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Checking in on everyone. Very quiet around here. I'm still holding at .9875 and probably will for a bit. Muscle symptoms still present but I'm dealing with it. Sleep has been better.

 

I must admit that the Covid-19 crisis is not helping my taper. Like most of you, I'm almost certain, the pandemic has affected us in various ways. I'm finding that for the first time in over a year, I'm waking with anxiety in the morning. However, I'm well aware that this is a normal reaction and not taper related. We have to keep telling ourselves that many of these anxieties are being felt by everyone and not just those who are tapering Benzos.

 

Today marks a full 14 days since my son came home from college on Amtrak from NYC.  He attended NYU and this was his final semester. We self isolated the entire time.  Yesterday they made the formal announcement of cancellation of graduation. Heartbreaking!

 

As many of my Buddies know, throughout this entire taper (2+ years) my sons graduation was always my "goal"... and it's really moot at this point.

 

Nevertheless, I'm sure that I'll begin micro cuts sometime soon. I'd rather see how this crisis plays out than rush my taper along. Like many, a huge trigger is the idea of being hospitalized and having to worry about a doctor or nurse dosing my Xanax correctly!!  I have zero trust in that one!

 

Hope all are hanging in there!  Sending love and prayers for health to all.

 

Fondly,

Lori

 

Hi everyone and Hello Lori,

So glad to see you got on here.  I have been worried about you and wondering how you are!  I am so sad for you and your son.  I know you must both be heartbroken.  The good news is that he will be done with school and can move on once this virus is gone.

This is so scary for us all.  I agree with you about your anxiety, we are all feeling that.  Even Dave is and that scares me.  He is in the high risk group and I am so scared he will get sick.  I keep praying every day that he will be ok and me too.  And my family and friends.  I have never experienced anything like this in my life so each day has become full of sadness and fear!

 

I pray for all of us and I am praying there will be a break from this virus.  I also pray for all of the healthcare workers and for the people in the grocery stores that are still going to work so people can get food and essentials.  I am still not understanding the toilet paper thing but we have been trying to get TP for over 3 weeks and have not been able to.  We will last another couple weeks and then who knows.

 

Love and peace to you all. 

Julia :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:

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Hi everyone,

I am just checking in to see how everyone is doing.  This virus has caused alot of anxiety.  The state I live in, South Carolina, has opened back up and people are acting like we had a bad storm and now its over and its business as usual.  It is crazy.  My husband and I are still staying in and the only place we go is to the grocery store and even then we go (usually him) at 6:00 am when there is usually no one in the store.  When my husband goes to Sam's, on senior day, he gets there really early and gets in at 7:00 am and is out in like 10 minutes. 

The beaches are open, hotels are open and today dine in is starting back up.  It will only be a matter of time before the numbers start going way up.  Hell, the numbers have never gone down, people are still dying and the government thinks its ok to invite tourists here.  It is still hard to find essential items. 

 

Now the vice president and others at the white house have been exposed to the virus.  It will only be a matter of time before it hits the president.  I hope he will start to understand that our country is still in an emergency and people need help and we need people to get well and this virus to be gone.  Without people, there is NO economy to fix.  (Just my opinion)

 

A week ago, we found out that a wonderful nurse that used to draw our blood at the Army Health Clinic we went to in Virginia, died from the virus.  She had been a nurse for 39 years.  It is so sad.  She was such a wonderful lady and was so gentle and kind.  This was at a Military Clinic and I know they were and are taking great precautions.  So you know if this lady got the virus with all the precautions they are taking, its not safe in the stores etc. 

 

Anyway - I hope you all are hanging in there.

 

Take care everyone.

 

Julia

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, I jumped. Last week. No more xanax. No more ambien. Still on mirtazapine, but I reduced my dose by half of my original dose. I've been on 20 mg celexa the whole time too. I don't plan on getting rid of that, because it's a wonder drug as far as I'm concerned.

 

I'm not a "success story" yet since it's only been a week.

 

But yeah, no more xanax, and no more ambien.

