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

[[la...]]

Benzy:  So I went off last night on a vent on this thread and today you had an anxiety attack here.  IT HAPPENS TO ALL OF US!

 

Like you, I have been feeling guilty all day about going off on here last night and even getting my feelings hurt because no one is replying to me and I am thinking that no one likes me anymore.  Not that any of you even know me.

 

We all are going through some rough shit on here and each one of us gets to take our turn exposing the effects of that.  No added guilt and regret necessary, myself included.

 

It's all good! 

 

Sorry to hear about you not feeling good Rebel.  In all honesty I just had no idea how to respond, and didn't feel comfortable giving advice in a situation I don't know about. 

[[Be...]]

I can always feel my heart beat, Im just sensitive to it because of my pre-exisitng heart problems, it really sucks sometimes to be ablel to feel it, especially when its acting out...

a lot of people I ask say they cant feel theirs, but ya, it is a withdrawal side effect...

 

it is veeeeeeeeeeeery interesting what one little bitty cut can do! EH!?!

[[ma...]]

I just used the Arnicare Gel for my lower back pain.  I had immediate relief!  I put it on after showering like Carita said.

 

Thank you Hopeful and  Carita for recommending it!

 

Mama 

[[Be...]]

awww Mamito2 youre not a loser in my book, dont be so hard on yourself 

[[ma...]]

Thanks Benzy for pointing out my type o!

 

Mama 

[[la...]]

I can always feel my heart beat, Im just sensitive to it because of my pre-exisitng heart problems, it really sucks sometimes to be ablel to feel it, especially when its acting out...

a lot of people I ask say they cant feel theirs, but ya, it is a withdrawal side effect...

 

it is veeeeeeeeeeeery interesting what one little bitty cut can do! EH!?!

 

It was weird as it was more than just my heart.  Like if I crossed my fingers I can feel my pulse in my fingers.  And also a pulse in my lower back.  But, mostly my heart if I was laying on it in bed.

 

I'm sure it's just a medication thing.  Temporary lower gaba sensitivity causing an increase in norepinephrine (as gaba is a control signal for norepinephrine among other things).  Hopefully I get use to my current dose soon, and gaba sensitivity adjusts to reign Nor-epinephrine back in

[[mr...]]

Hi all,

 

In answer to the tachycardia, I can whole heatedly say YES!! I've been having some bursts of this recently, along with higher anxiety & panic attacks. What a new learning experience for me to learn how to deal with them when they happen. I was put on xanax initially for a panic attack. Its time to face the fear, you know? I'm in low doses and moving very gradual, so I CAN do this

 

Life as I know it will return to normal and wonderful I'm clinging onto that belief with my claws dug in...

[[So...]]

Oh, my dear friend!! These are just stepping stones on your way to freedom!! So, step on them like a bug!! Splat!!

 

You will make it, and feel wonderful. 

 

Denise 

[[la...]]

Ok.  So, today is I think day 4 of lowering the dosage, and as some of you have commented that is when you guys started to get hit with WD symptoms.  It seems as you guys are correct. 

 

This has been the most difficult day so far.  It sounds like Juliae would only feel this way for 1-3 days, and Benzy would feel this way  for 3-4 days.  Just have to keep reminding myself that it is the drug doing this. Hopefully it is the same time frame as you guys even though I did a bigger reduction.

 

It will be nice to actually get 1 taper out of the way and see a pattern like other people posted above of when it will end.  Because currently it's hard to see an end, lol.

[[Ra...]]

Hello, I'm a newbie here, (posted this same info in the Introduction forum) have been taking Xanax 2mg at night for sleep for about 15 months.  Prior to that, I had been taking it for a couple of years on and off to sleep.  I think they were 1mg pills. 

 

Recently had a breakdown at work (severe anxiety) and haven't been working since then (Oct).  At that point (Oct) I had to add another 1mg in the afternoon to survive the anxiety. So total Xanax 3mg per day.

 

Now they've diagnosed me with bi-polar and I'm on Seroquel 100mg IR.  That's a whole other story as I think I have severe GAD, not bi-polar.

