Xanax withdrawl

[Steve L]

Hi,
   I have been on xanax 2mg 3 times daily for about 6 months. Is it too late to withdraw before this gets out of control? My Dr. said that the safest way was to taper by .5mg every7 to 10 days. Am I in for living hell, or is this survivable? I swear to God, I'll never go back to this drug if I get off it. What are my chances?
    Also, xanax appears to impair urination at times. Is this unheard of?
    Hope to hear from you!
                                   Steve L

[jb35]

I was on celexa for a year using xanax only occasionaly for panic attacks that the celexa didn't take care of. I went off celexa in spetember and started to have major panic attacks as soon as I wake up. So las week I started to take the xanax more until I refilled my celexa. I was taking 1 and half of .25mg in the am and in the afternoon. Question  still having panic in the am is that he xanax wearing off. Could i be addicted after only one week??

[shayna]

Do you guys think this xanax will help me with my compulsive hair pulling and my social anxiety? Because my anxiety has gotten so bad man. I just want some relief.

[DonnaTerrio]

I have been on Xanax (2 to 4 mill. per day for 2 years) for anxiety and panic disorder. It works great on my panic attacks, which are extremely severe and feel like heart attacks with shortness of breath, nausea and indigestion. I have tried twice to get off this drug and it is very addictive. When I withdraw, the symptoms are terrible - like being in hell. As the drug wears off, you feel cranky, irritable and must have more. There  are good and bad things about this drug. My advice is don't start it unless you have no other alternative. Do so with Dr.'s care. When I finally did get it out of my system, my panic attacks came back with much greater severity so I am now back on it again. I have long suspected that I have organic cause not mental cause for these attacks such as adrenal gland problems due to dexamethasone for cancer treatment but can't get any doctor to diagnose what is wrong. This is a bad drug. Don't use it for recreation. My life has ground to a halt.

[sheepskin]

I wish someone had told me about this website: www.benzo.org.uk

[Dreemland]

Hello,

My anxiety hit me hard about 5 years ago when I moved out on my own for the first time. My anxiety is social. I got over it for the most part except for the one thing that kind of stayed with me through out the last 5 years, my phone phobia. I HATE TALKING ON THE PHONE! I started taking xanax 3 weeks ago and it amazes how many people I actually want to talk to when I'm on it. I call everyone in my phone book & they all freak out because I am actually calling them and talking, LOL. It helps me be me without any shame. I notice the short term memory, but I think I have that anyway from all of my teen years smoking pot. That is the reason I have kept taking it. I actually have rekindled some old friendships by phone in the past few weeks. I have also noticed the need to take more and more of it. I went from taking a quarter of a bar, to half, to three quarters or a full bar if I want to goto sleep and then back to 1/2. I am not sure how long it will last though or if it will have any other side effects. I get real clumsy on it, I drop things, kind of like how you do when you are drunk, but I am a Dj at clubs, so I guess that doesn't matter as far as having to be professional, hahahha. For me it has just been to good to be true and I am actually waiting for it to fade or give me some kind of messed up side effect. I get amazing sleep deep sleep on it. I dont wake up tired like I have for years. I wake up feeling refreshed. I just don't understand why more people aren't on it and why it took me 14 years to go thru street drug after street drug and zoloft and paxil which didn't work for me to find the one thing that does. People say I need to watch out because Xanax is addicting and the comedian in me feels like say, "WELL DUH ITS ADDICTING, CUZ IT WORKS." I have been getting them from a friend for the past three weeks and I am looking to find a CHEAP LOCAL DOCTOR in Tampa who will prescribe me these pills. I already went to the free clinic and they dont prescribe these because of the fact that "they'e an addicting drug"...DUH! CUZ THEY WORK!!!!!!!!!! lol

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

I just answered this question...yes you can get off, but you have be careful and worry re seizures in particular.