Xanax Withdrawal - LIGHT HEADEDNESS HOW LONG WILL IT LAST???

[faithprayer]

I had been taking xanax for a little over a year.  For six months my doctor had me on 5 mg. of xanax a day.  He never told me that it was addicting.  I trusted him.  After taking 5 mg. for six months, I tapered down to 2 1/2 mg.  , got sick, ended up in the hospital and then saw the doctor next day.  He put me back up to 3 mg. xanax every day and 10 mg. zyprexa zydis. So, I've been taking that then since last summer.  I finally got off all the medication, the zyprexa I got off in January completely and the xanax I finished my last dose on April 13th.  I reduced sometimes every week a half mg. and then someone told me to reduce by 1/4 mg.   I never even had panic disorder to begin with...my doctor misdiagnosed me.   MY QUESTION is it's been over 2 months since I have had NO xanax and I'm still feeling lightheaeded and brain foggy practically EVERY DAY!  WHEN WILL IT GO AWAY?  I've had other tests done while being on xanax, MRI, seen a neurologist and they couldn't find anything wrong, and told me to get off the medicine.  I did, but I'm still suffering with this lightheadedness.  I hate it.  I've actually had this since last summer, but it's worse now that I'm not taking anymore xanax.  Can someone please help me with this, I've been off it for over two months, I can't even enjoy my 2 year old daughter much because I don't feel well.  Does anyone know if this is ever going to go away??  Please answer if you can.  It's so frustrating feeling like this?  I've been praying a lot and trusting God, I just want to talk to someone who maybe has gone through it or can give me some advice?  IS there anything I can do or take to help get rid of this lightheadedness?  If I get pregnant will that help take away the lightheadedness and brain fogginess?  Thanks for answering me in advance.  

[KC2003]

hi i am kellen and ive been .25mgs of xanax three times a day for a month and a half and my doc just said i didnt need it anymore and cut me off cold turkey and its been hell ..... ive heard nothing but bad things about what im going to go through .....any ideas of how to ween myself off this ****? please help!

[kimzlosinit]

I was on Xanax for about five years and stopped taking it due to being out; pharmacy wouldn't refill. I'm two weeks into not having it and it's crazy how my body is responding. I've had lightheadedness to the point of near fainting while driving. (I commute to my job). Now, it's near impossible to get back into the car without feeling I will near faint again. Also, I'm dealing with surreal feelings as if I'm not inside my body. I have pins/needles feelings, increased anxiety and feelings of blackouts. This is so severe that I may have to quit my job if I don't get help. I went to the ER after a week of being off the med and they found nothing. The doctor prescribed Celexa but I've yet to start it. Anyone with advice would be greatly received.

[waitress50]

