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

[[Ra...]]

@Gardener99 @TheGrinch1 Thanks for the replies! The feeling is making me insane.

 

My burning symptoms have improved recently. Hope yours do, too!

 

Good to hear! Yeah, right now i get pain when sitting : /

 

Hi Raven, I haven't been on this thread for a while, but thought I would catch up today.  I get crawly feelings behind my knees when my legs are bent or if I'm wearing pants that are the least bit snug.  Very uncomfortable.  I don't know if it's related to my Xanax taper or the addition of Seroquel.  I know that Seroquel can cause restless leg syndrome so not sure as to the cause of my leg feelings.  My Dad did develop restless leg syndrome later in life, so it may also be genetic in my case.

 

Went to my pdr today  and ask him for  .25 mg  xanex.  He wasn't happy with me not taking lexapro he prescribed  3 weeks ago.  I told him about my psych  appointment.  He agreed that  klonopin is the same as xanax but  a bit long lasting.  He didn't  belive me that i got addicted  to xanax because it was such a small dose.    He referred me to another psych who is more into natural treatment and asked me to make sure he gets all the notes from that psych.  He told me that its foolish to think about the future and i need to take meds to feel good now.  So, i got my .25 mg xanax and tapering down to 3/4 tonight.  Please, everyone,  pray for me and wifh me luck 

 

Vika, sounds like you got your .25mg pills.  I would not cross to K if I were you.  Since you have been on X for such a short time, I would try to taper directly from that.  There are many folks here on this board who have tapered directly from X. Challis, Juliea and many others including me. 

 

To everyone in general, there were some comments a while back that not many folks are on this thread anymore, so I thought I would provide an update on my progress.  I'm about 2/3 of the way done with my taper.  I'm down to .9375 divided in half and I take 2 doses a day.  I round robin my cuts.  I work a 50 hour work week with TONS of stress which does not help anything.  I find that stress ramps up my symptoms pretty rapidly.  Including feeling nauseous, shakey, racing mind, tingling extremities and SWEATING.  Oh my goodness!  I had a hysterectomy in March and I had thought the increased night sweats were hormonal.  I'm getting my hormones tested, but not sure what's causing the night sweats, hormones or taper.  My taper has been fairly uneventful.  Started March 2014 at 3mg and began .0625mg cuts every 14 days.  Never updosed or held longer until my surgery in March.  Held an extra 2 weeks there and now I'm holding an extra 2 weeks again.  I don't know if situational stress has caused me to feel worse or maybe my taper is beginning to catch up with me.  I will continue my flat .0625mg cuts unless things really get bad.  I'm for the most part the sole support of hub and me, so I MUST work.  I do worry a bit about the last 1/3 of my taper.  I've seen it said that folks usually have a hard time at the beginning or the end of their taper.  Since my taper has been fairly uneventful, I'm a bit scared the last part may not be as uneventful.  I went through a very acute 3 months prior to my taper.  The acute period was brought under control with Seroquel which I continue to take.  Not ideal as I hate taking medication especially physc meds and was terrified to take the Seroquel, but it made the difference of me being able to work or not, so I've continued it.  It may be masking some w/d symptoms.  My plan is to continue taking it at least 12 months past my jump date to cover post jump worsening of symptoms.

 

My primary symptoms now are my hands are shakey at various points during the day.  Usually in the mornings and then again at night.  Also I sweat during the day, but only when I'm at work, so I think the stress of work causes that.  If I get stressed, I will have bowel movements  several times an hour.  Also, appetite is in the tank and has been for the last year and a half.  Despite that, when the Seroquel kicks in at night, my appetite picks up, so I have gained back the weight I lost in my 3 month very acute period (Fall/Winter of 2013).  I have night sweats, but as I mention above, not sure if that's hormonal or what.  Depression of course, restless legs, muscle twitching from time to time.  A strange vibration feeling sometimes in the early mornings when I wake up, no motivation when I'm at home (I'm an absolute log).  I think that's about it.

 

Challis and Juliea were my inspiration to do the flat .0625mg cuts.  I hope I can continue those flat cuts all the way to the bottom.  We will have to see how things go.

 

God bless you all,

 

Bunny

 

 

[[ga...]]

 

Hi Raven, I haven't been on this thread for a while, but thought I would catch up today.  I get crawly feelings behind my knees when my legs are bent or if I'm wearing pants that are the least bit snug.  Very uncomfortable.  I don't know if it's related to my Xanax taper or the addition of Seroquel.  I know that Seroquel can cause restless leg syndrome so not sure as to the cause of my leg feelings.  My Dad did develop restless leg syndrome later in life, so it may also be genetic in my case.

