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

[[So...]]

What happened?? Did Santa spook them??

 

Denise 

[[Be...]]

no, sick horse, I knew this would happen..

 

my vet just retired (they say, he didnt call or write and let me know, or thank me for the tens of thousands of dollars Ive spent with him over the last 10 years)

 

so, I have no vet to help me, the nearest one is  the next town over, I was gonna have him out when he was out this way to introduce myself and have him look at the farm, but I havent done that yet, so I KNEW something would happen on a day like today, when everyones impossible to reach

 

tried to help the stupid f####### horse, he tried to kill me in return...

 

I managed to get a shot of banamine in him and just turned his stupid a@@ loose again...

 

Hes on his own!!

[[So...]]

Oh no!! Poor you!! And, poor horse!!

 

Hope things get better for you both!!

 

Denise 

[[Be...]]

well Im gonna try to stay like I am..

 

hes on his own, and its a tossup.... get better, or get worse... hes still on his own either way...

[[Fl...]]

To All Of my Friend's...

I am wishing you Peace, Joy, Laughter, Happiness, and above all a very Merry Christmas.

 

Lots of Love, Many Blessings, and Warm Holiday Hugs,

FluterByee

[[Bl...]]

To All Of my Friend's...

I am wishing you Peace, Joy, Laughter, Happiness, and above all a very Merry Christmas.

 

Lots of Love, Many Blessings, and Warm Holiday Hugs,

FluterByee

[[Re...]]

no, sick horse, I knew this would happen..

 

my vet just retired (they say, he didnt call or write and let me know, or thank me for the tens of thousands of dollars Ive spent with him over the last 10 years)

 

so, I have no vet to help me, the nearest one is  the next town over, I was gonna have him out when he was out this way to introduce myself and have him look at the farm, but I havent done that yet, so I KNEW something would happen on a day like today, when everyones impossible to reach

 

tried to help the stupid f####### horse, he tried to kill me in return...

 

I managed to get a shot of banamine in him and just turned his stupid a@@ loose again...

 

Hes on his own!!

 

Did I mention that along with being a horse trainer, I also have several other degrees, one of which is in Veterinary Medicine.  I do a lot of pro bono advising and consutations over the phone as I live in an economically depressed rural area and most people cannot afford to pay me to come out on a farm call.

 

I am always available to help so if you need assistance PM me or I can give you my cell number in case of an emergency.

 

RM

[[Pe...]]

Sorry you're going through such a rough time Benzy. Wish there was some way I could help..

I eased into my .0625 cut like you advised. Makes a huge difference! Benzy I cant thank you enough for that advice. I'm going to ease into all of my cuts on the Xanax taper the same way. Haven't felt much of any w/d symptoms whatsoever. I got a little shaky the other night , but I attribute that to a movie that we were watching.

As you can see in my signature ,I've made a couple of changes to my regular meds, that made a HUGE difference as well! I hope I don't get flamed for saying this , but I'm actually glad that I'm on Klonopin and Remeron. I personally think it's suppressing the w/d quite a bit, along with the extremely slow taper from the Xanax.

Feeling really good this morning, in fact, this is the first morning in over 2 years that I haven't woke up dizzy with the shakes. I've also cut out all caffeine.

I'm taking my 'K' at 11 AM,7PM, and 3 AM now (instead of at 11 am then 2mg at 8 PM) Once I 'Jump' off the Xanax, I'll wait a month or two before I start tapering the K. 

 

I send Happy Holiday hugs to you all, my new friends..                              PepsiMoon

 

 

[[Iw...]]

Hopeful. That is wonderful news. You have come so far, 31/2 inch heels, you certainly have become stronger  I'm glad that you got through services without any Anxiety. You are on your way to complete healing.

 

benzy. Hope you and your horse make up soon and that you both are doing very well soo. 

 

Pepsimoon. I'm glad your taper is off to a good start! 

 

Yesterday I was able to prepare a ham dinner for husband  (None for me). It wasn't much and it wore me out but it was sure nice to be able to do it and it made my husband happy and lastnight I had a significant decrease in symptoms and it felt like a new baseline?  Today is not so good but maybe tonight will be better.

 

I hope everyone is having a peaceful calm day and if you are doing Christmas, I hope it is joyous.

[[Be...]]

