How quickly work withdrawal symptoms come back after reinstating?

I am a complete idiot and bought more benzos after being off of them for 6 months. I got addicted pretty quickly the first time - after just 3-4 weeks of Xanax use. It took me then 6 months to taper with the help of a doctor.

 

Last night I drunkenly took about 6mg. Can I just stop now or should I expect some pain? I've only been using on 2-3 isolated incidents over the last few weeks - every time just 1mg Xanax but this last time was about 6mg.

Jack,

I can't believe you jumped at .25 mg the first time! That's a high jumping point. It's hard to say whether or not you'll have withdrawal but it sounds like you are building tolerance fast. 1 mg to 6 mg is quite an updose. I'd be nervous too, if I were you. It sounds like you have had days or weeks between doses with no WD so maybe you can just stop? If not, then it looks like you'll have to taper and from what I have read, it gets harder each time you do it. Were you OK after jumping from .25 mg? I stopped CT on .25 mg years ago (this time I am tapering from 4 mg) and I had bad WD symptoms and ended up reinstating.

 

Let us know how you feel and how you proceed. There is no way to know if you are going to have WD or not. Are you truly ready to be done with with benzo's?

 

HM

I remember i had withdrawals 3-4 days after the dose when I took "rescue doses" back during PAWS, eventually the withdrawals daisy chained into where I decided to just start a taper beginning to end. I think if you think you can handle the withdrawals there's no need to start tapering again, but 6mg is quite a lot. but who knows; I did that once years ago before I became dependent on them when I could just randomly take a big dose (3x my usual dose) and be fine the next day, so it's a crap shoot, its possible you can walk off scot free

I ended up taking 10 mg in the span of 24 hours. Thankfully flushed the rest once I sobered up. Feeling pretty grim right now but no major withdrawal symptoms.

jack,

 

That's awesome You escaped WD and can go back to just being clean. Good for you for flushing the rest and making a firm commitment to avoid getting re-addicted. Have a great Sunday.

 

HM

I was ok for the first 48 hours since my last dose but now I am feeling it pretty badly. Crawly skin, anxiety, headache, etc. I took 10 mg which is a massive dose so I guess it was still in my system for a while? Should I expect this to get better or worse, and should I just ride it out?

Jack,

 

  I am not an expert or a Dr. It's hard to say if you are experiencing WD. it doesn't logically seem likely but I suppose kindling is possible and you have reignited your WD. Since you threw out your Xanax, the only thing you can do is ride it out. If it gets really bad, you may have to get a Rx to taper off again, probably over less time. Let's hope your symptoms pass and stay gone and you're home free.

 

 

HM

Thanks - definitely feels like WD symptoms. Tolerable though so I will wait and see, was more so wondering how dangerous this could be.

jack,

 

  You mean like with seizures and that kind of thing? My best guess would be that I doubt that will happen but I can't say for sure. You had one big bang to your brain. I will be interested to see how you feel over the next few days. In theory, these symptoms should subside in that time since you are no longer addicted but we'll see.

 

 

HM

Thanks. I am terrified of kindling but hopefully a one time mega dose won't result in that happening

I'm pulling for you! Keep us posted.