The Xanax Club, Let Us Know How You Are Feeling Today

Since coming to my city cottage, and dealing with the added stressors, I have been holding at my current dose.  Yesterday was a difficult day in terms of interdose wd.  I have been drinking herbal (caffeine free) tea when I get close to my next dose and notice I’m “fixating” on the time.  Also forcing myself to do some household chore that will take up 10-15 minutes.  As soon as I fulfill the requests made by my adult daughter, I’m going back to my home in the country, so I can make another cut.  There is far too much stimulation in the city for me to be able to shut out light, sound, etc.  I am hoping to make it down to .75 mg divided into 3 doses before February, and stabilize...as my first grandchild is due in mid February.  Tapering is frustrating, and time-consuming, but I WILL conquer this. 

Anyone start their day with a rapid heart rate and chest tightness? I know the mornings are hard, but every time I make a cut, this happens on day 3. It takes about 3 hours to calm down. Just comparing an sxs.

 

Been there so many times that I can't even count them. For what it's worth, that nasty side effect got a ton better the lower I got in my taper. Other things crept up but that definitely diminished. In fact, mornings in general got so much better. Odd because even while on my full dose, they were usually the worst. It's bizarre how things change so drastically with time.

 

Hang in there! It will eventually stop.

 

Fondly,

Lori

Six months after jumping brain fog and urinary frequency.

I forgot to take my last dose yesterday, didn't realize until this morning. So I just decided to skip the dose.

 

I am really feeling it this afternoon.

It will pass. I forgot my second dose today, OMG, I know what you have been going through. Seems silly to add it on past the time, it would throw off the next dose.

 

We will both be better in a day or 3. :smitten:

Hello,

Didn't know there was a Xanax Club! Great to know..

Rodolfo

Thanks for joining us!

Hi Xanax buddies,  I need your feedback. 

 

I just began my tapering journey last month.  Total starting dose was .75 total daily taken in 4 doses daily for 21 years + "extra as needed".  I know .75 isn't a lot, but 21 years is - so I'm very dependent and tolerant.

 

Doing a dry taper 5-10% every two weeks, using a jewel scale and razor. 

 

First goal is to get all 4 doses even because bedtime was double.  Also, did away with "extra as needed".  I've made three cuts so far and it's going pretty well considering.

 

So by mid December I'll be doing .125 on all 4 doses - 6 hrs apart.

 

I'm debating whether I should slowly decrease all 4 doses uniformly (first one then the other, etc)  to nothing.  Or if I should I taper one off completely first and  dose 3 x day?

 

I'm afraid dosing 3 x daily will cause to much inter dose withdrawal and I think I would rather proceed more evenly decreasing all 4 x daily.

 

Any advice?  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi BlessedHope

 

Sounds like you are doing well in your tapering journey. That’s great!!

 

I dose 4x per day and will tell you what I am doing to give you an idea. But of course do what works for you. I cut each dose uniformly. So I cut each dose down to .125 and then .0625. I am currently working on getting my morning dose down to .0625. I use liquid titration so that should be about 4 more days.

 

Once I get each dose to .0625 I will change each dose to all liquid and go down uniformly on each dose until I reach 0. Eventually I will have to eliminate doses but when I do they will be doses of .0125mg or even .005mg each. So pretty small. I am hoping this method will prevent interdose withdrawl as much as possible.

 

I know there are other buddies that have gone to 3x a day dosing so hopefully they will chime in.

 

Let us know what you decide to do and keep us posted on your progress.

 

Pearl.

 

Hi Pearl.  First, congratulations on your accomplishments!  I appreciated reading your journey.

 

I'm sorry the Valium didn't work out for you, but I'm glad your shared that.  I don't want to cross over to Valium for fear the same thing will happen to me.  I had a very bad paradoxical reaction one time when I went in for outpatient surgery and was given Versed.  Instead of knocking me out, it made me totally insane (well, more insane than I already am  )  So, they sent me home without the surgery.  Had a similar reactions to SSRI's, so I really prefer to stay with Mr. X till we break up for good.

 

I really like your current plan!  I'm going to try to stick with a dry taper, but will keep the water taper on the back burner if it doesn't work out. 