 

Bunny

 

Hi Bunny. I have RLS and the Seroquel definitely makes it worse. I often get those creepy crawlies in the daytime and in weird places. They feel just like the RLS I get at night. But the Seroquel is a life-saver for me as far as enabling me to get enough sleep to function, so I just put up with the creepy-crawlies. Not going back to pre-Seroquel waking 8 times/night!

 

I wonder if you would want to try daily micro-tapering now that you are getting closer to the bottom of your taper. I have switched to that with the help of the Daily Micro-tapering support group. I had had such a horrible reaction to a cut that I was paralyzed with fear, afraid to cut again. The Micro-tapering thread gave me help and encouragement I needed to pick up my taper again. It is a no-drama, encouraging group. I highly recommend checking it out.

 

Hugs,

Gardener

[[Ch...]]

Gardener, are you doing .0625mg cuts?

 

Not sure I want to tell you how fast I was cutting because you will scold me! 

 

Ha!  Just saw this and no way would I scold you…..look at the last few cuts I made before I jumped (sig). 

[[ga...]]

Gardener, are you doing .0625mg cuts?

 

Not sure I want to tell you how fast I was cutting because you will scold me! 

 

Ha!  Just saw this and no way would I scold you…..look at the last few cuts I made before I jumped (sig). 

 

So, we are all guilty, huh?

I was cutting .02ml every day for a couple of weeks. Yes, I got just what one would expect from doing that!

[[Ch...]]

And now I'm caught up reading the thread. 

 

This is not a suggestion that anyone take anything, just information.  RLS was the reason I was put on a benzodiazepine to begin with.  It started at age 30 and rapidly worsened to the point where I couldn't sleep at night.  At that time (1980) doctors, including sleep specialists, were not prescribing Parkinson's meds for RLS as they do now.  They prescribed benzodiazepines… RLS is a central nervous system disorder.

 

The only medication I take now is for RLS.  I've taken Requip (or its generic, Ropinirole) and I've also taken Carbidopa/Levodopa (Sinemet).  1 or 2 mg of Requip is enough to knock out the restlessness all night long even with the level of my RLS symptoms, which is severe.  During w/d and early recovery it took 9mg.  Parkinson's patients can take up to 24mg safely to put it in perspective.

 

These medications aren't addictive, but not a cure, either.   

[[Ch...]]

Gardener, are you doing .0625mg cuts?

 

Not sure I want to tell you how fast I was cutting because you will scold me! 

 

Ha!  Just saw this and no way would I scold you…..look at the last few cuts I made before I jumped (sig). 

 

So, we are all guilty, huh?

I was cutting .02ml every day for a couple of weeks. Yes, I got just what one would expect from doing that!

 

I failed titration in a big way.  I tried .01 daily for a couple of days.  I don't know exactly what I did wrong, but let's say it didn't work for me at all.  I made a stupidly large cut ( .125) as soon as I went back to dry cutting, but it wasn't as bad as the few days of titration. 

 

 

[[Ra...]]

 

Hi Raven, I haven't been on this thread for a while, but thought I would catch up today.  I get crawly feelings behind my knees when my legs are bent or if I'm wearing pants that are the least bit snug.  Very uncomfortable.  I don't know if it's related to my Xanax taper or the addition of Seroquel.  I know that Seroquel can cause restless leg syndrome so not sure as to the cause of my leg feelings.  My Dad did develop restless leg syndrome later in life, so it may also be genetic in my case.

 

Bunny

 

Hi Bunny. I have RLS and the Seroquel definitely makes it worse. I often get those creepy crawlies in the daytime and in weird places. They feel just like the RLS I get at night. But the Seroquel is a life-saver for me as far as enabling me to get enough sleep to function, so I just put up with the creepy-crawlies. Not going back to pre-Seroquel waking 8 times/night!

 

I wonder if you would want to try daily micro-tapering now that you are getting closer to the bottom of your taper. I have switched to that with the help of the Daily Micro-tapering support group. I had had such a horrible reaction to a cut that I was paralyzed with fear, afraid to cut again. The Micro-tapering thread gave me help and encouragement I needed to pick up my taper again. It is a no-drama, encouraging group. I highly recommend checking it out.

 

Hugs,

Gardener

 

Thank you Gardner for your kind reply.  If things get bad, I will have to try a daily micro taper.  I'm trying to avoid that because my math skills are so bad.  I'm afraid I would inadvertently make a horrible mistake and be in bad trouble.  I'm a bit of a wiener when it comes to symptoms, no that's not right, I'm a HUGE wiener when it comes to symptoms!!!  BUT if things start to go south on me, I will have to change it up somehow.  My doc is on board with slowing it down if I have to.  He knows I've been religious with my cuts up until now and he was with me through my acute period.  He was irritated with me at the time because he was throwing ADs at me and I couldn't tolerate them.  He was frustrated that I couldn't take them more than a couple of days.  Then when Seroquel was suggested, we tried that and he was very tickled that it worked for me.  I wasn't too tickled given the side effect profile of it, but it was the lesser of 2 evils at that point.  I was grasping at straws, anything to help me be functional again.

