7 Years on Xanax and Want Off

        Hi Folks,

                      I've been a member for a few years and haven't been around for a while.

I initially got on Xanax in 2015 when I was a caregiver for my mom who had dementia and it helped me sleep. I tried weaning a few times and failed.

My mom passed in December 2019 and I was thinking of tapering then. Then of course the pandemic hit and I just put the whole idea of getting off away. I don't think I've been on this site for a couple of years. I also had stents put in my heart in 2020 and was on a blood thinner for a year.

        Well, now I figure it's time and I want to do a dry taper. I take 1 1/2 mg at bedtime. My doctor is useless. His suggestion was to cut the dose in half as my first cut. ?????? Are you kidding me? Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

Good to hear you are finally ready to let Xanax go!  Most doctors don't know much if anything about how to get off benzos.  It sounds like you already know this but a slow taper is the safest way to get off of them and it also minimizes withdrawl symptoms and allows you to stay functional.  There is a lot of good information on this website for tapering if you do your research.  And if you haven't read the Ashton Manual, it would be a good place to begin.  There are a couple of other links below that should be helpful to you:

 

The Ashton Manual

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=9522.0

 

http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=74309.0

The cuts I made were doable for me.  I cut 0.25mg every two weeks or so until the cuts became too small and then I switched to liquid.  I was a bit skeptical that I would be able to tolerate the cuts I made but it worked out fine.  I think everyone has to find what works for them.

I didn't use alcohol for my liquid taper - I used plain water.  My tablets didn't completely dissolve in water, though, so I had to shake the solution vigorously and dose it immediately before it settled out.  I tapered from 0.5mg to 0.01mg by reducing 0.01mg per day until I got to 0.01mg and jumped from there.  My mixture was 0.05mg in 50ml of water.

The ‘guy who had titration down to a science’ was unable to provide credible, relevant scientific evidence to support many of his claims.