13 years in hell and counting.......

[Seath]

I had a anxiety attack in 1998. I was 32 years old then. The doctor prescribed Alprax - 0.25 mg BD. Just for the record my parents were both in the medical profession.

I have tried to quit Alprazolam many times but each time the need for it has come with a renewed vigour. My first wife divorced me, we had a beautiful daughter, she is with her mother and happy I hope.

I got married a 2nd time and I have a son, but I am worried that this addiction will sooner than later kill me. I want to quit. I am also a Alchoholic Pancreatitis patient.

I take upto 15mg of Alprax in 24 hours. If I don't well I have a very strange sensation. Please help me to help myself get rid of this addiction.

I want to see my son grow, he wants to be a soldier, I want to see him in his battle fatigues.

Please help me.

[SophieShine]

Just wanted to add, they're great therapies out there for panic attacks, I didn't have any for over 6 months now....

[SophieShine]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

As you probably know alprazolam is a benzo and cannot be stopped CT. What you should do is go see your dr and explain your situation, establish a tapering plan and go from there.
Alprazolam is a short acting benzo, what is mostly done is to switch you to a long acting one like Valium so that the wd's are not that hard.
There's a site which is the reference, tons of good info there, here's the link:
http://www.benzo.org.uk/
And here's an example of tapering plan for Alprazolam:
http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzsched.htm#s1

I have been tapering off a short acting benzo and I'm 260+ days clean, life is so much better. If you need any info, please feel free to pm me, I'll be more than happy to help.
Best of luck to you. sophie

[vicki595]

Can you ask the prescibing physician for a tapering plan?   Also,do you attend any meetings for trying to stay sober? Like a support group?
V.