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Time to Get Clean
My question is how am I to stop taking medications I have been on for many years that are highly addictive which I did not find out from my Dr. He put me on Alprazolam 1mg 3-4 times daily along with Prozac 20mg 1 Daily, and Morphine ER 60mg 3 times daily for chronic pain I have been suffering for years. I want to get off of these meds sooooo badly but the withdraw from the Alprazolam is severe and I feel like I could die when I am off of them and it seems the longer I go without them the worse the withdraw gets. Even Morphine is easier to get off of than the Alprazolam so I just don't know what to do as I would much rather stay on the meds forever than to ever suffer the pain and pure agony I went through when I thought I could quit cold turkey 3 times now. Any advise would be amazing and I am not willing to go to a rehab facility as my Husband is very Ill and needs round the clock care so I need something that will allow me to still be home with him as he is in Kidney Failure along with other problems that go along with it. Thank you and God Bless, Jess
Best Answer
If you are having such a hard time, then you need to get back with your doctor an talk about extending your taper (slowing it down), so that you are not so uncomfortable. Another option is to hire a nurse to care for your husband while you are having inpatient treatment. Or you could put him in a nursing home while you are gone (yes, people can be put in nursing homes for temporary reasons).
Thanks so very much for your caring enough to respond and I would firmly say no I don't have a problem running out early ever but I do not like the way I am always so very tired, withdrawn and hate to depend on medications and now especially some that are making me so sick that I can't even get out of bed when I try to get off. I suffer severe anxiety disorder and have severe symptoms of this as in Heart Palps, angina, neck, back, shoulder and etc. due to the anxiety so they say. I wondered for many years if it was my heart but I guess they were not too concerned with that. I am just wanting to not be so co dependant on meds and I would love to be me again, without all the meds in my system, this is why I want to quit. I also have a family history of Alcoholism which I know is different from what I am taking but I don't want to be finding myself in a position where I am running out early and I would NEVER buy them Illegally as my Mom worked for the Feds for 18 years and saw enough people like this go to jail and I am not going to be one of those people. My Dr. recently took me off the Zanax Cold Turkey b/c he was pissed that I kept seeking answers as to what was really wrong with me concerning my anxiety. He said " Go get a job and do something with your life and I won't be filling your Prozac or Alprazolam anymore so really he has put me in an bad situation all b/c I was seeking second opinions due to my heart symptoms. I feel he was rude and had no right to deny me the right to make certain my Heart was okay and it was indeed Anxiety, b/c in my eyes I had never suffered anxiety so I could not believe that at 27 years old I all the sudden started having Anxiety but my husband is very ill and in Renal Failure and it could have become too much for my mental state, not sure. I have run out early a few times, but only by a day or two at most, and would not ask for more or get any in a illegal way as I just waited the one to two days I had to wait. Only for the Alprazolam though and not my Morphine. Thanks so much for your advise and I hope somehow I can find a Dr. who truly cares about me and my health as I never knew if you quit cold turkey you could have seizures and it bothers me greatly to know my Dr. did not care either, Blessings to you and yours, Jessica
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For starters, you would NEVER want to stop taking a benzodiazepine, like Xanax abruptly. It's dangerous, you could have seizures.
No doubt it's difficult to discontinue meds that cause dependency, but it can be done. The best approach is to talk to your doctor about formulating a VERY slow and deliberate tapering schedule, and handle coming off only ONE med at a time. Weaning off more than one medication at a time makes the process much more difficult, in that you may experience more w/d symptoms, and also it makes it very difficult to determine which medication's w/ds are the culprit of any issues.
This will need to be done very slowly over time, with the guidance of a physician who knows his or her way around these medications. If I may ask, why do you want to stop taking ALL of these medications? Do you no longer have a need for them?
Also, would you say you're addicted? Addiction is different than a physical dependency in a a few ways...one, usually an addict will take the medication (at some point) for reasons other than why it was Rx'ed in the first place, they will abuse the script, taking more than prescribed, they will run out early and will often have to supplement their script by buying more pills illegally.
There is also a huge mental component that includes an overwhelming preoccupation with the pills, counting them, worrying about running out, possibly doing things out of character for that person to obtain more (stealing, etc), and also they experience intense mental cravings where they want to take more, and sometimes feel as though they cannot cope without taking the pills.
If you're taking your medications as prescribed, but just are having trouble discontinuing them, and none of the above applies to you, it's more likely that you're dependent on them, not addicted to them.
An addict needs a lot more intensive aftercare, to deal with all of the aspects of addiction, including learning how to STAY clean, whereas someone who is dependent really only needs help successfully coming off the meds and finding an alternative way to treat the issues they were originally prescribed the meds for.
Best of luck to you, hang in there!