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Xanax Withdrawal....

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Posted 6/11/2010 10:33 PM (GMT 0)
Hi,

I have been taking xanax  for about 2mths - starting with .25mg 2x a day [I sometimes would take it 3-4x a day].

i was able to do this cause I had overlapping Rx when my doctor upped the dose to .50mg 3wks ago.

The main reason I take it is to sleep - most times I do not take in the day time and with the higher dose

I would only take 2 before bed and sometimes 1 more if I woke during the night. So I do not take for

anxiety only occasionally if I feel stressed. The reason the dose was increased cause the meds had less

effect on me within a short time. Im not one to get dependent on meds - but last night I had run out of

pills more than a week before refill and it took a real long time before I fell asleep. Today I felt bad, my legs

heavy and stiff, a bad stomach and just in kind of a fog. I know part of this is from lack of sleep but could

I be going thru withdrawal already? I would say I take avg. of 2 / .50mg tabs a day like I wrote- occasionally

3. Is this med the type where you it increasingly have to up the dose as your body adjusts to it? Is there

a better alternative? I do not take any other meds. Thank You.

Posted 6/11/2010 11:52 PM (GMT 0)
Although you were taking a relatively low dosage of xanax, I am really concerned that you stopped taking it abruptly, without tapering. Withdrawal from opiates (i.e. oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, etc.) can make you feel like you are going to die - but it has rarely happened. However, it is much different with benzodiazepines (i.e. xanax, valium, etc.) - a person can have a fatal reaction when stopping 'cold turkey'. There is a VERY high risk of seizures. I'm sorry, I don't mean to scare you (or maybe I do), but please pay close attention to how you are feeling. If something just doesn't 'feel' right - please go immediately to the ER. It's just that a long time ago I lost someone close to me due to this very thing so I had to respond to your post. Please take care of yourself.
Posted 6/12/2010 12:54 AM (GMT 0)
Hi,

Thanks for the input and your time. I will pay mind to that but I think I'll be ok.
I should be more careful because I cant turn things on and off like a switch.
How long was your friend on and do you know what doseage?
Posted 6/12/2010 1:37 AM (GMT 0)
Xanax is a short acting drug so the withdrawl symptoms could start very shortly after a missed dose. I really think you should call your doctor, explain what happened.
Posted 6/12/2010 5:42 AM (GMT 0)
Hi ghosst,

I'm glad you posted your experience. Often people are too embarrassed or ashamed to talk about being out of a medication before they should be. But this is a serious situation and others need to know about.

Splashdancer...I am so sorry you lost a dear friend to the withdrawal from this medication. So often we just don't know and don't think stopping a drug can harm up. After all, this is an addicting drug and a serious medication so one would think that stopping it would be helpful. This is a good warning for all of us who take any prescription medications to always check with the prescribing doctor before we stop taking something. I is very courageous of you to talk about your loss and you are a wonderful person to share this with someone else in hopes of saving them from danger.

Since I don't know too much about Xanax withdrawal I looked it up. I found a site with a lot of good information. Below is a clip from the article and then I posted the link if someone wants to read up on it.

I hope this helps someone and I hope you get through this ghosst. No one needs to chew you out for taking more medication than was prescribed. You are paying a heavy price for it now and I'm sure you are pretty miserable. Good luck and keep in touch.

Chutz

Withdrawal Treatment for Xanax:
"The treatment approach is focused primarily on the utilization of Tegretol, which has been shown to be extremely effective in preventing and of the major symptoms of Xanax withdrawal, as well as attenuating significantly most of the minor symptoms."

