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

[[ho...]]

Baby-I have aged a lot too. I look at myself and think wow! Who is that?  However, like you, I am ok with it. Sure I wish I hadn't aged but I earned every bit of grey hair and every wrinkle and no wonder I look tired and beat up! I am so grateful that my body is carrying me through this.

 

Benzy-I'm sorry about your horse. I hope it all goes well tomorrow!

 

Hopeful,

 

I'm getting beaten up big time!  Such an awful day!  I've avoided mirrors for so long it hard to remember what I used to look like...  But today I spent some time looking in the mirror trying to reacquaint myself.  Guess what?  I liked what I saw!  I'm just me albeit 8 years later.  Long term users lose years or decades of their lives.  But the benefit of healing outweighs any regrets.  And damn, I'm still cool! 

 

 

Baby,

I do love you! I'd agree that you are cool! I am sure your spunk and wonderful spirit shine through! It is really weird to start coming out of the fog. I feel really panicked sometimes when I realize how much of my life is a blur from the last 8 years. I have massive voids. I remember some things but only in a detached way. I hate it! Won't it be wonderful to look back in 10 years and realize we can remember experiencing life now?

Love,

Hopeful Girl

[[Be...]]

yes, thank you for thinking bout me!

[[Be...]]

So much for a window, it's just the beginning of the usual manic insomnia...how quickly I forget ...4th day of cutting so it's right on time!!!! Oh well, it felt good while it lasted. So it's 5:30, been up since 6 yesterday...... ILL APOGIZE AHEAD OF TIME! SORRY!! I'm prolly about to get crazy again, just use the ignore  button

[[So...]]

Darn!! I had hoped your window was open for good!! 

 

So, you have been up an entire day now?

 

Maybe you did too much yesterday and got your adrenaline to pumping too much.

 

Did you make your fourth cut last night?

 

Hope you can get some sleep soon.

 

Ummmm, ignore button?

 

Denise 

 

[[Be...]]

Turns out it wasn't a window, just the start of my usual manic insomnia routine.... For some reason I just forgot the routine...

[[Re...]]

I am on the upswing also.  I am hoping that I just stay hypomanic and do not go into full blown mania again.

 

I can’t believe that people pay big bucks on a Friday night to get this high.

 

[[Be...]]

ya, I tell myself all the time that I used to pay money, smoke and take crap that made me feel just like this and I LOVED it, eating so much speed that my hr was 200 bpm, head rushes body rushes............young and duuuuumb..

 

oh wait, now I call it withdrawals and I hate it...

[[Re...]]

I hear you.

[[mi...]]

Please tell me your symptoms, how did you know the Xanax was making you sick?

Can you see it in ones face? Do you look sick? Windows and waves, WHY? Did you have windows and waves while stable on the Xanax for years? Any long time users?

 

 

thanks for your info

[[Ju...]]

Please tell me your symptoms, how did you know the Xanax was making you sick?

Can you see it in ones face? Do you look sick? Windows and waves, WHY? Did you have windows and waves while stable on the Xanax for years? Any long time users?

 

 

thanks for your info

Hi Mike.  I'll be honest with you.  I had no idea that it was the Xanax that was making me sick until right before I started my taper and started lurking here.  I had been a long-term, high dose user.  But I began to feel like crap the last two years I used Xanax.  I was having bouts of really high anxiety, (something I'd never had in my life), as well as depression.  I also had really bad muscle aches and joint pain and frequent migraines.  I had no energy and all I wanted to do was stay home because it wasn't possible to accept many social engagements because I never knew how I was going to feel from day-to-day.  I hated to tell someone that I would do something and then not be able to go, so I just stayed home a lot.

 

Then I started lurking on BB's and I thought --- could it be the Xanax that was causing me to feel like crap?  On the off chance it was the Xanax, and for some other reasons, I decided to taper off.  As soon as I started tapering --- boom.  All of the yucky symptoms I'd been having were intensified right after each cut.  Then I'd start to feel better again after I stabilized.  Then I'd cut again --- and boom.  Here were those same symptoms I'd felt for almost two-years intensified as the Xanax cut was hitting me.  It was very clear to me after I started cutting that it was the Xanax that was making me feel so bad.

 

Did I look different?  Well, I looked very tired.  I was so tired of suffering. 

 

Benzo withdrawal is one of those invisible conditions.  For the most part, we can probably tell that we feel bad when we look in the mirror, but most people could not tell we felt as bad as we do.

 

Hope that helps.

 

ps:  I feel better than I have in years now that I'm off the Xanax and had 7-months to heal.     

