Finally Ready to Start

 

          Hi All and hope you all had a nice Christmas.

 

      I've been here on the board for quite awhile planning and plodding a taper.(My history and posts are on here somewhere and don't have a clue how to retrieve them.)

 

        In a nutshell, I've been on 1.5 mg of Xanax(Alprazolam) since March of 2015 at bedtime.......Was a caregiver for my mom who has dementia and got on it to help with the stress and lack of sleep.

 

    I made various attempts a couple of years ago, at both dry and liquid tapers and failed(no excuses) because the overwhelm of being a caregiver was just too much for me to take care of my own issues and to put it bluntly,still needed this poison to knock me out at day's end.

      With all of this came the interdose w/d's and other side effects(too long to mention here) and never thought I would have the opportunity to begin.

 

    Mom went into a nursing home in July,I had the wonderful experience of emptying out her house, putting her house on the market and finding a place for myself and it's done and she's being given the proper care she needs.

 

      Bottom line, It's time to begin and I'm still on the fence about doing a dry or a liquid protocol.

 

    I know we're all different and I'd hope to be free of this by the summer and mt prescriber seems to think, starting at 1.25 mg(dry) as my first cut would be a good place to start.

        I know slow and steady wins the race, but don't want to be tapering for a year. I'll be 65 in May and I'd like to be well close to being over this crap by then.

 

      Any input and advice would be great.

                                                                                                                                                            Thanks.

 

Hello Al52,

 

I'm glad your mom is doing well and that you're ready to look after you now.  I want to tell you something about your desire to be off of the Xanax, its a good thing, but getting off of the drug is only half the battle, the other half is healing once you are.  Most people report symptoms well after getting off the drug, this is because your brain have to recover the functions the drug disrupted and final healing can't take place until you're completely off.

 

What this means is that it's a good idea to accept your taper, accept that your main goal is to be off of the Xanax, but your secondary goal is to remain functional as you do.  You need to be able to live your life as you do this and the best way to do that is to listen to your body, it knows what it can take and will let you know if you're going too fast. 

 

My feeling is that cutting from 1.5 to 1.25 is too much, but having said that, you are in charge, not me.    You may want to consider splitting your dose and taking it more than once a day, this may help even things out since Xanax has such a short half life.

 

I hope your Dr will let you do a symptom based taper, letting you set the pace because this is about you. 

 

Pamster

It's a relief to know you understand what you need to do, and I'm glad to know you're working with someone to help you process what you've had to deal with, they're right, you need to care for yourself now.

 

I don't have experience tapering, I quit cold turkey out of pure ignorance, so I'm not the best person to advise you on a taper, but I've seen a number of members dry cut until they get to a lower dose, then some do liquid titration, while others dry cut all the way down. 

 

The important thing is to not fear the process, whatever method you use, learn about it so you won't fear it.  Here is a link about how to use a scale, and there are many good YouTube videos about using liquid.  Other members may stop by with suggestions. http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?topic=233546.0

 

 

I’m so sorry to read this, Al. 

Take care... Challis

I'm so very sorry for your loss, you took such good care of her, please accept my heartfelt condolences. 

 

Please come back when you've had some time to grieve, we want to help you get better. 

 

Pamster

Tough way to start the year but you seem to be coping. We’re here to lean on if you need support.

Thank you for checking in Al52, I've been thinking of you, we'll be here when you're ready.

My heart reaches out to you. So sad about your mother. This has to be a very rough time. Hold on and get through it. You are stronger than you think.

 

You can get off Xanax. There are many ways to do that. But, that can wait for now. Just know that you can get on track and be happy and healthy again. For now, just take it one minute at a time. 

Sending you my sincerest condolences. 

Hi,

 

I wish I could help but I, too, am looking for suggestions.  I am stuck at 1mg (.25 4x a day)

 

I feel really crappy today. 

 

How's your taper going?

Wow, an emery board and a ruler, I don't think I've heard of anyone using a ruler, I'm curious, can you tell me how that works? 

 

So glad you're going for the 12.5% instead of the 25% cut but since you've been down this road before, I'd be prepared to take it a little slower if you need to, this cut could still be too large.  I know you don't want to be tapering forever, but you want to get through it this time so slow and steady.

While I would never wish benzo withdrawal on anyone, I have a feeling that if a few more prescribers were to experience it, the conversation would change dramatically. 

 

As to your method, hold cow!  I've always said our members can get pretty creative with tapering, but this is the first time I've seen this method.  I'm going to ask someone to drop by, see if we can get some input on this.

 

Would you be interested in any other methods if this one doesn't meet your needs?

Okay, got some feedback and here it is.

 

As you shave bits off the pills there is no way to determine whether you're getting filler or the medication since its not distributed equally throughout the pills. Since you won't know if you're getting the filler or the medication, you won't know what percentage you're tapering.

 

It's our opinion you would be better off getting a scale and weighing 10 of the tablets to find an average weight and then crushing the tablet and weighing out the amount you wish to reduce.  This way you can be more accurate and control your taper rate much more precisely.

 

 

Or this one where you can make your own capsules using the weigh method.

 

Bob7 Benzo Dry Taper Method 

Pill splitting is terribly inaccurate and even when they're scored, which means you're supposed to get an even distribution if you cut them, this is no guarantee.  Cutting them any more than half or shaving is even worse for accuracy. 

 

Cutting them as you are now could mean you're getting uneven doses, this could explain why people feel better or worse some days, but there are so many variables to this process, its difficult to pin it down.

 

I'm glad you're open to other methods, I hear once you get used to them they become second nature. 

You can choose your pace with liquid titration, go as slow or fast as you can manage.  Not sure why a prescriber would be against anything that could get you off of an addictive drug. 

 

We can help you figure this out, just let us know what method you decide upon.  Could you do me a favor though, it would help if you put your medication history in your signature, this way members can see at a glance where you're at, rather than having to read back through your posts.  Here are the instructions.  Add your history/signature 

Your signature looks fine, as you taper, you'll want to add in the details of your reductions. 

 

If you're ready, then start a thread on the titration board. http://www.benzobuddies.org/forum/index.php?board=164.0

 

Once you do this, I'll post some links there that will help you get started until someone can help with your taper plan.  Okay?

Lets get working on that plan before Monday, you'll need time to buy supplies, and we'll need time to come up with the plan. 

No feathers ruffled, I'm not that familiar with builder, I've seen a few of his posts, but I also see some other members who have a lot of good suggestions on the titration board, I'm just not one of them.    I have no experience tapering at all, I quit cold turkey so I only know what I read, no practical experience. 

 

There are many successful dry cutting tapers, I didn't mean to discourage you from cutting your way to freedom, I'm here to support you whatever method you choose. 

From what I can see from the materials I've printed about the ratio, it looks like 1 mg to 2 ml solvent and 98 mils water to make a 100 ml solution of 0.01 mg/ml concentration.  As I said, I have no experience with this, so I hope you'll start a thread on the titration board, some really sharp folks hang out there.