how would you ween off xanax 1 mg for 3 times a day?

[vickie44]

does anyone know how to ween off xanax or should i wait and have my psychiatrist help me with that i hate them yes they do calm me down but i think im addicted to them now and i also take effexor which the dr is going to get me off of and then zoloft i want to be free of medications for good.

[RWG]

Good idea, follow your doctor's advice on how to wean yourself.  The problem with psychiatrists is they keep wanting to give more and more drugs.  How many mgs. of Xanax are you taking?

[chcnme]

Hi Vickie, are they treating you for generalized anxiety / depression?  You can become quickly addicted to Xanax (or any of them in that class of drugs).  I'd wait.  Since you are going to be coming off several medications, they may want to wean you off one at a time.  



If you have not had any psychotic episodes or any suicidal ideations before, and if you have reached the point that you believe psych meds are making your quality of life worse, it's time to ask to be taken off all of them.  Like RWG said, some psychiatrists are prone to prescribe one psych med after the next to see what might help, and often times it makes things a lot worse for some patients.  Month after month on to year after year of the "let's see if this one will help"  scene can turn some lives into a living hell.  That down side of psychiatry happens more often than the medical community is willing to admit.



If you sought psychiatric care for generalized complaints of anxiety or depression without any psychosis or without bi-polar or OCD or schizophrenia, I would request to come off ALL the meds and then start trying to cope by some other method - exercise, hobby, on-line support, (if you have an addiction, maybe AA/NA), church, community, etc. -- ANYTHING.  When the psych drug scene takes a turn for the worse, it's time to regroup and get off of them.  



Best of luck!  I've been there - I know what you're going through.

[vickie44]

im not on the zoloft yet what my psychiatrist wants to do is for me to keep taking xanax like iam and effexor for 1 month then in 1 week start the 25 mg of zoloft then after 1 week start the 50 mg of zoloft then after the 1 month im to stop the effexor if i heard him right he wants to ween me off all 3 meds i feel fine i havent had anymore panic attacks i cry here and there but i think thats premenopause iam 44 cause i dont cry all the time just once in awhile the last time i cried was because i hate the meds and i wanted off and my gp dr didnt want to ween me off he wanted to up my dose and no i have no thoughts of killing myself never have at the begining i use to think id rather die then live like this but it was because alls i did was cry i couldnt leave my house couldnt drive couldnt do nothing but sleep and thats very depressing because before this happened to me i did everything went everywhere was never scared to be alone i had a wonderfull life i worked and tanned everyday thats why i was so depressed for one on the meds i have no energy couldnt clean my house or take a bath like before im slowly getting better im getting more motivated and last night for the first time in months i took a xanax 13 hrs later i think that was pretty good iam calling the psychiatrist tomorrow to make sure i heard him right then i go back feb 8th and when i come off xanax and i get some aneity i may go back on them i dont know i hope it dont come back which i dont think it will i feel like im getting better i think the surgery caused all this.

[vickie44]

no i was being treated for panic disorder with depression along with agoraphobia i was so scared when i had the attack in walmart i couldnt even go in the stores id get real shaky and nervous i had to hurry right back out so then my husband started doing the shopping see right after i had my surgery 2 weeks later i was in the shower and i had a attack i got out in a hurry and kept saying oh no whats is going on with me so i got really scared and called 911 but at that time also i was very stressed the surgery scared me to death i was terrifed for 3 weeks before surgery date i didnt want that surgery .but i was also scared not to have it done either .i was just a mess so i think the stress caused me to have them attacks and once i had them i kept thinking about having another one but im hoping i feel better now i hope the symtons dont come back .

[1954Beau]

It funny, but I am picking up on the surgery thing. I had a gall baldder surgery a year ago, and since that time, I for the first time became anxious, nervous, some dizziness, afraid to be at home alone, etc. etc...My neck began to ache, I had a vareity of health problems, experienced panic attacks, etc. some of it has been DX as inner ear things happening, which can cause all of the above. I never did get the connection between the anxiety, dizziness, etc to surgery and inner ear disorder.



But I have been on various SSRIs including Effexor, and yikes, that did nothing but make me feel worst, anxiety level went up, the nervousness, the dizziness...thought to be due to the fact that the meds made me produce too much seretonins, which can lead to the noted symptoms. So I stopped taking the Effexor, and swore that I would never take another one again.  I am on Ativan, .5 low dosage, and take it as needed.  It seems to me that the longer it is since my surgery, the symptoms are going away little by little, and the Ativan helps me over some of the hills. Each person certainly is different, as I really do like the Ativan, as it calms me right down, with no side effects at all.  If I take some before bed, I sleep like a baby.

Just my two cents, thanks

Regards

[syphon]

I have experience with Xanax myself. I was on four 1mg xanax a day. The only way I could do it is very slowly take lower doses until I didn't have to take anymore. I was down to half of a .25mg pill before I was able to quit without zero withdraws. It may have some serious withdraws but it saved me life!

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