 

Chall, do you think you failed titration because you miscalculated or some other reason?  I'm afraid of the math, plus afraid of changing from dry cutting to a liquid.  YIKES!

 

Hugs to all my fellow taperers 

 

Bunny

[[ga...]]

Gardener, are you doing .0625mg cuts?

 

Not sure I want to tell you how fast I was cutting because you will scold me! 

 

Ha!  Just saw this and no way would I scold you…..look at the last few cuts I made before I jumped (sig). 

 

So, we are all guilty, huh?

I was cutting .02ml every day for a couple of weeks. Yes, I got just what one would expect from doing that!

 

I failed titration in a big way.  I tried .01 daily for a couple of days.  I don't know exactly what I did wrong, but let's say it didn't work for me at all.  I made a stupidly large cut ( .125) as soon as I went back to dry cutting, but it wasn't as bad as the few days of titration.

 

I get my Xanax already as a liquid, alprazolam intensol. So I wasn't doing any measuring or any math to make my liquid at that point. Just stupidly cutting away, thinking I hadn't been on it that long so how bad could it be. With an emphasis on stupidly. 

 

Now I use the gurus on the micro-tapering board to do all my figuring for me because otherwise I'm sure I would fail big time, too! Without them, I would still be too paralyzed with fear to move. Now I am doing what is probably the slowest micro-taper in the history of benzo tapering. But at least I am moving again and getting some of my confidence back.

[[...]]

Bunny

I did get .25 mg and lowering by a quarter.  Cut to .125 last night.  Decided to cut every 9 to 10 days  Living in constant fear of what is going to happen when jump. 

[[ga...]]

And now I'm caught up reading the thread. 

 

This is not a suggestion that anyone take anything, just information.  RLS was the reason I was put on a benzodiazepine to begin with.  It started at age 30 and rapidly worsened to the point where I couldn't sleep at night.  At that time (1980) doctors, including sleep specialists, were not prescribing Parkinson's meds for RLS as they do now.  They prescribed benzodiazepines… RLS is a central nervous system disorder.

 

The only medication I take now is for RLS.  I've taken Requip (or its generic, Ropinirole) and I've also taken Carbidopa/Levodopa (Sinemet).  1 or 2 mg of Requip is enough to knock out the restlessness all night long even with the level of my RLS symptoms, which is severe.  During w/d and early recovery it took 9mg.  Parkinson's patients can take up to 24mg safely to put it in perspective.

 

These medications aren't addictive, but not a cure, either. 

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your RLS being that bad at such a young age! I had it very mild until post menopause.

 

Just this week I tried gabapentin for sleep and RLS. I wanted something to alternate with the Seroquel so I wouldn't habituate to it (already showing signs of doing that). The first time I took it I felt bad the next day. The next time, I felt good the next day. So, the jury's out on whether it's going to work for me during my taper. I do have less RLS the nights I take it/skip the Seroquel. Just my 2 cents. I, also, have no advice to give. Total novice about RLS.

[[ga...]]

 

Hi Raven, I haven't been on this thread for a while, but thought I would catch up today.  I get crawly feelings behind my knees when my legs are bent or if I'm wearing pants that are the least bit snug.  Very uncomfortable.  I don't know if it's related to my Xanax taper or the addition of Seroquel.  I know that Seroquel can cause restless leg syndrome so not sure as to the cause of my leg feelings.  My Dad did develop restless leg syndrome later in life, so it may also be genetic in my case.

 

Bunny

 

Hi Bunny. I have RLS and the Seroquel definitely makes it worse. I often get those creepy crawlies in the daytime and in weird places. They feel just like the RLS I get at night. But the Seroquel is a life-saver for me as far as enabling me to get enough sleep to function, so I just put up with the creepy-crawlies. Not going back to pre-Seroquel waking 8 times/night!

 

I wonder if you would want to try daily micro-tapering now that you are getting closer to the bottom of your taper. I have switched to that with the help of the Daily Micro-tapering support group. I had had such a horrible reaction to a cut that I was paralyzed with fear, afraid to cut again. The Micro-tapering thread gave me help and encouragement I needed to pick up my taper again. It is a no-drama, encouraging group. I highly recommend checking it out.

