Doctor and I need help with taper plan

Hi, I’ve been on Xanax for about 2 years at .50mg. On average I took 1 to 3 pills a week, mostly just the 1 for a year and a half. Never had a problem. This winter my average went up to 3 a week due to some health concerns. After taking 1 pill 4 days in a row I decided I was feeling better and stopped taking it. Two nights later I woke in a panic with muscle twitches. I decided to stop for good and made it 3 weeks without taking another.  I was pretty proud of myself until I had to have a procedure done and I started taking 1 pill daily. After my procedure I decided to taper down to .25 and after 2 days I quit.  That night I woke up in another panic ended up at ER and was referred to a local mental health facility. Unfortunately There is another 3 week wait to meet with a psychiatrist and was told to continue taking it until I can be seen. After 13 days at .50 I cut down to .25 for the past week.  Today I met with my primary care physician who at first said I should stay on it but after some persuading agreed to look into a tapering method. Unfortunately she does not prescribe benzos and was only continuing my prescription from my original doctor for who she replaced. After showing her the Ashton manual she said she might consider a Valium switch if she could run it by some other colleagues. I guess my question is as follows.  If I’m holding at .25 and continue holding for another week or so, will a Valium taper be appropriate for me? I don’t want to deal with liquid titration and there’s no way I can split pills into accurate doses. My doctor sketched out a brief taper for reference and it looked like the total timeline would be around 4 weeks but said adjustments could be made depending on how I was reacting to the change.  It’s hard to find doctors in my area and I was told by my therapist the psychiatrist would probably not change me to another benzo and would just add an anti depressant instead to help counter the Xanax. I would rather work with my primary who at least is willing to try the Ashton method. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I’m desperate to get off of this poison. Thanks In advance.

I am currently tapering directly from Xanax. I also never took more than .5mg/day when I was taking it. I can't speak to crossing over, but I am basically cutting my .25mg tablets into quarters. I went down to .1875mg after 10 days from .25mg with minimal issues. Some pharmacies will cut the pills for you if the doctor puts that on your prescription. I also didn't want to mess with liquid titration. I was afraid I would screw something up - lol. It's good that you have a supportive and open physician! I wish you luck in getting off of as comfortably as possible!

Thanks!  You are lucky you have the .25 pills. I have the .50 and my doctor can’t change the prescription.  Talked to her today and she said we can go ahead with the Valium taper but her only concern is she’d like to see me on another medication as well (SSRI )so life events don’t send me running back to the Xanax.  I have a big choice to make and am wondering if a Valium switch is even necessary for this lower dose.

Thanks!  You are lucky you have the .25 pills. I have the .50 and my doctor can’t change the prescription.  Talked to her today and she said we can go ahead with the Valium taper but her only concern is she’d like to see me on another medication as well (SSRI )so life events don’t send me running back to the Xanax.  I have a big choice to make and am wondering if a Valium switch is even necessary for this lower dose.

 

My doctor is really not familiar with all of this so she is basically just having me come straight off of the Xanax. Low dose or not, they can pose significant problems. I have seen some say that the Valium can cause depression but I honestly have no experience about that. I am getting close to the end and I feel like I'm anxious and nervous already about cutting a dose on Saturday! Having a strong mind and positive outlook are crucial in this. I believe crossing over is a personal decision. I was worried about my body not handling another benzo, so I was fine with not crossing over.

You can buy a gram scale for 20 dolars on amazon, crush your pills into powder and then each day take the amount you need by weighting it. I'm doing it with Ativan because I didn't want to cross over to valium as that can also bring problems. Another option is to have your med prepared at a compounding pharmacy. I used a liquid suspension of ativan and it worked very very well. It's more expensive, though.

Plan for the worst, hope for the best...

Meaning that all may go fine with a set slow taper, and I Hope so...

But pls try to stress to your Dr, -a slow Symptom based taper, adjusted as you go..

That and protect your continued medicine supply (one never knows)..

Best Wishes...