Xanax? Tingling and numb feeling?

[raymond24]

my wife has been  taking xanax for about the last week, After just a week she decided to stop taking it. It was horrible. She  took about .25 mg 2 or 3 times a day. In between doses she would start shaking, she didnt feel good at all. She  lost 10 pounds because she  lost her appetite and had to litterally force herself to eat. Yesterday was the last time she took any and now her whole body feels numb and tingly. Im not sure if its the xanax doing this to her or if there is something wrong with her. The reason she started taking the xanax in the first place was because about a month ago she was driving and all of a sudden her whole body went numb and felt tingly so she pulled over and I started to drive. All of sudden she couldnt move, she was like paralized. Her hands were cramped up to her chest and her legs were straight out and couldnt move. I called the ambulance and long story short she was sent home that night. They said she had hyperventalation syndrome caused by anxiety. they said she just needed to learn how to control her breathing when she is having a panick attack. Long story short this has happened a couple times since then and we have been in and out of the ER , docs office and every test, bloodwork and all comes back fine. She said she will start to feel numb and tingly and then cramp up. So im not sure if its the xanax making her body feel this way all the time, or if something is really wrong. Can someone please help?

[raymond24]

Thank you, We have a neurologist appt next Tuesday so hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. Any advice and counsel is greatly appreciated.

[JGF25]

If your wife didn't feel good while taking the Xanax then she could have been having an adverse reaction to it.  Now that she is off of it, it seems that her original symptoms are starting to show again, i.e., numbness and tingling.

The best thing to do is to see your regular doctor again if he/she prescribed the Xanax or if the ER did, then make an appointment to see your GP.  Bring your ER tests with you.  There are better medications out there to manage anxiety long term.  Usually one of these is taken and the benzo is taken as needed, especially in the case of Xanax because it is short acting.  

It would also be a good idea to discuss with your GP about a referral to a psychologist who can diagnose the anxiety and treat it properly.  

When she feels the symptoms start to come on, tell her to try some regulated breathing.  I know it is hard to do when you feel like you cannot move, but catch it early and tell her to take a deep breath in through her nose, hold it for 5 seconds, count this out in her head, and then let it all out through her mouth.  All the while, she can have her hands on her stomach so she feels the stomach go up with each breath in and down with each breath out.  See if this helps to calm her down a bit.  

[plomeli]

Well I am not an expert by any means but the medications do have side effects when you get off of them for sure. Did she get an MRI maybe she should get one just to make sure everything is normal, it sounds a little bit like a seizure or epilepsy. So I guess both things are possible. Maybe you should explore this more??? Good luck and I hope she feels better soon.