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

[[Be...]]

I luv the body scan meditation, great tool

[[Ch...]]

Kantu,

 

If by head pressure you mean a tight band type headache 24/7, yes, I had it until the day after I took my last dose.  It started when I cut too much in the lower doses and nothing made it go away til I was done with Xanax.

 

Challis 

[[Re...]]

where oh where is Rebel Yell, come out come out wherever you are,,,,

 

[[Ka...]]

Hi Challis99,

 

Tylenol, 1 g late morning and 1 g in the evening helps a lot - with the band-like head pressure.  However, I have pumped a lot of Tylenol this year (2 g /day) and am hesitant taking it now.

 

2014 is going to be the year of the slow taper - at least I am functional now and am better educated on this whole traumatic and unpredictable "gift."  Last year at this time, I could not even drive!

 

Thanks,

 

Kantu

[[Re...]]

I swear you remind me of someone but I just cant put my finger on who..

 

I can....

[[Bl...]]

I luv the body scan meditation, great tool

 

 

This is a link to the "Great Bell Chant"' Click on it and it will open. I find it soothing and beautiful. I hope you like it too.

 

Blue

 

[[Ch...]]

Hi Challis99,

 

Tylenol, 1 g late morning and 1 g in the evening helps a lot - with the band-like head pressure.  However, I have pumped a lot of Tylenol this year (2 g /day) and am hesitant taking it now.

 

2014 is going to be the year of the slow taper - at least I am functional now and am better educated on this whole traumatic and unpredictable "gift."  Last year at this time, I could not even drive!

 

Thanks,

 

Kantu

 

I think you can take Tylenol safely, give it a try for the headache… I tried all sorts of OTC headache stuff but nothing touched it. 

Yay for 2014, right?

 

Challis 

[[Je...]]

And you know this because every person is the same and that nobody is able to walk off these drugs when they are reacting negatively to them?

 

Seriouslly if I feel better on a lower dose, AND I DO, why shouldn't I cut at a rate that seems acceptable to me?  .625 every three weeks or so seems more than cautious.

 

Part of my problem was I was Psychologically convinced I had to have Xanax during the day.  I was taking it, it was making me depressed, which was making me anxious and then I'd take it again in 4-5 hours because because I was scared.

 

There is no way I would ever need to re-instate at a higher dose than before, because I was too depressed to function.  I didn't realize the Xanax was causing it. 

 

I realize that the Xanax I'm taking now is roughly equivalent to 40mg Valium and my Dr. MAY switch me to Valium and titrate me off.  At that point I will

titrate off using the Ashton Table...going from 1-2 weeks per reduction.  I understand that it's a process that takes many months.

 

I was able to come down from 3-2 MG so quickly because I was way overmedicated on it.  I was only taking .75 at night for sleep.

 

 

Xanax can work both as a hypnotic (sedative effect) and a stimulant (hypomanic effect) simultaneously.

 

If you continue to cut at that rate it will cumulatively catch up with you and you will experience more frequent and more intense withdrawal symptoms.

 

Coming of a short acting benzo like Xanax once you have reached tolerance will be much harder if you can't switch to a longer acting benzo.  It is already hard enough to come off of it with tolerance alone let alone by not going to a longer acting benzo like Valium.

 

If you felt like shit on the Xanax due to your reaction to it you will feel like shit from a rapid withdrawal even worse. 

 

So your choices are to suffer worse and do more damage to your brain by staying where you are at with your taper, or to suffer less and do less damage to your brain by slowing your taper way down, or to have even less suffering and damage to your brain by switching over to the Xanax/Valium cross over.

 

I understand that you want off of it RIGHT NOW!  But if you continue in this manner you may have a serious negative reaction and have to reinstate at an even higher dose of Xanax than you are currently on and be forced to taper more slowly or do the crossover. 

 

It is totally your decision but I would make that decision rather soon before it is too late.

[[Ch...]]

Jerryk,  looking at your signature, you're tapering reasonably.  Where was this quote found?

Challis

[[Re...]]

Jerryk,  looking at your signature, you're tapering reasonably.  Where was this quote found?

Challis

 

It was from me but am through discussing it.

 

JerryK :  Just do whatever you feel is best for you.

[[ma...]]

