Can you taper off of xanax without using a substitution method?

I'm on xanax .25mg twice a day for 2 years. I began having symptoms of tolerance withdrawal.

 

My doctor tried having me stop ct and started me on Paxil.  I ended up in the hospital with " seizure-like activity", high blood pressure, along with many other withdrawal symptoms. Ended up stopping Paxil and going back on Xanax.

 

My therapist made a taper plan with my doctors approval. Can you taper off of xanax safely, without using a substitution method?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes...I tapered from 2mg after long term use and so have many others.  At .25mg twice a day, I would suggest cutting one of those doses into quarters and toss one of the pieces.  That equals a cut of .0625mg. 

 

My pattern was that any amped symptoms would settle down around day 3-5 and I could cut again, but that may be too fast for some.  When you're ready to cut again, I'd cut from the other dose.

 

Valium tends to cause depression and I didn't want to complicate things by crossing over, so I dry tapered all the way to zero.

Thank you!

Yes...I tapered from 2mg after long term use and so have many others.  At .25mg twice a day, I would suggest cutting one of those doses into quarters and toss one of the pieces.  That equals a cut of .0625mg. 

 

My pattern was that any amped symptoms would settle down around day 3-5 and I could cut again, but that may be too fast for some.  When you're ready to cut again, I'd cut from the other dose.

 

Valium tends to cause depression and I didn't want to complicate things by crossing over, so I dry tapered all the way to zero.

 

 

So far  .125mg was to much so i tried. .0625mg and i could deal with it.

 

My doctor and therapist wants me to cut

 

.25mg the first week.

 

.378mg the next week.

 

.0875mg next  week.

 

And so on.  He already tried to ct me and i had a few seizures.

I have been tapering off the same dose as you since the end of November 2017. I had been on that same dose for almost 23 years.

 

I chose to use the cuts as outlined above - actually she has been my inspiration from the start. I cut 0.0625 every 2 weeks  for several then went to 0.03125 (half of the 0.0625 dose) for the rest but only holding those cuts for 1week. In reality, that still amounts to 0.0625 every 2 weeks.

 

In 2 weeks, it is planned to jump if all works out. I chose to stay with Xanax rather that changing to something else. It has been manageable though not always easy 😊

Sorry for the late reply. Thank you both for replying to my post.

 

I am currently trying to tapering by cutting it 1/4 every 2-4 weeks. I've made two cuts so far and I've decided to hold for another week since I'm sick. I'm just getting a little discouraged and second guessing myself. I can hardly think straight lately.

 

Thank's again!

No worries about holding... I held for two months during the holidays when I was tapering.  It's much worse to go too fast than too slow.  I'm not sure you can go too slow.