Hello

I have been prescribed.05 alprazolam which I now have to take daily to function for over 10 years. I would like to be free if taking it at some point in my life. I have not yet successfully tapered due to lack of direction, support, and quite frankly fear of doing it and living a normal life. I have decided that reaching out for support within a group of people who truly understand that maybe I can get the courage to move forward.

 

Thank you for being here and I hope to get the support that I need to start this journey.

Hello Purry, welcome to BenzoBuddies,

 

You can do this, we have many members who have successfully tapered from these medications.  Can you tell us if you’ve ever experienced unusual symptoms?  The reason I ask is because there are some who can discontinue these drugs will little to no problem, you might be one of them.

 

I need to clarify your dose, is is .05 or .50 and have you ever had to increase your dose?

 

We typically suggest reducing by about 5-10% every couple of weeks or whatever your symptoms will permit, a symptom based taper will hopefully keep you functional.

 

I’ll provide some links to help you get started but please let us help you do this.

 

Pamster

 

Colorado Consortium Benzodiazepine Deprescribing Guidance

 

Planning Your Withdrawal (Taper)

 

Withdrawal Support (during your taper)

Hi, to answer the dosage amount it is a half of milligram. My concern is how long I have been taking it and that I do feel withdrawal without it. Not sleeping, no going up although I do take a pill for that as well. It's more the rebound anxiety that is hard to get through and past. I was thinking that switching to a longer dose medication such as Klonopin or Valium would help possibly but how long to taper for me is the question without going insane and still functioning in my life??

That was supposed to say bp not no as in blood pressure

Thanks for clarifying your dose, its .50, that information is important.  Good to hear you’ve never had to go up in dose but I would imagine it’s not been doing a very good job as a result, tolerance can set in and we begin to experience symptoms even though we’re taking the same amount.

 

You mentioned something to help you sleep, is it an Rx?  If it is, we’ll need to include that in your total benzo dose if its a z-drug like Ambien, they’re technically listed as a non-benzodiazepine but it’s works on the same part of the brain as benzo’s do.

 

Many members will taper their original benzo but you’re right, Xanax is a tough one because of the short half life.  It’s possible to taper from it though, some members will dose up to 4 times a day.

 

Keep talking to us and we’ll help you work through this, we know it’s scary.

Thanks so much! I was prescribed trazodone for sleep and gabapentin because I do get some night sweats and hot flashes lately but I feel awful the next day from either of them. I only take my alprazolam daily and also two blood pressure meds. One is hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg and the other is losaartan potassium 50 mg which that one I just started rather recently. I feel like the alprazolam wearing off causes a spike in my blood pressure which is the scariest part for me, the rest is just difficult. I feel like I am trapped in functioning or not if I stop taking them. Rebound anxiety is rather tough as well. They recommended my adding buspar 5 mg 3 times a day. I don't know if I want to add yet another pill to take..I would rather take nothing unless it's natural or just the blood pressure meds if I absolutely have to do that right now. I think about this everyday yet my fear causes me to do nothing which is why I need some support.  -[

Sorry for the run on paragraph..typing from my phone on here isn't the easiest.

 

Anyway, I hope that I can move past my fear of this finally somehow. Thanks for the replies!

Glad to hear you’re not on a z-drug, although when the time comes you’ll need to taper the Gabapentin.  Some members have found it helpful, others not so much but if it’s not bothering you at the moment, I’d stick with it until you’re recovered from the Alprazolam.  We have members on Trazadone too, most seem to tolerate it well.

 

Many members have blood pressure issues while going through this, so its good you’re on medication, you needn’t worry although this process makes us worry about everything. Adding more medications can be tricky, our central nervous system is so sensitive its difficult to predict if they will harm or help until you try them. 

 

Speaking of fear, its a huge withdrawal symptom, its like the drug lies to us and keeps us in a constant state of fear so I used to talk out loud to the fear and say this isn’t real, this isn’t me and this won’t be me when I recover.

 

This thread talks about the lies… Benzo lies that have been busted

Yes, no z-drugs currently. I don't take the trazodone or the gabapentin. Gabapentin only if absolutely necessary and very minimal dose. So, the only struggle I am having is how to taper down from the daily alprazolam dose in a productive way. I have seen the Ashton method but it is difficult with the .5 alprazolam to know exactly how to cut it down enough and to spread it out at the right times.

 

The rebound anxiety, lack of focus, and insomnia are awful but I need to try to figure it out. I normally have to take the entire.5 at one time daily to even work at all. I definitely have a tolerance at this point to it being so long that I have been on it. It went from once every week to once daily over the years. They gave me the .5 three times a day buspar but not sure how to incorporate it in the best times. They just say here take these 3 times a day instead of adding more benzos and that was it about 3 weeks ago. I have not been able to keep up with it as I should. Basically, I feel like if I taper off of the alprazolam then maybe I can focus on something else although it may help.

 

I pretty much need medicine management but not sure how to go about asking, doing, etc.

 

Thanks for the links, I did look at them. The lies are so true as well. Doing this completely on my own emotionally just seems impossible.

So you only dose once a day, that may become difficult, most Alprazolam users will take it 3 or 4 times a day for deal with interdose withdrawal, how is that for you, are you suffering between doses?

Absolutely! I usually take it like mid afternoon and by bedtime I am definitely not feeling it at all due to being so used to it

 

But, if I take only .25 in afternoon and .25 in the late evening, t's like I took nothing at all at this point and there is no relief.

 

The script has always been .5 as needed in the beginning years ago and now it's .5 1 tablet daily as needed  on the bottle. I get 30 a month and no refills so I have to ask for it to be refilled monthly and at times it's been delayed for different circumstances such as holiday or weekend etc.

 

This is where my anxiety on stopping comes in because of how to manage it properly with the least withdrawal or impairment in functioning. I feel like I have add sometimes if I try not to take it until later along with my bp going up even with the medication for that as well.

 

I just turned 50 and hormones may be playing a small role in how I feel so that keeps me staying in this daily cycle I feel like I am trapped in because I have nobody that understands in my immediate life on how to honestly support and help me to successful be able to do it.

 

I have an older mother I do things for and drive around, work, pets, my house etc etc to do on a daily basis at the moment all on my own. My fiance and I split up and my dad passed away all in 2020. I was left to sell my childhood home on my own because my only sibling lives far away. I also lost my job due to covid that year.

 

That being said, there was a lot that kept me on my anxiety medication but I feel like it's time to try possibly if I somehow can but still keep up with my life if that makes sense.

 

It's amazing how a little pill can mess up your mind and body and have so much power and control over you. Sigh. Thanks for listening. My counselor really wasn't of any help to deal with it either.