Gonna start taper, welcome thoughts on what I'm thinking

Hi everyone, my sincere wishes for all for full recovery! I'm getting the re-fill on 30 .05 Xanax pills this week. Been on these daily since June. I started taking one at night before bed to sleep. At first it was what I needed, now I want off. It's not working for the sleep as well and the whole day is horrible. I've never had anxiety before, now I do. Is this what is known as tolerance? I want to taper a quarter of the pill, or .125 for at least 10 days, then another quarter for a similar amount of time, and continue likewise until the last quarter, then half that until the bottle is through. Hoping that once at that small a dosage will be able to stop. Please, your thoughts on this plan. I'm open to suggestions as I've never done this before, scared but motivated to stop. Thank you!

First, we need to establish if you're currently taking .50 each day or .05, I'm assuming it's .50?

 

Also, it would be helpful for those helping you if you put your medication history in your signature, you can find the instructions here: Add your history/signature 

 

Many have reached benzo freedom by dry cutting their dose and you can too, also, most who are tapering Xanax will take their dose several times a day to avoid interdose withdrawal which is what I believe you're dealing with in the daytime.

 

Your anxiety is indeed being caused by the benzo, your body has become dependent so for this reason I would suggest a slow taper even though you've only been on it 4 months.

 

You can certainly begin your taper by cutting your pill into quarters but you may find it's too big of a cut to remain functional so you may need to consider slowing it down after that.  The good thing is you should know fairly soon after making your reduction if it's going to be too much since Xanax has such a short half life.

 

Before you begin your taper I would suggest splitting your dose so you can take it at least two or three times a day to see if you can stabilize a bit for a few days, what do you think?

Thank you Pamster for responding! It's 0.5 Xanax pills that I'm taking. Will give splitting the daily dose into 3 for a few days a try.

 

I can see why so many people think the world of you, count me in as well! You're an angel! 

Thank you Mrk. 

 

A word of caution, the drug has caused your brain to make adjustments to how it operates and as you withdraw it your brain will be working to get back it's normal function.  When the drug is completely eliminated your brain will still be working to complete the repair process.  What I'm telling you is that while I understand your wish to be off of the drug as quickly as possible, it's better to go slow to allow you to remain functional.  Most members have discovered there are still symptoms when you're drug free but you no longer have the taper to mitigate symptoms. 

 

I'm not trying to scare you, I just want to inform, I feel so bad when members get a nasty surprise once they reach benzo freedom.

 

One last thought, is there anyway you could get .25 mg pills, it would sure help you as your taper progresses in case you want to make your reductions smaller. 

Hey Pamster.

 

split the dose into 3 yesterday, made it through work and the day with minimal interdose wd. Gonna ride this for a few days before starting the taper. The prescription says 0.5, I'll ask about the smaller dosage. I'm psyching up for this to be my last bottle. Your words and attention are giving me strength. Gratitude leading to forgiveness and hope and of course, much love!

I'm glad to hear splitting the dose helped, Xanax is famous for leaving you high and dry.  I'm happy you're working, I was able to work all but the first three weeks after my cold turkey and even though is was hard, I feel it helped distract me and pass the time.

 

I'm glad you're going to give your dose change a few days, successful tapers are about good planning and the ability to adapt the taper when your body requires it so stay tuned to what your body is telling you. 

 

I can see your enthusiasm to be done with all of this and its good but my hope is this bottle of .50 mg pills will be your second to the last and your last will be .25 mg pills just in case your taper needs a little adjusting along the way. 

Will definitely post as I progress through it, heartfelt thanks!!!!