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So, I jumped. Last week. No more xanax. No more ambien. Still on mirtazapine, but I reduced my dose by half of my original dose. I've been on 20 mg celexa the whole time too. I don't plan on getting rid of that, because it's a wonder drug as far as I'm concerned.

 

I'm not a "success story" yet since it's only been a week.

 

But yeah, no more xanax, and no more ambien.

 

Congratulations!!  That is great news!!  I am so happy for you!  As far as I am concerned you are a success!!!    One day at a time and they do add up!  I hope you are still doing well.  Please keep us posted.

I did another cut today, down to 1.125 mg.  I am already feeling it.  I took the cut from my morning dose and that may not be good for me.  I will see how I do the next couple days and I may have to take it from one of my other doses.  As long as I am cutting that is what matters.

Take care.

I hope everyone is hanging in there.  This road is rough but we can get through it.

 

Hugs,

Julia

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So, I jumped. Last week. No more xanax. No more ambien. Still on mirtazapine, but I reduced my dose by half of my original dose. I've been on 20 mg celexa the whole time too. I don't plan on getting rid of that, because it's a wonder drug as far as I'm concerned.

 

I'm not a "success story" yet since it's only been a week.

 

But yeah, no more xanax, and no more ambien.

 

Congratulations!!  That is great news!!  I am so happy for you!  As far as I am concerned you are a success!!!    One day at a time and they do add up!  I hope you are still doing well.  Please keep us posted.

I did another cut today, down to 1.125 mg.  I am already feeling it.  I took the cut from my morning dose and that may not be good for me.  I will see how I do the next couple days and I may have to take it from one of my other doses.  As long as I am cutting that is what matters.

Take care.

I hope everyone is hanging in there.  This road is rough but we can get through it.

 

Hugs,

Julia

 

Thanks Julia! I'm still doing OK. I developed an infected salivary gland this weekend which sucks, but otherwise alright.

 

Your cut is a full 10%. That's quite a bit.

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So, I jumped. Last week. No more xanax. No more ambien. Still on mirtazapine, but I reduced my dose by half of my original dose. I've been on 20 mg celexa the whole time too. I don't plan on getting rid of that, because it's a wonder drug as far as I'm concerned.

 

I'm not a "success story" yet since it's only been a week.

 

But yeah, no more xanax, and no more ambien.

 

Congratulations!!  That is great news!!  I am so happy for you!  As far as I am concerned you are a success!!!    One day at a time and they do add up!  I hope you are still doing well.  Please keep us posted.

I did another cut today, down to 1.125 mg.  I am already feeling it.  I took the cut from my morning dose and that may not be good for me.  I will see how I do the next couple days and I may have to take it from one of my other doses.  As long as I am cutting that is what matters.

Take care.

I hope everyone is hanging in there.  This road is rough but we can get through it.

 

Hugs,

Julia

 

Thanks Julia! I'm still doing OK. I developed an infected salivary gland this weekend which sucks, but otherwise alright.

 

Your cut is a full 10%. That's quite a bit.

 

Hi, I am glad you are still doing ok but sorry you got an infected gland. 

I did not realize it was 10%.  I have been trying to go down by .125 the last couple cuts.  I used to go down .25 each time but that was too hard.  I will look at this and see what I should be doing.  What would you recommend?  I want to do this safely and without too much pain but I do not want this to take any longer than I need to either.  It has been a year and almost 5 months to get from 3.5 down to 1.125.

 

Thanks and take care.

Julia

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I did a liquid taper. Cutting pills would be too... what's the word, irritating? for me. Or maybe exasperating? It would just bug me to not only cut the pills right, but then to cut them into the number of doses per day needed. Too much exacting work. And forget using a scale. I used to be a lab chemist, and weighing stuff out on the scale bugged me no end. The scale never settles on a weight, you never get the right weight, just problems for me.

 

It took me 2 years to taper off 1 mg. I almost got to the end after 8 months, then something happened and I had to go back up to 0.5 mg per day.