 

My doctor will want to start decreasing my Xanax soon and I'm concerned about how to do this given that my current doses are not equal and are not spaced out evenly.  He seems to think that 3 mgs isn't a large dose.  I don't know that my doctor would go for the valium crossover, although he might go for a klonopin crossover.  I think he will help me with long taper, at least I think he will.

 

My concerns are how do I do a klon crossover given that my doses are now 1mg Xanax at 3:00pm and 2mg at 8:30pm?

 

Could I conceivably keep my 3:00pm dose and nightly dose as they are currently scheduled and taper down from there or should I somehow try to even out the doses to space them more evenly during the day.  Currently I'm pretty stable with the way they are.

 

I'm scared to death to taper and I'm scared to stay on it too.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Thank you

[[Be...]]

Hang tight silly wabbit, lemme get off this phone and on the comp, or someone will answer u shortly

[[Ra...]]

Hang tight silly wabbit, lemme get off this phone and on the comp, or someone will answer u shortly

 

Thank you, hanging tight . . .

[[mi...]]

Can you guys please let me know why you have not went over to valium? If I am some what stable on .5  Xanax three times a day, would it be best to taper with that or do the switch? What are the pro and cons? I need to move 1200 miles in March to a new home, I can not see how I can start a taper before that. what do you think? I was thinking of taking that 1 /1/2 mg of X and splitting it up 5 or 6 times a day to keep that steady level to act like a V.. any thoughts? thank you

[[Be...]]

ok ,sorry, I was in the middle of a very large nasty dog fight..

 

ok, first off, relax, this is all very doable..

 

the people on this thread are successfully tapering off xanax, directly from xanax... its proven easy enough to do, some do the valium crossover and that works well also...

From what Ive read on here about Klonopin, I wouldnt do that personally, those seem to have the worse horror stories... I just wouldnt do that myself...

Im on my last dose before I jump, tapering directly from xannax has workd well for me, we were on about the same dose for the same time....

sounds like maybe you hit a bit of tolerance,, try to stabilize on a dose, preferably the lowest you can, maybe 2.5 or the full 3 (if I read that correctly), you said you feel pretty stable where you are, so get a legitamate daily dose going on, for about 14 days maybe, and go from there..

most of us here taper .0625 per cut, thats a 1/4th of a .25 pill, you'll need the .25's to do it....

[[ba...]]

Hi all,

 

In answer to the tachycardia, I can whole heatedly say YES!! I've been having some bursts of this recently, along with higher anxiety & panic attacks. What a new learning experience for me to learn how to deal with them when they happen. I was put on xanax initially for a panic attack. Its time to face the fear, you know? I'm in low doses and moving very gradual, so I CAN do this

 

Life as I know it will return to normal and wonderful I'm clinging onto that belief with my claws dug in...

 

Sorry you are feeling poorly mrs.

 

Hugs

[[Be...]]

most of us just chose not to, its just one more factor in doing this, and its proven easy enough for us that do it this way to taper directly off the X... but its a definite option, many have said that had a good taper off the V, but like I said, its just one more thing to factor in...

 

ps. I think someone said once that adding too many doses a day, to try to make it like valium can get you into trouble with the X... 3 or 4 times daily is the most ive seen done...

 

ask around, someone else will know more in a bit..

[[Be...]]

ps, if you cant get the .25s for whatever reason, theres always the liquid titration option you can do with whatever mgs you have to work with..

[[mi...]]

thanks benzy, are you saying it may be better for me to up dose for my move, then taper? I am at 1 1/2 mg now, so go up to about 3mg? I never took more then 2mg in 24 hours seems like a lot..  thank you,

[[Be...]]

no no no, that was for Rabbt, sorry

 

my reply to you was about switching over to the V....

[[Be...]]

most of us just chose not to, its just one more factor in doing this, and its proven easy enough for us that do it this way to taper directly off the X... but its a definite option, many have said that had a good taper off the V, but like I said, its just one more thing to factor in...

