xanax withdrawals / Emergency Room

[lisa20020]

I have been out of Xanax for a week now.  I have already been to the Emergency Room where I was given 10 Ativans.  That lasted for 5 days at 2 mg per day.  This is day one with no anti anxiety medications at all.  I was taking xanax for years at 3 mgs a day and moved to another state 2 months ago.  I have no money and no insurance yet and thought my body was going to give out yesterday as the withdrawals started again.  I feel like an animal that can get no help.  My blood pressure medication helps slightly (Clonidine), I feel a little better than yesterday but I don't know if I will make it.  I feel detached from my body, my heart is racing, every part of my body feels tingly with hot flashes, I am sweating and feel I will die. My body is exhausted from fighting this feeling. Will it be easier this time since I have been on Ativan for a week now with no Xanax.  Should I go yet again to the Emergency room or WAIT TILL I DIE FOR THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY TO HELP ME?????????????????????/  I have called NAMI, I have called all the numbers I have been given for medical help as referrals all with dead ends.  That was over 20 #'s.  Should I just tough this out ??? I am so embarrassed over this.  How many times can I go to the ER?  

[lisa20020]

Thanks.

The most i seem to go is 72 hours.  I found a doc who is calling me in the morning and has heard of the Ashton Method.  They are going to call me in the morning.

Things feel hard but under control took my last 1 mg ativan yesterday morning.  I will either make it, go back to the ER, or my son will be home with a script filled.

I am hopeful that at least I found a doctor who would listen.  

Thanks again

[mjbrown]

How many days have you gone without xanax or another benzo to cover you? Still no luck getting a hold of your doctor? I hope you're hanging in there. You can always go back to the ER if things get really bad.

All the best..

[lisa20020]

Addiction vs. Dependency:

Whether I am an Addict or Dependant does not matter when experiencing the frightful and painful detox / withdrawal period off xanax.

When I can think straight I might be able to elaborate more.  

[mjbrown]

From "What's in a word? Addiction versus dependence in the DSM-IV" The American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 2014-a, November 2006

"The American Pain Society, The American Academy of Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine, for example, have developed a consensus document with clear and useful definitions of opioid-related phenomena:

Addiction is a primary, chronic, neurobiological disease, with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. It is characterized by behaviors that include one or more of the following: impaired control over drug use, compulsive use, continued use despite harm, and craving.

Physical dependence is a state of adaptation that is manifested by a drug-class specific withdrawal syndrome that can be produced by abrupt cessation, rapid dose reduction, decreasing blood level of the drug, and/or administration of an antagonist"

[Paxiled]

No, addiction isn't a pattern of misuse.  Addiction can occur with the perfectly correct use.  Addiction has several conditions as part of its definition, one of which is that you need to take more of it to get the same benefit, something that isn't always but is usually true with benzos but not true with ssris, but ssris do cause terrible withdrawals.  I only brought it up because there's a lot of confusion on this website about what words mean, and it makes it hard to discuss these things.  Oxycontin, for example, is addictive, but if you need it, you take it anyway -- you don't have to abuse it.  Same with benzos.  Dependency is equivalent to habit forming, but the truth is, dependency isn't a medical term with any definite meaning, it's more of a psychological condition.  Addiction is a physiological condition.  Also don't mean to waste space here, but the question keeps coming up particularly regarding Xanax.  Xanax is an addictive drug, but I don't see that as any reason to stop using it if it's the only thing that helps, yet people continually come on here saying their new doctors are forcing them to stop taking it because it's addictive.  Cancer patients are addicted to their painkillers, but you wouldn't make them stop taking them, they would have no life but pain.  It also keeps coming up with marijuana, which can be habit forming, but isn't addictive.  I get what you're saying, which is let's not focus on sideline issues, and you're right, but we do need to talk about the same thing.

[nursegirl6572]

So sorry you are going thru this mess.  It really is a shame.  I agree with lydia that you need to stay on the prescribing doc until something happens.  Especially b/c you are wanting to get off the Xanax in the first place...and yet no one is helping you do that safely.  What a shame.  :0(

Paxilled....I don't want to waste valuable space in lisa's thread...but just to clarify what I was saying.  Of course I am aware that benzodiazepines are addictive.  What I was trying to say with my intitial comment is that "addiction" and "dependency" are two different things, and while both require treatment...the treatment vastly differs.  Addiction is a pattern of misuse, seeking the drug for reasons beyond what it is prescribed for...often taking it NOT as prescribed in order to obtain a certain "feeling", where dependency is our body's physical NEED for a medication that develops over time....so much so that withdrawals will develop if stopped abruptly. Addicition involves a much different treatment plan, with intense aftercare.

That was all I was trying to get at.  "Addicition", "tolerance", and "dependancy" are words that are often erroneously used interchangably...and while there are a lot of similarities, there are vast differences between the three terms.

:0)