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

[[Be...]]

4 of us are, thanks.... the other 6 are still crying...

[[Bl...]]

You are in touch with your alters? That must be fun, or maybe just confusing.

 

Blue

[[Be...]]

itsa party 24/7!

[[Ca...]]

Ok so I have a small scale - but it only goes to .01g, that is not small enough is it? Are smaller scales pretty affordable online?

That's not small enough.  We need the .001g

 

Here is the one most people use:

 

[nobbc]http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389748818&sr=8-1&keywords=gemini+scale[/nobbc]

 

Copy and paste this link into your browser.

 

Thank you! I'm still hoping to hear from water titration peeps as it still sounds appealing. Maybe good to go to water when dose gets just too silly to try and weigh on a scale.

 

TT,

  I water tapered xanax and found it technically easy. I first dry cut until symptoms became too uncomfortable and switched to water at .25 mg. I am not feeling well enough right now to write out accurate directions.  If you look at past posts there are many written with excellent advice. You can do a search at the top right side of the heading. Bet someone else will come along and be of assistance.

Good luck to you and welcome to BB.

Warmly,

Carita

 

[[Ra...]]

Carita, I'm so sorry to hear you're having a rough go right now.  Healing thoughts coming your way.

[[Ca...]]

Carita, I'm so sorry to hear you're having a rough go right now.  Healing thoughts coming your way.

 

Rabbit,

  You are so kind...thank you. Sending you support.

Warmly,

Carita

[[ma...]]

What sort of taper should I start? I want to start small.

 

My dose schedule is holding strong, and I'm feeling pretty good at:

6a - .18

10a - .18

2p - .18

6p - .10

10p - .18

 

I could go up or down, give or take from there. I could also try dosing 4 times a day instead of 5.

 

I'm very particular about knowing the exact amount I'm taking, so I don't know if water titration will work for me. I want to try to make smaller cuts, and hold for the shorter amount of time (7 days). I'm stabilizing after tolerance hell and not sure how long this "okay" feeling will last. I'm using a gram scale now, but it's so sensitive I'm not entirely sure I'm getting any sort of accurate reading. I'm not doing a Valium substitution unless I fail on tapering xanax. The only option I can really see is if I get liquid xanax or compounded liquid at like .02 per 1/8 ml. I wish I had the math brains to figure this out and do it myself in oraplus.  The pharmacist said he could make a suspension for me, but I don't know what that means; like if I need a new rx or if I just bring the pills... I have .50mg pills which do me no good except to cut on my dumb scale.

 

Any guidance or suggestions would be great. Thanks!!!

I don't believe it would have worked for me to cut faster but smaller bits, unless I was doing some kind of tiny daily reduction.  Cutting every 7 days doing cut and hold would have been about 1 day too quick for me during the majority of my taper when I cut on the 8th day.  I did not learn how quickly my body would allow me to cut for many, many, many cuts into my taper.  And I never held myself to a schedule, I shot for a day to cut again, but if I wasn't positive my body was ready, I did not cut that day.

 

All I know to advise you to do when using a scale is to shave 5-10% off of the weight of a full days dose, when you are ready to cut again.  I've never used a scale.  I'm so sorry you're stuck with the .5mg pills Mac.  When I got my .25's, it was a big relief.

 

Wonderful advice. Thank you very much!  I'm thinking 2.5-5% cuts and aim for every 7-10 days. This damn jewelers scale is bringing out some sort of OCD I never knew I had. 

[[ma...]]

Jerryk- how are you physically cutting your lower doses down? What is your taper schedule? Thank you!!!

[[pi...]]

Come on Benzy and others here on this support board.  Humor is great and can be a distraction from the pain and awfulness of withdrawal, but when it takes attention away from those who are really struggling, this is not the place for it. 

 

I have spoken before about staying on topic here, this is a support board for those who really need the help and advice from others who are in or have been in the same situation.  Go to Off Topic if you want to make jokes and be silly, that's an OK place for that.  This is not.

 

Have compassion and care for those who need the most help right now. 