 

Thanks so much and keep up the good work!   

according to many experiences, one should taper not in equal parts

When you start with .75 then you reduce 10 %

of the remaining, you reduce 10 %, not of the original start

every time you go down you take 10 % off the previous

so tapering down will go more slowly, but otherwise it will be too fast

 

10 % per 2 or 4 weeks is recommended.  It did it more quickly 25 % per week but I did not know better and I suffer a lot

 

Anton

Hi Anton. 

 

Yeah, that's right. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear  I'm only cutting 5-10% off the total current daily dose - I'm sorry you're feeling lousy because of too big of a cut. 

 

Thank you for clarifying it in case others misread it.

Hi Anton. 

 

Yeah, that's right. I'm sorry I didn't make that clear  I'm only cutting 5-10% off the total current daily dose - I'm sorry you're feeling lousy because of too big of a cut. 

 

Thank you for clarifying it in case others misread it.

 

BlessedHope,

 

I also hope I was clear that I reduce one dose at a time. Anything more would be too much.

 

BlessedHope and Anton please consider making a signature so all buddies can see your Benzo history and in turn are better able to help you.  All you have to do is go to Profile and then forum profile. If you need an example you can check out mine and others on this thread.

 

 

Pearl - you were totally clear.  - Thank you and I'll add that info to my profile.

 

 

  Hello BBs,

 

  Hope that Everyone is Feeling a little better Today. I would like to let All Our Friends,  that when You Taper, Everyone, has Advice for You. But, You can take Their Advice, But,  You need to go at Your Own Pace. Everyone's System and Body is Different. So Someone's Taper, might Not Work for You. So Analyze Your Systems, And do lots of Reading. This will let you make the Right Judgment for You. So Taper slow. The Chemical that was Taken Over by the BENZOS, Needs To Rejuvenate Once Again. It will Happen. Slowly.....

 

Rocket

Hi BlessedHope

 

Sounds like you are doing well in your tapering journey. That’s great!!

 

I dose 4x per day and will tell you what I am doing to give you an idea. But of course do what works for you. I cut each dose uniformly. So I cut each dose down to .125 and then .0625. I am currently working on getting my morning dose down to .0625. I use liquid titration so that should be about 4 more days.

 

Once I get each dose to .0625 I will change each dose to all liquid and go down uniformly on each dose until I reach 0. Eventually I will have to eliminate doses but when I do they will be doses of .0125mg or even .005mg each. So pretty small. I am hoping this method will prevent interdose withdrawl as much as possible.

 

I know there are other buddies that have gone to 3x a day dosing so hopefully they will chime in.

 

Let us know what you decide to do and keep us posted on your progress.

 

Pearl.

 

Pearl,

So happy to see that you're doing so well! Woo-hoo!! You're nearing the end of this beast! I'm rooting for you!

 

I wanted to chime in on dosing. Looking back, I think I can pinpoint why my symptoms had gotten so bad. 1). I decided at .75 mgs (because I was feeling so well) to start dosing 3 times per day instead of 4 which my body had be accustomed to for almost 21 years. I think that was a huge mistake due to how short acting Xanax is. I did it because I thought it would be easier to dose that way once I continued to get lower in my dose. In hindsight, it was way too soon! Within a month, and every subsequent reduction, symptoms were intolerable. 2). I continued to reduce pretty quickly even while being almost nonfunctional.

 

I only write this with the hope of possiby helping others to avoid this mistake. I'm back to dosing 4 times per day, And after the updose and a 2+ week hold, I'm doing so much better!  I'm still awaiting my prescription for liquid Xanax (home delivery pharmacy) and will resume my taper with that (or a combination of liquid and pills taper) after Thanksgiving.

 

I wish I had never gotten over aggressive in thinking I could move to dosing less while still at a pretty significant amount of Xanax. I probably would have been much further along right now. Oh well, live and learn!

 

Hope all are doing well!

 

Fondly,

Lori

Lori,

 

I am so happy you are doing so much better. I like your plan and can’t wait to see how you feel about the compounded liquid. For me it made a much smoother ride. Right now the only liquid I use is the tiny amount that is needed to make my daily reductions. So that equals somewhere between .5 and .1ml per day. The rest is pills. But I feel like once I hit .0625 for each of my 4 doses I can no longer accurately split the pills any smaller. They are too tiny and crumbly.

