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Help (please) with Xanax tapering schedule


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Hi, I'm grateful this site exists. Before the pandemic hit I took prescribed Xanax sporadically, but in the last two years I've been taking 0.5mg every night. I told my doctor I wanted to get off of this and she is supportive, thankfully. I've successfully tapered to 0.0625 (cutting pills into quarters) with the biggest symptoms being having trouble sleeping and irratibility after cuts, but mostly it's been okay and was feeling okay on that dose until I tried ot jump off. A few days ago I thought I could jump off and I fell asleep fine that night, but the next day at work I couldn't think straight, I work at a restaurant and I was forgetting orders and feeling dizzy and horrible and nauseous and had to go home early. I reinstated the 0.0625 that night because I can't afford to feel like that right now, and two days later I still feel off, foggy, and have headaches from the one day without the pill.

 

What should my next move be? I'm super scared of withdrawal and not being able to use my brain (I'm in school as well), and wondering how to successfully get off of this. Do I need to take a few weeks off work and try to plan to do this on a school break? Should I taper lower? (It's hard to cut the pills below 1/4). What's the best way to titrate? At what dose of Xanax would you jump off? I also read about switching to diazepam, should I ask my doctor about that? I'm so scared and feel so alone in this and the doctor made it sound like it would be fine to jump off but I'm so scared. I'm also on Wellbutrin and I know about the increased risk of seizure from that drug. Any help or support would be amazing, thank you.

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I did a dry taper until my pills got too small to cut and then I switched to liquid.  I had avoided liquid because it seemed complicated but after trying it, I discovered it wasn't hard.  I did a water taper using the method in this video which is only 4 minutes long:

 

 

With this method you can alter the # of days to taper off by adjusting the amount of water in the mixture.  For example, if you want it to take less days then add less water.  At the low dose you are on already, the daily reductions would be very tiny.  Anyway, this would be one option.

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You ask about switching to Valium, I'm not sure if that's a good move for you unless you're not able to tolerate Xanax anymore or you're dealing with unmanageable interdose withdrawal.  Valium is still a benzo and even though it's a smoother taper, its still challenging.  Then there is the process of crossing over to it, this takes a bit of time and you have to get used to another drug which can cause sedation and depression until your body acclimates to it.

 

You also mentioned taking time off work, I'm not sure this is a good idea either, we have no idea how long you'll be dealing with symptoms because as you know, these will most likely persist after you're off of the drug.  I feel it would be better to slow your taper down to hopefully stay functional saving that time off for if you really need it down the road.

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