[[Be...]]

Hi Mike, they say its different for everyone..

 

I took 2 mgs for 1 year or so before I hit tolerance, I didnt know what it was so I blamed it on another heart med as a side effect from the heart med, I didnt realize it was the tolerance to the xanax... you could have taken your dose for 20 year without developing tolerance I guess too

 

or are you in tolerance and dont realize it?

 

for me, I was dizzy, terrible balance, ringing in ears, anxiety and panic even though I was on a drug, body aches and muscle spasms.... lots of little small things that you might blow off as just everyday things, I thought I was just sick from the other meds, turns out it was the Xanax...

 

so, if you're on 1.5 mgs for 20 years and you feel stable and your not having problems such as this, then maybe you are still stable after all these years.

 

but if you're experiencing anything like this, you might think about maybe you are experiencing the effects of the Xanax.....if you maintain a dose for a period of time without uping the dose, thats when you might develop the tolerance, because sooner or later the dose doesnt work..

 

I was determined to not up my dose, so I thought i was ok with the xanax part of my drug regimen, turns out it was my whole problem....

 

do you understand what Im saying?

[[Be...]]

ps. from what I know personally, and from what Ive read, you wouldn't be having "windows and waves", if you were "stable" on the drug.... that would happen if it was making you sick such as if you were in some kinda tolerance..

 

and yes, you can see it in your face, it can make your skin yucky, and your eyes dark and dreary, and just your expression kinda blah, cause it makes you kinda blah,,, you'd kinda look like you were depressed I guess...

[[Re...]]

I have been taking Xanax for 23 years.  I have taken as much as 4 mg per day but only take it once a day for sleep at bedtime. I was stable for about 20 years and did not have interdose withdrawal.

 

For the last few years I have had interdose withdrawal symptoms but they were very mild. They are getting much worse since this year when I started Prozac and trazodone.

 

Around 3:00 PM I start feeling extremely uncomfortable.  My peripheral neuropathy pain becomes severe, particularly the burning mouth, burning neck and shoulders. and tingling feet and I become very agitated. I also get nauseated and psychomotor retardation sets in somewhat. I just feel miserable.  Sort of an undefined sick feeling.

 

I am trying to determine how to split the dose but I am afraid of increasing my tolerance or of having to increase the frequency of the interdosing. I am on 2.5mg per day still all taken at bedtime. Increasing the frequency of the interdosing reminds me too much of "staggering" and it's effects and I am afraid to make it worse.

 

I have been trying to take 0.5mg at around 3:00PM and then just take 2mg at bedtime so that I do not have such bad symptoms. It takes about 2 hours to take effect. But I think I am waiting too long to do that after the symptoms have started.

 

I question whether it is the Xanax or the trazodone because from what I am researching the trazodone has an even shorter half-life.

 

I guess this will be trial and error, as usual.

 

[[Re...]]

Sorry....it double posted when I edited it.

[[Ju...]]

Rebel - Splitting up your Xanax dose to help with interdose withdrawal should not have any impact on one's tolerance, in my opinion, as long as the daily dose remains the same.  Splitting up the dose would only help, IMO.  At least this is what I've seen time and time again here on BenzoBuddies.  I believe I stopped taking Xanax just in time prior to suffering from interdose withdrawal.  I was very fortunate.  I also took Xanax only at bedtime, for sleep.

 

Most people dose as evenly as possible when suffering from interdose withdrawal.  This helps keep the benzo levels in the blood as even as possible and promotes a steady decline.  This is especially important during a taper if the person has interdose issues.

[[Re...]]

Juliea:  What do you think about the trazodone being the cause of interdose withdrawal as opposed to the Xanax?

[[Ju...]]

Juliea:  What do you think about the trazodone being the cause of interdose withdrawal as opposed to the Xanax?

My educated 'guess' is that it's the Xanax that is your culprit.  However, my education comes from a benzo-centric background.  I've had some limited experience with an antidepressant prescribed by a neurologist for neuromuscular pain.  Elavil, (Amitriptyline), was the medication.  I cold turkeyed this medicine after long-term use and did not have one withdrawal symptom occur.  My neuromuscular pain turned out to be probable-Xanax-induced and hasn't shown back up for over 7 months now since I've tapered off.

 

I began suffering neuromuscular pain while I was tampering with my Xanax dose in order to keep a dependency from occurring.  I thought by going up and down in my Xanax dose that I was doing myself a favor.  This was actually the worst thing I could have done.  It caused tolerance, (along with tolerance withdrawals), to develop.  However, I did not recognize the withdrawals to be associated with my Xanax dose until I began to taper off.  After I started my taper, it was very clear what had been happening. 