 

 

Thank you so much for your vote of confidence and for cheering me on. This is not an easy journey. But I am going to tell you that since I hit .5mg I feel so much better. It scares me to say it out loud because I don’t want to jinx it. I am assuming this is a jinx free thread 😊

 

I know when I’ll be done by continuing on the pace I’m on but I’m not going to think about it because I want to give myself the freedom to slowdown or hold as my body says I need to. I don’t want to work on a timeline.

 

I hope everyone is feeling good today. I’d love to hear some updates from everyone.

 

Pearl

Dears,

i've been on xanax for the last 4 years with daily dosage of 1mg .. in the last six months i went down to 0.5mg ... i didnt notice much difference because i seem im always on withdrawal ( taking 0.5 morning and then waiting 24 hours till the next ) , maybe im harsh on myself and i didnt know why i always feels ugly symptoms..

Now my question : shall i go for Ashton tapering or i can reduce to 0.25mg and jump off this poison ?

P.S: im taking xanax along with other antidepressant for GAD and depression , anxiety still , so the depression but i cant tolerate the bad memory and degraded cognitive that makes me fail to learn anything !

 

Appreciate your inputs

Hi dividebyzero.  I started my Xanax taper a month ago and my starting dose was only  .75.  I’ve been on it for 20+ years.  The first thing I did was to get all my doses 6 hours apart to avoid interdose wd.

I take mine in 4 doses @ 10 am, 4 pm, 10 pm, &  as close to 4 am as I can ( when I wake up in the night)  You might consider dividing yours into 3-4 doses.

 

The rule of thumb here is to reduce by no more than 5-10% of our current daily dose and hold there for 10 days- 2 weeks ( longer if things get rough) That means that with each cut you need recalculate  the new percentage.

 

I don’t want to crossover to Valium as the Ashton Manual suggests so I’m doing a direct dry taper . I bought a jewel scale on Amazon and use a razor blade to shave a tiny amount off of just one of the doses.  After 2 weeks I go to another dose and shave off a tiny bit and so on.”, until all 4 doses are the same. Then start the process  again. It’s tedious and will take several months, but it will be worth it.

 

If you jump from .50 to .25 and off, you may suffer a lot longer.  Slow is the key. 

 

Best wishes!

Many Many thanks !

Hi Buddies!

 

Just wanted to do a quick check in and see how everyone is doing. I hope you are all well and feeling good. We all deserve it!

 

I spent the past few days converting my 4 .0625mg doses into compounded liquid. I’ve been using the liquid for many months but only to step down from each cut. Strangely the cross over to all liquid was way harder than any cut I’ve made in the past few months. It has really ramped up my feelings of withdrawal. I had not so great sleep the past 4 or 5 nights. Thankfully sleep returned last night. I have other side effects but they are much more manageable when I am sleeping well.

 

I’d love updates to see how you guys are doing.

Lori, have you tried your liquid yet?

 

Stay well and warm (it’s freezing here)

 

Pearl

 

I felt like I had to convert to all liquid because trying to break my .25mg pills into 4 equal parts was driving me crazy. I’m thankful it’s done.

Hi Pearl! (And all).

 

Ironic that you should ask about the liquid as it FINALLY arrived this afternoon! I haven't tried it yet but will within the next day or so. I'm gearing up for my dreaded colonoscopy and upper endoscopy on Wednesday of next week. Yes, it's been rescheduled twice now. I'm a nervous wreck. Got almost all my Christmas shopping done and the house is decorated like crazy. My family always laughs that I'm the "interior Clark Griswald!" 

 

I've still been doing okay. I've been holding for quite a bit but praying that once I start reducing again that it will be far more accurate with the liquid and pills. The muscle issues still flare up once or twice a week but never as consistent as they were for months straight!

 

Soooo happy for you that you've come this far!! How exciting to be down to .25! Wat to go!!! 

 

I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous. Only a few months ago I was at .5 and thought I'd be finished by now as you were looking to me, a little behind where I was. Ugh! I know, I know, this is definitely not a contest. But I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from. I just looked at your signature again and was a bit comforted seeing your own updose after the failed Valium attempt and how things really got much smoother for you once your body adjusted. I'm praying that it's the same for me.

 

Again, keep on keeping on, girlfriend! You got this!! Sending love!

 

Lori

Only a few months ago I was at .5 and thought I'd be finished

 

Congratulations Lori on you achievement!  It’s encouraging!

