Xanax

[yardguy]

I was curious if anyone has ever came off of xanax after taking 3-4 mg a day for 4 years?  If so, HOW?
yardguy

[sudie58]

hi, a few years ago i tried a taper off xanax, i started very slowly, as i was advised to do by my dr. i was on 6/8 mgs a day, i got down to 1.5 a day then stopped ,it wasnt pleasant but neither was it horrific, i really wish you well, god bless

[my_mayberry]

ok...simple truth is some will tell you it's not as bad as what you read....HOWEVER...that simply can't be true. why? because the horror stories on this site are written by the people who experienced them, meaning they ARE ABSOLUTELY true.

my suggestion to you is that you do a slow taper with a doc. if you jump from a dose of 2mg a day to 0, you MAY experience mild symptoms, or you may experience much worse. seizures can't be predicted. they can happen to people even when they feel NO symptoms at all.

there are tapers that go much much lower than 2mg a day, and there's a reason. if i were you, i'd read the horror stories and know that for every horror story, it can't be dismissed because it was written by someone who experienced it. however, for every horror story, there are more stories of people who had only few problems discontinuing xanax. this is why long tapers are important...tapers that bring you all the way down to low daily doses.....because you never know which category you'll fall into until you stop the drug. at that point, it's too late...whatever will be will be.

[BamaIndian]

I read all of these horror stories online when I chose to go off of xanax (I was rx'd 2mgs 4x's a day!)

Anyway, I did taper down to 1 2mg  a day. I used it at night only. I went cold turkey off of that. The taper was quick (as in 30 days) and my withdrawal was:

day 1-3 mild anxiety
day 4-7 tough to sleep of course and felt just out of it.

I made sure to have no unnecessary drama. My detox gave me something I didn't have before, and that's the ability to see what was poison in my life and what needed to be left alone and what was REAL anxiety.

I do have anxiety but it's at night. I just took xanax (rx'd) by my DR for 4 days and I feel "flat". Remarkable and I don't want to be on anything anymore, I'm only on it to get rest. I"m headed to the DR tomorrow to get on something else. I've tried buspar but it doesn't do anything for me.

Good luck and try and taper. It's NO where near what you read online.

[tschock]

Been there, done that...***** doesn't it?
I tried to taper off of it, but because my mom took my kids away I went cold turkey.
That was many years ago...the xanax made me walk around like I was drunk and stoned.
I was drooling, couldn't focus at all...slurred my speach, etc. My mom took my sons and told me that as soon as I came off of that stuff that I could have them back.

She just didn't understand that depression isn't the same for everyone, and that just because she had gone down the valium path and had come off of it all happy like, she expected the same from everyone.

Cold turkey hurts...had some serious side effects for a couple of years...sorry to bum you out, but that's what happened to me.
Just take your time and cut the pills in half...slowly is good...
Good luck to you and big hugz.