xanax

[ritacita]

Is this considered short term or long term  use if I was taking  .25 xanax  every AM  for 8 weeks?

I want to  be off of it because I started feeling "funny"  around 5 pm in the week before  last and thought maybe I was becoming addicted.  So last  Thursday and  Friday I took .125 in the AM  and .125 around 2 PM and nothing since last Friday.  Is it out of my system?  I initially felt some withdrawl  effects( like a pall coming over my body for about 2 hours)  but feel alot better today.  Am I almost there?  This is Day 4 without.

How long before the GABA is working right considering my dose?

Please don't scare me...positive comments

[RubyWitch]

You keep singin' that song loud as you can, Toots. There's lots of folks here who need to hear it.
Nemaste
Greenie

[ritacita]

I cannot thank you enough for your continued help.  It is Day 5 and I am feeling so much better...  No "foggy" incidents today at all and I feel the most normal I have felt in  2 months. I feel like the words to one of my favorite songs and what a relief.....

I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day
It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
Sun-Shiny day

[RubyWitch]

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Life sometimes plays dirly little jokes on us.

"Short term" use of Xanax, on a daily basis, is defined as four months or less, so you most definitely fall into the short term category. And the amount you were on was very, very small.

There is often heated debate about what constitutes "addiction," "dependance," and "tolerance," with many psychotropic medications. I don't want to get into it here, now, but I can promise you that you did NOT come anywhere near any of those situations. Please put that idea out of your head once and for all.

I know you asked again about the half-life, and I hope you remember I told you I was a math phobic, but I got out a new box of pencils and made a stab at showing you the numbers.
You last took Xanax on Friday the 25th , For that entire day, your total dosage was .250 (.125 X 2)
Xanax has a half-life of 12-15 hours.
At 0500 Saturday morning, 15 hours after your last dose at 2p, Friday, your body excreted 1/2  of that total dose so you now had .125mg of Xanax left in your body.
At 8 PM, 15 hours later, your body excreted another 1/2, which brought your total down to .625 (or 1/16 of a mg.) At 11 am Sunday morning, you ditched another 1/2, leaving you with .312(5) (round up or down) or 1/32 mg. At 2 am Monday morning, you had .15625 left or 1/64th of a mg. Which is essentially just some dust. It is now Tuesday night and I'm still trying to get rid of the headache all that math gave me. But there is pretty much just the memory of Xanax in your body now. It's gone, OK?
Please feel free to have someone check my math. I DID get an F- on my first Algebra test and I'm proud to say that that record still holds to this day!

Your GABA is probably doing the ZUMBA even as we speak. It probably wasn't even affected yet at the dose you were on.

But, here's the thing.........you initially went to the doctor because you were having some anxiety issues. He/she gave you Xanax. You hated how it made you feel so you quit taking it and you got even more anxious about being addicted and how it might have affected your brain and you freaked yourself out thinking you were going through withdrawal and then worried about how long "it" would last.....

My point, and I think I actually did have a point...........oh, ok, I got it. My point is that your original anxiety is still there but now it's probably worse, not because of any imagined withdrawal, but because of your experience with the Xanax.

So the question is "What do you do with your anxiety now?" You have a few options which need to be discussed with your doctor.

I have every confidence that a solution will be found and you'll soon be feeling better. Put this Xanax experience behind you, most of us here have quite a few "experiences" in our attics. You're now a member of the "In Crowd of Anxiety." Woot.

Day 4 Xanax free! You made it, g/f with flying colors. Celebrate.
Then call your doctor for an appointment.
Peace
Greenlydia