 

I really liked the liquid taper. I finally stopped worrying about getting the exact percentage reduction right when I realized that if my dose was 100 mL per day, then every milliliter reduction was basically a 1% reduction. When I got down to 90 mL per day, 80 mL per day, or sometimes even 50 mL per day (although by this time each reduction was getting to be harder to handle), I would make my solution more dilute and go back to 100 mL per day and reduce 1 mL per day from there.

 

So for example, I started at 1 mg per day. I would make a batch for 5 days worth:

5 mg xanax

25 mL vodka

475 mL water

 

The only reason I chose this was because I bought 500 mL jars.

 

One day's worth of 1 mg is 100 mL. I was originally taking 2 doses per day but eventually I split it into 4 doses. I did not bother making the doses exactly even. I just took roughly 1/4 of the dose each time.

 

The next day reduce the dose to 99 mL.

The next day reduce the dose to 98 mL.

 

And you keep going. I think I went down to 80 mL = 0.8 mg dose. I had a few holds in there. When I got to 80 mL = 0.8 mg per day, I changed my solution to:

4 mg xanax

25 mL vodka

475 mL water

 

Now I go back up to 100 mL per day, which is 0.8 mg. I start reducing 1 mL per day again. When the reductions start getting hard again, I make a more dilute solution, and again start back at 100 mL per day, and start reducing again.

 

It's really tedious. But I guess any method you use to taper will be tedious. It doesn't matter how you do it, you'll always be cutting pills, or making solutions, and doing calculations.

 

I have to add that I also had "crutches." I was taking 10 mg ambien every night, and 45 mg mirtazapine. Maybe the ambien was the reason I couldn't go all the way to the end the first time and had to go back up to 0.5 mg per day. Or maybe the reason I couldn't go all the way to the end was because the pharmacy switched generics on me. Who knows.

 

At some point (it's in my signature), I decided I had to start reducing the ambien. When I first started taking ambien, I thought it was a godsend. My sleep has never been good. And my dreams have always been like a roller coaster. Ambien got rid of all that. When I reduced the ambien, my old sleep patterns came back. Ending the ambien wasn't difficult. I went from 10 mg to 7.5 mg for a week, then to 5 mg. Then I started reducing the xanax again, until I got to the point where I really needed to end the ambien. So I reduced it to 2.5 mg for a week, then to nothing. It actually wasn't difficult for me. But my sleep is not great. It's not worse than it's ever been, it just went back to how my sleep has always been.

 

Also, once I started reducing the ambien, I suddenly realized how groggy all that mirtazapine was making me. So I reduced that, first to 3/4 of a tablet, and now 1/2. I'm considering reducing it more, but not just yet. And reducing the mirtazapine was not a problem for me. There is a mirtazapine support forum on Benzobuddies filled with stories that are not so problem-free.

 

So that's my story.

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Hello all!

 

I took a long break from here. It was necessary. I just jumped back on the taper boat after some regrouping time. My absolute worst symptom is horrible muscle pain... everywhere. It did diminish when I updosed. It seems as though this last milligram is going to be crazy difficult no matter what. As soon as I dropped just a tiny bit under 1 mg, every muscle locked up yet again. It's bizarre! Even the muscles in the front of my neck lock up with makes it difficult to breathe.  I tried to do my nails yesterday and just the pressure of trying to rub off polish caused everything to lock up... muscles AND tendons! This is what happened to me last year once I hit 1 mg.I'm not up for being bed bound yet again. This is so frustrating!

 

I hate that I still have this last milligram to go which is proving to be extremely painful. But I held for a long time and I don't see any other option than to just get off this and let the chips fall where they may.

 

Hope all are well! And if anyone can offer HOPE that this muscle stuff will subside, I'd be grateful!

 

Lori

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I did a liquid taper. Cutting pills would be too... what's the word, irritating? for me. Or maybe exasperating? It would just bug me to not only cut the pills right, but then to cut them into the number of doses per day needed. Too much exacting work. And forget using a scale. I used to be a lab chemist, and weighing stuff out on the scale bugged me no end. The scale never settles on a weight, you never get the right weight, just problems for me.

 

It took me 2 years to taper off 1 mg. I almost got to the end after 8 months, then something happened and I had to go back up to 0.5 mg per day.