I've just come to the realization I'm most likely dependent on/addicted to xanax. My mom claims she can take Valium off and on with no bad effects, and doesn't think this could possibly be. My doctor, who prescribed this last round of xanax, said there was no award for not taking it, and I replied that the award was not being addicted!  I can go for weeks without it, and feel pretty fine. But something will set me off, send me into a huge panic spiral and it's back to xanax.

 

This last time was on Christmas Eve when I got the stomach flu. Ravaged by exhaustion, guilt for ruining a holiday, sadness for not being able to enjoy it... The panic set in big time. I took a lot (for me!), .625 over the course of the day.  Plus some propranolol (Inderal).  Luckily the bug passed quickly, but here I am still feeling panicky and anxious. Skin crawling, sensitive to light and sound, doom/dread, depressed, defeated, hot/cold, depersonalization, guilty as hell (what's that about?), weird thoughts.  Yikes. Just took .0625mg to see if that might help this funk I woke up in. Usually I wake up feeling pretty good, too.  It's the nights that are especially  hard.

 

Recently, we went through a stressful move around Oct 1. I wasn't actually taking xanax very often then. Right after the move, I got sick with bronchitis, took some Dextromethorphan and Benadryl together. Had a terrible allergic reaction; hallucinations, swelling of throat, racing heart... Was given ativan at the ER, and ever since then have had panic/anxiety everyday all the time.  Magnesium has helped immensely, as well as more supplements. I started on propranolol which makes me feel weird rage, so I have to take the xanax with it. Right before Christmas Eve I hadn't taken any xanax or propranolol for 3 weeks and was feeling so much better! 

 

I have an appointment with a Naturopathic doctor on Friday.  I don't think all the panic is solely coming from xanax because I didn't take for it so long and felt fine; and got the panic before I took it more regularly... But what do I know?  This is all so new to me, and not sure who or what to believe.  I just know this is a BAD drug, but am having a really hard time imagining my life without it... Flying, insomnia, panic attacks...

 

Mrsalw suggested I think about a taper. I think that would be a good idea.  Even though I take so little, and "as needed", I think I'm stuck here in interdose withdrawal.  One too many "cold turkeys".

 

There's more info here on my story if you care to read it: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=97930.0

 

Sorry for the length... I've been lurking here for a few months and finally got the courage to post here. Thank you for any help and wisdom!

[[Ch...]]

Jerryk,  looking at your signature, you're tapering reasonably.  Where was this quote found?

Challis

 

It was from me but am through discussing it.

 

JerryK :  Just do whatever you feel is best for you.

 

 

Sorry, didn't mean to step on any toes.  Am I missing something here?  It looks like Jerryk's taper rate is okay. 

Challis 

[[Al...]]

Welcome to the Xanax thread AlmostFreeIsMe.  I'm sorry you've been feeling rough.  The fever sounds suspicious to me.  I did have times during my taper that I felt like I was running a fever, but when I took my temperature it was normal.  I'll bet you did have some kind of infection and this also flared your benzo withdrawal symptoms.  Your symptoms are very much like what I called the benzo flu.  Since you are having the nerve pain like you describe, if I were in your shoes I would wait for this to subside prior to cutting again.  I'm afraid that if you do a cut you could find yourself feeling much worse than you do now.  I did a few cuts when I was 'slightly' symptomatic, (mainly a headache), and got some relief.  However, if nerve pain had been one of my symptoms, I would not have gone ahead and cut.  To me, nerve pain is a symptom not to be ignored.  It seems to be your bodies way of saying ... hold the taper for a bit.  This is what I'd do, I'd hold.

 

Also, last Christmas I had the most severe symptoms of my entire taper.  The symptoms were stress induced and never showed back up again after the holidays were over.  Maybe you were feeling a bit stressed with Christmas on top of the infection and this is what caused an increase in symptoms. 

 

I didn't have a problem with food sensitivities.  However, I did not drink coffee or alcohol during my taper --- avoided those like the plague.  Anything else, I could tolerate.

 

Hang in there and I do hope that you'll be feeling better soon.

 

Hello Juliea and thanks for the info. I may wait on the cut but i hate to slow progress but if you think it is better to wait then maybe I will. Yes I have had different kinds of pain through my taper but this now seems worse then any other !! Yes I had a fever the first few days I was taking the antibiotics but now no fever but still feel warm all the time.