That's SUPA-KOOL Pepsi! Best news I've heard all day

[[la...]]

hello, just thought I'd introduce myself.

 

My name is Steve.  I've been taking 1mg of Xanax at night to "improve resorative sleep" for about 7 months.  Didn't have anxiety prior to xanax use.  Recently I started getting bad anxiety during the day though.  It sounded like I had built up a tolerance and was going through interdose withdrawal by only taking it once a day.  My Dr. gave me more xanax to take in the morning, and while it got rid of the anxiety, it also made me depressed, and fatigued.  However, it at least helped me get through exams, presentations, essays etc... at the end of the university term (As well as working a full time job on night shift).

 

I plan to do a direct taper. I switched from 1mg down to .75mg a couple nights ago.  Going to play it by ear on how quickly to reduce from here, but either .125mg cuts or .25mg cuts based on how I'm feeling.  If things get rough I haven't ruled out a valium switch, or going slower, but figured I'd attempt a direct taper first.

 

Currently I've put myself in kind of a 'less-stress situation' to hopefully make the withdrawal go a bit easier.  I figure that while I'm dealing with this temporary gabba sensitivity deficiency I should probably not put stress on myself and limit adrenalline from external source.  So, mostly going to try distracting myself by playing video games, studying, etc... and just not putting myself in situations that stress me out for the next bit.

 

2 days in I'm fatigued, kinda foggy brained, and not super talkative / witty. 

 

 

 

 

[[Ju...]]

Welcome to the Xanax blog Steve! 

 

Please be careful.  You have started out with a 25% cut.  This is not recommended for anyone who is dependent upon the medication, who is experiencing interdose withdrawal or tolerance issues.  The reason that I am so cautious is that I've seen many people make very large % cuts at the top end of their taper and pay dearly for this as they get into the lower doses and after the last dose.  Xanax is a very tricky benzo. 

 

Also, quite a few of us did not get hit with increased symptoms after a cut for 3-5 days.  One wouldn't think it would not work this way with a short acting benzo, but it does.  One would think a cut could be felt almost immediately, but I didn't find that to be the case at all.  My lag time, (the time after a cut when increased wd symptoms are felt), was on day 4 or 5 after the cut.

 

I told you how I cut in your welcome thread so I won't do that again here. 

 

Since it's a holiday, the board is very slow.  I'm sure some of the other buddies will be along shortly to comment on your taper and welcome you to the thread.  Good to see you.  You can do this!     

[[Ch...]]

Hi Steve,

 

I also replied on your introductory thread so I won't belabor the point Juliea and I are making about a too-fast taper, but benzo withdrawal can go south really fast if we're not careful and we'd like to prevent that from happening to anyone … that's why we're still here helping other people after we finished our own tapers. 

 

I had no problems tapering until I hit .25 … I was tapering at .25 increments because I was winging it and .25 seemed reasonable.  At that point things got ugly as they can do at the low end of a benzo taper.

 

On the other hand, many people get through this relatively painlessly and you could be one.  Let's hope for the best!

 

Challis 

[[la...]]

Welcome to the Xanax blog Steve! 

 

Please be careful.  You have started out with a 25% cut.  This is not recommended for anyone who is dependent upon the medication, who is experiencing interdose withdrawal or tolerance issues.  The reason that I am so cautious is that I've seen many people make very large % cuts at the top end of their taper and pay dearly for this as they get into the lower doses and after the last dose.  Xanax is a very tricky benzo. 

 

Also, quite a few of us did not get hit with increased symptoms after a cut for 3-5 days.  One wouldn't think it would not work this way with a short acting benzo, but it does.  One would think a cut could be felt almost immediately, but I didn't find that to be the case at all.  My lag time, (the time after a cut when increased wd symptoms are felt), was on day 4 or 5 after the cut.

 

I told you how I cut in your welcome thread so I won't do that again here. 

 

Since it's a holiday, the board is very slow.  I'm sure some of the other buddies will be along shortly to comment on your taper and welcome you to the thread.  Good to see you.  You can do this!   

 

Very good to know, appreciate it Juilea.

 

Out of curiosity.  You say that you got hit with WD symptoms usually 4-5 days after a cut.  How did you know when to lower your next dose?  Did those W/D symptoms go away 12 days after your cut?  Or did they just kind of 'stabalize' but were still there?