 

ps. I think someone said once that adding too many doses a day, to try to make it like valium can get you into trouble with the X... 3 or 4 times daily is the most ive seen done...

 

ask around, someone else will know more in a bit..

 

ths was my reply to you mike, sorry for the confusion, I forget to use the "quotes" when answering

[[Ra...]]

ok ,sorry, I was in the middle of a very large nasty dog fight..

 

ok, first off, relax, this is all very doable..

 

the people on this thread are successfully tapering off xanax, directly from xanax... its proven easy enough to do, some do the valium crossover and that works well also...

From what Ive read on here about Klonopin, I wouldnt do that personally, those seem to have the worse horror stories... I just wouldnt do that myself...

Im on my last dose before I jump, tapering directly from xannax has workd well for me, we were on about the same dose for the same time....

sounds like maybe you hit a bit of tolerance,, try to stabilize on a dose, preferably the lowest you can, maybe 2.5 or the full 3 (if I read that correctly), you said you feel pretty stable where you are, so get a legitamate daily dose going on, for about 14 days maybe, and go from there..

most of us here taper .0625 per cut, thats a 1/4th of a .25 pill, you'll need the .25's to do it....

 

Thank you Benzy, so yes, I'm pretty stable where I am now at the 3mg dose.  Should I try to eliminate the 3:00pm dose first or take the .0625 cuts alternately from the 3:00pm does and then next from the 8:30pm dose?  Also, how long do you hold between cuts?  Have your withdrawal symptoms been bad.  I'm so scared.  Thank you!

[[la...]]

Can you guys please let me know why you have not went over to valium? If I am some what stable on .5  Xanax three times a day, would it be best to taper with that or do the switch? What are the pro and cons? I need to move 1200 miles in March to a new home, I can not see how I can start a taper before that. what do you think? I was thinking of taking that 1 /1/2 mg of X and splitting it up 5 or 6 times a day to keep that steady level to act like a V.. any thoughts? thank you

 

Personally my reason for staying on xanax is because I only take xanax at night.  When I've tried taking xanax during the day I feel depressed and very fatigued.  I imagine with valium's long half life I would feel like that as well.

 

Also, I don't really want to lengthen the whole taper, and make it into some 'big deal'. I only started on 1mg of the stuff, which is a relatively small dose (but still big enough that you have to respect).  Swapping over to valium would require more time.  Xanax is heavily prescribed worldwide, so surely some people are fine tapering it.  If it turns out that I need a 'slower decent' down the road, then I'll consider valium and cross that bridge if I need to. 

[[Be...]]

dont be scared, everyone is at first, but its doable... especially if you feel stable before you start..

just be sure youre stable at 3 and start from there.... be sure also to do the .0625 cuts at the most...

Im not real sure which dose to cut from first, as I only have ever dosed once daily, so someone will come along shortly and help ya out with that.. 

 

you got time to relax though, sounds like, so just surf and read and check back in..stay away from the horror stories though 

 

its different for everyone, remember that, dont absorb everything you read on here about peoples side effects...thats very important..

[[Be...]]

Rabbit, my side effects have been I guess youd say extremely mild, compared to other stories you read on this site... about 5 panic attacks this year, thats all, and I have pre-existing anxiety/panic/depression...

I did suffer terrible depression in my taper at one time, for a couple of months, but it was obvious to me that it was withdrawal induced, so that made it easier to deal with..a few heart palps... thats it

 

others of course have had worse, some have had better... your story will be your own, but if you start stable, most likely you'll do fine....

 

Mike,,, like Steve said, you can always switch over to valium later, if you decide to taper straight from the Xanax, and find it isnt working well for you,,, or switch right away,, either one...

we just chose to do it from the Xana, to cut to the chase...

[[Ra...]]

Thank you Benzy for the support.  After what I've been through in the last 3 months, I'm really nervous to start this. 

 

Can someone please help me with should I start to reduce from the 3:00pm dose and then alternately from the 8:30pm dose or should I try to eliminate them one at a time.  So reduce down and get rid of the 3:00pm dose (1mg) and then deal with the 8:30pm dose (2mg)?

 

Thank you!