Xanax dose splitting

I was prescribed 1mg Xanax "Take one pill at bedtime as need" needless to say I did not read correctly and figured I needed it every for 50 days now. Is is possible to change the dose to .25mg 4 times a day to become more stable before I start my taper?  Thanks

Yes, absolutely you can. You are a short term user. I would hate to see you have a long, drawn out taper. Stay positive. Your symptoms are frightening but you will be okay. Reach out to Bella Amiss, she is a great resource for planning a taper schedule. She should be able to help guide you. Also, Jimberland was a short time user of X and he has moved right along on his X taper from I believe near the same dosage as yours. If you get a chance, read his posts. Best of luck to you. You can do this! 

I'm on Xanax, and I was adding small bits of time between doses in order to taper, but once I hit 8 hours between doses I started taking half a pill every 4 hours which is the same amount in total.

It works, you may notice a bit more anxiety as you are used to the higher concentration at once, but all in all it is still very effective.

I would consider doing half dose amounts 2 times a day instead of going straight to 1/4 doses 4 times a day. Once you feel good on 0.5 mg two times a day, give it a week and make the change to 0.25 mg 4 times a day. I'm currently on 0.125 mg 5-6 times a day depending on how long I sleep.

0.5 mg is still a lot. 1 mg at once is actually a very strong dose in my opinion.

 

Given the half life of Xanax I actually think 1 pill a day would be rough. 12 hours after taking 1 mg you must feel some anxiety as it leaves your system.

 

Note: I am not a doctor, so I base this advice on the last year and half of reducing my dose, and my own personal experiences.

I was prescribed 1mg Xanax "Take one pill at bedtime as need" needless to say I did not read correctly and figured I needed it every for 50 days now. Is is possible to change the dose to .25mg 4 times a day to become more stable before I start my taper?  Thanks

Hi Mr- I was in a very similar position as you. After about 50 days I bumped my dose up to 1.25mg since 1mg didn’t knock me out anymore.

 

The good news is that you’re in a pretty good spot. 50 days isn’t long and while you’ll still need to taper you should go at a rate that you are comfortable with. I would discuss with your doctor that you’re looking to taper and ask to get have the pills prescribed as smaller doses. I swapped my 1mg tablets for 0.5mg ones then down to 0.25mgs simply because they were easier to cut.

 

I would try cutting 10% of your current dose and see how you do. Don’t focus on making sure you fall asleep and instead be okay with not falling asleep if you don’t. Trust me, it’ll help. Every bad night I had during my taper I just thought “it’ll be easier to fall asleep tomorrow” and accepted the bad night.

 

I would also work on different methods to calm your body so you’re able to return to sleeping without any assistance. I used the Headspace app and listened to their sleepcasts on a nightly basis and can vouch for all of their guided meditations. Learning these tools are going to be invaluable for you going forward so if they seem goofy to begin with but stick with them!

I shifted from two doses per day to four which was much smoother for me. As the numbers got lower I began making a liquid and then putting my dose in a one cup measuring cup topped off with water to one full cup. Each dose is then one quarter of a cup no matter how small the actual dose of med is.

 

Hope all goes well with getting off. Different members dose different numbers of time and reduce in different ways and in different percentages. If something isn't feeling right, then look around for ideas. You'll find your way.

Thank You all for the posts! You cannot understand the feeling right I have now knowing I have this support! I did talk to my Dr. yesterday which was the first time I told him I was dependent. I took my wife along for support and I'm glad I did. Once I explained to him everything I have learned over the past week on this board and other sources I convinced him to prescribe me .25 dose. 60 pills or two weeks was all he would do. He was concerned about the amount of pills this was going to be. I am going to start tonight with .5 and then .5 in the AM. Yes this single 1mg dose is kicking my rear end right now.  Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have split my dose from 1mg Xanax to twice a day. Had some side effects but feel pretty good today. I want to begin my taper but I do not know if my math is right. Brain fog! Any help on spreadsheets etc? I will be taking 2 .25mg pills at 9am and 2 .25mg pills at 9pm. I plan to start at 15% cut. I weight the two pills for the early dose together and subtract 7.5% (half of 15%) and do the same for the evening dose which should equal total 15%. but something just doesn't add up. am I doing this correctly?

I have split my dose from 1mg Xanax to twice a day. Had some side effects but feel pretty good today. I want to begin my taper but I do not know if my math is right. Brain fog! Any help on spreadsheets etc? I will be taking 2 .25mg pills at 9am and 2 .25mg pills at 9pm. I plan to start at 15% cut. I weight the two pills for the early dose together and subtract 7.5% (half of 15%) and do the same for the evening dose which should equal total 15%. but something just doesn't add up. am I doing this correctly?

 

Percentages do not add together. If you remove 7.5% from your morning dose and 7.5% from your evening dose, you have removed 7.5% from your total daily dose.

 

7.5% x 0.5 mg = 0.0375 mg

7.5% x 0.5 mg = 0.0375 mg

 

0.0375 mg + 0.0375 mg = 0.075 mg

 

0.075 mg divided by 1 mg is 7.5%

Thank You all for the posts! You cannot understand the feeling right I have now knowing I have this support! I did talk to my Dr. yesterday which was the first time I told him I was dependent. I took my wife along for support and I'm glad I did. Once I explained to him everything I have learned over the past week on this board and other sources I convinced him to prescribe me .25 dose. 60 pills or two weeks was all he would do. He was concerned about the amount of pills this was going to be. I am going to start tonight with .5 and then .5 in the AM. Yes this single 1mg dose is kicking my rear end right now.  Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have split my dose from 1mg Xanax to twice a day. Had some side effects but feel pretty good today. I want to begin my taper but I do not know if my math is right. Brain fog! Any help on spreadsheets etc? I will be taking 2 .25mg pills at 9am and 2 .25mg pills at 9pm. I plan to start at 15% cut. I weight the two pills for the early dose together and subtract 7.5% (half of 15%) and do the same for the evening dose which should equal total 15%. but something just doesn't add up. am I doing this correctly?

 

How much does your .25mg tablet weigh?

~.125mg

~.125mg

 

 

 

Here is a plan that you can use to compare:

 

            click image

Thanks, looks like 5% tapers. That may be more manageable.