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Should I be concerned?

My husband takes three .5mgs of xanax every night to help him steep. He never takes it during the day, Is this gonna be hard for him to stop? Should I be concerned????
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1831920 tn?1320857757
It is dangerous to stop taking Xanex cold turkey.  Benzo w/d should be supervised by a doctor.  It took me a long time to sleep naturally after I quit taking valium.  I went 6 days without any sleep and started taking Seroquel for sleep.  I wish I never started taking that.  It made me gain 40 pounds and cause severe depression do to the weight gain.  I take Benadryl to sleep.  Benadryl affects people differently so I would be careful with that.
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Avatar universal
ty everyone!
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1436598 tn?1332896533
The over-the-counter sleep aids never worked for me, but a lot of people do really well with them.  atthebeach is right on.  In addition, I cut my caffeine to none after 12pm.  Some people can have stimulant effects from it even 12-16 hours later.  I know my mom had to cut all caffeine out of her diet once she hit her 60's as even drinking it first thing in the morning would keep her wired.
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1235186 tn?1656987798
There are many over the counter natural sleep aids. The main ingredient in most is melatonin and valerian root. Alteril , sleep by nature made.check the sleep aid aisle in the pharmacy. His natural brain chemistry has stopped producing the dopamine,serotonin and endrophins required for sleep. Once he weans off them it will take awhile for these brain chemicals to produce again on their own.
Exercise.not drinking caffeine past 5pm also will help with insonmia.
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Avatar universal
No, he no longer takes ambien. What is the recommended way of getting off of this crap? What are the wd's like? Is there any kind of medication to help with the wd's or insomnia, that is not addictive?
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Avatar universal
Check your Inbox..I sent you a private message
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495284 tn?1333894042
COMMUNITY LEADER
There are many OTC sleep aids out there.  Check with your pharmacist or his doctor.  Have they checked into why he cant sleep?
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Avatar universal
His Dr. is also just prescribing them to him for sleep!!! And I think he does have an open mind to this, however...I think he thinks because he cant sleep without it, he has no other option, but to continue taking them. He feels that if he is not abusing them (taking more then he is prescribed) then its not harmful. Do you know of anything at all that can help with insomnia....OTHER THEN AMBIEN AND XANAX?
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1235186 tn?1656987798
He has definitely built up a tolerance and a dependency. His tolerance will continue to increase and he will need to take more. Does he mix the ambien with the xanax?
He most likely doesn't see it as a problem because he is prescribed it and takes it as prescribed.
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1436598 tn?1332896533
You were posting the same time I was!  Would it help him to read about xanax some on his own?  I know if I had just gone with what the doctor was telling me and the endless refills he wrote I would still be in the same mess I was in.  I have fibromyalgia, and bad sleep is one of the things that often comes with it so I too thought sleep was my problem.

The more I read, the more horrified I got, but also the more other random things happening to me started making sense.  Does he have an open mind about this at all?
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1436598 tn?1332896533
He is in the same spiral that I ended up in, except that I was prescribed xanax for sleep!  I don't think I slept more than an hour during the first 5 days off, then it was about 2-3 hours for the next week or so.

In the sage words of Gnarly, I just kept telling myself that it was 'ok to not be ok for a while' and also that my body would sleep eventually, that it would not let me die from no sleep.

I will say that now, 4 months out, my sleep cycle is still fragmented, but no more so than when I was taking the drugs, an the rest of life is SO much better without them.
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Avatar universal
He takes three, because 1 or 2 never put him to sleep. He has been taking 3 at night for the past 3 years!! He is prescribed 90 of them a month, and the script always lasts the entire month. He doesnt think he has a problem with the pills, he just thinks he has a problem with sleep. I dont know,...I just dont know!!!
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Avatar universal
ty, for your response. He was originally prescribed Xanax for anxiety, and was prescribed ambien for insomnia. He never really took the xanax.... But After a while, he needed to double up on the ambien, because one was no longer working for him. Then his DR. told him that its dangerous to take more then one, so he didnt. He was unable to sleep, so thats when he started to take the xanax at night and to help him rest. I asked him to see if he could go without them, and he did, but with NOOOO SLEEP for three days! I finally told him to just take them...i didnt notice any kind of wd symptoms, he just went back to being unable to sleep. His dr. does know this. I guess im just freaking out a little because I became addicted to painkillers after a leg injury. I never thought I would ever be in a situtation like that!!!! And I am scared for him:(
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1436598 tn?1332896533
Yes, it will be very hard.  Does he take 3 because 1 or 2 no longer works to put him to sleep?  My doctor prescribed .5 for sleep several years ago and I didn't take it every night because I was trying to avoid any tolerance/dependency issues.  Even so, .5 stopped being effective and I would have to take 2 or an Ambien (also prescribed by the same doctor, but that's another story) to get any sleep.

Eventually I started getting withdrawal symptoms during the day due to xanax's short half life - nausea, anxiety, inability to nap at all, twitching.
I stopped both drugs 4 months ago and the first 2 weeks were miserable, the four weeks after that were still pretty bad, and I still occasionally have some transient symptoms (probably PAWS).

I'm not saying this to alarm you, just be aware that getting off this drug is miserable.  He should talk to his doctor about a taper plan to get off.  Hopefully he will want to do this.  Good luck!
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Avatar universal
Yes, it will be hard to stop and you should be concerned. Xanax was not meant to be used as a sleep med but more for stress and anxiety. To most people, that distinction doesn't really matter though. It works to make you drowsy and helps with sleep. Although, it's hardly ever a good,restorative sleep.

He needs to speak with his doctor about getting on something else and getting off of this, if he is also concerned.
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495284 tn?1333894042
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