 

Hugs,

Gardener

 

Thank you Gardner for your kind reply.  If things get bad, I will have to try a daily micro taper.  I'm trying to avoid that because my math skills are so bad.  I'm afraid I would inadvertently make a horrible mistake and be in bad trouble.  I'm a bit of a wiener when it comes to symptoms, no that's not right, I'm a HUGE wiener when it comes to symptoms!!!  BUT if things start to go south on me, I will have to change it up somehow.  My doc is on board with slowing it down if I have to.  He knows I've been religious with my cuts up until now and he was with me through my acute period.  He was irritated with me at the time because he was throwing ADs at me and I couldn't tolerate them.  He was frustrated that I couldn't take them more than a couple of days.  Then when Seroquel was suggested, we tried that and he was very tickled that it worked for me.  I wasn't too tickled given the side effect profile of it, but it was the lesser of 2 evils at that point.  I was grasping at straws, anything to help me be functional again.

 

Chall, do you think you failed titration because you miscalculated or some other reason?  I'm afraid of the math, plus afraid of changing from dry cutting to a liquid.  YIKES!

 

Hugs to all my fellow taperers 

 

Bunny

 

Bunny, my math skills are also hopeless (thanks to Xanax). The micro-taper group has a few math gurus who do all our figuring for us. Just tell them where you're at and they figure it out and tell you exactly how to do it. How to dissolve. How to dilute. (There's a difference!) How much to use. How much to take each day. I asked again and again until I got it. They are life-savers over there! I also like that they are success-oriented and not into drama and horror stories. Yes, we hit bumps. We get better. We move on.

 

If you are taking low-dose Seroquel (less than 100mg), you don't have a lot to worry about. Seroquel has a high affinity for histamine receptors, so it goes to them and hits them first, making it a powerful anti-histamine. That's what makes it sedating.  Above 100mg (for most people), it goes and hits other things having to do with its anti-psychotic properties. Don't remember all the details about that because it doesn't apply to me. I stay at 25mg to stay away from the anti-psychotic effect. I tried 50mg and found that doubling the dose gave me very little extra sleep and wasn't worth it.

 

As fas as being a WIMP about symptoms, nobody could possibly top my wimpy-ness! That is why I switched to micro-tapering with help from the math gurus on the micro-tapering thread.  They recommend you dilute and stay at your dose for a week to adjust to any slight difference in how much benzo you are getting. I was so scared the first night I took my first diluted dose. It took me forever to work up the courage to try it and I was shaking when I did it the first time. Lo and behold, nothing horrible happened. I did it again for a few days and, again, nothing horrible happened. So now I have actually cut my dose for several days. Again, nothing horrible. At the rate I am going, I will be there micro-tapering for a v-e-r-y l-o-n-g time. So come on over and say hi any time and you will find me hanging out there.

[[Ch...]]

This again is just my two cents, but RLS meds don't have to be tapered and don't have any side effects that I've ever noticed.  I had a  less intense withdrawal than many here have reported.  I had most of the symptoms, they were just less intense than what I see here.  The ones I didn't have are DP and DR and suicidal ideation. 

 

I have often wondered if the Requip was responsible since it is a central nervous system depressant.  I still have burning/neuropathy on the bottoms of my feet late in the afternoon and into the evening… the Requip or Carbo/Levo makes it go away.  I don't know if the burning is a leftover symptom of w/d or if it's related to the RLS.

 

The aches and pains I attributed to aging have recently gone away completely, so they appeared to be leftover w/d…I'm hoping the neuropathy is, too, because that means it'll eventually go away.  I hope. 

[[Ch...]]

As far as what went wrong with titration, I don't know.  I had a hard time dissolving the tablets (could see the grains floating and cyclone-ing around in the water and they fell quickly to the bottom.  I was already confused about what I was doing and gave up when I felt some strong symptoms.  Dry cutting worked okay for me so I went back to it.

[[Ra...]]

This again is just my two cents, but RLS meds don't have to be tapered and don't have any side effects that I've ever noticed.  I had a  less intense withdrawal than many here have reported.  I had most of the symptoms, they were just less intense than what I see here.  The ones I didn't have are DP and DR and suicidal ideation. 

 

I have often wondered if the Requip was responsible since it is a central nervous system depressant.  I still have burning/neuropathy on the bottoms of my feet late in the afternoon and into the evening… the Requip or Carbo/Levo makes it go away.  I don't know if the burning is a leftover symptom of w/d or if it's related to the RLS.

 

The aches and pains I attributed to aging have recently gone away completely, so they appeared to be leftover w/d…I'm hoping the neuropathy is, too, because that means it'll eventually go away.  I hope.

 

Interesting observation Chall, I wonder if indeed that was the case?  Yes I worry about being able to dissolve the tablets sufficiently to get an even liquid distribution.