Yes I have not have the food sensitivities as of yet but maybe now I do who knows ! Yes Christmas was a bit stressful with Kids being torn between me and my ex-wife and all, families divided after a divorce you know all that stuff !! But i'm still not feeling better but maybe soon. Thanks for your advice and maybe I will hold a few more days and see how i get to feeling.

[[Je...]]

Just understand that I was only on more than 1mg for a couple months.  I probably went higher than I needed to to when I became tolerant of my nightly dose.

 

I do appreciate everyone's opinion.  .o625 per week at this poin means about 33 weeks to come off...

plenty conservative IMHO.

 

Jerryk,  looking at your signature, you're tapering reasonably.  Where was this quote found?

Challis

 

It was from me but am through discussing it.

 

JerryK :  Just do whatever you feel is best for you.

[[mr...]]

Hi Challis99,

 

Tylenol, 1 g late morning and 1 g in the evening helps a lot - with the band-like head pressure.  However, I have pumped a lot of Tylenol this year (2 g /day) and am hesitant taking it now.

 

2014 is going to be the year of the slow taper - at least I am functional now and am better educated on this whole traumatic and unpredictable "gift."  Last year at this time, I could not even drive!

 

Thanks,

 

Kantu

 

Kantu,

 

Be very mindful of your Tylenol use. It is safe in regards to benzo withdrawal from what I understand, BUT--taken daily is very hard on the liver. If you've been doing this for a while, I would perhaps have your doc check your liver function just to be sure its A-OK. All IMO, of course. But I've had a number of people in my life take it daily, only to discover at their next checkup that liver numbers were way off. Easily corrected by stopping the daily intake, so no worries. But if it were me, I'd have it checked out if I had been taking 2g per day for an extended period of time -- that's pretty high.

 

Again, all IMO. You do what you believe is best for you 

[[Al...]]

cutting/tapering/withdrawals,,, that in itself is enough to cause the symptoms, it doesnt have to be something you did....

 

I see youve been surfing the faith threads, so I would say just stay positive, lean on your faith and ride it out....

 

I swear you remind me of someone but I just cant put my finger on who..

 

Benzy yes it can be hard enough to do the cuts and tapering to cause lots of symptoms. maybe its was just the stress of Christmas like Juliea said who knows at this point ! yes I do have a deep faith and do a lot of work with the youth at my church. I work with the male youth under 18 years of age. Its a challenge but well worth it.  Oh yeah I remind you of someone ?? well hopefully its a good person i remind you of !! You remind me of a guy i used to work with. kind of the class clown kind of guy but fun to be around !

[[Ch...]]

I've just come to the realization I'm most likely dependent on/addicted to xanax. My mom claims she can take Valium off and on with no bad effects, and doesn't think this could possibly be. My doctor, who prescribed this last round of xanax, said there was no award for not taking it, and I replied that the award was not being addicted!  I can go for weeks without it, and feel pretty fine. But something will set me off, send me into a huge panic spiral and it's back to xanax.

 

This last time was on Christmas Eve when I got the stomach flu. Ravaged by exhaustion, guilt for ruining a holiday, sadness for not being able to enjoy it... The panic set in big time. I took a lot (for me!), .625 over the course of the day.  Plus some propranolol (Inderal).  Luckily the bug passed quickly, but here I am still feeling panicky and anxious. Skin crawling, sensitive to light and sound, doom/dread, depressed, defeated, hot/cold, depersonalization, guilty as hell (what's that about?), weird thoughts.  Yikes. Just took .0625mg to see if that might help this funk I woke up in. Usually I wake up feeling pretty good, too.  It's the nights that are especially  hard.

 

Recently, we went through a stressful move around Oct 1. I wasn't actually taking xanax very often then. Right after the move, I got sick with bronchitis, took some Dextromethorphan and Benadryl together. Had a terrible allergic reaction; hallucinations, swelling of throat, racing heart... Was given ativan at the ER, and ever since then have had panic/anxiety everyday all the time.  Magnesium has helped immensely, as well as more supplements. I started on propranolol which makes me feel weird rage, so I have to take the xanax with it. Right before Christmas Eve I hadn't taken any xanax or propranolol for 3 weeks and was feeling so much better! 

 

I have an appointment with a Naturopathic doctor on Friday.  I don't think all the panic is solely coming from xanax because I didn't take for it so long and felt fine; and got the panic before I took it more regularly... But what do I know?  This is all so new to me, and not sure who or what to believe.  I just know this is a BAD drug, but am having a really hard time imagining my life without it... Flying, insomnia, panic attacks...

