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MedHelp Member's Question

xanax withdrawals

by buddy1, Nov 05, 2001 12:00AM
a few years ago i was taking paxil and .5 mg xanax three times a day

when the paxil began to work i stopped taking the xanax without a problem.

now i  have been taking .25 mg xanax two to three times a day only for about 6 weeks and today is the first time i haven taken one. can i experience withdrawal effects form this low dose? my head feels

a little swimmy and shaky. should i take one .25 mg a day for a while and then stop?  thanks
Member Comments (18)

by buddy1, Nov 05, 2001 12:00AM
To: kstuebin
thanks



yes, i would like to know the ways to taper off.  i gave in about a half hour ago because my headwas so shaky, and too a .25



th





rae

by Thomas, Nov 20, 2001 12:00AM
To: raeyt
Xanax is the benzo from hell. It has an extremely short half-life in the body, meaning when you stop your daily dosing your blood levels of the drug fall off dramatically. I have had 4 seizures from abrupt Xanax discontinuence. The safest way to get off of Xanax is to have your doctor first switch you to a daily dose of a long-acting benzo such as Valium or Klonopin (Valium is longer acting and much cheaper). Valium's half-life is apprx 200 hours per dose (versus Xanax' 11 hours), so even if you ran out, your blood level of the Valium would fall of slowly, giving your brain a better chance to adjust. Of course, ideally, you will switch to Valium, then taper off of that. That's the safe and anxiety-free way to get off of Xanax. (Librium is also a long-acting benzo. Problem with Librium is it comes in capsules, which, of course, you can't just break in half.) Good luck.

by jdnelson, Aug 15, 2007 02:08PM
To: Buddy1
I have been taking .25 xanax up to six times a day for almost 8 years. Now I am starting to become more panicie and start shaking. I want to be weaned off the xanax but feel like I would have to go inpatient treatment to do so. Do you have any recommendation?

by Josh26, Aug 15, 2007 02:17PM
To: off xanax now
let me tell you my experience with xanax i took 8mgs a day for 8 months well i quit opiates 43 days ago or so and then after about 2 weeks i decided to tackle my xanax i went from 8 to 4 and stayed there for a week or so then went to 2 the next week then 1 the next then 0 the next i had a week of withdrawls my sleeping got a little better now its 11 days after my last dose of xanax and i feel much better all i need now is more sleep my appetite is great the key i think is .. is to make sure u drop down and hold it to let youre blood level off so thats what i did had no seizures just a few muscle spasms butnothing crazy it wasnt the easiest thing but way easier then i imagined mmk good luck and heres to a drug free life cuz i think we've all taken more drugs then the average 3 people combined
Josh

by JustinL., Aug 23, 2007 12:52PM
To: need help
Ive been taking 4 MG a day of xanax for the last 5 to 6 years. What can I say I always lived near mexico. Now I live on the east coast and I have maybe 5 of 1mg tablets left... Im a little scared on whats going to happen to me, plus how im going to be able to take care of my new born twin girls in such a state. I feel if I go to a doctor because im young, and have tattoos that he will just think im pill searching. Any advise???? Bless all

by Jennco, Aug 25, 2007 02:25AM
To: all
I've been taking 1mg 3 times a day.  I want 2 stop!!!!!   It is EVIL!!  Its been about 6 months at least and I get internal shakes.   I can't work/go to school.  When does this stop?  I'm trying not to take them at all.   I started taking 2mg a  day and I want to quit!!!!!!!  I would never wiash this feeling on my worst friend

by Mastiff555, Sep 16, 2007 06:56PM
To: All
I know this feeling is so bad--I have been taking opiates (percs/oxys/vics) and zanex.  I really am not sure which is affecting me worse for detoxing.  My friend was doing the same as me only no zanex after a week or 2 he has been ok--not perfect but not like me.  Does anyone know if the zanex is making the opiate detox worse--Obviously I know it has not made it better but I mean it just seems that I am worse detoxing than other who did not take zanex--is this true?  I snorted the zanex as well--Maybe that made it worse as well--anyway I wish everyone luck--I would not wish this on anyone honestly anyone this really sucks-if I only could turn back time-never would touch anything!!!!! I pray everyone including me gets rid of this devil!

by B-bunch, Sep 17, 2007 05:13AM
To: ALL
I just returned from the hospital after a 5 day stay. After 2 years of prescribing Xanax for me, my doctor suddenly decided to stop prescribing because I took more than he prescribed last month. (I am on Interferon/Ribaviron treatment I have HepC)
I had to go cold-turkey.  The withdrawals were bad for 3 days could barely stand up to get out of bed. I could just make it to the bathroom. I couldn't eat or sleep or get any water down without throwing it back up. After the 4 days I thought it would get better...WRONG. It got worse.
I then started a psychotic episode that lasted for a week. I totally broke from reality, auditory and visual hallucinations non-stop. I was lucky a family member called 911,  the paramedics arrived and they took me to the emergency room, the hospital had to admit me because of my mental state. I don't have insurance so I can't possibly pay the hospital bill, it's been a month since then and I still haven't received the bill so it MUST be a whopper.
Transfer to Valium, it's easier to withdraw from I've been told. And begin to taper off today. Xanax should be discontinued and the pharmaceutical company that makes it  should be shut down for good.
Check out this old post......
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/addiction/messages/30256a.html