 

I really liked the liquid taper. I finally stopped worrying about getting the exact percentage reduction right when I realized that if my dose was 100 mL per day, then every milliliter reduction was basically a 1% reduction. When I got down to 90 mL per day, 80 mL per day, or sometimes even 50 mL per day (although by this time each reduction was getting to be harder to handle), I would make my solution more dilute and go back to 100 mL per day and reduce 1 mL per day from there.

 

So for example, I started at 1 mg per day. I would make a batch for 5 days worth:

5 mg xanax

25 mL vodka

475 mL water

 

The only reason I chose this was because I bought 500 mL jars.

 

One day's worth of 1 mg is 100 mL. I was originally taking 2 doses per day but eventually I split it into 4 doses. I did not bother making the doses exactly even. I just took roughly 1/4 of the dose each time.

 

The next day reduce the dose to 99 mL.

The next day reduce the dose to 98 mL.

 

And you keep going. I think I went down to 80 mL = 0.8 mg dose. I had a few holds in there. When I got to 80 mL = 0.8 mg per day, I changed my solution to:

4 mg xanax

25 mL vodka

475 mL water

 

Now I go back up to 100 mL per day, which is 0.8 mg. I start reducing 1 mL per day again. When the reductions start getting hard again, I make a more dilute solution, and again start back at 100 mL per day, and start reducing again.

 

It's really tedious. But I guess any method you use to taper will be tedious. It doesn't matter how you do it, you'll always be cutting pills, or making solutions, and doing calculations.

 

I have to add that I also had "crutches." I was taking 10 mg ambien every night, and 45 mg mirtazapine. Maybe the ambien was the reason I couldn't go all the way to the end the first time and had to go back up to 0.5 mg per day. Or maybe the reason I couldn't go all the way to the end was because the pharmacy switched generics on me. Who knows.

 

At some point (it's in my signature), I decided I had to start reducing the ambien. When I first started taking ambien, I thought it was a godsend. My sleep has never been good. And my dreams have always been like a roller coaster. Ambien got rid of all that. When I reduced the ambien, my old sleep patterns came back. Ending the ambien wasn't difficult. I went from 10 mg to 7.5 mg for a week, then to 5 mg. Then I started reducing the xanax again, until I got to the point where I really needed to end the ambien. So I reduced it to 2.5 mg for a week, then to nothing. It actually wasn't difficult for me. But my sleep is not great. It's not worse than it's ever been, it just went back to how my sleep has always been.

 

Also, once I started reducing the ambien, I suddenly realized how groggy all that mirtazapine was making me. So I reduced that, first to 3/4 of a tablet, and now 1/2. I'm considering reducing it more, but not just yet. And reducing the mirtazapine was not a problem for me. There is a mirtazapine support forum on Benzobuddies filled with stories that are not so problem-free.

 

So that's my story.

 

Hi Hope,

Thanks for all the info.  I tried the liquid taper months ago and it did not work for me so I am kind of stuck having to cut my pills.  I am hanging in there but it is hard.  I have a feeling I am going to have a rough time going forward with my cuts.  It is sad as I was hoping doing what I thought were small cuts are in fact 10% and I will not be able to continue with my plan of doing cuts of .125 each time.  But I am going to keep going forward.  I am having a problem finding a doctor here that will prescribe Xanax.  I moved here in October 2019 and found a family doctor who said he would help me but then when I asked for the prescription, he said he would not!  So, I have a limited supply of meds and can not stay on this taper indefinitely.  I think I have enough for 5 months and I do not know if I can finish this taper in that time frame.  I am going to keep trying to find another doctor to help me in case I can not.

I hope you are doing well and thank you for your information.

Take care.

Julia

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Hello all!