 

Thanks

[[la...]]

Hi Steve,

 

I also replied on your introductory thread so I won't belabor the point Juliea and I are making about a too-fast taper, but benzo withdrawal can go south really fast if we're not careful and we'd like to prevent that from happening to anyone … that's why we're still here helping other people after we finished our own tapers. 

 

I had no problems tapering until I hit .25 … I was tapering at .25 increments because I was winging it and .25 seemed reasonable.  At that point things got ugly as they can do at the low end of a benzo taper.

 

On the other hand, many people get through this relatively painlessly and you could be one.  Let's hope for the best!

 

Challis 

Thanks very much Callis.  I responded to you in my intro thread.  Appreciate the advice!

[[Ju...]]

I was very lucky Steve.  Even though I started my taper in tolerance, I was able to regain stability when I got to around 1.5mgs in my taper.  Yes, the symptoms would not hit me until the 4th or 5th day after I cut.  I'd only have maybe 1-3 yucky days and then I'd stabilize again and only after reaching this stability is when I cut again.  Stable to me was feeling like I felt before making the cut.  I made 32-cuts to get off 3mgs so I knew what my usual recovery time was from a cut really well after I'd made about 10 cuts.  Although it wasn't advised, I got to the point at the bottom of my taper, that I'd only allow 1 day of feeling well prior to making another cut.  This enabled me to cut every 8-days.  Some of my friends here thought I was nuts for that, but it worked well for me.  I admit though, this was a huge gamble.  Some of my cuts at the top end of my taper were sneaky.  I had 2 cuts where the symptoms did not hit me until day 7 or later.  That was weird.  I always waited to get hit and then stabilize to pre-cut, prior to cutting again.

 

You can see my detailed taper schedule, the link is in my signature.

 

Nice to have you with us.  Hang in there!

[[la...]]

I was very lucky Steve.  Even though I started my taper in tolerance, I was able to regain stability when I got to around 1.5mgs in my taper.  Yes, the symptoms would not hit me until the 4th or 5th day after I cut.  I'd only have maybe 1-3 yucky days and then I'd stabilize again and only after reaching this stability is when I cut again.  Stable to me was feeling like I felt before making the cut.  I made 32-cuts to get off 3mgs so I knew what my usual recovery time was from a cut really well after I'd made about 10 cuts.  Although it wasn't advised, I got to the point at the bottom of my taper, that I'd only allow 1 day of feeling well prior to making another cut.  This enabled me to cut every 8-days.  Some of my friends here thought I was nuts for that, but it worked well for me.  I admit though, this was a huge gamble.  Some of my cuts at the top end of my taper were sneaky.  I had 2 cuts where the symptoms did not hit me until day 7 or later.  That was weird.  I always waited to get hit and then stabilize to pre-cut, prior to cutting again.

 

You can see my detailed taper schedule, the link is in my signature.

 

Nice to have you with us.  Hang in there!

 

Perfect, thanks for the answer.  Hopefully I will notice a recognizable pattern like this. 

 

 

 

[[Be...]]

Hey Steve,,,

lots of us here directly taper from dry cutting at .0625 mgs at a time...

if you can get the .25 mgs it makes it the easiest, just divide it evenly into 1/4ths and leave out a 1/4th with each cut, I wait about 3 weeks in between cuts, that works for me, wait aleast 10 to 14 days regardless....you'll know

Withdrawals side effects usually start the 3rd or 4th day for me, in the beginning they lasted about 3 or 4 days, then gradually subsided at about 10 days,, then Id give myself atleast 5 good days before cutting again..

it takes me about three weeks because I ease into my cuts, some of the 1/4ths are inevitably smaller, so I do a "gradual cut".... I"ll leave out the smallest piece first, then the larger, then the larger, and so on, until about the 5th day ive done a full .0625 cut...

Theres been several new comers lately, comb through the last 10 pages or so, you'll find the answers to all your initial questions Im sure..

if not, Ask away

[[Be...]]

ya Rebel you told me, remember I said get your butt well and move back to arkansaw, since our equine vet retired recently...

