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

[[Je...]]

I'd be very interested to know how the jewelers scale method works.  Specifically how do you find a scale accurate enough for the task.

 

 

 

Carita, Hopefulgirl, and myself all taper(ed) using water titration. Hopeful and Carita are both now xanax free and healing, and I am getting CLOSE!! Babyrex, Benzy, Juliea, Mama2, and Bluebell all dry-cut their way to zero. Babyrex and Mama2 micro-dry-cut towards the end of their tapers, and they used a jeweler's scale to powder and weigh their dosages for accuracy. If you'd like to ask their advice, just mention and they'll be along to chat with you Be patient w/ Babyrex, as she's fresh off the drug and may or may not feel up to giving a ton of advice currently.

 

Hope that helps you get a good start to figuring out what you want to do!! If you have any questions regarding either methods (water or dry cut), just ask and we'll answer!!

 

Again, welcome to the forum You'll be quite at home here!!

[[mr...]]

Rah, rah, ree,

Kick 'em in the knee,

Rah, rah, rass,

Kick 'em in the....other knee.

 

[[Ra...]]

No sense in me posting all my SX's.  All of you who have or that are doing this  know the drill.

 

What I will ask for is prayer's to GIVE ME STRENGTH to get through this. 

 

Waiting for 9a.m. to roll around...hopefully that will bring relief.

 

I am having a difficult time finding distractions.  Sound is kinda annoying me

 

Have a healing day,

Fluter

 

FB, praying for you right now!!!

[[Ra...]]

Rah, rah, ree,

Kick 'em in the knee,

Rah, rah, rass,

Kick 'em in the....other knee.

 

 

Hi Mrs. . .I thought I read somewhere that Xanax does not dissolve in water.  Do you do something else to it?  Thank you 

[[mr...]]

Rabbit, you are correct. It does not dissolve.

 

I don't do anything special to the water. I just measure out my water amount each morning, drop my 0.25mg tablet into it, and allow it to disintegrate entirely. I then SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE it (I keep it in a protein shaker bottle) and remove my dosages very quickly, before the xanax starts to settle. I have four daily doses, and I even shake well in between withdrawling for each dose. You just need to compensate for the fact that it doesn't dissolve; and I do this simplest for me by shaking WELL and removing QUICKLY 

 

You're currently on 3mg per day, so I'd imagine you'd be able to dry-cut by the xanax-normal increments of 0.0625mg (1/4 of a 0.25mg tablet) down to the lower dosages, right? Might be simpler for you to do it that way, and see if you can avoid water tapering all together! If, however, you are very sensitive to the drug, water tapering might be your answer. For me, I was already at 0.25mg per day starting, and was waaaay to sensitive to dosage reductions to try and cut 25% of the drug. So thus, water tapering was the right route for me

 

If you want to learn more about dry-cutting, Juliea on here is our resident taper plan expert Just shout out to her, and she'll be by to help you.

 

Hope that helps ya Happy Saturday to ya!

[[mr...]]

I'd be very interested to know how the jewelers scale method works.  Specifically how do you find a scale accurate enough for the task.

 

JerryK, hang tight okay? It can get quiet on the forum over the weekends, so you'll get answered but maybe just not as quickly as hoped

 

If you don't hear anything by Monday, simply re-ask your question, okay? Its not that people don't care about you; its just that it can get easy to get behind & caught up on these pages, so it might get accidentally missed

 

How ya feeling, by the way? Doing good I hope!! We'll chat again soon

[[Ra...]]

Rabbit, you are correct. It does not dissolve.