 

If you are taking low-dose Seroquel (less than 100mg), you don't have a lot to worry about. Seroquel has a high affinity for histamine receptors, so it goes to them and hits them first, making it a powerful anti-histamine. That's what makes it sedating.  Above 100mg (for most people), it goes and hits other things having to do with its anti-psychotic properties. Don't remember all the details about that because it doesn't apply to me. I stay at 25mg to stay away from the anti-psychotic effect. I tried 50mg and found that doubling the dose gave me very little extra sleep and wasn't worth it.

 

Thank you Gardner, yes I had read that as well.  I take IR Seroquel and my nose usually gets very stuffy when it kicks in.  When I first started taking it, I had to breathe through my mouth it was so bad.  Now my nose is just a bit stuffy.

 

I did pop over to the micro-taper support thread and posted.  Thank you for the recommendation to go there.  Sounds like a very nice and informed group of folks there.

 

Hugs,

 

Bunny

[[Ch...]]

The micro-tapering group is active, mellow and very informed.  One of the best threads here for support and accurate information.

[[Ra...]]

The micro-tapering group is active, mellow and very informed.  One of the best threads here for support and accurate information.

 

Thanks Chall! 

[[ga...]]

 

Thank you Gardner, yes I had read that as well.  I take IR Seroquel and my nose usually gets very stuffy when it kicks in.  When I first started taking it, I had to breathe through my mouth it was so bad.  Now my nose is just a bit stuffy.

 

Hugs,

 

Bunny

 

Interesting. I've had other meds make me stuffy, but not Seroquel. Glad that got better for you!

[[ga...]]

I am having a really rough time trying to taper straight off of Xanax. I need to dose it 6 times a day. My days revolve around taking my meds. I am micro-tapering, but still having debilitating anxiety most of the time, most days. Part of this may be from sleep meds that I must take or I get zero sleep. When I started my taper it went smoothly and I thought I could continue. But the past month has been a downhill slide and I don't know why. I just wonder at what point a person decides they need to switch to a longer benzo. I can't do Valium, but could do Librium. Or what would the advantages of sticking with the Xanax be? What would the danger of switching be? Thanks.

[[bu...]]

I'm so discouraged that I can't find any people on BB who have successfully tapered from as high of a dose as I was on (8mg/day for many years - xanax at some dose for 24 years) to all the way benzo free.  I just feel like there isn't hope for me.  I'm currently at 7mg and already it's been difficult.    I am really glad that I found this group, though.  It's been helpful.  Thank you for that.

[[th...]]

I am having a really rough time trying to taper straight off of Xanax. I need to dose it 6 times a day. My days revolve around taking my meds. I am micro-tapering, but still having debilitating anxiety most of the time, most days. Part of this may be from sleep meds that I must take or I get zero sleep. When I started my taper it went smoothly and I thought I could continue. But the past month has been a downhill slide and I don't know why. I just wonder at what point a person decides they need to switch to a longer benzo. I can't do Valium, but could do Librium. Or what would the advantages of sticking with the Xanax be? What would the danger of switching be? Thanks.

 

Hi Gardner,

I am probably not the best person to respond to your questions because my taper was balls to the walls dry cut every week regardless of symptoms, and I was so bad at a certain point I couldn't even walk to the bathroom myself. What kept me going was how badly I wanted off, that over shadowed all the pain and torture of the WD. I had this idea that nothing would get better until I was off and time had passed to allow me to heal. So the only way to that goal was to power through the taper, never holding, never questioning my choice, never looking back, never switching...I made up my mind on a path, wrote it all down from beginning to jump and followed it regardless. It was a year. I had many many bbs suggesting a cross-over bc I was in real bad shape but it wasn't something I wanted to do. I didn't trust it. Who knows what would transpire from a cross-over. Or how my body would react to a different benzo. The results of that are so individual IMO and from what I found from my research it isn't always better. I couldn't take that chance. The chance of it being worse. The chance of being set back. I just accepted the process, my plan, and all that goes with it. My life, my job, my everything was the taper for a yr. Our lives revolved around it. For some people to get off this crap that is what it takes. For some people it will take many months of white knuckles to be successful. I just accepted I was one of those people and kept going forward. If I didn't have that same mindset now I prob would have reinstated since my jump bc it hasn't really been any easier. It's been 5 ms off now and I am still having a hard time. But I would never reinstate or rescue dose bc I gave up so much as did my kids and family to taper off (very sick, no job, lost house, etc) I would never throw all that sacrifice away. I just have to pass the time, manage the syxs, and have hope that my healing day will come.

 

IMO attitude is everything. Believing you can do this! And having the ultimate goal be that day when you can wrote that success story! Everything else in between is part of the journey, all the pain, misery, and torture (for some of us it can be unbearable, I know  :'() is part of that too. No way around it, gotta go through it.

 

Having said all that, I don't think there is anything wrong with a cross over. I know lots of people find relief from them. It just wasn't in my plan.