 

I wish I could help you more.

[[ho...]]

Rebel,

I'd agree with Juliea. All your symptoms are the same as the ones I've experienced from benzos. I am not educated well on trazadone though, however so take it with that in mind.

I hope you figure it out!

hopeful girl

[[mr...]]

Rebel, I'll third that notion from Juliea and Hopefulgirl.  Again, no experiences from the other drug, but everything you describe is what I've had (and more) in tolerance.  Ever since about a month after using Xanax, I've had interdose withdrawal.  The simplest way to test it is to split your Xanax dose in half, and take it every twelve hours and see if you experience improvements.  I sure did, after my system got used to the split (for me, it felt like a "cut" at first so I had to hold and stabilize there for about a week before trying to actually cut).  But once I got used to it, I felt so much better that I went ahead and split my dosings out to four times per day--every six hours--in order to make up for Xanax's half life of six hours.  Almost immediately, I stopped experiencing interdose withdrawal.  I've been interdose w/d free until just recently, and I believe it's started up a little again because I'm so low in dosage now 

[[Re...]]

Thank you all so much for your replies.

 

The Xanax and SSRI/SNRIs and a long list of other drugs all have very similar withdrawal symptoms.

 

It is possible that after 23 years I have reached Xanax tolerance.  But it is interesting to me that it has gotten incredibly worse since starting the trazodone and the Prozac at the same time earlier this year.  Especially since the trazodone has a shorter half-life than the Xanax from what I can tell.  I have been through this before and the only time I had these symptoms is when I was on Prozac and trazodone with the Xanax at the same time.  I just don’t know which one to pick first.  Mostly I’ve been told to start tapering the Prozac first.

As the worst symptoms usually start showing up around 3:00 PM I tried taking 0.5mg at 1:00PM today.  That is 3 hours ago and I still feel like crap and it’s getting worse.  I normally take 2.5mg SID. I’m trying the 0.5mg at 1:00 PM and 2mg at bedtime and it is not working well during the day.

 

I know that 1mg works better sometimes but I can keep changing things.  I guess I will try 1 mg at 1:00PM tomorrow and then 1.5mg at bedtime.  Perhaps dosing BID will not work for me and I will have to go to TID.  But if I am not getting any relief from splitting the doses then it’s not the Xanax maybe and I will have to reconsider the trazodone thing again or the Prozac.

 

I can only microtaper as I am so hypersensitized so I have to choose carefully because each of the three drugs that I taper off of will take years to do one at a time.

 

I’m so confused.

 

[[Ju...]]

Rebel, this sentence you posted was very telling for me:

 

I  have been on Xanax for 23 years and taking as much as 4mg a day, mostly SID.

Considering that you're now taking 2.5mg and your highest dose was 4mg, I believe that both tolerance and interdose withdrawal is kicking your tail.  It's maddening I'm sure to get so many opinions, but here's one more:  I'd tackle the Xanax first. 

[[Re...]]

I just have to be sure which one is causing the physical side effects because it is going to take a long time to microtaper off and I can't live like this.  I read that coming off the SSRI and SNRI would decrease the absorption of the Xanax so I was figuring to use the Xanax to "help" me while I taper off the Prozac and then the trazodone.

 

The interesting thing though is that I was severely depressed to the point of dysfunction for the last 11 months and then I drank that Coke three weeks ago and flipped hypomanic and the mania is just increasing.

 

Even more complicating is that I am the queen of paradoxical reactions.

 

I read this on another forum:

 

I would compare the feeling to a 'meth-like' effect, though without enjoyable dopamine properties.

 

That is it exactly.

[[Be...]]

Rebel, do  a search for "gaer" Garys' blog, and "new moon", New moons blog, theyre both very knowledgable about meds and such... I think new moons having some problems and isnt here much lately but shell be back soon hopefully...

 

Ive seen them chat, and theyre super informative and super willing to help..

 

I dont know enough to help with anything other than the basix..

 

theres one more dude, but I cant cal his name, but I"ll send it to you when I see it..

[[Re...]]

Thanks, Benzy. 

[[Be...]]

I dunno how I am today, Im almost through my cutting, I thought yesterday I finally had a "window", felt super great, almost manic, turns out it was just the beginning of the withdrawal induced manic/insomnia... I cant believe I forgot that would happen...

finally passed out about 10 this morning, thought I was just down a hour, fitful sleep, got up about 4...

 

this part sucks