 

I don't do anything special to the water. I just measure out my water amount each morning, drop my 0.25mg tablet into it, and allow it to disintegrate entirely. I then SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE it (I keep it in a protein shaker bottle) and remove my dosages very quickly, before the xanax starts to settle. I have four daily doses, and I even shake well in between withdrawling for each dose. You just need to compensate for the fact that it doesn't dissolve; and I do this simplest for me by shaking WELL and removing QUICKLY 

 

You're currently on 3mg per day, so I'd imagine you'd be able to dry-cut by the xanax-normal increments of 0.0625mg (1/4 of a 0.25mg tablet) down to the lower dosages, right? Might be simpler for you to do it that way, and see if you can avoid water tapering all together! If, however, you are very sensitive to the drug, water tapering might be your answer. For me, I was already at 0.25mg per day starting, and was waaaay to sensitive to dosage reductions to try and cut 25% of the drug. So thus, water tapering was the right route for me

 

If you want to learn more about dry-cutting, Juliea on here is our resident taper plan expert Just shout out to her, and she'll be by to help you.

 

Hope that helps ya Happy Saturday to ya!

 

Thank you Mrs, I was kind of hoping I could do that.  Dry cut while I'm at the higher dosages.  I don't know how sensitive I'll be.  I've just coming off of being off work for 3 months due to a meltdown.  I'm not sure if it was the Xanax, hormones, combo or what.  I'm stable on what I'm taking now, but prior to October was taking it PRN and kind of all over the place.  Maybe that's what caused my meltdown. 

 

What's kind of weird right now is that prior to the melt down, when I would take the 2mg bar at night, I would begin to feel that 'good' feeling' within about 20 minutes.  Now I never get that good feeling anymore.  It doesn't make me feel worse, just doesn't cause me to be sleepy anymore.  Does that mean I'm in tolerance?

 

Thank you for responding 

[[mr...]]

Hi Rabbit,

 

Yep, probably

 

PRN is a little rougher on the system, I believe, so its good you're dosing consistently. You should have no troubles tapering, so long as you are consistent and LISTEN to your body

 

I would have no trouble believing your issue was Xanax & hormones combo, lol It wouldn't surprise me in the least! Both are powerful stuff

[[Ra...]]

Hi Rabbit,

 

Yep, probably

 

PRN is a little rougher on the system, I believe, so its good you're dosing consistently. You should have no troubles tapering, so long as you are consistent and LISTEN to your body

 

I would have no trouble believing your issue was Xanax & hormones combo, lol It wouldn't surprise me in the least! Both are powerful stuff

 

Thank you Mrs, a couple more questions.  Maybe you've said this somewhere and I missed it, when you draw up your 4 daily doses, do you put them in separate containers then and take them with you to work?

 

Also, I try to take my doses 1 hour before or 2 hours after eating.  Do you do the same?

 

Thank you!

[[mr...]]

Rabbit, now that I toss more meds than I drink, yes I put them into separate containers than my mixing container. Back when I was drinking more than tossing, I just carried the shaker bottle & syringe with me everywhere

 

My dosing schedule was not correlated to my eating patterns at all, so no. I dose at 9:15 and 3:15, both AMs & PMs. So I suppose only one of them occurs when I eat (9:15am), and the rest do not.

[[Ra...]]

Rabbit, now that I toss more meds than I drink, yes I put them into separate containers than my mixing container. Back when I was drinking more than tossing, I just carried the shaker bottle & syringe with me everywhere

 

My dosing schedule was not correlated to my eating patterns at all, so no. I dose at 9:15 and 3:15, both AMs & PMs. So I suppose only one of them occurs when I eat (9:15am), and the rest do not.

 

Thank you Mrs, so you must be able to sleep well if you wake up and take a dose at 3:15am, you go back to sleep?

[[Je...]]

Thanks, I'm doing ok.  Every day is different.  one day I am depressed, the next anxious....the next obsessive.  I keep thinking of all the bad things I could have.    alzheimers, heart condition, blah,

i don't much feel like hanging with anyone, or doing anything.....

 

 

I'd be very interested to know how the jewelers scale method works.  Specifically how do you find a scale accurate enough for the task.