 

Grinch

[[th...]]

I'm so discouraged that I can't find any people on BB who have successfully tapered from as high of a dose as I was on (8mg/day for many years - xanax at some dose for 24 years) to all the way benzo free.  I just feel like there isn't hope for me.  I'm currently at 7mg and already it's been difficult.    I am really glad that I found this group, though.  It's been helpful.  Thank you for that.

 

Hi Buddy,

 

My highest dose was 6mg, not as high as yours but a significant amount. I did a dry cut all the way to 0. My sig shows me starting at 5mg to taper but I had cut 1mg prior. And yes, it was awful all the way. This is something you might need to accept as part of this process, if this is your fate in your taper. For some bbs there just isn't any other way to the end, but a lot grit and determination. And an attitude of success. And having your desire to be free over power any syxs that arise. That is the only reason I was successful (still am fighting) was the desire to be free. I knew deep down inside the only way I was going to get better (I was severely ill while on Xanax; in unknown tol and interdose wd for a long time) was to get off. Nothing else mattered. I was a beast in my taper, I could have been hallucinating, not eating, not sleeping for days, and I still made my weekly cuts. Maybe not the best choice, but it showed my desire to be free was over powering anything the wd threw at me. For some of us, sadly, that is what it takes to succeed. There is simply sometimes no way around the despair and torture, it is part of the journey. Accepting that played a huge part in my success. And attitude, you have to believe you can do it! Anyone of us here on bb can do it! If you give up hope it's harder to succeed. You have to believe you can do it! Never give up hope that you can do it! That is always a 100% possibility! 

 

Grinch

[[ga...]]

I am having a really rough time trying to taper straight off of Xanax. I need to dose it 6 times a day. My days revolve around taking my meds. I am micro-tapering, but still having debilitating anxiety most of the time, most days. Part of this may be from sleep meds that I must take or I get zero sleep. When I started my taper it went smoothly and I thought I could continue. But the past month has been a downhill slide and I don't know why. I just wonder at what point a person decides they need to switch to a longer benzo. I can't do Valium, but could do Librium. Or what would the advantages of sticking with the Xanax be? What would the danger of switching be? Thanks.

 

Hi Gardner,

I am probably not the best person to respond to your questions because my taper was balls to the walls dry cut every week regardless of symptoms, and I was so bad at a certain point I couldn't even walk to the bathroom myself. What kept me going was how badly I wanted off, that over shadowed all the pain and torture of the WD. I had this idea that nothing would get better until I was off and time had passed to allow me to heal. So the only way to that goal was to power through the taper, never holding, never questioning my choice, never looking back, never switching...I made up my mind on a path, wrote it all down from beginning to jump and followed it regardless. It was a year. I had many many bbs suggesting a cross-over bc I was in real bad shape but it wasn't something I wanted to do. I didn't trust it. Who knows what would transpire from a cross-over. Or how my body would react to a different benzo. The results of that are so individual IMO and from what I found from my research it isn't always better. I couldn't take that chance. The chance of it being worse. The chance of being set back. I just accepted the process, my plan, and all that goes with it. My life, my job, my everything was the taper for a yr. Our lives revolved around it. For some people to get off this crap that is what it takes. For some people it will take many months of white knuckles to be successful. I just accepted I was one of those people and kept going forward. If I didn't have that same mindset now I prob would have reinstated since my jump bc it hasn't really been any easier. It's been 5 ms off now and I am still having a hard time. But I would never reinstate or rescue dose bc I gave up so much as did my kids and family to taper off (very sick, no job, lost house, etc) I would never throw all that sacrifice away. I just have to pass the time, manage the syxs, and have hope that my healing day will come.

 

IMO attitude is everything. Believing you can do this! And having the ultimate goal be that day when you can wrote that success story! Everything else in between is part of the journey, all the pain, misery, and torture (for some of us it can be unbearable, I know  :'() is part of that too. No way around it, gotta go through it.

 

Having said all that, I don't think there is anything wrong with a cross over. I know lots of people find relief from them. It just wasn't in my plan.

 

Grinch

 

Thanks for sharing. I know some people have trouble crossing over. My problem with the Xanax is I need to dose it 6 times a day. My life revolves around it. I have read that you should try to take the dose the same way (such as with food or not) and at the same time and I'm finding that impossible while dosing so often. It was originally prescribed for sleep at .5mg. It worked about a month, then I started to get inter-dose withdrawal really bad and stopped sleeping. Clueless prescriber just kept upping my nighttime dose until I became a complete wreck, switched prescribers, and was told I needed to dose at least 4 times a day. Tried 4. Tried 5. Finally was OK on 6. Tapered down to where I am with great difficulty.