I am addicted to Xanax  for over 2 years. My doctor had me on 6mg a day, and with a high anxiety stress lifestyle I abused them. I would take 2 or 3 sometimes due to the stress in my household, which is no excuse. But I thought it was. I would go to the doctor and several times told him I was not feeling right. My stress level was intensified and the Xanaax was not working anymore even after the increase. He increased it more and put me on a mood stabilizer also. I began to take both for awhile I felt pretty good and then back to needing more, then he increased my stabilizer. I was starting to feel these strange feelings happen on occasion. My head would tingle, dizzy, blurred vision and i would lose control of my legs, I could not walk without falling or walking into something. I never told anyone I was addicted it was my secret. One episode in my kitchen cooking that feeling took over me, lucky me had my cell phone so I called my 13 yr old daughter and asked her to help me to the couch.I could not walk, it was an experience I could not explain and would never wish it on my worse enemy. My mind would want my legs to move but they couldn't, after about 2 hours of me resting it would go away. I was lucky not to ever have 1 at work. I never told the last one I had put me out, I never slept maybe 3 hours a nite. One nite around 3:00 am I was on the computer and got dizzy I started to no when they were coming now. I got up from my chair and tried to walk fell, no cell phone near made it to my bedroom pulled myself up banged my head on wall what a bump and could not make it to my bed. I scooted near my bed and tried to get in it I could not lift my legs to get up on bed so i pulled my blanket down and pillow and rested on floor till it was time to get my kids up 4 school. I managed to knock the alarm clock down to set it. I felt a bit better by 6:15 am but not myself, I made it upstairs took stairs 1 at a time. Kids needed a ride to school and there was no way I could drive my legs were still numb I would not feel the gas or brakes and would not want my kids or anyone else to get hurt. Called my mom she drove them to school, I finally told her how I was feeling. I then called y gentleman friend and went to ER. Mistake they admitted me and doped me up more, had 2 more attacks in hospital. They had me on 14 pills a day god knows what they were but they made me feel worse and out of my body. My best friend is a nurse and she weaned out more than half of what they had me on. I gave her permission to be able to contact nurses station. 5 days they kept me, finally figured out I was having long lasting addiction reactions to Xanax.They wanted me to go into detox inpatient,I refused. I plan on getting through this, my oldest daughter is helping me and took control over my meds the doctor is weaning me but too drastically from 6-8 pills a day down to 3 and 1/2 a day. The 1st 2 weeks were horrible, shakes, headaches, no energy, vomiting, wanted to just be alone in my bed. My younger kids were told I was sick. My poor kids to have to see me like this, now I made it through 2 weeks in misery and started feeling a little perky and myself. Now the doctor has got me on a weaning schedule 2 a day now. No way, I am so sick and just started a new job what bad timing but I need to survive. I asked my daughter a few times if I could have 1 or a half some days I could not do it. She would not even listen, I went through her room looking for my Xanax and found nothing. She takes them to work or wherever she goes lucky me. Nobody knows the feelings unless u have them or got through it. well i am back to being sick again, headaches thinking a sinus infection calling doctor for more pills, vomiting, shaky, on edge on and on. I am very anxious and imagine I am at a new job, how I am doing it I don't no. I like the job boss is great, timing *****. I just hope I can bring my anxiety down he sees it and that's when I go into my attacks. Heart races, palms sweat, nauseous talk nervous. I am using all their dam suggestions, breathing, walking. For now all I want is 1 more pill, sometimes  can't wait to get home to take it and the availability is not there. To little too soon, I called doctor and we play phone tag, told nurse symptoms no response. Now i have been vomiting for 2 days with the dry heaves, cant stand the smell of some foods being cooked. I can't cook now, cause I can't eat it or stand smelling it. My 13 yr old is cooking God love her!!! What did I do I listened to the doctor and kept going back for me complaining and he would pacify me with a increase. So now here I am at 4:00 am can't sleep, stomach ache, headache what the hell. Therapist tells me it will get worse as I am weaned more and more, what a good feeling. I think hes killing me I cry nobody listens, I don't want to talk to my therapist I have no desire to talk, I am praying to hold it together for my kids and keep my job. My older in control of my meds don't get it sometimes a half just gets me through the withdraw. I think i have a long way to go but this is not working for every good day there is 6 bad ones!!!!  I have bad anxiety and will probably always will, I will need something but not Xanax. I will not go on some of the suggested pills that blow u up 15-20lbs later. Do these psychiatrists ever listen, mine puts me on a 15 min clock doesn't even give me eye contact and writes out prescriptions,"see u in a month". Gee Thanx look where i am now, I want me back. There has to be something out there for anxiety without harm, in the mean time I hear from others this could go on for months is this real. Sorry for the length of this but my older daughter and best friend are the only ones who no so i released all my inner thoughts. To everyone out there thank you for sharing your stories.

