Just don't know where to turn to at this point!! Desperately need help/advice.

Hello everyone. I hope I am posting in the correct place - I'm relatively new to the forum, so forgive me if this isn't in the right place I have so many questions and am desperate for help/advice on several things that have happened to me this week. I have been/prescribed Xanax for anxiety/panic attacks since 2007 after I was diagnosed with MS. (I also take Zoloft and have been on it for years) My current dose is 2.5 mg., which I have tapered down to from 3 mg. I am under a psychiatrist's care and I am the one who told her I did not want to take Xanax any more. She agreed to a slow taper of .25 mg every 4 weeks. So, I've had 2 cuts from my original dose of 3 mg. I printed off the Ashton manual to ask for the switch over to Valium from the xanax. I calmly explained to her the science behind it and the successes I have read by weaning this way and she refused to switch me from Xanax to Valium, was/is very opposed to the idea. Her reasoning is we would "just be switching from one addictive drug to another." She was not open to the idea that the taper would be easier to tolerate due to the half life of Valium being longer, etc. She added gabapentin (neurontin 300 mg) 3x daily to my xanax dosage. I left thinking I would find another psychiatrist that might be more open and willing to listen. I called 3 in my area - 2 do not take new patients and the 3rd doesn't have openings for new patients until December!! I WAS able to get an appointment with a nurse practitioner, who specializes in addiction. He, too, was not open to the idea He said he had never heard of The Ashton Manual, and his solution was to just quit taking Xanax cold turkey, tough it out, also said I wouldn't have to worry about seizures since I was on neurontin and "if you get to where you just have to have a Xanax, take one." Needless to say, I moved on - waste of time and $.  This past Tuesday, I saw a physician that I see for another unrelated condition and asked her if she could advise/direct me to someone that could help me. She recommended I talk to someone at a detox program in my area and I saw her yesterday - her advice? Admit me in to a rapid detox facility where I will be given meds for "comfort" while I withdraw from Xanax   She, too, was unwilling to switch me over from Xanax to Valium. I feel like I am completely out of options and am at a loss as to how to get a physician to switch me over to Valium. I am defeated and don't know where to go/ask at this point. I can already feel a huge difference in the 2 cuts I have had in the last 2 months. I am anxious between doses and I am ready to throw in the towel. Does anyone out there have any suggestions/pearls of wisdom??  I am mentally and emotionally exhausted from just trying to get help. Thanks for any input.

I dont have an answer for you.im sorry.

But i do understand the confusion and having problems tapering and finding so many conflicting answers. It only adds to the anxiety..

Hopefully soon someone will have some advice here that will help .

Thank you

 

You can taper yourself off of Xanax, slowly, without the help of a Dr.  I understand that you did all the right things and they wouldn't listen.  I am concerned that .25mg a month is going to be too fast of a taper. 

 

I think that tapers that are patient lead, where the patient chhoses the pace, based of listening to their body, and waiting for withdrawal symptoms to calm down, is the best one.  It helps a person remain functional during the taper.

 

 

I'm so sorry you have hit this brick wall of ignorance and elitism Sunny.  Seems to be the way of it for many of us. 

 

I can only suggest as GreenCup says, to taper really slowly off the Xanax and to continue looking for a prescriber who understands. 

 

It is this response by doctors/prescribers that has people resort to illicits.  It's so wrong.

 

Dee

 

 

Hi Sunny64 

 

While it could be easier to crossover from Xanax (Alprazolam) to Valium (Diazepam) to benefit from the longer half-life elimination that would prevent inter-dose withdrawal, there are buddies who successfully tapered off Xanax with no need for Valium. It is something feasible provided the taperer takes into account the inter-dose withdrawal by reasonably distributing doses across the day.

 

Alprazolam is known to have a short half-life elimination, between 12 and 15 hours. If two consecutive doses are taken out of this time then symptoms might arise in between. If we can manage to divide the daily 3 mg to 3 doses, for instance: 7:00 AM, 3:00 PM, 11:00 PM then we are within the safe margin as there are 8 hours between doses. But should symptoms arise before the dose is taken, then 4 doses a day can also be an option: For instance: 0.75 mg/7:00 AM, 0.75 mg/12:00 AM, 0.75 mg/5:00 PM, 0.75 mg/11:00 AM. Unless when insomnia, in a number of cases buddies seem to feel less symptoms while sleeping. For this reason time between doses could be kept longer during the night. Those are only examples. What dictate the final schedule must be your symptoms.

 

Some points to pay attention to:

- Possibly taper all doses together rather than one at a time. This will prevent to distribute again the remaining doses throughout the day when the tapered dose extinguishes.

- When doses collides with meals, take the dose 5, 10 minutes earlier to avoid loss of effects of the drug

 

Have a smooth journey towards a full recovery!