 

I took a long break from here. It was necessary. I just jumped back on the taper boat after some regrouping time. My absolute worst symptom is horrible muscle pain... everywhere. It did diminish when I updosed. It seems as though this last milligram is going to be crazy difficult no matter what. As soon as I dropped just a tiny bit under 1 mg, every muscle locked up yet again. It's bizarre! Even the muscles in the front of my neck lock up with makes it difficult to breathe.  I tried to do my nails yesterday and just the pressure of trying to rub off polish caused everything to lock up... muscles AND tendons! This is what happened to me last year once I hit 1 mg.I'm not up for being bed bound yet again. This is so frustrating!

 

I hate that I still have this last milligram to go which is proving to be extremely painful. But I held for a long time and I don't see any other option than to just get off this and let the chips fall where they may.

 

Hope all are well! And if anyone can offer HOPE that this muscle stuff will subside, I'd be grateful!

 

Lori

 

Hi Lori,

Glad to see you are back.  I have been thinking about you alot and have been hoping you were doing ok.  Sounds like you are having a rough time too.  I hope your muscle problems get better.  I am at 1.125 now and it is hard for me too.  I think it is going to be hard getting to 0 for me as well.  I am trying to get through this and my anxiety is bad for multiple reasons, not just the taper and I am just going one day at time. 

I was hoping to be off by now but life happens and there is alot I can not control. 

Hoping things get better for you and me and all of us.

Have missed you alot.

 

Take care.

Hugs,

Julia

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Julia!

 

I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles with the new doctor! Ugh! I thought he had promised that he was totally onboard before your move. Praying that things got resolved.

 

I'm hanging in there. Some ridiculous symptoms that I certainly never expected to return with such a vengeance. I had hoped that a slower taper after a successful small updose would have done the trick. This happened last year when trying to go under 1 milligram as well. I guess that's my "tapped out" dose but I truly don't see any option other than plowing ahead. My taper was never symptom free but I never anticipated the physical stuff to hit me so hard. It's bizarre to me that it was anxiety for the first 3-4 mgs (that's pretty much gone) and physical pain for the last milligram. This Xanax is a beast!!

 

Oh well, enough complaining. I hope you're doing okay! Will try to be in touch soon. As you know, I've stayed away from BB for awhile. Just not the same as far as support, response, etc. as it was when I joined a few years ago. Things really have changed. It's all over the place.  :(

 

Glad to see that Hope jumped!! I often think of Pearl and how she's doing. I know she got frustrated when they started moving these posts/threads all over the place. I have to wonder if it's the reason she never came back. Things were getting too negative here. Such a shame.

 

Talk soon! Stay healthy!

 

Love,

Lori

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Hi Julia!

 

I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles with the new doctor! Ugh! I thought he had promised that he was totally onboard before your move. Praying that things got resolved.

 

I'm hanging in there. Some ridiculous symptoms that I certainly never expected to return with such a vengeance. I had hoped that a slower taper after a successful small updose would have done the trick. This happened last year when trying to go under 1 milligram as well. I guess that's my "tapped out" dose but I truly don't see any option other than plowing ahead. My taper was never symptom free but I never anticipated the physical stuff to hit me so hard. It's bizarre to me that it was anxiety for the first 3-4 mgs (that's pretty much gone) and physical pain for the last milligram. This Xanax is a beast!!

 

Oh well, enough complaining. I hope you're doing okay! Will try to be in touch soon. As you know, I've stayed away from BB for awhile. Just not the same as far as support, response, etc. as it was when I joined a few years ago. Things really have changed. It's all over the place.  :(

 

Glad to see that Hope jumped!! I often think of Pearl and how she's doing. I know she got frustrated when they started moving these posts/threads all over the place. I have to wonder if it's the reason she never came back. Things were getting too negative here. Such a shame.

 

Talk soon! Stay healthy!

 

Love,

Lori

 

Hey Lori,

So glad to hear from you!  Sorry you are still having issues too but I agree, we just have to plow through it.  Dave keeps telling me that since I already feel bad, make another cut and just get through it but we both know it does not work that way exactly!! 

Yeah, the doctor thing has really upset me.  I have tried to find other pch doctors here too but no one wants to prescribe Xanax.  Wish I had been here before I was given this poison!!!!!  Anyway, I am working on finding another doctor that will help me.  That is on my to do list this week.  I am worried about running out of medicine.  I do not have that many and may have enough for a couple months but I worry about something happening and I run out and then what the hell will I do?  Sounds like another cold turkey to me.  I do not understand for the life of me why doctors give this horrible drug to people if they know nothing about what it will do long term.

