Withdrawing from Xanax

[alabamatrucker]

Dr Steve,
Its your old paranoid hypochondriac pal alabamatrucker. Question- How many days do you have to take benzodiazapenes before you risk seizure or major withdrawl problems. This is a question my friend wanted me to ask. I think he is taking one xanax bar per day and is worried about a siezure if he stops. I think he is currently been on them for close to two weeks. He also takes neurontin for leg pain if that helps any?

Thanks in advance , i understand benzo withdrawl can be dangerous.

AlabamaTrucker

Feel free to answer in an open forum or answer it on air.

Much love

[Dr Steve]

Dr Steve,
Its your old paranoid hypochondriac pal alabamatrucker. Question- How many days do you have to take benzodiazapenes before you risk seizure or major withdrawl problems. This is a question my friend wanted me to ask. I think he is taking one xanax bar per day and is worried about a siezure if he stops. I think he is currently been on them for close to two weeks. He also takes neurontin for leg pain if that helps any?

Thanks in advance , i understand benzo withdrawl can be dangerous.

AlabamaTrucker

Feel free to answer in an open forum or answer it on air.

Much love

Hey AT, and I got your voicemail on the weird medicine question line (423-DIE-TUTI) and we'll be using it on the Christmas show, thanks!

So your friend says he has been taking 2mg of Xanax per day for two weeks. Which means he's probably been taking it for 3 months, right?

Anyway, Xanax is also called "alprazolam" and is a benzodiazepine anti-anxiety medication. Chronic users build up "tolerance" to the drug, and if it's withdrawn suddenly, they'll often have symptoms that include: anxiety, mood swings, drug craving and in rare cases, seizures or psychotic symptoms.

Usually, chronic use is defined as regular dosing for 4-6 weeks or more. However, everyone is different; some people can take it longer without becoming dependent...some less so.

Nearly all people who are dependent on benzodiazepines can successfully withdraw from them...it just needs to be done gradually.

Benzodiazepine withdrawal should be done under a doctor's supervision. Generally it consists simply of tapering the drug over a period of time until the drug can be stopped without significant risk. I'm no prude, but I can't recommend people ever take prescription medications without a prescription from a health care provider. There are just too many pitfalls...it's hard enough when a doctor/NP/PA prescribes them, than to try to manage prescription meds on one's own.

Let me know if this helps!

[earthbrown]

my girlfriend used to pop xanax before she got pregnant, and I will say she had quite a tolerance, I saw her take 8 one night and she was still coherent, although she was quite a bit loopy. She did not experience any withdrawal symptoms after stopping, and she was most regularly taking 2 to 3 per day for the last year, along with other shit her FACILITATING doctor prescribed....she can get about anything from this guy, as he is friends with her grandparents, fuck she simply makes a phone call and scripts show up in the mail the next day....it is ridiculous.

I dont understand why some doctors are so facilitating.....this girls grandmother had the doctor prescribing downers to this girl since she was 10....it is really fucked up....glad she has kicked it.


K

[Dr Steve]

my girlfriend used to pop xanax before she got pregnant, and I will say she had quite a tolerance, I saw her take 8 one night and she was still coherent, although she was quite a bit loopy. She did not experience any withdrawal symptoms after stopping, and she was most regularly taking 2 to 3 per day for the last year, along with other shit her FACILITATING doctor prescribed....she can get about anything from this guy, as he is friends with her grandparents, fuck she simply makes a phone call and scripts show up in the mail the next day....it is ridiculous.

I dont understand why some doctors are so facilitating.....this girls grandmother had the doctor prescribing downers to this girl since she was 10....it is really fucked up....glad she has kicked it.