 

Mrsalw suggested I think about a taper. I think that would be a good idea.  Even though I take so little, and "as needed", I think I'm stuck here in interdose withdrawal.  One too many "cold turkeys".

 

There's more info here on my story if you care to read it: http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=97930.0

 

Sorry for the length... I've been lurking here for a few months and finally got the courage to post here. Thank you for any help and wisdom!

 

That's a tough one… the only thing I can think of is that you may be having a paradoxical reaction to the Xanax now (opposite effect) and that can happen.  Not sure you really need to taper with as little use as you describe.  I think if it were me I'd just completely stop taking any random doses.

 

Challis 

[[Al...]]

I can....

 

hello rebel I don't believe we have met yet, so who do I remind you of ?? or I guess it is who you think I remind Benzy of  lol

[[mr...]]

Welcome Mac!

 

I, too, had similar responses. I was quite quick to have rebound responses to xanax. But it took a couple weeks for it to hit at first. This is not totally uncommon for benzo users. I've heard many stories of people who casually used them, then quit entirely, and were fine for a period of time, before suddenly the "gates of hell opened" LOL. I've heard this period of 'lag time' being as long as 2 months. I believe that if I would've gone cold turkey in the first year of usage, this would've been my story. This can happen because of the way benzo interact in the GABAa receptors, and the LPTs they create, etc. Its all really neat science & chemistry. There is a buddy named Perseverance on here that has a background in something science-oriented, and has posted a couple very helpful posts that explain things. Parker's post, What Is Happening In The Brain, is also very helpful. If you send a personal message to the admin named Pianogirl, she may be able to direct you to these posts. Or perhaps someone in here my be able to as well

 

Welcome again, bro. You're in the right place at the right time for help

[[Be...]]

well I am a bit of a clown,, or did you mean the poor fool was ugly like me 

[[Ch...]]

Here's the link to What's Happening in Your Brain?

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=79098.msg1041142#msg1041142

[[Be...]]

I KNOW yall wish you had some of this big sweet potato, with butter and sour crearm, salt and peppar that im woofing down,,,, opps. sorry, ya cant have any

[[Al...]]

well I am a bit of a clown,, or did you mean the poor fool was ugly like me 

 

No not at all  lol  you have a good sense of humor and keep people laughing when they are down and that a good thing !! We cant take all this to seriously !!! your not ugly at all if this is your picture posted here ! i'm a shinny head to  lol

[[Be...]]

Im not a real shiney, I shave it,,,, cause I am a real total whitey.. Imagine that with total silver white hair... ugh....

tried the color crap,, thats for the freakin birds..

Im glad its in style tho...

 

the chicks dig it, it seems.... do you always have girls tryn to rub yours?

 

I can sit in a resturant and women I dont even know rub my head, and say "hope ya dont mind"...

 

[[Ka...]]

Hi Challis99,

 

Tylenol, 1 g late morning and 1 g in the evening helps a lot - with the band-like head pressure.  However, I have pumped a lot of Tylenol this year (2 g /day) and am hesitant taking it now.

 

2014 is going to be the year of the slow taper - at least I am functional now and am better educated on this whole traumatic and unpredictable "gift."  Last year at this time, I could not even drive!

 

Thanks,

 

Kantu

 

Kantu,

 

Be very mindful of your Tylenol use. It is safe in regards to benzo withdrawal from what I understand, BUT--taken daily is very hard on the liver. If you've been doing this for a while, I would perhaps have your doc check your liver function just to be sure its A-OK. All IMO, of course. But I've had a number of people in my life take it daily, only to discover at their next checkup that liver numbers were way off. Easily corrected by stopping the daily intake, so no worries. But if it were me, I'd have it checked out if I had been taking 2g per day for an extended period of time -- that's pretty high.

 

Again, all IMO. You do what you believe is best for you 

 

Thanks.  I have stopped Tylenol for a while now.  Have tried NAC to cleanse the liver, but sometimes it aggravates the band like head pressure. Dextromethorphan, a glutamate blocker, helps a lot and have been using it sparingly.  Also, will get back on the Gingko protocol, in about 3-4 weeks, once the head pressure has subsided.  It is interesting to note that for some, as they went lower in dosage, they actually felt much better overall.

 

Kantu