Doc appt on 1/27 - need some advice.

Hey all.

 

I am going to see my doctor on the 27th to discuss tapering off xanax. I intend to make the case that I would prefer to be switched to a longer acting benzodiazepine such as valium or klonopin. I would like to bring a tapering schedule along with me to support this decision however I am unsure how to plan this out as I do not have access to either of those medications or their weights.

 

I'm doubting valium will be allowed, but if it is I have some concerns. I know valium can make you more sedated, and I am already on 50mg og trazodone since 4 weeks ago. Should I be concerned about taking trazodone along with valium?

 

I also am on blood pressure meds (lisinopril) 5mg daily. I am new to being on blood pressure meds, and I do not know if my blood pressure was high because of cigarettes, unhealthy diet, or interdose WD from the xanax. This concerns me.

 

As far as the tapering plan. I intended to go slow with it if allowed. Maybe starting at 5% cuts to see how that affects me. How would I figure this out for something like klonopin or valium before talking to the doctor?

 

Crossing over to something like klonopin or valium, how do I handle the initial few weeks? I take 1mg of xanax in the morning, and I do not know if I will suffer withdrawls before the crossover is finished. Is it safe to take the xanax while crossing over until I can stop the xanax entirely?

 

My boss is pushing me to go through with this as I can't seem to get tapering off my mind, or being on the xanax knowing what it does to me. I explained to them what can be expected while I am withdrawling.

 

I'll ask more questions as I come up with them, and thank you for the information.

I am tapering xanax, so if your doctor doesn't let you cross over, it will be OK.

 

5 mg lisinopril is a low dose. What is your blood pressure? It may also be not something to worry about.

I'm just not sure I can do this with xanax. Taking it only in the morning means while I taper I'll suffer from interdose withdrawl with only a few hours of relief a day (or what one could call relief in this situation). I've thought about trying to go to .25 four times daily but that still means my blood levels never reach that 1mg it's used to. I am hoping something like klonopin will ease the interdose withdrawls at least.

 

As for blood pressure I was in probably then 140/90 ball park area. Of course taking the blood pressure after dosing it is normal. Later in the day it seems to go up but again I smoke. I have switched over to a diet involving salad, veggies and blueberries. I try to get protein in as well. This is me desperately hoping I'm getting a head start on the natural way of giving my brain what it needs to repair.

 

At this point I'm just unsure. My doc may just as well say stay on it forever, and at this current time in my life, I may not be able to taper and remain functional. My WD symptoms were not horrific but it was a constant state of fear and panic, anxiety related symptoms and not being able to sleep because of nightmares. Even then I probably only was getting a few hours.

 

I'm getting very depressed about this situation. I'll probably end up in the psyche ward on 30 different meds by the time I quit benzos. 

 

Trying to stay positive that I can get through it.

Well, you could quit smoking. In fact, I recommend it. I smoked a pack a day for 25 years before quitting in 2011. Then I started smoking again in 2015 and quit again summer of 2018. My high blood pressure started in 2013, two years after I quit smoking. I quit in 2018 when I thought I could reduce my xanax dose by 25% in a day and discovered that smoking made the withdrawal symptoms TOTALLY worse. It turns out smoking makes you metabolize xanax much more quickly.

 

I started my xanax and ambien when I had just finished chemotherapy for cancer. It turns out my thyroid dose was too high too, and I was feeling shaky inside. So I begged my doctor for 0.5 mg xanax twice a day (8 am and 2 pm), and 10 mg ambien at night. When you've had cancer you can pretty much get any drug you want. So he gave it to me.

 

2 years later I decided it was time to get rid of the xanax. My taper hit trouble (was going to fast near the end) so I updosed, stabilized for a few months, then started tapering again. A few months ago I decided to reduce the ambien, so I reduced it by half to 5 mg over 1 month. I still take 5 mg ambien at night, and I won't be reducing it anytime soon. And I've started my xanax taper again.

 

So it's possible to do. Maybe reduce your xanax to 0.5 mg twice a day first?

Hey all.

 

I am going to see my doctor on the 27th to discuss tapering off xanax. I intend to make the case that I would prefer to be switched to a longer acting benzodiazepine such as valium or klonopin. I would like to bring a tapering schedule along with me to support this decision however I am unsure how to plan this out as I do not have access to either of those medications or their weights.

 

I'm doubting valium will be allowed, but if it is I have some concerns. I know valium can make you more sedated, and I am already on 50mg og trazodone since 4 weeks ago. Should I be concerned about taking trazodone along with valium?

