tapered too quickly

Hi peeps

Glad to finally be amongst others who might be able to relate to this situation.

I started to taper from 1mg xanax about 3 weeks ago, but mistakenly though i could do it quickly and dropped down to 1/2mg in about 2 weeks.

This resulted in me feinting due to the pain of severe abdominal cramps, followed immediately by a panic attack. Neither of which i've ever had before in my life.

On top of that i've got chest pains and aches all over my body.

Equally concerning is the insomnia which is relentless and i'm getting about 2 hours sleep a night at the moment.

Bizarrely, it was only yesterday that i actually realised that these symptoms were as a direct result of xanax withdrawal, and as such i decided to up my dose to 3/4 mg to hopefully level out and then start the taper again properly from scratch, using some micro scales i ordered from amazon.

has anyone else done this and should i up my dose even further back to the 1mg level, or see how this goes over the next few days? and take it from there.

thanks in advance and i appreciate anyone taking time to read this.

Hi Janax,

I tapered too rapidly not knowing anything about Benzo withdrawal. With the gift of hindsight, I would have reinstated my original dose and taken the time to prepare for a slow, gradual taper.

Considering your symptoms, I think it's safe to say you are not one of those people who can quit so quickly.

However I was on a very long acting Benzo, whereas you are on a very short-acting Benzo.

Would you be so kind to add a signature, stating your history with Benzos? This way we can reply more efficiently.

My question would be if you had/have interdose withdrawal with Xanax and what your symptoms would be now.

There would be a few options for you forward, which could be a direct taper of Xanax or a crossover to Valium. Both could pose some challenges.

Let us know!

Naf1983

Hi peeps

 

Glad to finally be amongst others who might be able to relate to this situation.

 

I started to taper from 1mg xanax about 3 weeks ago, but mistakenly though i could do it quickly and dropped down to 1/2mg in about 2 weeks.

This resulted in me feinting due to the pain of severe abdominal cramps, followed immediately by a panic attack. Neither of which i've ever had before in my life.

On top of that i've got chest pains and aches all over my body.

Equally concerning is the insomnia which is relentless and i'm getting about 2 hours sleep a night at the moment.

 

Bizarrely, it was only yesterday that i actually realised that these symptoms were as a direct result of xanax withdrawal, and as such i decided to up my dose to 3/4 mg to hopefully level out and then start the taper again properly from scratch, using some micro scales i ordered from amazon.

 

has anyone else done this and should i up my dose even further back to the 1mg level, or see how this goes over the next few days? and take it from there.

 

thanks in advance and i appreciate anyone taking time to read this.

Hi Janax

I'm sorry this happened to you. I was in a similar situation but with a different benzo (see my signature). The amount you updose to I think depends on the severity of your symptoms and what your body needs to recover. But whether you updose to 0.75 or 1mg, in the bigger scheme of things, it's only 0.25mgs which will just add a couple of months to your taper at most.

Updosing takes a while before it takes effect. You could stay at this dose for a couple of days to see how it goes and then increase if it doesn't seem to work. It's really up to you what you feel comfortable with.

I would go back up to 1MG, stay there for two weeks. Once you feel ok see if you can get prescribed .25MG pills. Those you can cut up into 4 pieces with a pill cutter and go from there. Its 4 .25mg pills to equal 1MG. And those 4 pills can basically be cut up into 16 pieces. So, if your taking 16 pieces a night.....you can see how slow you can go if you need to. (Take one piece away, stay on that dose for 10 days). Not that youd do that, im just demonstrating what can be done with xanax.

I was on .5 xanax and cut my .25mg pills into 8 pieces and was on my way to taking out 1/8th piece then hold for 10 days, then take out 2/8 piece and on and on until i was out. Xanax and me dont mix though and i had to get off it NOW, i couldnt wait so i crossed over to valium.

Thank you everyone for your messages, your support is very much appreciated.

Apologies for not responding sooner but i'd instigated a social media and internet sabbatical for myself and have only just come back online.

The good news is that i've quit completely, although i'm still feeling some physical effects from the withdrawal.

I've got a nagging chest pain (left side) which i'm getting an xray for in a week or so.

The doctors are not suspecting that it's heart related. feels more chest/lung.

We'll see.

However, the other day (a week after my final 0.05mg dose) i decided to take a 0.5mg dose just to see what that did, and bizarrely it got rid of the chest pain for about 24 hours.

Which obviously leaves me in a dilemma.

How can a benzo/psche drug affect a direct physical pain in my chest? an does this mean i haven't actually tapered properly and still need to take some on a daily basis and possibly re-taper again from there.

fyi i'd been using 1mg for about 5 years, daily.

Benzodiazepines are great muscle relaxers so when we stop taking them our muscles complain, chest pressure and pain are common symptoms.  Its also common for this process to affect one side or the other and it varies, so having the pain on one side doesn't hold any significance.  Your experiment with the dose of Xanax bears out this is benzo related.

Your taper was just fine and the fact that it was so rapid and you're in this good of shape is proof you're recovering.  I don't advise reinstating the drug, you're in the recovery phase which can last as long or longer than the taper.  Typical full recovery is between 1 and 2 years so reinstating and doing another taper won't benefit you unless you're totally non-functional and it doesn't appear you are.

that's a relief to hear.

Thank you again for you advice and knowledge, and although it's not an ideal scenario i find myself in, it's somewhat of a consolation to know that this is a relatively normal occurrence.

It's also good to know that i'll be getting checked out in a couple of weeks, and if it is anything more sinister then hopefully that will present itself then.

I was initially concerned that it might be angina, but like you said the one off Xanax dose would bear out the theory that is is more likely benzo related.

i will update as and when things progress.

peace & <3