Tapering off Xanax, panic attack after 5 days of taper.

Hi Lucy, yes you're abosolutely right about the medication only masking the problem. I didn't notice any tangible progress until I began CBT and intentionally putting myself into situations that would cause anxiety and facing them. I was finally able to start living a normal life again, go out and not even think about anxiety.

I noticed so much improvement that I thought this time around I could handle getting off the Xanax slowly. It just seemed that those last 5 days the physical symtoms became so overwhelming that I couldn't rationalize my way out of them, I just felt worse every day I stayed on a reduced dose.

Even in situations where there was no stimuli to cause anxiety I would feel the symptoms throughout the day physically.

So I'm trying to figure out if at this point it is a physical problem from the reduction in Xanax or still the original mental problem

I think because you become used to the medication and relying on it it's like a comfort blanket or safety net, your subconscious thinks you have removed the only thing keeping you safe so starts the fight or flight response. As hard as it is you need to keep telling yourself it's just a mind game, the symptoms cannot hurt you. Do whatever you need to do to distract yourself.

Maybe reduce your dose more gradually and when you feel comfortable then take it every other day then reduce the dose further.

I've had a whole bagful of comfort items I used to carry around with me and panicked if I forget them and I still do have a couple of things but I've lost quite a few too so I think it's just a case of baby steps, there isnt a race so just go at your own pace.

Thanks for your reply, it's extremely frustrating dealing with this especially when it's hard to distinguish whether the problem is mental or physical. That's why while I was tapering I didn't want to introduce any new variables to the problem, I just cant understand how just tapering down from 1MG to .75MG for 5 days I could progressively go from fine to terrible.

Now that I'm on day 2 of 1 MG of Xanax everything is returning to normal, I know that the CBT is helping because I was slowly able to do more and more things that used to trigger my anxiety. I hope I can get this resolved because I cant just stay on Xanax forever.

Thanks for listening, it's tough because even when I get to go talk to my Dr. it's not for very long and I feel he would just rather prescribe medication that address the root cause of the problem.

How much 3 weeks in between? Right now I just went back to 1mg and still don't feel 100 percent back to normal after 3 days but it's getting better.

That was really bad, 5 days and it just got worse and worse until I couldn't take it anymore