 

pianogirl

[[Fl...]]

GUESS WHAT? I JUMPED! 

 

:clap:  Good Job Benzy Poo!!!  Don't ya feel great!!!  :clap:

 

SUPER PROUD OF YOU 

FluterButt

[[la...]]

hey lacey, Im good, how bout you?

I thought I was gonna jump but I found out I did my math wrong,,, I got one more cut first, then the next cut I'll jump...

 

Hey Benzy, what was this whole schpeel about earlier today?

[[...]]

My first day (night) trying to quit, and I ended a quitter. I tried substituting .25 mg Xanax with 10 mg Librium, and .5 mg Xanax with 10 mg Valium. My brain simply refused to recognize the Librium and the Valium and I ended up taking 1.5 mg more Xanax than my usual dose (3mg a day- 1.5 mg daytime/1.5 mg bedtime). I suddenly woke up at like 1:30 AM with all kinds of thoughts and feeling extremely disturbed with a headache. The extra Xanax calmed me (I'm ashamed of myself).

 

I'm now planning to taper off of the Xanax by .125 mg every 10 days. No more Valium or Librium substitution. Xanax is made in hell, that med oughta be on the same list as crack or meth.

[[Ch...]]

Benzy didn't jump from his benzo taper.  He jumped when a book fell on the floor.  It was a joke and a whole bunch of us fell for it. 

 

Does anybody here have a blog for everyone to hang out in for the fun stuff?  The thread is confusing for the newbies especially and today is loaded with Benzy's 'jump' posts and quotes. 

 

In the old Xanax thread days we were playing in blogland.  My very-played-in blog is unused these days…the link is in my sig…feel free to go play if you'd like. 

 

Challis 

[[Ch...]]

My first day (night) trying to quit, and I ended a quitter. I tried substituting .25 mg Xanax with 10 mg Librium, and .5 mg Xanax with 10 mg Valium. My brain simply refused to recognize the Librium and the Valium and I ended up taking 1.5 mg more Xanax than my usual dose (3mg a day- 1.5 mg daytime/1.5 mg bedtime). I suddenly woke up at like 1:30 AM with all kinds of thoughts and feeling extremely disturbed with a headache. The extra Xanax calmed me (I'm ashamed of myself).

 

I'm now planning to taper off of the Xanax by .125 mg every 10 days. No more Valium or Librium substitution. Xanax is made in hell, that med oughta be on the same list as crack or meth.

 

Put away the wet noodle and go easy on yourself, okay?  I think that might be because they're not easily substituted…it's usually a time-consuming process to go from one to the other because Xanax is short-acting (works fast, leaves fast) and Valium is very long-acting so it takes a much longer time to begin to work in your system.

 

It was right IMO to take the Xanax to counteract the withdrawal.  You avoided potentially bringing on some nasty symptoms that may have taken a long time to recover from. 

 

I can't see your sig as I type… will check the .125mg cut to see if it's not too much.

 

Challis

 

P.S. Yes, I think .125 is moderate enough.  I remember looking at this yesterday.  You could try .25 but no need to push it.

[[la...]]

Benzy didn't jump from his benzo taper.  He jumped when a book fell on the floor.  It was a joke and a whole bunch of us fell for it. 

 

Does anybody here have a blog for everyone to hang out in for the fun stuff?  The thread is confusing for the newbies especially and today is loaded with Benzy's 'jump' posts and quotes. 

 

In the old Xanax thread days we were playing in blogland.  My very-played-in blog is unused these days…the link is in my sig…feel free to go play if you'd like. 

 

Challis 

 

Oh God, I do have Benzo-brain.  I read through his posts, a few times, and still thought he jumped off.

[[Ch...]]

Benzy didn't jump from his benzo taper.  He jumped when a book fell on the floor.  It was a joke and a whole bunch of us fell for it. 

 

Does anybody here have a blog for everyone to hang out in for the fun stuff?  The thread is confusing for the newbies especially and today is loaded with Benzy's 'jump' posts and quotes. 

