withdrawal

My husband is addicted to xanax and painpills and he's trying to get himself off of them right now. He's been doing it cold turkey for the past four days and it doesn't seem to be getting better. He is still as sick as what he was the first few days. He's vomiting everything he gets in his system, even liquids, and his body started hurting him really bad. How long will it take for all this to end, and will any other symptoms accure?

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

cold turkey is really tough, depending on what doses he was on and how long...but the symptoms you described could go on for a week, cold turkey,especially the xanax...there is also a possibility of convulsions but he is probably over that period now....usually we recommend weaning over a three week period...lowest dose possible for first week, then same dose every other day for next week, then every third day for last week, then stop....if he has been truly addicted to xanax, there could be a much longer period of withdrawal and he should be doing this under supervision of a doctor.....in the meantime, he can take small doses of xanax to relieve current symptoms and wean himself with the schedule above.