off xanax and put on klonopid

[rkt1500]

It has been ten days since I took any xanax and I have been taking Klonopid per my doctor ,everything has been going fine until last night when I woke up very warm  and sweating,I thought the klonopid would prevent any withdrawl symptoms, will they get worse again I am very worried.

[RubyWitch]

Surprising, isn't it, what our doctors either don't know or don't tell us. Your dose WAS small, but with Xanax, the size of the dose doesn't matter, it's the length of time you took it.......which was long enough for you to become dependant on it.
As you learned the hard way, abruptly stopping Xanax is a large error. You would have begun the w/d process within 4-6 HOURS. That it took two days to feel the jones hit you could be considered "normal" since you say you only took it every other day.
That your doctor was also "surprised" doesn't surprise me at all. New information often surprises us!
Once again, in my humble, non-medical opinion, he should NOT have just taken you off the Xanax. You must wean very slowly off Xanax no matter the dose, and especially after having taken it for 5 YEARS!
I have no idea what his taper plan will do for you. Abruptly stopping the Xanax was a mistake which you made out of ignorance...........which does NOT mean stupidity! You didn't have any idea what was about to happen to you and THAT, my friend, was due to the stupidity of your doctor!
Has the Klonopin helped? Are you feeling less anxious? Since you're writing to an anxiety forum, I can only assume your doctor, once again, didn't give you adequate information. You are now on a small dose of Klonopin and will be on it for a short period of time, but Klonopin is another benzo that you need to taper slowly off. Small dose, short term may mean you won't have to taper from the Klonopin, but I'm just not sure that that will be enough to "cover" a 5 year Xanax habit.
My advice? Give it a shot, but if it doesn't work, run away from your moronic PCP and find a Psychiatric Medication Manager, (they work out of most psychiatric clinics) and he/she will work with you on a taper program to get off these meds correctly.
What you are going through is one of my pet peeves about GP's/PCP's.............they do not have adequate training in psychiatric meds to be handing them out like Halloween candy, which they do. The vast majority of them have no idea the hell they are sending us into when they dash off that benzo script................
To further berate and belittle your doctor, why in hell would he give you Xanax as a "first line" sleep aid rather than try you on something more benign?
Doctors!  PISH!
Let us know how it's going, OK?
Peace
Greenlydia      

[rkt1500]

I was taking a very low dose of xanax .25 mg about every other day but I took this for 5 years, I was shocked that I became dependent on such a small dose but I suspect the length of time on the drug has something to do with it. I really took the xanax more as a sleep aid then an anti anxiety but I guess that doesn't really matter. I was off work for a while so I decided I really did not need to take the xanax any more so I just stopped , and within two days I had horrible night sweats body aches and nausea and stomach cramps, I thought I had the flue ,on the fourth day I started to halucinate and thats when I figuered out it was the xanax withdrawl, I was blindsided by this because I allways thought I was on a low dose and I didn't take it every day.I went to my primary care doctor and he was also suprised that I was in withdrawl,so he took me off the xanax and put me on klonopid .25mg every night for a month and then begin to taper. I am affraid the withdrawl symptoms will return.

[RubyWitch]

As sierrasong stated, Xanax w/d would begin within HOURS of your last dose, not 10 days.
But..........since I am neither a doctor nor a pharmacist, I wonder, did your doctor just  stop the Xanax abruptly and begin the Klonopin? How long were you on Xanax? How often did you take it? What dose? These questions will help us give you the best answer we can.
The usual way to transition from one benzo to another is to step OUT a small dose of your original med and replace it, or step IN, a small dose of the new med. It can be a long and slow process, but it's the safest and easiest way. While there are those who would disagree with me, there will almost always be a short period of time when you experience some rebound anxiety until the new med has reached therapeutic levels.
It is difficult to say, given what you've told us, what the espisod you experienced could be related to. You said you woke up "warm and sweaty," but you said nothing about feeling any anxiety or panic. Is it possible that you were, simply, warm and sweaty from, say, too many blankets? Perhaps the heat wasn't turned down? Was your 110 pound dog laying on your head? (Mine does!)
How are you feeling today? Are you feeling anxious or do you have symptoms of a cold or the flu? While anxiety/panic CAN make us feel sweaty, the abscence of anxiety would lead me to think this was just your bodies thermostat telling you to throw off a blanket or two.
Please post again, but if you don't, I would advise asking your doctor or pharmacist what the night sweat incident might have been about,
Peace
Greenlydia      

[sierrasong]

Sorry you're feeling badly.  I'm not a doctor, but have used Xanax off and one over the years.  I would think that if you got through the first 10 days with no withdrawal symptoms, that the warm, sweating episode might be related to something else.  It seems too late to be be withdrawal which I've read begins quite quickly.  Check with your doctor, though, ok?

Hugs,
M