Do symptoms get worse while getting lower in a taper?

Hey all,

Something that I have been pondering about my personal WD symptoms is this.

I take 1mg xanax in the morning. Went down to .75mg and didn't experience any wd symptoms until about day 3 or 4. Reading what I can online claims WD peaks at this time, but I am unsure if this applies to tapering? Guess I'm trying to feel out how severe my symtoms will get so I can have a better grip on it during my taper.

Thanks all.

Hello,

I always cut my dose on Thursday, I was tapering from diazepam (valium).  I knew that the withdrawal symptoms would hit me on the weekend and would start to ease up some by the start of the following week. 

Everyone will be different and xanax has a much shorter half life than valium.

pianogirl

Everyone will be different and xanax has a much shorter half life than valium.

Hey Pianogirl!

That is the one thing I find odd. With it having a short half life, I would think that in 24 hours I would have started to get some symptoms. Even this morning I woke up feeling rested, aside from my normal morning anxiety, but by the time I take my dose I don't really feel any WD.

Maybe I have the metabolism of a snail? Lol.

Thank you for your response!

The shorter acting Benzos can cause more wd issues than the longer ones due to interpose withdrawal.

Remember that Ashton's manual states 0.5mg Xanax is equivalent to about 10 mg of Valium, but has a 6-12 hour half life. The point when 1/2 of the drug is gone- not the time the whole amount is gone. Each person's liver clears drugs at a different pace due to genetics, sex, habits, and health issues. You can figure out your own symptom threshold just like piano girl illustrated.

Updosing is a dicey proposition. Sometimes it's helpful if done quickly after a drop, but can cause havoc.

If you choose not to do a switch to Valium, please consult the others on the forum who taper directly from Xanax.

This is a UK site that has copies of the Ashton Manual, its supplement, and other data. https://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/index.htm.   

Here's a good FAQ.

https://www.benzo.org.uk/FAQ1.1.htm

You'll have to educate yourself to get through.  Unfortunately the medical community is often woefully behind on this topic.

I tapered Xanax and felt increasing symptoms up to 3 days (once 5 days) and then they’d subside.  I hope your taper continues to go relatively easily!  Mine wasn’t too rough until I tried to jump too soon at .25mg. I reinstated at three days in and finally jumped again after I got down to .0625mg.

Hey hothot and Challis!

I will try and keep that in mind. I don't know if I'll survive a xanax taper since I only take it in the morning. I think it would be easier to keep my blood levels constant as much as possible. I highly doubt my doc would allow valium, the only switch I'd probably get is klonopin, but probably still better than xanax to taper. A .25 drop was very uncomfortable and I only made it about 7 days before going back to the previous dose. I'm beginning to wonder if I kept going how long that intensity would have lasted. I am ready to start doing this but I am unsure if I'll be able to work going thru this. I couldn't focus for more than 5 seconds on anything and was constantly in the bathroom putting cold water on my face. Toward the end of the day things would start to calm down, but sleep was impossible.

I ended up with: rapid heart rate, HBP (maybe stage 1 hypertension), DP/DR, dizziness, blurry vision and what feels like some hallucination, unable to understand what people were saying to me for the most part, panic attacks most of the day, depression, nightmares when I could sleep for an hour or two, muscle spasms and eye twitching, feelings of dread, night sweats.

Oy.. anyone that has gone through this, you are some of the strongest people I know. I doubt anything in life after this will seem difficult.

Doc put me on trazodone for sleep, anxiety and depression. I think it's working a bit for me but haven't tried to taper again as of yet. Times I wish I had the funds to just stay home and deal with this though I know that unrealistic.

Thanks for the help I do appreciate it. I'm still just trying to figure out how I can get through this 'as painless as possible'. God I hope those are the worst my symtoms will get lol. 

Hey hothot and Challis!

 

I will try and keep that in mind. I don't know if I'll survive a xanax taper since I only take it in the morning. I think it would be easier to keep my blood levels constant as much as possible. I highly doubt my doc would allow valium, the only switch I'd probably get is klonopin, but probably still better than xanax to taper. A .25 drop was very uncomfortable and I only made it about 7 days before going back to the previous dose. I'm beginning to wonder if I kept going how long that intensity would have lasted. I am ready to start doing this but I am unsure if I'll be able to work going thru this. I couldn't focus for more than 5 seconds on anything and was constantly in the bathroom putting cold water on my face. Toward the end of the day things would start to calm down, but sleep was impossible.

 

I ended up with: rapid heart rate, HBP (maybe stage 1 hypertension), DP/DR, dizziness, blurry vision and what feels like some hallucination, unable to understand what people were saying to me for the most part, panic attacks most of the day, depression, nightmares when I could sleep for an hour or two, muscle spasms and eye twitching, feelings of dread, night sweats.

 

Oy.. anyone that has gone through this, you are some of the strongest people I know. I doubt anything in life after this will seem difficult.

 

Doc put me on trazodone for sleep, anxiety and depression. I think it's working a bit for me but haven't tried to taper again as of yet. Times I wish I had the funds to just stay home and deal with this though I know that unrealistic.

 

Thanks for the help I do appreciate it. I'm still just trying to figure out how I can get through this 'as painless as possible'. God I hope those are the worst my symtoms will get lol. 

I find that the lower I am going, everything is less predictable. As said by others, Valium lag for me is about a week. I am pretty great for a week following a cut. The days 8 through 14 are another thing. I have cut from 40 mg V to my current 3.5 mg in a little over a year, but my first drug was Xanax, like you. I found the interdose withdrawals to be overwhelming on X, so my psychiatrist crossed me over in one day to V. From all I have read, the final pre jump tapers can go 2 ways....brutal or mild. My gut feeling is that our individual chemistry plays a big part. I know that for me any cut over 5% is just nuts-making and slowed my cut schedule. Right now I am getting wicked pvcs because I miscalculated a cut and did 12%. I know it will settle down as I heal, but cheesh! So......Take it slow. Consider the cross to something with a longer half life. Peace and healing light your way!- Joy