short term user success, thank you BB!

Although I was a short term user of xanax if I hadn't had this site to refer to  who knows what dark hell I'd be in now so I wanted to first shout, THANK YOU BB!

 

  My story is not as drastic as some but I was sure messed up for a good 5 months so I wanted to share to give others hope, especially those who were prescribed and took for a short while and got blindsided by a benzo nightmare.

 

My doctor prescribed xanax .25mg to help with my undiagnosed pelvic pain. I took it at night for just 2 months and didn't see much of a difference with my pain so I quit. After all, I didn't want to be taking a drug that could get to be a problem (see how drug savy I was?). Two days later and all sorts of symptoms started. Incredible pelvic pain like I had never experienced before like my organs were being shredded, total insomnia, anxiety and panic that I had never had before, at times I felt like I might pass out. No appetite and difficulty eating, feeling like I might choke or gag, dizziness, racing heart, dim vision, brain fog, etc. I googled and found this site and realized what was happening. I decided to tough it out but symptoms only got worse, particularly the eating problem, I was rapidly losing weight and that's a big problem for me as I've always had to work hard at gaining weight...I'm tall and thin with a very high metabolism. I started thinking I might end up in the hospital and that led me to reinstate after 18 days of c/t. I started back on the .25mg in order to taper and to start eating again which I immediately was able to start doing. I took 2 ½ months to taper the .25mg (I divided it into 3 doses, morning, noon and night then went to two doses, then one)and it was hell but I was able to somewhat function. Would I have been okay if I had just continued with the c/t? Maybe. But I was panic stricken over the idea of a protracted withdrawal so I did what I felt was best for my body.

 

Now it's been 3 months since my last crumb of xanax and I feel pretty much healed from all the insanity. I took the xanax down to crumbs as was suggested and I'm glad I did. I bought a scale and weighed the crumbs. I was obsessive about it and I'm so relieved that I don't have to be constantly thinking about that pill and my symptoms.....it's all I thought about, I faked everything else, meaning I felt like I had to fake my way through life, smiling, going through the motions when inside I was dying, screaming inside my head, “I feel so out of it! I'm dizzy! I can't see very well! I'm so tired, I'm not sleeping! My stomach is killing me! There's something really permanently wrong with me! I hate that you have no idea what I'm going through!”, and so on, ad nauseum. I remember the first time I felt bored at home, it was so wonderful to just feel normal and bored. One thing about benzo w/d it's not boring, you always have something to obsess about.

 

  A couple of things......

 

I started back on 10mg of amitriptyline (a drug I had taken before) to help with the pelvic pain after 2 months of finishing taper. It helps with my insomnia too...I average 5-6 hours of sleep which is much better than the 2-3 hours I was getting. I do fine on the 5 hours most days. My sleep does not feel normal though, I seem to drift in and out of sleep with not much awareness of going to sleep or waking up.

 

One reason maybe why I had such a tough time is that I also took Ambien most nights for several years prior to the xanax and often too while I was first taking xanax. Low dose only about 3mg but I didn't know then that it acted on GABA the same way as benzos. Doctor knew I took ambien but never said anything about stopping it when taking xanax. I stopped ambien the same time I stopped xanax when I c/t'd.

 

I will spend the rest of my life educating others about the horrible effects of benzos. The suffering is like no other, they should be banned except for extreme cases of panic and anxiety. They should never be prescribed for pain or sleep. It's disgusting how the medical profession knows so little about these common drugs. I had two doctors tell me that what I was going through couldn't be related to the xanax. One said it was out of my system and I just needed to take an ssri the other said it was too low of a dose to cause w/d.

I'm so happy to hear how well you're doing, thank you for writing your success story!  There are so many people who have taken these drugs for a short time who need to see what you've written, they want so much to be able to connect with someone who's story resembles theirs, so thank you for speaking to and for them. 

Congratulations!! How’s the sleep now? Are you still getting 5/6 hours or is it better?

desertvibes, I'm still getting 5-6 hours and it's totally attributed to the amitriptyline. Before that I was getting 3-4 hours a night, so I'm very happy with the 5-6 hours.

Congrats 🎈🎊🍾🎉 to you on a successful taper. And good you caught it in time. Yes that ambien is a killer. I’m glad you’re off it,

How are you doing?  I'm thinking about doing the same thing. 

Thank you for posting your success story sg89, we need these stories, its going to help a lot of people. 

 

I am pleased that you are doing well

 

Magrita

Congratulations sg89!  You had a rough time of it but you came out the other side!  Thanks so much for telling your story with such candor.  It's so inspiring and means so much to members in the middle of this nightmare. 

 

Brighterday