Good luck to all of you. You'll get thru the withdrawal. If I can do it anybody can.

by Calzy, Sep 17, 2007 09:21AM
To: mastiff~B-bunch
Your posts are not being seen here much because you are posting on a 2001 post so if you have a question or comment please start a new post.

by natasha windham, Sep 26, 2007 03:45PM
To: all who have took xanax
i wasn't even taking xanax for years only for a couple months,i got addicted to them and only wanted more,i drank beer behind them as well ,you know to make the effect heightened and i swear to you i hate i ever touched a xanax or a beer.i had been drinking for thirteen years and deeply depressed i was child molested and i needed a way out,started having panic attacks at the age of 19,i am 29 now still having panic attacks and decided that i was tired of being an alcoholic and a xanax junkie so i quit cold turkey.boy was that the wrong thing to do,i like to have been lost my mind,i could not function at all my vision was blurry,my blood sugars keeped dropping,i could hear a pin drop,lost my appetite completely and when i did try to eat something it tasted so bad like ten times sweeter than it was i spit it out,lost about 20 pounds,thought i was dying,just didnt know what to do with myself,so i thought that i would kill myself and get it over with.went to the hospital to be shown no mercy,they all made me feel like i had really lost it,i didnt know what was going on until i talked to a nurse who did have the decency to tell me what i was going through.it was not easy and i agree with the person who said that the people who make xanax should be shot to hell or at least have someone shove a couple of xanax in their mouths 2 to 3 times a day for two months,lock them up in a room for them to suffer like we did,then they would know how it feels,i am a mother of three beautiful kids and during that time i could not even look my kids in their faces im still mad as hell.i can tell you one thing that is for sure if it had not of been for the good Lord watching over me i would have killed myself but through prayer i made it and you can too.peace to all and God bless.
                                                                           thanks for having me nw
                                                    

by Spacemonkey, Sep 26, 2007 08:33PM
I've stopped drinking(4yr, 9mo), stopped taking painkillers(~8wks), and stopped taking Xanax(~18mo).

Out of ALL of these, Xanax was BY FAR more brutal than any other in terms of WD.  It litterally felt like my whole body was packed with ants and I was so amazingly uncomforable that it really can't be described except to say that you have an uncontrollable need to MOVE! no where in particular, just MOVE.... the fact that Animal from the muppets was practicing his routine on my heartbeat was another beauty of a side effect.  I quit Xanax cold ----> IDIOT MOVE !!!  If I had discovered this board before I quit, I would have done it much safer and with a Dr.'s help.

I was getting so bad with taking Xanax that I would awaken in the middle of the night in a full-blast panic attack! I'd have to get up and take 2 just to get back into the bed..... after a few weeks of this, I realized that this was WAY ABNORMAL !!!! and stopped immediately. I had some Xanadine (a muscle relaxer) so I took 1/2 a tab every 5 hours for the 1st 7-10 days I was off of it.  It was still a viscious drug to stop taking!

Best of Luck and Peace be with all of you trying to put down tranq's.  They are REALLY hard to stop b/c of what they do to your head, but you see quick rewards b/c your brain is AWAKE again :o)

You have the most chance of seizures and severe health problems when you abruptly stop taking benzo's.... Don't die to get clean. Get a Doctor to help you because there isn't a really "safe" way to get out on your own after a long term benzodiazepene addiction.

Keep up the good work and keep posting here.  We are all here to support eachother. Peace :o)

by snowdoveee, Sep 26, 2007 11:44PM
wow ty all for posting i was thinking i was crazy and just imagining all the **** im going trew ,taught i was the only one and no one would understand ,was thinking i cant spend my live like this ,its not woth it ,but know that i read that lot of you are clean and living a good live ,i can know hang in thank you hugsssss snow.

by gina mcgarity, Oct 03, 2007 03:41AM
To: natasha windham
My son has been taking these xanax for a couple of years off and on, he is only 22 and out of control now! How do you just stop, how can I help him? It has already sent him to prison once! Please help me, ANYONE!

by notmenow!, Oct 04, 2007 11:56PM
To: buddy1
The best and safest way to dotox of xanax is to be honest with you Dr. You develop a tolerance rather quickly. But you need to make up your mind, If they were given to you for panic attacks what are you going to due to treat a attack even after you have detoxed lets assume, I would talk to your Dr. on what his professional opinion is you do. You are on rather a low dose know. I dont think your in the catagory of having a seizures. The fastest and safest way to come of benzo is with phenobarbital, taken in decreased doses over about 10 days, you should switch from paxil to Lexapro as this is for (GAD) generalized anxiety disorder. If you feel you cant deal with your life without xanax, as to be switched to xanax cr, which is time released but very costly at this time because there is no generic yet. It may even be on your insurance list of cevered medcations, What ever you decide I hope it all works out.-----noah