 

Anyway, take care and I hope to talk to you soon.  I too have not been getting on BB.  Without you and a couple others, you know who they are, it is NOT the same.

 

Oh, I wanted to asked you, are you cutting pills or doing liquid now?  If liquid, how is that going for you?

 

Love and miss you,

Julia

 

 

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Julia, I will try to reach you this week.

 

Until then....

1) Have you found a doctor yet? Maybe try your primary doc instead of a psych doc? I've had so much success with my primary. Just a thought.

 

2). Still on pills. Have 2 bottles of liquid (actually 3) but I opened one 6 months ago and it claims to discard after 90 days. We've both heard so many rough stories about Xanax liquid tapers and I think it's in my head that it could be a problem. Additionally when husband switched jobs we lost express scripts and they were the only ones who carried it. At that point I figured why start something that I won't be able to refill. Who knows, maybe I'll save the two unopened bottles for the very end of the taper.

 

Keep me posted on how you're making out!  Miss you as well! Stay safe and HEALTHY!

 

Lori

 

 

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Julia, I will try to reach you this week.

 

Until then....

1) Have you found a doctor yet? Maybe try your primary doc instead of a psych doc? I've had so much success with my primary. Just a thought.

 

2). Still on pills. Have 2 bottles of liquid (actually 3) but I opened one 6 months ago and it claims to discard after 90 days. We've both heard so many rough stories about Xanax liquid tapers and I think it's in my head that it could be a problem. Additionally when husband switched jobs we lost express scripts and they were the only ones who carried it. At that point I figured why start something that I won't be able to refill. Who knows, maybe I'll save the two unopened bottles for the very end of the taper.

 

Keep me posted on how you're making out!  Miss you as well! Stay safe and HEALTHY!

 

Lori

 

Hey Lori,

Glad to hear from you!

 

Actually the doc that had told me they would help me was my primary care doctor!  That was a disaster.  He is the one that told me to take 2 .5 mg a day for 2 weeks and then go down to 1 .5 mg a day for a week and stop!  I went off on him via email.  He was nuts to think I was going to do that.  I would either be sick as hell or dead.

 

However, I did find a primary care doctor today that will prescribe xanax and I had to change him to my PCP through Tricare but I have a virtual visit with him next Wednesday.  I have to go to his office and give them my paperwork tomorrow.  They fax'd it to me and I just have to take it and hand it to the lady at the door as they are not seeing anyone in the office right now which works for me.

 

I would love to talk to you!  I agree, the liquid xanax may be helpful at the end of your taper.  I am not going to try liquid again unless there is no way around it. 

 

You stay safe and healthy too!!

 

Love, Julia

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi Lori,

How are you?  I am still hanging in there.  I was lucky enough to find a psych nurse practitioner who is helping me.  I talked to that PCP and that was awful and was not going to work for me.  I found this lady and had a telehealth visit with her and she is wonderful!  She is willing and able to help me get off this last milligram of Xanax. 

She also wrote me a script for Xanax so I am not so anxious now about running out.  I was so worried about that.

Now I can breathe knowing I will have enough to get to the finish line, however long that takes.  She is not rushing me.  I am trying to get off this as quickly as I can but I am doing it safely and however long that takes is how long it takes.

She did suggest  L-theanine to help me to taper.  It is a supplement that is supposed to help with anxiety.  I tried it for 3 days and the third day, I had a horrible day because I took it with my morning Xanax dose and my coffee.  It was like I was speeding and I was so irritable and did not like the way i felt at all.  I called her and she said I need to take the supplement by itself, not with Xanax.  I had gotten over stimulated and it did not go well.

 

I hope to talk to you soon.

Stay safe and well and know you are in my thoughts!  Love you

 

 

If anyone else has tried the L- theanine with success or not, please comment as I would love to know if anyone here has tried this and if it is a good idea or not.

