Atarax withdrawal- is it all in my head?

hi I've been on 200mg of Atarax since june and it's definitely time to get off. I'm down to 137.5mg, cutting a quarter of a pill every few days. and I feel the cuts a lot! Don't know if it's in my head though since it's similar to benedryl? Haven't been able to find anything online about it. I would like to go down faster but am paranoid it will kickstart old withdrawals again, any thoughts?

I don't know about it being all in your head, but you have been on a very high dose and I assume it was prescribed by your doctor at that level.  Have you asked him or her about getting off it and what to expect?  Or your pharmacist?  I only ever took it for allergies and at a 25mg level so I don't have any relevant experience to share.  Sorry. 

It's probably not 'all in your head'.

 

It's an antihistamine, Benadryl is an antihistamine, but they are really different drugs.

The sedating antihistamines tend to have other actions besides the antihistamine effect.

 

Ask your doc or a pharmacist ?

Yea my doctor said I wouldn't have any withdrawals from it. I think maybe I wouldn't if I just took it for allergies but it's for benzo w/d. I'm beg to think that it works to mask the s/x and now that I'm cutting back it's starting to uncover them a bit. Either way gonna slow down the cuts to once a week instead hopefully that will help. Just was curious if anyones experienced w/d from it.

Well, it's not a very low dose.

 

You can't rely on wikipedia, but perhaps http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxyzine is useful as a starting point.

See 'pharmacology' and 'mechanism of action'.

 

Ok I can't speak for anyone else but this is not an easy drug for me to get off of! Cutting back a quarter every week is like throwing back my body into acute withdrawal, thankfully s/x last a few days but while I'm in it, it's like the early days of detox, vertigo, nausea, bad anxiety, confusion, etc, horrendous allergy symptoms as this is an antihistime, I feel more drowsy cutting back btw. I don't know if I knew all this I would not have went on such a high dose. Thats where I am at with this. About another two months and I should be completely off.

Ok getting off this drug has been very difficult! It's like a step behind what it was like weaning off benzos.

I suggest people not take this drug or if you do go on a very low dose like 25mg tops. At 112.5mg I'm getting bad GI problems because the pills are so acidic, I'm drowsy so much of the time but rather it feels like extreme fatigue! The extreme bloating has got to be from this drug. I wish I never relied on this drug for benzo withdrawal! I have two more months to suffer with these GI problems if I can stand it but I'm thinking I may and try and cold turkey this thing this weekend to get some stomach relief! I hope I can do it! 

Mustdothis, I suspect what you're feeling is the benzo w/d and not Atarax, unless a high dose works differently from a lower one.  I've never seen or heard anything about antihistamine dependency, really, but I could be wrong.  I know a lot of people on another site who take hydroxyzine for sleep, some at high doses (though maybe not quite as high as yours?)  Those who later went off of it had no problem.  But, of course, everyone can react differently to any meds.  ~~mbr

Really? GI problems could come about this far out in benzo wd? the bloating is so intense i need to a see a a specialist because my practitioner cant find out what's causing this.

Hi

 

I have also been prescribed Atarax 100mg to help with my relentless insomnia. I find it of no benefit and if anything it gives me a terrible headache.  I am struggling to directly taper Zolpidem /Ambien and am now at 18mg a night.  I saw you successfully tapered off Ambien Cr so it gives me hope.  I have been using Zolpidem for over 12years at doses up to 50mg just for sleep :'(.  I really did not know Atarax had to be tapered - so Thank You for this.

ps Did you find Valium as effective as Ambien for sedation.  I am still not certain whether a c/o would be easier - so many say it is smoother but have found few comparatives re insomnia.

Any suggestions, advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks love

Meeee

Yea I figure too tapering is best at high doses of anything.  It's just a bit frustrating but my body does adjust within about 5 days of each cut. 

Well I was on a very low dose of ambien but when I c/o I definitely went through some w/d for about two months I would say. When I switched to valium during my klonopin taper, it was definitely smoother but I never did get a full night's sleep from it since my body was used to the klonopin, for me that was more sedating than the valium. Everyone is different though cuz I know someone that thought the opposite.

Congrads on getting to less than half your dose by the way! I think if you've made it this far tapering maybe try to keep at it.

I know it's hard when you start getting low on your doses, the temptation to go way up was always there for me so that's why I jumped from 9mg of valium when I did, I didn't want to throw away all my hard work and end up getting the f-it's. But I went inpatient for this and there would've been no way for me to have done that on my own. I think if you are able to taper, then keep at it, if I could've done that then I definitely would have..