[dapio562]

Please do not feel you our alone I am having panic attack as I am typing I have read your comment and it has brought me to tears please know that I to am suffering from these xanax withdrawal symptoms I now realize why all the doctors hated prescribing me the stuff I am more scared then I have ever been in my life this is truly terrible. I am trying to get through this more then anything I break down down into tears almost every other day I fear getting in my car, going to school, seeing my friends, the only thing that helps me is seeing my mother but knowing that I have done this to myself hurts the most. My mother worked hard her whole life and now her son is mentally a mess I had big dreams for my life but now all I want to do is to feel normal again I fear I will never feel a day were my head is not "light headed" like you say this tingly feeling takes over my head and my vision is unexplainable its like I can see but I do not want to think about what it is I am looking at almost a feeling of constriction I feel like I am fainting and am fading away I went to the ER and they injected me with 1MG of Ativan and gave me about 15 pills to cope with, I have read on the internet just what actually has happened to me and I feel I have been tricked I am lazy I have no stresses in my life and thats what makes me feel the most guilty reading the fact that you have kids and a job and are still having to deal with this condition almost kills me from looking at it please know that as I am typing this all those sensations you are describing are hitting me with full force the emotional factor is ridiculous I am the scum society I am on section 8 I am on unemployment I lift weights everyday I have no worries and it kills me to be dealing with this and hurts that much more hearing from people like you that actually have something to live for I am so sorry that you have to deal with this as well but I am glad that someone else can relate to what it is I am going through because the hardest thing about this is that everyone assumes you are the same person as you always were but I cannot explain to these people what it is I feel the sensations are so overwhelming and feel so real and being told that it is all the bodies natural reaction to the withdrawal makes me feel that I am going crazy I would not want anybody to feel the way I do, from the second I wake up until the second I close my eyes at night I live in fear I had a great life everyone loved I was a wrestler in high school but had a shoulder separation while snowboarding in 2009 since then I have taken a interest in criminal law after studying supreme court cases my intelligence had reached a level that was very scary I started questioning the reality I live in basically feeling that the life I thought I had been living was a joke and it was starting to really mess with my head. I took it upon to myself to go to the doctor since my mom got her job back at our local community college and we got back our health insurance I used it to my medicine I have become to smart for my own good about the world we live in and felt that I could achieve anything and was basically untouchable. I was taking 2mgs of xanax a day as soon as I would wake up for about a month one day I said "alright thats enough of that" and stopped taking it thinking that everything would be fine just like all the other times I used the drug for recreation but this is where my world took a turn. I started feeling extremely uncomfortable I could not take a full breath, thoughts would not stop running through my head that I was going to have a heart attack and die, the feeling that I have let down my mother almost killed me as it is she really is the only reason I am alive today I feel selfish and i'm sure anyone else would agree. I was taking .5 mgs about every other day usually only using it if I couldn't get through an attack but after reading the true reason behind what it is that has happened to me I have been battling the drug cold turkey for about a week and a half now occasionally taking .5mgs of Ativan to get me through a school day if the panic just becomes to overwhelming I now try to let myself just get through the panic attack I have accepted the fact that these attacks will come out of anywhere I just try to let the panic attack pass and let the sensations engulf my body I just keep telling myself its all fake and not real I don't care how abnormal it feels I  I know when the trigger will take effect and the only thing that gets me through it is the fact that maybe I will feel normal again feel like the man I once used to be I know this probably doesn't help with your problem but please know you are not alone I to have fallen victim to this and I pray I will pull myself out of this hole god save me...

[Jusniknak]

I just went cold turkey on tuesday...within 24 hours I started withdrawal symptoms...they were horrible, sinitus, shaking, trembles, nausea, and vomiting....i know they say don't stop that way....but after experiencing that withdrawal I will never put my body back through that...will Jesus help I can do all things cause He strengthens me...there is nothing too hard for My God! I'm praying you overcome this cause you can!

[jamm57]

you quit cold turkey hear is mine i have only been taking them for about 6 months .5 mg in the morning and at night i dont want to take these anymore so i decided to go cold turkey here i am on day two and i feel like crap no vomiting but i am nausus i get lightheaded i should have never started taking these i hate it sometimes im not sure if it is withdrawls or if it is actually anxiety ive delt with anxiety my whole life and never took pills and the stories i am reading are scaring me even more does any one know how long these symptoms last hopefully no more than a week cause im doing cold turkey but i was only taking one mg a day for about 6 months can anyone tell if i will have severe withdrwals or mild i dont know but i dont like the way ifeel now im just glad to know im not alone in this they should get rid of this drugs very habitual