 

In the old Xanax thread days we were playing in blogland.  My very-played-in blog is unused these days…the link is in my sig…feel free to go play if you'd like. 

 

Challis 

 

Oh God, I do have Benzo-brain.  I read through his posts, a few times, and still thought he jumped off.

 

If it's any consolation, I'm 21 months out and feeling pretty good and this made me feel pretty dumb.  True story.

[[Fl...]]

My first day (night) trying to quit, and I ended a quitter. I tried substituting .25 mg Xanax with 10 mg Librium, and .5 mg Xanax with 10 mg Valium. My brain simply refused to recognize the Librium and the Valium and I ended up taking 1.5 mg more Xanax than my usual dose (3mg a day- 1.5 mg daytime/1.5 mg bedtime). I suddenly woke up at like 1:30 AM with all kinds of thoughts and feeling extremely disturbed with a headache. The extra Xanax calmed me (I'm ashamed of myself).

 

I'm now planning to taper off of the Xanax by .125 mg every 10 days. No more Valium or Librium substitution. Xanax is made in hell, that med oughta be on the same list as crack or meth.

 

Ashh,

Please don't be so hard on yourself!  I did the very same thing.  I beat myself up!  Also, I did not want to fail the folks here at BB, and that's how it felt to me when I had to re-instate.  I felt like I failed myself and my friends here at Benzo Buddies.

 

The best thing to do is talk it out...right here.  If at first you don't succeed try, try again.  I say, Xanax is the Devil's Drug    It's hell to get off of, but we can do it.

 

I had to stabilize, and now I'm starting my taper 1/15/14 which is Thursday.  I am very nervous.  Wish me luck!

 

FluterByee

 

 

[[Be...]]

[[mr...]]

FB, you're gonna do great!!

 

Doubt you'll even feel the first week or two, lol...

 

Mrs.

[[Fl...]]

Mrs,

 

I'm not so sure about that!  The last couple of days I have had Int D WD's and mucho anxiety.

 

Right now vertigo is hanging in the background.  I'm afraid to move my head/neck/ or eyes to fast in fear that full blown vertigo will set in!

 

I have had severe neck/trap/scapula pain all day.  My neck wants to pull to the left and that entire side is the one that hurts the most.  I have a knot in the muscle on my left scapula and my bicep/triceps are weak making it hard to type.  I have also been short of breath...even when taking my dose.

 

I'm guessing I have gone back into Tolerance and inter dose WD 

 

ALso today, I'm having Benzo rage/agitation.

 

Try & Stay positive you say...I seem to have a very difficult time doing that.  My SX's wipe out any positive thoughts because they seem to be all I can focus on.

 

FRUSTRATING  

 

FluterByee

[[...]]

My first day (night) trying to quit, and I ended a quitter. I tried substituting .25 mg Xanax with 10 mg Librium, and .5 mg Xanax with 10 mg Valium. My brain simply refused to recognize the Librium and the Valium and I ended up taking 1.5 mg more Xanax than my usual dose (3mg a day- 1.5 mg daytime/1.5 mg bedtime). I suddenly woke up at like 1:30 AM with all kinds of thoughts and feeling extremely disturbed with a headache. The extra Xanax calmed me (I'm ashamed of myself).

 

I'm now planning to taper off of the Xanax by .125 mg every 10 days. No more Valium or Librium substitution. Xanax is made in hell, that med oughta be on the same list as crack or meth.

 

Ashh,

Please don't be so hard on yourself!  I did the very same thing.  I beat myself up!  Also, I did not want to fail the folks here at BB, and that's how it felt to me when I had to re-instate.  I felt like I failed myself and my friends here at Benzo Buddies.

 

The best thing to do is talk it out...right here.  If at first you don't succeed try, try again.  I say, Xanax is the Devil's Drug    It's hell to get off of, but we can do it.

 

I had to stabilize, and now I'm starting my taper 1/15/14 which is Thursday.  I am very nervous.  Wish me luck!

