "head in the sand" technique lol!!

 

Is yours cyclical?  My definitely increases with the plummeting serum level of the short 1/2 life.

Each morning, I feel like I'm being electrocuted.

 

Glad yours is low grade today:)

 

Marija

[[ga...]]

Marija, For awhile the pain would go up and down during the day, but I never tried to figure out the pattern. I've heard others say theirs had a pattern. Some seem to have it non-stop. I also have body-wide neuropathy that come and goes from years of nerve damage from undiagnosed Celiac, so it's a bit hard for me to sort out what's what. My legs and feet sensations have changed since my taper, so I suspect they are caused by the w/d. Also, they sometimes feel like pokes from tiny pins randomly all over my legs and feet. That's new and annoying but not awful. I'm am happy for anything annoying but not awful!