my brothers been tapering to stop xanax...is it safe to stop now?

[ronny3]

well unfortunately my brother is addicted to pills like me, just not as bad as i was...hes addicted to xanax and ive been helping him taper off because hes had a seizure before when stopping suddenly for a day...

hes been using at least 2 years straight he was taking 2.5 2mg bars for awhile, but 2 months ago he started taking only 2mgs a day then 1mgs a day and the afew days ago he took .5mgs for 2 days...he didnt have anything left and wanted to stop there but i knew thats still pretty high to just stop.  so i gave him the last 4 klonopins i had that my docter gave me for the withdrawals(what a good brother, right?), even though i could use them..after the 2nd day he took the .5mg i gave him .5mg of klonopin in the morning and .5mg at night then yesterday morning around .35mg (dont ask..i gave him a smaller half) and a .25mg at night.  today i gave him .25 in the moring.  i have only .5mgs left, what do i do, is he ready to come off now or should he be tapering longer?  i dont want to be a docter and i want my brother safe because i almost died from xanax and a severe seizure afew years back..  

i think he'll be ok, but if not then maybe ill have to tell him to goto the docter tomorrow and see what they can give him for afew more days, unless hes probably safe enough to stop, wich i think he is, but at the same time i would never want to hurt him or have him get hurt....

anyone?

[GA Guy]

One way many docs detox benzo addicts is to change them over to a longer acting benzo (klonopin) and then taper down slowly. Doing an "on your own" benzo detox is just asking for trouble. You say you want your brother safe...get him to a doctor first thing tomorrow morning.

[christos24]

if he is down to either .5 or .25 mgs a day he will have no lethal or terrible wd effects from going cold turkey from the xanax..if he was above 2mgs i would say to taper longer and not go CT but he is at a very very low dose and he will be fine going cold turkey now that he has tapered down so low..he will only have the mental wd from going cold turkey, he will have cravings, anxiety and mild insomnia, so see about finding some hydroxyzine(a older generation anti-histamine, that most docs put you on when you are low enough on a benzo to replace going cold turkey, it is a muscle relaxant, mild euphoriant, and mainly anti-anxeity drug, it is very effective, many patients happily have switched over from 1mg xanax to 50-100mg hydroxyzine)..i had to do it and it worked well...if they dont use hydroxyzine then they will usually use a long lasting benzo to replace the short acting benzo but the dose hes at is so low it would only prolong him getting off and be playing with fire causing another possible addiction, so his best bet is to go cold turkey once out of xanax then go to the doctor then get hydroxyzine or some soma a anti-anxiety/muscle relaxant, and then for sleep OTC sominex or unisom will work fine and he would only have 5 days at most minor discomfort and trouble sleeping, it really will be all mental, it wont be bad at all trust me ive been thru it many many times-christos

[GoingToMakeIt]

Maybe .25 tomorrow and then skip 1 day and .25.