 

Hi there,

 

Long term xanax user here.  About 20 years and my dose was 6 mgs daily.  Tried to work with psych, she refused.  Back to my doc, he wouldn't roll me over to valium and I am in a small town without lots of options.  I found someone on here that was tapering xanax and followed her.  I am at 2.5 now and still tapering.  Just did a long hold. 

 

If you stay and taper from xanax there are several of us doing that too not necessarily our first choice.

 

Just to let you know we exist.

 

Kristin

I'm tapering from xanax was on 3 mgs a day for 10 yrs and 15 yrs before that used them only for stressful situations for anxiety and panic. I started taking them  3 x a day ten yrs ago after my niece died. The Dr had no problem with that! I wish he informed me more about the fruit but he didn't.  I'm down to 1.5 mgs a day for the past 10 days and its been rough this last cut. I can't find a medical professional in my area either who has even heard of the Ashton way. I don't think health care providers know how to deal with this problem. I'm frustrated right along with you. I feel defeated also. I guess we should follow the ones who are tapering this way too.  I should also mention that I self tapered to two milligrams a day a few yrs ago and didn't suffer like I am now?? I cut by .25 every two weeks until I got to 2 mgs and did just fine. Now I've made the same dosage cuts by the same way and going through HELL

I went to see my regular doctor and she was fine with crossovering from Klonopin to Valium. I see her for medication and my therapist for the other stuff. Maybe you can talk to your regular doctor about it?

I finished a taper from Xanax in March. I was on a smaller dose of 0.25 twice a day BUT I was on it for almost 23 years. I was afraid of seizures so I wanted to go super slow, which I did, without any major issues. It can be done - if done slowly. My family doctor was aware of my want to get off this stuff but the planning and doing was all my work. The doctor told me if I was not successful it was no big deal - with my dose I could stay on it for the rest of my life - yeah, right.

 

I decided to do what a few others here did - I slow tapered by cutting one of my doses by 1/4 which was a 0.0625 mg cut. I cut every two weeks then would alternate the next cut with the other dose (see my signature). During the last month, I halved the cuts and took them every week - I can honestly say that my jump was uneventful, and life has resumed for me, and trust me, life has thrown a lot of curve balls since I jumped off. Plus, I had a previous seizure history, and that was zero issue for me (I was not/am not on seizure meds).

 

You can do this - as others state - slow and steady wins the benzo taper race. Good luck to you!!

Hi All,

 

Another 20 year 6mg / day Xanax victim here, I've been tapering very fast since it begin almost 2 months

ago, I've had some very bad days and some good moments also, for 6 days it hurt to breathe, has anyone

experienced anything similar? I asked my Doctor to change my prescription from 1 mg to .5mg and .25 mg tabs (spilt)

to help me with my taper and dry cutting and he was kind enough to help me, and this has been a help,

I had a very bad day today I wanted to complete my taper in 90 days, I just need to be patient, I guess.

 

So here is my current schedule and I will not up dose anymore, .5mg at 7:00am, .25mg at noon, .25mg at 4:30pm

and .5mg at 10:00pm ish and I will stay here until I hopefully stabilize if there is such a thing.

 

 

Here is a real question that I have, when do you start healing, is it when you start tapering or not until your down to a

small dose or not until you are off the pills completely?

 

Thank You All in advance for any information or advice also, hopefully my story can help someone in a small way because

I felt completely hopeless and out of control when I started my taper.

 

Kindest Regards

Tozz

 

 

 

 

I, too, was confused about the healing aspects - from all angles that you mentioned. Once I jumped, I realized that one heals as they are tapering AND after they have jumped. I thought I had to wait until I was completely off but realized once I was benzo free that I was healing with each cut then I healed more after Xanax was eliminated from my body.

I'm new here, so takebwgat I say with a grain of salt. I understand the Ashton method, I think it's great for most people having trouble quitting benzos. I however am a stubborn asshole and agree with the doctor/nurse practitioner. I personally don't want to waste another month of my life (or longer) switching to a completely different drug. A drug I'm not sure how my body will handle. So I've decided to keep all my dosing at a 6 hour schedule, so I dose 4 times a day to combat the side effects. This is extremely inconvenient...but again, seems like the shortest path.

 

My point isn't that you're wrong for wanting to use the Ashton method, you're not, it's a sound protocol. But if it doesn't happen, you'll be ok. There's ways around this it just takes a lot more effort cutting direct from xanax.

 

That's my take on it, I hope you're doing well and I'm sorry you're having so many issues. I'm lucky, my doctor trusts me and would write me anything I wanted because he knows I'm coming off. I ask for him to dispense an exact number of pills every visit. Not because I can't control myself but as a sign of good faith that I'm recovering. I hope you get what you need.

Hi dowork

 

I’m tapering with that attitude. Choices weren’t there. I chose radical acceptance and getting this crap out of me.

 

Kristin