 

My kids are in college. My son had to drop out a semester to take care of me. He's starting again in the fall. He has become depressed and anxious over me and hardly eats these days. It is watching him suffer that is making me think I need to make a change. We are broke since my husband walked out in the middle of my illness. Getting my kids through college and financially secure is our only hope since I cannot work due to multiple health problems. I will run out of all of my savings, retirement, everything, in less than 2 years. My kids cannot quit college now to take care of me. They have to keep going so I have to be able to take care of myself. I was doing OK up until about a month ago, but have been bad since then and making almost no progress and wondering if the straight taper off of Xanax is a bad plan.

 

Would you have any idea why some people are helped by the switch and some aren't or are made worse? And, I have read that if you stick with Xanax, your post-withdrawal syndrome will be shorter. Do you think that's true? So many people are saying so many different things. I sleep little and have a hard time sorting it out many days.

 

BTW, I was thinking of crossing over to Librium because Xanax and Librium use the same liver enzyme to break them down, at least the first level. Can't find more than that.

 

Thanks.

[[th...]]

I am having a really rough time trying to taper straight off of Xanax. I need to dose it 6 times a day. My days revolve around taking my meds. I am micro-tapering, but still having debilitating anxiety most of the time, most days. Part of this may be from sleep meds that I must take or I get zero sleep. When I started my taper it went smoothly and I thought I could continue. But the past month has been a downhill slide and I don't know why. I just wonder at what point a person decides they need to switch to a longer benzo. I can't do Valium, but could do Librium. Or what would the advantages of sticking with the Xanax be? What would the danger of switching be? Thanks.

 

Hi Gardner,

I am probably not the best person to respond to your questions because my taper was balls to the walls dry cut every week regardless of symptoms, and I was so bad at a certain point I couldn't even walk to the bathroom myself. What kept me going was how badly I wanted off, that over shadowed all the pain and torture of the WD. I had this idea that nothing would get better until I was off and time had passed to allow me to heal. So the only way to that goal was to power through the taper, never holding, never questioning my choice, never looking back, never switching...I made up my mind on a path, wrote it all down from beginning to jump and followed it regardless. It was a year. I had many many bbs suggesting a cross-over bc I was in real bad shape but it wasn't something I wanted to do. I didn't trust it. Who knows what would transpire from a cross-over. Or how my body would react to a different benzo. The results of that are so individual IMO and from what I found from my research it isn't always better. I couldn't take that chance. The chance of it being worse. The chance of being set back. I just accepted the process, my plan, and all that goes with it. My life, my job, my everything was the taper for a yr. Our lives revolved around it. For some people to get off this crap that is what it takes. For some people it will take many months of white knuckles to be successful. I just accepted I was one of those people and kept going forward. If I didn't have that same mindset now I prob would have reinstated since my jump bc it hasn't really been any easier. It's been 5 ms off now and I am still having a hard time. But I would never reinstate or rescue dose bc I gave up so much as did my kids and family to taper off (very sick, no job, lost house, etc) I would never throw all that sacrifice away. I just have to pass the time, manage the syxs, and have hope that my healing day will come.

 

IMO attitude is everything. Believing you can do this! And having the ultimate goal be that day when you can wrote that success story! Everything else in between is part of the journey, all the pain, misery, and torture (for some of us it can be unbearable, I know  :'() is part of that too. No way around it, gotta go through it.

 

Having said all that, I don't think there is anything wrong with a cross over. I know lots of people find relief from them. It just wasn't in my plan.

 

Grinch

 

Thanks for sharing. I know some people have trouble crossing over. My problem with the Xanax is I need to dose it 6 times a day. My life revolves around it. I have read that you should try to take the dose the same way (such as with food or not) and at the same time and I'm finding that impossible while dosing so often. It was originally prescribed for sleep at .5mg. It worked about a month, then I started to get inter-dose withdrawal really bad and stopped sleeping. Clueless prescriber just kept upping my nighttime dose until I became a complete wreck, switched prescribers, and was told I needed to dose at least 4 times a day. Tried 4. Tried 5. Finally was OK on 6. Tapered down to where I am with great difficulty.

 

My kids are in college. My son had to drop out a semester to take care of me. He's starting again in the fall. He has become depressed and anxious over me and hardly eats these days. It is watching him suffer that is making me think I need to make a change. We are broke since my husband walked out in the middle of my illness. Getting my kids through college and financially secure is our only hope since I cannot work due to multiple health problems. I will run out of all of my savings, retirement, everything, in less than 2 years. My kids cannot quit college now to take care of me. They have to keep going so I have to be able to take care of myself. I was doing OK up until about a month ago, but have been bad since then and making almost no progress and wondering if the straight taper off of Xanax is a bad plan.