Julia

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello,

Looks like this forum is not doing well as I do not see anyone posting.  Sad.

 

I am hanging in there and am at 1 mg a day now which I break up into 4 doses.  My pshy nurse practitioner wants me to try substituting one of my doses with 200 mg of L-theanine and see how I do.  I told her that would be a 25% cut but she said I should try it and if I need to take the dose of Xanax to do it.  It is not like anyone is taking the Xanax away from me but she is trying to help me get off this as quickly and safely as I can.  I have been tapering since January 11, 2019 and started between 3.5 and 4 mg so I have done well to get down to 1 mg and I also had to take a 80 day break in that time too for when I moved to another state and sold one house and bought another.  I have had a few really rough times with withdrawal but I made it through them but once I got down to 1.125 mg, it was extremely hard but I got through that too and am now completely at 1 mg a day.  Tomorrow is when I am supposed to use the L-theanine  for one of my doses and I have to say I am already feeling very anxious about it.  It just seems to much of a cut but the nurse says since I am going to take something in its place that is supposed to help with anxiety that I should be fine.

Does anyone have an opinion about this?  I could use some encouragement or some facts!

 

Hope everyone is doing ok.  Hey Lori - I have missed you and hope you are well.  Let me know how you are!!

 

Hugs to all,

Julia :)

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Hi Julia;

It looks like you are doing great.  I wish I had advice, or an answer to your question.  I AM here to support from the sidelines.  I started at 2.0mg Xanax nightly and just cut to .25.  I take .125 in the morning and .125 at bedtime.  I am curious how many times a day you are dosing, and what your symptoms are like? 

I am going to look into the supplement you mentioned - let me know how it goes for you.  It sounds like you are going to use it in place of a Xanax dose?  I am trying to decide what to do when I make my next cut.  I am dry cutting, and can't accurately cut the pills smaller than .125.  I'm scared to go back to a once daily dose, since I had such horrible interdose withdrawals for the past year (didn't realize what it was at first).

Anyway, congrats on making it this far.  Half way!!!

 

 

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Hi Julia;

It looks like you are doing great.  I wish I had advice, or an answer to your question.  I AM here to support from the sidelines.  I started at 2.0mg Xanax nightly and just cut to .25.  I take .125 in the morning and .125 at bedtime.  I am curious how many times a day you are dosing, and what your symptoms are like? 

I am going to look into the supplement you mentioned - let me know how it goes for you.  It sounds like you are going to use it in place of a Xanax dose?  I am trying to decide what to do when I make my next cut.  I am dry cutting, and can't accurately cut the pills smaller than .125.  I'm scared to go back to a once daily dose, since I had such horrible interdose withdrawals for the past year (didn't realize what it was at first).

Anyway, congrats on making it this far.  Half way!!!

 

How are you finding taking the Xanax twice a day? I'm taking 4 doses a day and as I continue to cut, I'm going to have to start eliminating doses. That worries me but I'm also not comfortable cutting the pills smaller than .125.

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Hi Julia;

It looks like you are doing great.  I wish I had advice, or an answer to your question.  I AM here to support from the sidelines.  I started at 2.0mg Xanax nightly and just cut to .25.  I take .125 in the morning and .125 at bedtime.  I am curious how many times a day you are dosing, and what your symptoms are like? 

I am going to look into the supplement you mentioned - let me know how it goes for you.  It sounds like you are going to use it in place of a Xanax dose?  I am trying to decide what to do when I make my next cut.  I am dry cutting, and can't accurately cut the pills smaller than .125.  I'm scared to go back to a once daily dose, since I had such horrible interdose withdrawals for the past year (didn't realize what it was at first).

Anyway, congrats on making it this far.  Half way!!!

 

Hello,

I am trying so hard to do well.  Some days it is alot harder than others.  I have been taking 4 doses a day all split into .25 mg.  Yesterday I was going to try the supplement but I had a bad issue with taking it with the Xanax so I am not going to try it right now.  I may get the 100 mg of the supplement and try that as I think the 200 mg I have are too strong with the Xanax that is in my system.

