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Is 1mg Xanax per day safe for 9 months?
My son is a senior in high school and is taking 1 mg of Xanax every school morning and 1mg on Sunday nights for GAD. He doesn't take any on Saturdays, or days off of school. He took this same dose last April & May and did not take anything all summer. Our doctor plans to taper him off upon graduation. His anxiety got so bad last spring that he could not go to school. The doctor did try Lexapro and then Effexor, but both had HORRIBLE side effects. Also, he is starting therapy with a Psycologist this month. My questions is: Will he have to go through a bad withdrawl from this dose and length of time?
Yes, it is safe. I take 1mg Xanax between 3 to 6 times a day for 10 years. I am fine. It treats the anxiety and I am fine. I work, teach, drive, just the anxiety is missing. As long as he takes it as prescribed and he is functioning fine...no worries.
1 Comments
First, this post is 6 years old -- hopefully, issues are resolved, and I know that most of the people posting here are no longer active here. But just to say, your experience with Xanax is yours alone. You're taking it a lot, you're addicted to it, and if you ever have to quit taking it, which you have no intention of doing, you're in. for possible loads of hurt. Telling others they'll be fine because you have an apparently large tolerance for drugs isn't the greatest favor you can do for others, as they might not be so lucky. Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it. I always say, if something works for you, and you've been doing it for awhile, the damage has been done, so keep with it. But advising someone else to follow a program loaded with risk is probably not something you want to be doing. I mean, lots of people function fine on heroin and many don't get addicted to it, but recommending it as a course of action might not be a great idea. I'm really glad you're fine, and don't say you should change a thing, just advising caution on what to recommend for others.
Oh geez. Well, Klonopin IS another benzo, and it also has issues with tolerance, but not as much as the shorter acting ones, because it is allowed to build up in the plasma, which decreases the ups and downs. If your son was only taking the Xanax here and there "as needed", it wouldn't be an issue, but because he's taking it almost every day, he's building a tolerance.
Please talk to his doctor.
Please talk to his doctor.
Our pharmacist asked how my son was doing, and I asked her about Klonopin as opposed to Xanax, and she said they were "equally dangerous" and she also said one would develop the same tolerance issues with the Klonopin as with the Xanax ???
She proceeded to suggest I ask about Strattera, which I have looked up, and it seems like another SNRI. (My son may have ADD which could be causing the anxiety...in the process of testing). My son became violent, angry, depressed and suicidal on Effexor, another SNRI. We decided no more anti-depressants. Help...??
She proceeded to suggest I ask about Strattera, which I have looked up, and it seems like another SNRI. (My son may have ADD which could be causing the anxiety...in the process of testing). My son became violent, angry, depressed and suicidal on Effexor, another SNRI. We decided no more anti-depressants. Help...??
Very good idea. Yes, the Klonopin would be more consistent. Typically, Xanax is used more as a "rescue med", on an "as needed" basis, whereas Klonopin is more appropriate for regular (daily) use. Both meds would have to be tapered off, so your son is still facing the same issues in 9 months. Klonopin tends to have less issues with tolerance (the need to increase the dose to achieve the same level of effectiveness) as compared to the shorter acting benzos.
Let us know what the docs says! Be sure to get that therapy going too, that is going to be crucial!
Let us know what the docs says! Be sure to get that therapy going too, that is going to be crucial!
Hello,
Thank you for your replies. After reading quite a bit on these posts, I'm wondering if I should ask his doctor about possibly switching him to Kolonopin. He's taking the Xanax for maintenance now, it allows him to get to school in the morning, and lasts a good part of the school day. It prevents panic attacks and helps with school day anxiety, but doesn't help with the evening and weekend anxiety. Sounds like Kolonopin would help with a more "steady" dose...less ups and downs?
Thank you for your replies. After reading quite a bit on these posts, I'm wondering if I should ask his doctor about possibly switching him to Kolonopin. He's taking the Xanax for maintenance now, it allows him to get to school in the morning, and lasts a good part of the school day. It prevents panic attacks and helps with school day anxiety, but doesn't help with the evening and weekend anxiety. Sounds like Kolonopin would help with a more "steady" dose...less ups and downs?
Xanax is addicting, but I am glad that you are following up with a physician, your doctor should have his adrenal glands and his hormones checked. he should though be able to get off the Xanax with no side effects- good luck to you and your son!
It isn't an overwhelmingly large dose, and the fact that there ARE days where he's basically giving himself a break from it is great.
