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Xanax addiction

Hi all friends!

I was on Xanax for about 3 months now, and I was taking 3-4 mg per day about a month ago. Then I reduced the dose to 2 mg per day about two weeks ago, and got withdrawal symptoms like depression (somewhat strong). After taking 2 mgs about two weeks, I lowered it to 1.5 mgs, and now I've decided to take 1 mg per day just to stop the depressive mood when xanax is not in my system. Considering the phase i'm reducing the dose, how more long you think will it take to stop it completely, without getting the withdrawal symptoms? What do you recommend on how to proceed from here? (sorry if my english is not good).

Thanks for any help!

Kasun
14 Responses
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3197167 tn?1348968606
Welcome to the forum!!  Your English is REALLY GOOD!!  I'm super impressed.  I can't imagine doing as good as you are with a second language!

Wanted to share that I've been doing A WHOLE LOT of research lately about benzo withdrawals.  I have been off opiates for almost a year, but made the very poor decision to take a 1/2 pill of a benzo that was actually prescribed for my husband for my anxiety.  Well, I did that for 90 days and could feel my feet walking down a road I KNEW I didn't want to travel.  LOL
So, I'm off the benzo now 2 weeks....so THAT'S why I've been researching benzo w/drawals.  
From all that I've been learning....you are doing your taper WAY too fast.
It is suggested to cut your dose by 10% every 7-14 days.....VERY SLOWLY or you will have the very w/drawal symptoms you are having.

There are two web sites that I've been drawn to as I've been reading about benzos.....one is called:  ************.org  and the other one...just type in Ashton benzo withdrawals and go to her website.  It will reassure you that you really CAN get off the Xanex but you need to slow it down some.

Blessings across the ocean to you~
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi Kasun,

Glad to see you are getting lots of useful advice ( i knew you would!)...it would seem that a long slow taper, with lots of time in between reducing your dose is the safest way to do this.

I wish you strength and peace of mind on your journey to being drug free, keep writing on here, keep reading all you can about xanax, and most importantly...keep going...we're all here for you.

Jane x
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Xanax withdrawal may be the worse of the worse. You can have seizures from WD. I was on 3 to 4 2 mg tabs per day 4 six months and needed to be medically detoxed. I tried on my own and almost died. Be careful please.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks for the info atthebeach!

Today I took 1mg in the morning, and still I didn't got the depressive moodiness like yesterday, when I took 0.5mg in the morning. How much daily mgs you would recommend right now, considering the time and amount I was taking xanax.

Currently, it seems 1 mg in the morning, and probably 0.5 mg in the evening would keep my depression away -- so it's 1.5 mgs per day. How long should you recommend I take 1.5mgs before reducing the dose? and when reducing, who much I should reduce at a time (0.25mg?). SORRY for the multitude of questions!

>by the way your English is great.
Some people say my writing/typing is bit confusing and mush :) I'm asian :)

Thanks again for any help!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks butch798!

Wow, you stopped it cold turkey! -- It's brave -- cannot imagine myself doing that. I also tried it once to test, and like in the 2nd day, I was so gloomy and weird, and I could not sleep the whole night, my heart was just thumping continuously -- horrible night that was.

>the taper is better
Yes, seems I have to taper it. Horrible drug to use long term :s
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks Gretta96.

Yes, I've heard some others are taking it for sleeping. But, didn't it's effect wane after 1-2 weeks? Coz, earlier in the time when I took it just for tight social situations, if I take it like 0.25mg 3 days in a row, the 4th day the anti-anxiety effect got reduced. And when I stop it for like 3 days (didn't get the withdrawals, I think coz of the very light dose), again it feels good when I took one.

>slow taper if you can
Yes, that's seems to be the case. Normally, recently I took two 0.5mg pills in the morning and one in the evening. Then I decided to take 0.5mg in the morning and evening -- that's when my current moodiness got started. So I took 1mg today morning, and concentrated hard on stuff I like doing, listened to some music and stuff, and upto now it feels ok. Now I have to see if the bad moods comes in the evening..
Helpful - 0
1235186 tn?1656987798
you are tapering to fast, to go from 3-4 mgs a month ago to 1mg now is very fast. you need to stabilize for awhile on each dose before you go down again. you need to go slower and maintain each dose for longer.

by the way your English is great.
Helpful - 0
5592133 tn?1383879503
i am day 16 from perc and 1 mg xanax.do it slow i am doin cold turkey its day 16 and still dont feel good.take it one day at a time then 1 hour at a time then one minute at a time.if you could wait one minute to take that pill and then change your situation maybe you wont take it.just keep fiting .we r here to help you.the taper is better but some people like me need to run from the drug and just  i dont want it no more.i hate those pills.get mad at them they aint your friends
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi there!
I've been taking Xanax at night mostly, one or two .25mg pills for about 9 months.  I actually think it may cause depression.  You said you didn't have depression until after you started taking more Xanax.  I'm trying to get off it myself, it's best to do a slow taper if you can.  Decrease small amounts every two weeks.  It does help me sleep, but if I take it during the day I feel like crap.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks selfinduced. Telling the problem on a forum and getting any reply itself makes one feels better, thanks.

>Do you have a Dr. on board to help guide you?
My earlier Dr. is the person that prescribed Xanax. But now he's not around anymore. I didn't took Xanax in regular basis at that time -- only when I was in an anxiety inducing social situation. There was no problem those days -- coz I only took the pill rarely. But with certain tumultuous situations I was recently going through, I foolishly decided to take Xanax in a high dose like 4mgs.

>Did you ever have depression issues before the pills?
I had social anxiety, not much of depression. The depression came with the Xanax.

I was determined to reduce it to 1 mg, but I unfortunately could not bare the bad moodiness -- can't do my stuff, so I took the 3rd 0.5 like 15 mins ago -- so it's 1.5mgs today too :(  I can feel the moodiness easing up coz I took it.

Hope the withdrawal symptoms will reduce with time. If anyone have experience with this, please help.

Thanks!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi Kasunl, So sorry your going thru this. I don't have experience with Xanax, but did get dependent on a different benzo. Do you have a Dr. on board to help guide you? Did you ever have depression issues before the pills? The slower you can go down on your dose the better. The forums is slow at this time, but hang in there. More will be along with support and guidance.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Damn! I got depressed again, hold it like 2 hours, finally I took a 0.5 pill just to feel normal :(. Took a 0.5 pill in the morning too, so it's 1 mg already :( And i'm fearing whether I have to take a 0.5 at night, now that would make it 1.5mg :(. Seems hard to reduce it below 1.5 mg :( What should I do?? Plz help!
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks Jane, that feels better :)

Yes I need to get off this stuff asap. Coz, you don't have a clue on how idiotic thing you are doing when you decide to take high dose of xanax. Very much mentally addicting too.

Yes I was stressed out and very anxious when I decided to give it a try, but it's like replacing your current problem with another.

Kasun
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi there
congratulations on wanting to be clean and taking the first steps....it's the BEST decision you'll ever make.

I don't know a lot about xanax but do know there are a lot of people on this forum with experience of this drug. Just hang in there and they'll be around shortly with lots of welcomes and advice for you.

Good Luck
Jane x
Helpful - 0
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