 

JerryK, hang tight okay? It can get quiet on the forum over the weekends, so you'll get answered but maybe just not as quickly as hoped

 

If you don't hear anything by Monday, simply re-ask your question, okay? Its not that people don't care about you; its just that it can get easy to get behind & caught up on these pages, so it might get accidentally missed

 

How ya feeling, by the way? Doing good I hope!! We'll chat again soon

[[Ra...]]

Thanks, I'm doing ok.  Every day is different.  one day I am depressed, the next anxious....the next obsessive.  I keep thinking of all the bad things I could have.    alzheimers, heart condition, blah,

i don't much feel like hanging with anyone, or doing anything.....

 

 

I'd be very interested to know how the jewelers scale method works.  Specifically how do you find a scale accurate enough for the task.

 

JerryK, hang tight okay? It can get quiet on the forum over the weekends, so you'll get answered but maybe just not as quickly as hoped

 

If you don't hear anything by Monday, simply re-ask your question, okay? Its not that people don't care about you; its just that it can get easy to get behind & caught up on these pages, so it might get accidentally missed

 

How ya feeling, by the way? Doing good I hope!! We'll chat again soon

 

Hi Jerry,  I've not even begun to taper yet and I feel like that.  It's an awful place to be.  It sounds like most of the folks here say 'hang in there, it DOES get better'.  Best wishes.  Rabbit

[[mr...]]

Thanks, I'm doing ok.  Every day is different.  one day I am depressed, the next anxious....the next obsessive.  I keep thinking of all the bad things I could have.    alzheimers, heart condition, blah,

i don't much feel like hanging with anyone, or doing anything.....

 

 

I'd be very interested to know how the jewelers scale method works.  Specifically how do you find a scale accurate enough for the task.

 

JerryK, hang tight okay? It can get quiet on the forum over the weekends, so you'll get answered but maybe just not as quickly as hoped

 

If you don't hear anything by Monday, simply re-ask your question, okay? Its not that people don't care about you; its just that it can get easy to get behind & caught up on these pages, so it might get accidentally missed

 

How ya feeling, by the way? Doing good I hope!! We'll chat again soon

 

Sounds about right, for xanax tolerance/withdrawal

[[mr...]]

Rabbit, now that I toss more meds than I drink, yes I put them into separate containers than my mixing container. Back when I was drinking more than tossing, I just carried the shaker bottle & syringe with me everywhere

 

My dosing schedule was not correlated to my eating patterns at all, so no. I dose at 9:15 and 3:15, both AMs & PMs. So I suppose only one of them occurs when I eat (9:15am), and the rest do not.

 

Thank you Mrs, so you must be able to sleep well if you wake up and take a dose at 3:15am, you go back to sleep?

 

Yes, now I am able to. Back when I started tapering, my sleep was a little choppy, so sometimes I'd have a little difficulty. For the most part, sleep has been OK for me all the way through my taper.

[[Ra...]]

Rabbit, now that I toss more meds than I drink, yes I put them into separate containers than my mixing container. Back when I was drinking more than tossing, I just carried the shaker bottle & syringe with me everywhere

 

My dosing schedule was not correlated to my eating patterns at all, so no. I dose at 9:15 and 3:15, both AMs & PMs. So I suppose only one of them occurs when I eat (9:15am), and the rest do not.

 

Thank you Mrs, so you must be able to sleep well if you wake up and take a dose at 3:15am, you go back to sleep?

 

Yes, now I am able to. Back when I started tapering, my sleep was a little choppy, so sometimes I'd have a little difficulty. For the most part, sleep has been OK for me all the way through my taper.

 

Was your sleep impaired prior to your taper?

[[mr...]]

Rabbit, nope My husband used to joke that I could fall asleep on top of a stop sign!! :-P No need to worry if yours was--thats not necessarily any indication of how it'll be post-xanax. I've seen many buddies on here have much better sleep after getting off the drug and thru withdrawals than they ever did pre-benzos. Look up a buddy named "Parker" on here and read her posts They'll floor you (in a good way)! And she's one that took benzos for sleep initially

 

Hope that helps

[[Fl...]]

