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getting off xanax

Old 02-21-2015, 07:44 PM
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getting off xanax

Just need to remember, it will not be nice but it will be done.

Not my first time. I have gotten so close to being done with it.

I was very surprised to read that others took it for hangovers too.

Yes I misused it. Eventually took it for withdrawals.

Weaning off. Kicking myself because I started this all last year and came so, so close and then I fell off track and here I am a year later playing the same song, my health for the worse.
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Old 02-21-2015, 07:46 PM
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Benzoes can be difficult to get off Sleepie.
Are you doing this alone or with a Dr?

D
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Old 02-21-2015, 07:51 PM
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Alone. But I am kind of following what I did with medical supervision before.
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Old 02-22-2015, 12:00 AM
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I'm trying to give up alcohol - day 4 - and I wouldnt have got to day 4 without very low dose Xanax.
Haven't had any xanax today and I am ssssooo tired but NOT anxious!
That's weird!
What symptoms does ending xanax cause please? It might make me stop xanax before I use it too much as well!
I know a killer headache around the temples is fairly standard if I even go a day!

Good luck!
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Old 02-22-2015, 06:04 AM
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Were here for you Sleepie
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Old 02-22-2015, 06:54 AM
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Yeah, Sleepie. We are all here with you. If you can imagine, I spent months toting my laptop all around my house while logged into SR. It works. Being free from that Xanax is going to feel so good.

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Old 02-22-2015, 07:02 PM
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Thanks guys I cannot believe that many years ago I was prescribed these drugs and took them once- hated them cause they knocked me out. I didn't take them again for years. I realize now that I was prescribed way to high a dose and this all would have happened even sooner if I had taken less and liked it, which is what happened the second time around after I was much older. I loved it at first it opened up my world. Then years later the descent some of us are all too familiar with. I was such a dummy I did not even understand the addictive qualities of the stuff.
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Old 02-22-2015, 07:05 PM
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Returningtodrink I really would not advise doing it without a doctor I am just in a position where nobody is willing to prescribe the stuff and wean me off, they think I am trying to obtain drugs.
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Old 02-23-2015, 08:25 AM
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I was able to get off of benzos with the help of a Psychiatrist. I had been prescribed Klonopin / Ativan for over a decade. I went to this Psychiatrist as part of my intensive outpatient treatment program when I decided to get sober. We waited until I had gotten completely through alcohol withdrawals (he actually bumped up the dose for the first week or so) and then we (very) slowly started the weaning process. It took close to 6 months and he had me on a very tight leash. I saw him every 4 weeks and he gave me exactly enough doses to last until the next time I saw him.

Of the most common benzodiazepines (xanax, ativan, klonopin, valium) Xanax and Ativan are by far the most addictive because of the short half-life of the drug. The quicker it is metabolized and leaves your body the more addictive it is. Here is the half-life of the 4 most commonly prescribed benzos:

Xanax: ~11 hours
Ativan: ~12 hours
Klonopin: ~35 hours
Valium: ~50 hours

For this reason my p-doc used Valium to wean me off of the Ativan I was currently taking. The combination of slowly reducing the dosage and using a benzo that left my system slowly reduced the withdrawal symptoms versus using a more powerful and short acting benzo like Xanax or Ativan.

This post may seem like medical advice but actually it is the opposite. The information above is to illustrate that weaning off of a benzodiazepine is more complicated than just cutting down on your dosage. I would definitely recommend having a physician's help with the weaning process, preferably one who has experience with the process like a p-doc.
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