I appreciate your support.  Most of my symptoms lately have been that my stomach hurts until at least 3 or 4 every afternoon and I just feel yucky.  Some days I have chest discomfort and I just ride it out as I have had this the whole time I have tapered and also before I started my taper.  I went to the ER several times and they said it was anxiety each time.  I have alot of anxiety and usually if I do things to distract myself, like get on the internet and look at different things or get on my phone and look at videos that helps.  The bad part is I look at shopping networks  alot and I end up ordering things and just send them back but I would rather do that than feel horrible.

 

Congrats on getting to .25 mg.  Thats great.  I know its hard to cut the pills as I have to have my husband do that for me because of my vision.  He cuts my .5 mg into halves and then cuts them into halves to make the .125 mg.  Now I have some .25 mg and once they are cut they will be .125 mg and he can cut them in half to make the .0625's that I am going to need soon.  He uses a pill cutter.  It will be close enough.  It is a pain I know but if you can cut the .125 mg that you have in half to make the .0625 mg's you could go down a to .0625 and still stay on 2 doses.  Once I am down to that dose, I would probally take one in the morning and do that for a week and then jump, but that is just me.  And - I am not there yet so my opinion on that may change.

 

Take care and let me know how you are doing.

 

Julia 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, just happened to see the question about l-theanine.

 

I have tried it and it makes me kind of tired/sedated.  Think has helped me sleep, but do not like the feel of it.

 

Have tried it a few times and always wind up putting it in with my box of supplements not to take.

 

But think some people like it ;)

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Hi, just happened to see the question about l-theanine.

 

I have tried it and it makes me kind of tired/sedated.  Think has helped me sleep, but do not like the feel of it.

 

Have tried it a few times and always wind up putting it in with my box of supplements not to take.

 

But think some people like it ;)

 

Hello,

I just saw this.  Thanks for responding.  I am not taking it as my anxiety about taking new drugs or supplements took over so I am just tapering off the Xanax little by little.  I will get there eventually!!

 

I hope everyone is doing ok.

 

Take care.

Julia

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello everyone,

I hope you are doing good.  I am hanging in there.  I made a cut this past Sunday and am now down to .9375.  I will stay on this for a couple weeks and if I am doing well I will do another .0625 cut.  so far I am doing OK but its only been 3 days.  I am optimistic.  I have to stay positive and believe I can get through this.

I miss seeing everyone on this thread.

 

It has been recommended to me by my psy nurse to try NAC  N-Acetyl Cysteine  which is supposed to be good for anxiety.  She wants me to use it but not take away a dose of the Xanax.  I am researching it so I do not know if I am going to try it or not.  So far I have read that it does help people with their mood and anxiety.  It has alot of health benefits for breathing and blood sugar, etc.  I am still researching it though.  I have such an issue with taking any new medication of any type due to the anxiety it causes.

 

Please let me know how you all are! 

 

Hey Lori - how are you?  Miss you lots.

 

Hugs, Julia  :)

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Hello ..I am having a rough go.  I having been dosing down and finding it so difficult.  Dosing down on Monday another 2.5 percent after a four week hold.  Today I developed another patch of purpura.  I seem to be getting this once a month.  My veins swell on and off throughout the day, this has me worried.  Anyone else experience anything like this?
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Hello ..I am having a rough go.  I having been dosing down and finding it so difficult.  Dosing down on Monday another 2.5 percent after a four week hold.  Today I developed another patch of purpura.  I seem to be getting this once a month.  My veins swell on and off throughout the day, this has me worried.  Anyone else experience anything like this?

Hi, Sorry you are having problems. I looked up purpura, ad I'd never heard of it. One thing I read is it could be a side effect to medication. I don't know if you are taking other meds. You may want to check with your doctor as it could be something that needs treatment.

 

How long has this been going on? Xanax can cause All kinds of issues and you definitely want to make sure it's not something serious.

Sorry I couldn't be more help. Xanax has done so much to me, sensitivities to meds, food, stroke like symptoms etx.

 

Keep us posted.

Julia

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