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Xanax taper

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michelle68080
michelle68080

Hi there, anyone out there doing a xanax taper. I won't go too long with my story.  I am 56 I have grown children and married for 32 years . Dr prescribed me this medicine after the death of my mom and sister within 3 months apart. It was very hard on me. been on this drug for about five years. .50 to 1 mg nightly. Never took more.  Tolerance kicked in  a couple years ago. Never knew how bad this stupid drug would be. Went to a lot of drs for the same symptoms I am having now and not one Dr had a clue about tolerance . My prescribing Dr wanted me to take 1 mg 3x day and said my anxiety was really bad.  NOT.  . So my body has pretty much been going through this for about two years. NICE...Started taper about 10 weeks ago with the help of my primary  Dr. Down to 0.125 nightly starting last night and will do that for another week. Withdrawals are kicking in big time but I'm going with it because I know it's the drugs . If anyone is going through the same thing, I would like to hear from you.  God bless.

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • carol09801
    carol09801 michelle68080

    Posted

    Keep at it. So sorry about your loss. We lost our middle son to brain cancer 10 years ago. I am withdrawing from diazepam which was used to get me off of lorazepam which I had been on since August of 2015. I started the transition taper mid January of this year. Been a struggle, but I do have a good psychopharmacologist doc who specializes in addictions. I’m at 6.5 mgs daily at this point. I probably have 6+ months to go. You are doing great. Wish I was as low dose as you are now. You can make it to the end. Even after 10 years, my addiction doc would like me to see a therapist to deal with the embedded grief of losing our beloved son. You might want to see a therapist (no drugs) after you are free of xanax too. Just a suggestion.
    • michelle68080
      michelle68080 carol09801

      Posted

      Sorry about your son. I can't even imagine going through that. Mine is 23. thanks for the response.  my hubby works out of town so kinda on my own here.  you must be doing the ashton method. My doc thought my dose was alittle low for the switch. Could have used about 2 mg last  night. not so bad. . I have set myself up for this taper and at least I know that all this is from the withdrawal. My eyes started burning last night and my head is vibrating . I decided to stay odd benzo buddies because all the horror stories. I was on paxil for a while and had no problem coming off that. I hope your taper goes well. Keep me posted on your taper. 😀

    • michelle68080
      michelle68080

      Posted

      Hi there . Hope your doing better than me. Jumped to .0125 monday night and I have never been so sick in my life. Been up for 32 hours . Head and body vibrations. nauseated. And don't know if I should go back up to .25 and see how that goes. haven't heard back from dr. She won't switch me over to valium to do the water titration. I'm sure you have read up on that. Or should I just say heck with this and just jump and deal with this head on. Sorry for the rant but no one to really talk to. Hubby works out of town and has been gone for 5 weeks and I can't even drive to go get him at the airport.???

    • carol09801
      carol09801 michelle68080

      Posted

      I did the Valium taper to get off Lorazepam. I was down to 3/8 of a mg but couldn’t go further because Lorazepam is so short lived. Soooo, I went to a private pay psychpharmacologist doc who specializes in addiction and I got off the Lorazepam (starting with .75) in two months by taking 9 mgs of Diazepam with decreasing Lorazepam. Now I’m tapering off the Diazepam. Not easy. I’m down to 6.25 from 9 since end of March. Now I’m trying liquid Diazepam for titration because it will allow you to go sooo tiny in the end. I bet it will take me until T’day to end, but I’m determined. I would get another doctor right away. Switching over to longer acting Diazepam is the recommended way. That said, I almost wish I’d tried a water titration of the Lorazepam but I didn’t and don’t know how bad that would have been because like Xanax it doesn’t have a long life. 
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