When this kind of situation comes up, one has to closely weigh the benefits versus the risks. Obviously, your son went from pretty much being housebound, back to functional again. He NEEDS to be able to function in order to keep up with school, especially in the critical senior year.
It already sounds like you have a doctor who knows his/her stuff. He knows your son will need to be tapered. My advice to you is to request a VERY slow and deliberate taper.
This is beneficial for a couple of reasons, for one, it will minimize any w/d symptoms he would have. With the proper taper plan, he shouldn't have more than a few mild w/d symptoms, if he has any at all. The other reason a slow taper is good is because, typically after coming off a benzodiazepine, there is some resulting rebound anxiety. A slow taper will minimnize that as well.
Getting him into therapy is the right thing to do. Is it by chance a kind of therapy called CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)? If not, you may want to look into that, and find out if you can get your son to a therapist that specializes in that kindof therapy. CBT is very successful for anxiety disorders as it uses a more "hands on" approach and teaches people how to retrain their brain and break that anxious cycle of thinking/worrying.
He's got to learn from now until he gets tapered off the Xanax how to cope with anxiety, and not let it become crippling, that's what the therapy isd for. With a slow and steady taper (over a period of a few months is my recommendation), he should do fairly well. You may notice an increase in his anxiety, but hopefully by then, he'll be equipped with coping mechanisms he learned in therapy to help him deal with it.
I commend you for getting your son help...it's very hard for a parent to watch their children experience severe anxiety, and feel powerless to help them in any way. Sadly, a lot of parents mistake the avoidant behavior (ie, missing school) is being more of of a behavioral problem, and will often resort to threats, playing "hard ball", or "tough love". A lot of people address it by basically saying things like, "snap out of it, you have to go to school", meanwhile the panic is just debilitating, and all that does is make it worse. That's not always the fault of the parent(s), as many people are not familiar with the extent of what anxiety will do to a person.
You got him help, which was the right thing to do, that's wonderful. I think the plan you, your son and his doctor have put in place is an excellent one, and hopefully he will have a great senior year, and manage to learn how to live with anxiety, and what to do when/if it becomes a problem for him in the future.
My best wishes to you and your son. Please feel free to come back with any other question/concern you may have. Also, we'd love it if you could update us at some point too, we really do care, and it's nice to know how people are doing!
When this kind of situation comes up, one has to closely weigh the benefits versus the risks. Obviously, your son went from pretty much being housebound, back to functional again. He NEEDS to be able to function in order to keep up with school, especially in the critical senior year.
It already sounds like you have a doctor who knows his/her stuff. He knows your son will need to be tapered. My advice to you is to request a VERY slow and deliberate taper.
This is beneficial for a couple of reasons, for one, it will minimize any w/d symptoms he would have. With the proper taper plan, he shouldn't have more than a few mild w/d symptoms, if he has any at all. The other reason a slow taper is good is because, typically after coming off a benzodiazepine, there is some resulting rebound anxiety. A slow taper will minimnize that as well.
Getting him into therapy is the right thing to do. Is it by chance a kind of therapy called CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy)? If not, you may want to look into that, and find out if you can get your son to a therapist that specializes in that kindof therapy. CBT is very successful for anxiety disorders as it uses a more "hands on" approach and teaches people how to retrain their brain and break that anxious cycle of thinking/worrying.
He's got to learn from now until he gets tapered off the Xanax how to cope with anxiety, and not let it become crippling, that's what the therapy isd for. With a slow and steady taper (over a period of a few months is my recommendation), he should do fairly well. You may notice an increase in his anxiety, but hopefully by then, he'll be equipped with coping mechanisms he learned in therapy to help him deal with it.
I commend you for getting your son help...it's very hard for a parent to watch their children experience severe anxiety, and feel powerless to help them in any way. Sadly, a lot of parents mistake the avoidant behavior (ie, missing school) is being more of of a behavioral problem, and will often resort to threats, playing "hard ball", or "tough love". A lot of people address it by basically saying things like, "snap out of it, you have to go to school", meanwhile the panic is just debilitating, and all that does is make it worse. That's not always the fault of the parent(s), as many people are not familiar with the extent of what anxiety will do to a person.
You got him help, which was the right thing to do, that's wonderful. I think the plan you, your son and his doctor have put in place is an excellent one, and hopefully he will have a great senior year, and manage to learn how to live with anxiety, and what to do when/if it becomes a problem for him in the future.
My best wishes to you and your son. Please feel free to come back with any other question/concern you may have. Also, we'd love it if you could update us at some point too, we really do care, and it's nice to know how people are doing!
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