 

Did your sleep problems begin after you went from dosing 4 x daily to 3? - So far I haven’t had a problem with sleep.  I was going to try to stay at 4 x till I get below.0625. Wondering if that might help avoid insomnia. Maybe there’s no escaping it no matter what we do?

Only a few months ago I was at .5 and thought I'd be finished

 

Congratulations Lori on you achievement!  It’s encouraging!

 

Did your sleep problems begin after you went from dosing 4 x daily to 3? - So far I haven’t had a problem with sleep.  I was going to try to stay at 4 x till I get below.0625. Wondering if that might help avoid insomnia. Maybe there’s no escaping it no matter what we do?

 

Hi BlessedHope!

 

To answer your question... I've had crazy periods of insomnia throughout my taper. But please keep in mind that I've been on Xanax (as prescribed) for 21 years. Early on in my taper I was so terrified of what I had learned was happening to me that I think I got so far inside my own head thinking that I was doomed and would never, ever heal from this... and because of this I think some of my horrible insomnia was psychological.

 

That being said, eventually I had some good days, weeks, etc.  However, I completely ignored the advice of listening to my body versus time frames (I plowed through reductions even when I wasn't sleeping at all along with debilitating physical pain) which was beyond foolish!  Once I did the slight updose and hold, sleep returned!

 

If you are still sleeping well at this point in your taper, I see zero reason why that would change. My only advice to you is to adhere to the advice of myself and so many others before us... (and I so wish I had!) ... that is to listen to your body! If things are going well than by all means, keep going at your pace. If symptoms start ramping up, that's simply your body telling you to slow down until it adjusts. Your body is looking out for you. It knows what's best!

 

You're going to be fine! Wishing you the very best!!

 

Fondly,

Lori

Hi Pearl! (And all).

 

Ironic that you should ask about the liquid as it FINALLY arrived this afternoon! I haven't tried it yet but will within the next day or so. I'm gearing up for my dreaded colonoscopy and upper endoscopy on Wednesday of next week. Yes, it's been rescheduled twice now. I'm a nervous wreck. Got almost all my Christmas shopping done and the house is decorated like crazy. My family always laughs that I'm the "interior Clark Griswald!" 

 

I've still been doing okay. I've been holding for quite a bit but praying that once I start reducing again that it will be far more accurate with the liquid and pills. The muscle issues still flare up once or twice a week but never as consistent as they were for months straight!

 

Soooo happy for you that you've come this far!! How exciting to be down to .25! Wat to go!!! 

 

I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous. Only a few months ago I was at .5 and thought I'd be finished by now as you were looking to me, a little behind where I was. Ugh! I know, I know, this is definitely not a contest. But I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from. I just looked at your signature again and was a bit comforted seeing your own updose after the failed Valium attempt and how things really got much smoother for you once your body adjusted. I'm praying that it's the same for me.

 

Again, keep on keeping on, girlfriend! You got this!! Sending love!

 

Lori

 

 

 

Lori,

 

Every post you write is chock full of great information, personal experience and encouragement.  I look forward to them and that keeps me coming back to  read your words.  I have looked to you throughout this entire process and I still do.  I always will.  I feel like we have been on this journey together.  It has been so hard but our banter has made it easier.  Thank you for being my buddie. 

 

You are doing so well.  A few more months is nothing compared to the lifetime we are going to spend benzo free.  As you said it is not a race or a contest and we all have a different journey.  When I had to basically reinstate at the beginning of the summer and tried to cross to valium those were the worst days of my life.  It was the worst withdrawal I have ever felt and it lasted for about 3 months.  I reinstated on the advice of a buddie and my doctor.  It did not help.  I spent from April - July in acute withdrawal and July to October in PAWS.  At the time I was upset at my doctor for having me reinstate and I decided to see a new one.  The first one I saw told me I was in such a sticky situation he didn't see how I was going to get out.  Well I did get out and I can see the light now. You are going to be free soon, so am I and I am very happy for both of us.

 

I think you will find that using the liquid to "step" down slowly into a cut is going to make this easier for you.  I hope that it does.  It did for me. 

 

On a different note I have all my Christmas decorations out too and the house is full of merriment. I have two young kids and they just love this time of year.  Exciting that this will be our last Christmas tapering.  YAY!

 

Hugs!

Pearl