CRAP, I hate to waste a good cheer and break a antique lamp for the wrong person,, I dont have many high kicks in me, so I'll ltry again tomorrow Fluterbutt... the cheer was suppose to be for you...sorry...

 

Benzy,

Sorry about your lamp!  I can always use a good cheer.  I just took my 5p.m. dose.  Today, has been tolerable.  I actually went shopping with my cousin and than to lunch.  It started getting really loud in the restaurant, and I was ready to get out of there.

 

You were right to give Mrs a cheer.  She gave some great support

 

FluterButt

[[Fl...]]

Rah, rah, ree,

Kick 'em in the knee,

Rah, rah, rass,

Kick 'em in the....other knee.

 

 

I always loved this cheer.

My dad used to say it all the time.

It made my girls laugh.

FB

[[Ra...]]

Rabbit, nope My husband used to joke that I could fall asleep on top of a stop sign!! :-P No need to worry if yours was--thats not necessarily any indication of how it'll be post-xanax. I've seen many buddies on here have much better sleep after getting off the drug and thru withdrawals than they ever did pre-benzos. Look up a buddy named "Parker" on here and read her posts They'll floor you (in a good way)! And she's one that took benzos for sleep initially

 

Hope that helps

 

Thank you Mrs.  I used to never have troubles falling asleep, it was staying asleep.  I would wake up to go to the bathroom and then not be able to fall back to sleep.  Initially and for quite a while the Xanax would make me groggy enough that when I woke up, I could go back to sleep, but here in the last 6 months or so, that no longer happens.  It's only been with the Seroquel that I've been able to sleep.  I wonder how long that will last, then another drug to get off of, UGH. 

 

Yes, I've seen some of Parker's posts, I will do some more investigating there.  Thank you as always for your tireless patience with me

[[Be...]]

Im mad as hell all the time now, I hate everybody and everything I should be starting to cut my last dose and I DONT WANT TOO. I want to keep my little friend, he wasnt that bad to me, in fact he did his job just fine. I want to be able to take a little pill AND NOT DEAL WITH ALL THIS S###.

Maybe Im a addict and dont know it yet, cuase I aint wanting to give this up now....

[[So...]]

Well, there have been nights where you forgot all about your little friend!! So, think about that!!

 

Nana 

[[mr...]]

Benzy, that's withdrawal talking They call that "benzo rage". I've experienced it, and it is an unpleasant feeling because I am not like that with people (or inanimate objects, lol) normally. I think guys have more of the benzo rage than gals, because of their naturally higher testosterone levels. Seems like gals have more of the crying issues & such, lol. Not always the case, but seems to be the trend

 

You're doing great, friend Thank you for being here for everyone else all the time! You're going to get through this, too. Just hang tough and ride it out

 

I am trying to do the same here Symptoms have been icky the past hour, but hoping for a better and better evening

[[Ca...]]

Im mad as hell all the time now, I hate everybody and everything I should be starting to cut my last dose and I DONT WANT TOO. I want to keep my little friend, he wasnt that bad to me, in fact he did his job just fine. I want to be able to take a little pill AND NOT DEAL WITH ALL THIS S###.

Maybe Im a addict and dont know it yet, cuase I aint wanting to give this up now....

 

Benzy....I bet once you take that last dose and throw away the bottle you will feel a sense of great relief. I was excited...but struggled with the fear of what would come symptom wise. When I was able to wrangle the fear and let go I discovered it was not as bad as I had imagined it would be. I am good at conjuring frightening situations...something I have worked to resolve throughout my adult life. My silver lining to this journey is a new ability to let go and trust. You have shown tremendous dedication....you can do it! We all believe in you.

Carita

[[Ra...]]

Hey Benzy, even though I haven't started my taper yet, your feelings sound totally normal, especially at the end when you're not quite sure what jumping will feel like.  Are your w/d sx worse today besides the rage? You will get through this.  It feels weird for me to give you support when I have no experience at tapering yet, but I want to say 'Hang in there'!