 

FluterByee

 

You'll do just great, don't worry. Just have some Xanax handy for that unexpected panic attack which may occur as you go along on your taper journey. I realized it the hard way, the brain simply refuses to accept any med other than Xanax, that med from hell really digs in deep and stays even after you've managed to quit.

[[Ch...]]

Mrs,

 

I'm not so sure about that!  The last couple of days I have had Int D WD's and mucho anxiety.

 

Right now vertigo is hanging in the background.  I'm afraid to move my head/neck/ or eyes to fast in fear that full blown vertigo will set in!

 

I have had severe neck/trap/scapula pain all day.  My neck wants to pull to the left and that entire side is the one that hurts the most.  I have a knot in the muscle on my left scapula and my bicep/triceps are weak making it hard to type.  I have also been short of breath...even when taking my dose.

 

I'm guessing I have gone back into Tolerance and inter dose WD 

 

ALso today, I'm having Benzo rage/agitation.

 

Try & Stay positive you say...I seem to have a very difficult time doing that.  My SX's wipe out any positive thoughts because they seem to be all I can focus on.

 

FRUSTRATING  

 

FluterByee

 

I just got over the flu.  I had forgotten what most of my days in withdrawal were like, but as soon as I got the flu I remembered.  It was like having a bad, long, lingering case of the flu with body aches and light-headedness, heavy heartbeats and blah, blah, blah. 

 

What was odd to me was that in the midst of the flu I thought to myself, 'What if this is acute benzo withdrawal coming back after all this time???'  I even caught myself worrying that I'd never feel good again!

 

This stuff really messes with our minds.

[[la...]]

This might be weird.  But, I did my first reduction for this taper a couple days ago, and I'm really excited for a couple days from now to see just how bad the W/D hit's me.    Last time it came on day 4. Hoping it's easy this time around with the smaller reduction.  I can't wait to do the next reduction.

 

I'll probably regret saying this though come Thursday when I'm weeping like a little girl.

[[ta...]]

Ok so I have a small scale - but it only goes to .01g, that is not small enough is it? Are smaller scales pretty affordable online?

That's not small enough.  We need the .001g

 

Here is the one most people use:

 

[nobbc]http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-GEMINI-20-Portable-MilliGram/dp/B0012TDNAM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389748818&sr=8-1&keywords=gemini+scale[/nobbc]

 

Copy and paste this link into your browser.

 

Thank you! I'm still hoping to hear from water titration peeps as it still sounds appealing. Maybe good to go to water when dose gets just too silly to try and weigh on a scale.

 

TT,

  I water tapered xanax and found it technically easy. I first dry cut until symptoms became too uncomfortable and switched to water at .25 mg. I am not feeling well enough right now to write out accurate directions.  If you look at past posts there are many written with excellent advice. You can do a search at the top right side of the heading. Bet someone else will come along and be of assistance.

Good luck to you and welcome to BB.

Warmly,

Carita

 

Thank you Carita, for the advice. I hope you feel better ASAP. I have tried searching but I keep getting errors so may be realted to my newbieness. I think you have helped me see that I can cut for a little while then switch to water as the dose gets lower.

 

Does everyone here mostly agree that tapering only with xanax is best? I did mention I have valium but i really hate how tired it makes me the next day. Plus the idea of introducing a second drug sounds perhaps bad news.

[[la...]]

 

Thank you Carita, for the advice. I hope you feel better ASAP. I have tried searching but I keep getting errors so may be realted to my newbieness. I think you have helped me see that I can cut for a little while then switch to water as the dose gets lower.

 

Does everyone here mostly agree that tapering only with xanax is best? I did mention I have valium but i really hate how tired it makes me the next day. Plus the idea of introducing a second drug sounds perhaps bad news.

 

Maybe I'm reading this wrong.  But, you'd just be on one or the other, not on both at the same time, correct?

 

I think it comes down personal opinion to switch or not.  I, like you, am very fatigued when under the influence of Benzo's during the day.  I also get depressed from it too.  That's why I've stayed away from switching over to valium.  With Xanax I can at least control how sedated I am during the day, by just taking a small dose in the morning to take the edge off.