Xanor taper help needed

[awundrin]

I've been taking Xanor 0.25mg for nearly one month. Started taking two tablets a day, then increased to 3 tablets a day for about 2 weeks. Now I am taking two tablets a day. Dr. says after two weeks at 2 tabs/day, to drop down to 1 1/2 tablets a day. Is this a good taper schedule?

[Zootal]

Mirtazapine has an anxiolytic and sedative properties - as does xanax. Curious that you would be asked to taper both of them at the same time, and to make such a huge drop? I would think that tapering from just one at a time would be hard enough, but I'm not your doctor . But then, my doctor told me to just quit long term xanax and ambien usage in three weeks. I didn't know better, neither did he, and my quitting from long term usage in just a few short weeks was like someone opening a door to hell, shoving me through, and slamming it behind me. Doctors don't always get it right, and sadly sometimes they really get it wrong.

Paxiled is right - everyone is different, and we all recover at different rates.  You took a low dosage for a month, you should be able to quit xanax very quickly with minimal or no side effects at all.

I'm not a doctor  and I don't know you or your needs, so don't take what I say as medical advice. I can say, however, as someone who has been there and done that, that if you don't really need the xanax, then get off of it as fast as you possibly can.  These drugs really do a fantastic job of taking the anxiety away - I wish I could take xanax every day of my life, it's a wonderful thing to not have any anxiety, to just feel normal. But alas, it doesn't last, and there is an extremely severe price to pay for the temporary relief it gives us. Quit while you can.

[awundrin]

Thanks for the input and advice.

[Paxiled]

The right taper schedule is whatever works for you -- it's not going to be the one that works for the guy sitting next to you.  If your doc's schedule works fine, great.  If you think it's too fast for you, tell him to slow down and take it as slowly as you need to -- that's the only correct tapering schedule.  But the above post is right, the less time you're on these meds usually the easier it is to stop taking them, so don't expect the worst, but do be prepared -- brains are just very individual things and we don't process these drugs the same way.

[awundrin]

I'm a little worried because I also was told to drop my mirtazapine dosage down from 45mg daily to 30mg after taking 45 for about a month. Prior to the 45mg dosage, I have been taking 30mg daily since beginning of May. . Been having bad insomnia even though I have been given melatonin to take. (two,2mg tablets to take at night. Had no effect whatsoever last night. Ugh.

[Paxiled]

Your melatonin dosage might be too high -- studies have shown that less is more with melatonin.  Try just 1mg and see what happens.  You can even try .5mg.  If you have to go up, do it a little at a time.  But mirtazapine is very sedating, it's often used for that even though that's not it's approved purpose, and even though it's doing a lot of other things too.  Using drugs for their side effects sometimes helps in the short-term but can cause long-term problems, such as something called rebound insomnia.  When you went up in dose on the drug and then down, it might have caused a problem for you.  It should be short-term but if you're using this for sleep it might have done what sleeping pills usually do, which is eventually stop working and then you're worse off because your brain is even less able to relax to sleep.  And I agree with the post below, tapering off two drugs at the same time doubles your potential trouble.

[Zootal]

Since you have only taken it for one month, and since you are not taking that much, tapering off of it should be relatively easy. I took it for a couple of months, and spent just a few weeks tapering off of it, and had no problems. Try your doctor's taper schedule and see how it works. Also give some thought to why you took it in the first place. If it is a chronic condition, you might still be experiencing whatever caused you to take start taking it. Xanax won't make that go away, it just numbs you for a while.

Google The Ashton Manual. Read through it. Most of that is for people who have been taking much higher dosages for a long time, but you will still find some good information in it.

[awundrin]

Good to hear.. Hope you're right and thanks!