 

I also am on blood pressure meds (lisinopril) 5mg daily. I am new to being on blood pressure meds, and I do not know if my blood pressure was high because of cigarettes, unhealthy diet, or interdose WD from the xanax. This concerns me.

 

As far as the tapering plan. I intended to go slow with it if allowed. Maybe starting at 5% cuts to see how that affects me. How would I figure this out for something like klonopin or valium before talking to the doctor?

 

Crossing over to something like klonopin or valium, how do I handle the initial few weeks? I take 1mg of xanax in the morning, and I do not know if I will suffer withdrawls before the crossover is finished. Is it safe to take the xanax while crossing over until I can stop the xanax entirely?

 

My boss is pushing me to go through with this as I can't seem to get tapering off my mind, or being on the xanax knowing what it does to me. I explained to them what can be expected while I am withdrawling.

 

I'll ask more questions as I come up with them, and thank you for the information.

Why not use a program such as this and use a approx. weight (.152) (these weights can be found on found on taper boards) then print off a plan for both Klonopin and Valium using these figures. Once your doctor approves a plan you can then get the actual weights from your prescription and go from there.

 

The Ashton crossover has been used successfully by many folks here. Maybe print off a copy for your doctors appointment.

 

Hello, Zurek.

 

Hats off for “doing your homework” in advance of your appointment with your physician.  Might I suggest that you use any documents you prepare judiciously?  I have been told by several physicians that inundating them with printouts from “Dr. Google” may have unintended consequences. As one physician recently put it, “Doctors want to doctor. They don’t like being told what to do.” 

 

So, for example, a strategy I’ve used is to prepare detailed notes for myself and, if appropriate, a one-page handout for my physician with my best guess as to the top-level/key information s/he might find helpful.

 

Thanks for the replies all.

 

Smoking - I thought I read somewhere that smoking can hinder blood levels of drugs by up to 50%. To me if that's true, it sounds like at top level percentage my body is only used to .50mg?

 

Hard to say if going from 1mg in the morning to twice daily would have the same effect. I could be wrong here though.

 

Preparing notes - what do you think would help? Here is my current ideology.

 

- 25% cut was too much to handle, I think smaller cuts would be better tolerated.

- interdose withdrawl seems to happen to a slight degree, maybe switching to a longer acting benzodiazepine would make my taper easier to manage.

- adjunctive medication may help, but I'd like to try not using any other than my AD for the purpose of helping stave off severe depression.

 

That's currently all I have as far as personal needs. What do you think?

Just a quick comment on once a day dosing and not letting it inhibit your decision to taper... I tapered Xanax along with several others years ago. One buddy, Charlie38, took 2 mg of Xanax once a day, same time every day, and tapered completely off without interdose issues.  There are others here who I’ve seen who also only took a short-acting benzo once a day and tapered that way successfully.

 

Does that mean you can, too? Can’t say for sure, but I do know it has worked this way for others.

Thanks Challis.

 

For me, interdose WD is mild, by the time I take my next dose I have morning anxiety, some fatigue, mental fog, and lately since my failed taper, vision/DR symptoms along with rapid heart beat.

 

I can only assume at this point tapering in this manner will cause these symptoms to remain throughout the day while tapering. Then again, I should probably expect that regardless of dosage parameters.

 

I was taking a broken in half 2MG xanax bar. Now that I've switched to tablets I can also assume I may already have made a very slight cut to the dose. Now that I think about it, some years ago I went down to 0.5mg for about a week and didn't really have any WD symptoms. So now I'm wondering if I kindled myself. 

Hey all, I've been using the link provided by Gudruna, and I am curious.

 

My alprazolam (0.5mg) pill weight average is 0.128mg (total weight of 10 pills was close to 1.288).

 

At 5% of total dose, I am expected to finish in October, at a 10% of total dose, I am expected to finish in June.

 

How does one decide this before starting a taper? I would like to present these charts for both options to try alprazolam first. I figure if I am stable enough just dosing 1mg a day at the same time, then I may not need a cross over (hard to tell unless the doctor decides longer acting is better).

 

Does 10% seem too fast? I managed to survive 1 week at 25% (although unbearable but I wouldn't say catastrophic), so I'm am expecting to try the 10% first and see how I react. If it's a no go, then I can try the 5% cuts.

 

Does that information seem sufficient for my appt?

 

Just looking for input, thanks again all.

Hi Zurek...you might want to copy this and post it in Titration.  Wish I could help with this, but I don’t trust my math skills. 

Will do Challis! 

Hello. How are you doing. I took klonopin for 18 years for treatment of panic. I’m 10 yrs off.  How are you doing?