 

Would you have any idea why some people are helped by the switch and some aren't or are made worse? And, I have read that if you stick with Xanax, your post-withdrawal syndrome will be shorter. Do you think that's true? So many people are saying so many different things. I sleep little and have a hard time sorting it out many days.

 

BTW, I was thinking of crossing over to Librium because Xanax and Librium use the same liver enzyme to break them down, at least the first level. Can't find more than that.

 

Thanks.

 

The body and mind are funny things, especially with meds. Regardless of what meds you are taking, the body and mind react differently for each individual. For example, just in my personal life, I have had friends CT xanax after years of use and had ZERO side effects or WD. I have also been on Cymbalta bc my own brother has had really good luck with it for body pain, I went crazy and almost killed myself, then proceeded to have severe facial jerks and stuttering for months after. I also have been on Lexapro and did Ok with it. My friend had an affair, went totally manic and was admitted to the psych ward while on it. These are just a few examples of how medicines effect people differently. Must be something in the biology. I too was just on 1 mg for menopausal insomnia, it stopped working at about a year. Got really sick (but didn't know about interdose, nor did any of the dozen drs I saw) and a uneducated psych dr upped my dose to 6 mgs. I was too sick to argue, just wanted to sleep and have relief. Well, it only worked for a few months before it all came crashing down and was worse than ever.

 

Sorry to hear about your situation. We were homeless living with our 3 teenage kids for a while after I had to quit my job because I got so sick but always had friends or family to stay with. And my husband has been amazing, so I am grateful for that. He took care of everything!! Including me! I agree with you that your child should be making his way in the world and not stopping to take care of you. I understand how you would want that to change. I commend you for looking for ways to fix that. I don't know why things work out with a cross-over for some and not others. In reality, I bet it works far more often than not. It helps with dosing and the interdose wd. I took Xanax 4 x day and that was really hard to work around if we went anywhere. So I get the frustration with dosing multiple times. I don't know anything about Librium, so I can't speak to that one. All anyone can do is take a look at their situation and find the right path. Maybe a cross-over is best for you. But a correct cross-over takes time. Make sure you do it right or you will find yourself possibly in a harder WD state. DO NOT DO A DIRECT CROSS OVER, where you stop one CT and start the other. Typically the new benzo does not sufficiently cover the old benzo and this can cause a person to feel like they CT'd off the old one. Make sure your doctor knows what he is doing.

 

I don't know why short-acting benzos seem to have less acute and recovery time after the jump. That was one thing I heard that made me stay with Xanax. But that is also an individual thing. I am 5 ms post jump from Xanax and I have a feeling it will be a good 5 more ms before I get relief. So it isn't always the case, regardless of the kind of benzo. I think that is one of the biggest issues, all the variables and individual responses. It can become a confusing world to navigate (especially when docs don't understand or know anything) and coming up with the right solution or path to follow becomes uncertain. It is hard for a lot of bbs to decide what path they want to take.

 

I hope if you decide to cross over it make things a little more bearable for you! At least where you can continue to taper off.

 

G

[[mr...]]

I'm so discouraged that I can't find any people on BB who have successfully tapered from as high of a dose as I was on (8mg/day for many years - xanax at some dose for 24 years) to all the way benzo free.  I just feel like there isn't hope for me.  I'm currently at 7mg and already it's been difficult.    I am really glad that I found this group, though.  It's been helpful.  Thank you for that.

 

BP,

 

Back when I was an active member of this thread and still tapering, there was a gal that I became good buddies with. Her username was Hopefulgirl. Anyways, she tapered from 11mgs per day, all the way to zero straight from xanax. She is over a year off and healing well! She's not very active here these days, but her & I keep up All is good with her!

 

Hope this is helpful for you!! All things are possible to those who believe, friend

 

Mrs.

[[bu...]]

I'm so discouraged that I can't find any people on BB who have successfully tapered from as high of a dose as I was on (8mg/day for many years - xanax at some dose for 24 years) to all the way benzo free.  I just feel like there isn't hope for me.  I'm currently at 7mg and already it's been difficult.    I am really glad that I found this group, though.  It's been helpful.  Thank you for that.

 

BP,

 

Back when I was an active member of this thread and still tapering, there was a gal that I became good buddies with. Her username was Hopefulgirl. Anyways, she tapered from 11mgs per day, all the way to zero straight from xanax. She is over a year off and healing well! She's not very active here these days, but her & I keep up All is good with her!

 

Hope this is helpful for you!! All things are possible to those who believe, friend

 

Mrs.

 

This is so incredibly helpful for me.  THANK YOU!!!  I really needed to hear this today.  Maybe I can find her blog or posts she made.  That would help.  Thank you again.  Today hasn't been great, but I want to try to stay very positive.  <3