I aint paying nobody for a phone consultation for them just to tell me "hell, I dunno whats going on there, never heard that one before!"...

it was the usuall "weird" Im famous for.... the joke around here is, "oh, well it IS at Benzys farm"..

so far lately Ive had a adherent tooth in the top of a fillys skull (pretty unusual), a dummy foal, a total failure of passive transfer, a foal with the self mutilation syndrome, which affects only .005 percent of the ENTIRE horse populations in the ENTIRE world!!... etc. etc. etc....

my vets always leave shaking their heads...

BUT I LEARN A LOT!

 

seriously, I have no idea what that was last night, I suspected typical colic at first, but quickly decided that probably wasnt it....

 

long story, all weird, makes no sense.....so all you'd say is,,, hmmmmmmm, I aint payin for that lol

[[Iw...]]

Hi lacey23. I'm so glad you found bb   I wanted to share with you that I was in tolerance too and after a ct attempt and then 50% cut attempt I thought that 25% would be tolerable, wrong! And cutting by .25 I got messed up reaaly bad. MAybe you could consider smaller cuts? Even the .125 were to much for me. My taper was hell. because I tried to go to fast at to large of cuts for me. Towards the end of taper I held longer and made smaller and smaller cuts. It was still difficult I think because of the previous part of taper. If I had known in the beginning to go slow and make small cuts I might of not went into psychosis, I might be able to leave my house right now instead of being house bound and I might be doing better now post taper had I did it differently.

I'm not saying that you are going to have a similar experience but I felt that I had to share. You might do fine with the large cuts but if you find its to much it doesn't mean your whole taper has to be like that. It's not a race.

 

I hope you are having some calm today and some joy of Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

[[la...]]

Thanks Benzy and Iwant2befree

 

So, I guess I'm looking for some advice from you guys. 

 

So, this is what my dosage sched has looked like so far.

 

22nd- 1mg at bed

23rd- .75m mg at bed

24th- .75mg at bed.

25th- was planning on taking .75mg before bed.

 

 

I thought I was already feeling the WD symptoms though, but it sounds like, from you guys, the WD symptoms don't really kick in untill ~4 days after a reduction.  So I guess there's more to come?  Kind of worried now.

 

Should I continue to do .75mg at bed and play it by ear, or should I revert back to .875mg tonight, or even .9375?  I mean, so far things are manageable.

[[Be...]]

If it were me, knowing what I know now, I would at this point go back to my original dose, minus the .0625 cut, wait atleast 14 days, that'll give you time to "experience" what type withdrawal pattern you might have....

 

Every newbie comes here tryn to start cutting at .0125 or more,,,,, sone can do that, especially in the beginning, but I've seen it catch up with them over and over everytime,,, makes the last part even harder it seems..

 

I've stuck with this plan, it's very similar to Ashtons suggestions, so far ts been pretty much a breeze, compared to what you read on other threads, bu when you look at their signatures you'll see that they usually cut too much to fast...it's kinda long and boring, but slow and steady wins this race..

[[Be...]]

Steve, you were on a moderate to low dose for a pretty short period, you'll donor don't worry too much, and don't expect all the bad stuff you read on here, you'll have your own story, keep this in mind...

 

I can feel each cut as soon as I do one, it's amazing, the real side effects kick in later, but mine have been very doable.....

 

I was on about twice your dose for about twice as long...

Relax and don't get uptight about it...

[[la...]]

Steve, you were on a moderate to low dose for a pretty short period, you'll donor don't worry too much, and don't expect all the bad stuff you read on here, you'll have your own story, keep this in mind...

 

I can feel each cut as soon as I do one, it's amazing, the real side effects kick in later, but mine have been very doable.....

 

I was on about twice your dose for about twice as long...

Relax and don't get uptight about it...

Appreciate it Benzy.

 

Can you define what you mean by, "feel each cut as soon as I do one, ....., the real side effects kick in later".?

 

Do you mean, you feel some subtle side effects in the first day or two, but then get even worse side effects from days 4-10 after a cut?  Then back to 'normal'?

 

Bleh...  By the sounds of it, I think I will be doing smaller cuts in the future.  Seems like you guys have some good experience with this stuff, and I should probably listen. 

[[Be...]]

Yes that's what I mean, the feelings at first are probably just mental with me anyway, not really "withdrawals",,,, true withdrawals come later, again, not to scare you, all mine have been easily manageable....

 

Cut to the chase, get on YouTube and start doing "body scan meditation", it's free and they walk you through it, it's been a invaluable tool for me......"if you do it regularly"