www.benzoliberty.com/information/xanaxwd.php
Posted 6/12/2010 9:31 AM (GMT 0)
Hello Gohhst, please be careful. My 20 year old daughter, who was living with us at the time, ran out of her klonapin (sp?) early. She called the doc's office and told the receptionist that she was 2 days early. and had refills at the pharmacy. but needed an ok from the doctor to refill early. The receptionist put her on hold, and then when she came back on the line, she said that the doc said she was NOT getting an early refill. We were kind of shocked because our doctor was not like that. He may have had a talk with her about running out early, but he truly cared about his patients and he would not put her in danger like that. This was the first time she had run out early. The next day, which was New Years Day, she had a very bad seizure on the front porch, and had never had a seizure before. It was the scariest moment of my life....it was a bad one....her skin even turned a sickly gray color. She was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance and our doctor was the one on call at the hospital. When he heard why she had a seizure, he was very upset. If he would have had it his way.....the receptionist would have lost her job! She didn't, but was reprimanded and told to NEVER make a judgment call like that again! Those types of meds can be very helpful but are very scary! We decided that the risks when going off the drug far outweighed the benefits of the drug....at least for my daughter and weaned her off of them slowly....very slowly....a quarter of a pill change each week. Anyway....sorry I am rambling on....this is just a bad subject for me! Please be very careful with these meds.....very careful!! Oh, sorry.....very nice to meet you.....and Take care of you!!

Beckey
Posted 6/12/2010 2:53 PM (GMT 0)
Excellent topic, with so many good post! There are many many many medications that you can not just stop taking them! Everything from some of the common Blood Pressure medications to of course muscle relaxants and pain meds. Usually if the medication is taken regularly and for long term, (more than just a few days) one should always be carefull, and only go off of it, under a Doctors supervision. That is why it is do vitally important, if you know that you are not going to have enough medication to last you till your next refill, then please, do not put off contacting your Doctor till the last moment to get it taken care of! Address the problem as soon as you possibly can, so you can, if need be, you will have time to find alternative ways of handling it the situation, if you run into problems. It is unfortunate, that some people, that even work in the medical field do not know this or take this seriously, as Beckey's post attest too!


White Beard
Posted 6/12/2010 6:22 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry for the late response, Ghosst. To answer your question, she was on 2-4mg/day for about 5 months. She was under a Dr.'s care while she was taking it and at the time of her death. Unfortunately, money was a huge issue at the time and she had to make a choice between medication and food. She had NO idea how dangerous abruptly stopping the xanax could be. For the first 2 days, she felt awful but couldn't quite put her finger on what she was feeling. I know that might not make sense, but it appears she may have been suffering from 'mini' seizures during that time. By the third day, she couldn't get out of bed. I checked on her at noon and she told me not to worry, that she would call me if it got any worse. By 2:30 she was gone. She apparently had a prolonged grand mal seizure. I hope you are feeling better today. Please let us know how you are doing.
Posted 6/12/2010 10:20 PM (GMT 0)
In a book I own called "The Essential Guide to Psychiatric Drugs", they list withdrawals symptoms from Benzos as:

Most Common-

Nervousness

Insomia

Loss on Appetite

Metallic taste

Tingling Feelings

Headache

Lack of coordination

Perspiration

Noises sound very loud

Muscle Aches

Lack of energy

Least Common-

Poor concentration

Seizures

It says that atleast 50% of people who take Bezos will suffer some degree of withdrawal. Eventhough the book doesn't list Death from withdrawals, I know some people have died from it. The longer you take it, and the higher of a dose you take, and the kind you take, like the long acting ones like Klonopin and valium with cause worse withdrawals then the short acting ones like Xanax and Ativan and if you've only taken them in small doses for a short time, the less the withdrawals will be. But I also think it depends on our bodies, we all react diffrent to taking medications, so I'm sure we all react diffrently coming off of medications.

One of my friends a few years back had a new doctor refuse to refill her Klonopin and she ended up having to be rushed to the ER in an ambulance, she got very very ill. So be very careful.

-carmen

Posted 6/13/2010 8:41 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Everyone

Thank you so much for your input and your support! I was able to get some meds to tide me over - which I'm taking prudently and I'm ok.
I will keep the info in mind and be more careful from now on.
Posted 6/14/2010 1:35 AM (GMT 0)
If you have have a good doctor and a relationship with him/her-it is often best to let the doc know before you are going to run out of meds that you are going through a tough patch and are going to need extra.
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