K

It's very cool that she's kicked this stuff...and you're right, everyone's different. Some people can likely get away with stopping "cold turkey"...the problem is, you can't tell who they are ahead of time (and they're probably in the vast minority). Just like smoking; there are people who smoke their whole lives, then die in a car wreck when they're 100. If there was some blood test that would tell me "this person can smoke and never get cancer or heart disease", heck I'd tell those people to go for it. The problem is smoking increases your risk of a bad outcome (just as quitting benzodiazepines cold turkey does) but doesn't necessarily guarantee the bad outcome.

regarding facilitating doctors, it's sometimes really, really hard to "just say no", and some doctors have a harder time with this than others. It's gotten so bad that I know some doctors who won't prescribe ANY narcotic pain medications (even for cancer patients) because they're terrified of falling into the co-dependency trap. So that's the other side of the coin, on one hand there's a small minority of docs who are probably way to liberal with their prescribing habits, and on the other there's a small minority who won't write anything. the majority of docs/nps/pas are somewhere in the middle, where they should be, though.

[boosterp]

I was on Xanax and now Klonopin for anxiety associated with PTSD and depression. Although I am prescribed 3/day now that I retired I maybe take one a week, only in social settings. I did build up a tolerance to Xanax and really did not like the stuff primarily because the effects were too short term.

[alabamatrucker]

Thanks Doctor Steve your the best. Also thanks for using one of my questions for the christmas wierd medicine show. God Bless


AT

[jauble]

The rare double spam. Step up Dr, Steve.

[Drunky McBetidont]

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I've often wondered that too.. Dr Steve, what do you think?

On an unrelated note, my Doc prescribed Xanax for me about a year ago. I was taking .5mg as needed, and I started to notice that "as needed" was just about every day, so I talked to the guy and he suggested Lexipro.
At first it was pretty rough. The first week or so I actually had worse anxiety at times, and kept using the Xanax.
A few weeks in I sort of just stopped needing the Xanax, only taking a half a pill when I think it will come in handy (like an interview I had the other day). The doc said that that small a dose of Xanax likely gives me a sense of security more than any real physical effect, although it's possible. Still, I like having it around.

[Mr.Misery]

Now you're in my wheelhouse...

I went through this not three months ago, and it's hell. I can only speak from my own experience, but here's how it works: the more Xanax you take, and the shorter the period of time you go through them (I went through a bottle, 30 1mg pills in about a week), the worse and the more protracted the withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms include chills, hot flashes, muscle aches, insomnia, headaches--basically every bad feeling you can have. You cannot just go cold turkey from Xanax; if you do anything like what I did, you're liable to have a seizure. My pill shrink put me on Xanax XR, a controlled release form of Xanax, to begin tapering down. It took about two months, I think, but you can expect to still be feeling withdrawal symptoms long after that; the withdraw can stretch out over months, from what I've read, even a year in the worst cases.

The thing is, I don't think most people realize how serious the consequences can be if you start abusing benzodiazepenes. It's basically at the top of the list as far as long, drawn-out, painful withdrawals, and it's the only one other than alcohol that can actually induce seizure and cause death. I've done withdrawals from every pain pill you could name in the last year and a half, and none of them came close to the Xanax withdrawal. In fact, if you have trouble getting off of narcotic painkillers like Vicodan or Oxycontin, there's a new drug called Suboxone that can basically fool your brain into thinking it doesn't need the drug anymore. Suboxone was a wonder drug for me. I got right off of the Vicodan I'd been on for three months as a result of my car accident. Suboxone does nothing for benzos, unfortunately. Completely different class of drug. So, if you're going through this, there really isn't much you can do other than tough it out. So, if you take Xanax for any reason, be aware that it's extremely dangerous if not used as prescribed; even if you take it as prescribed, you might run into problems...it depends on your temperament. I'd been taking it for over a year prior, but I had one really bad week and before I knew it, I had just about taken the whole bottle. The kicker is that this class of drug is prescribed, generally, for the very same people who, again, depending on individual temperament, are most likely to abuse it.

I think you're better off staying away from the benzos, Xanax in particular; Seroquel has been a great help for anxiety in the aftermath of this withdrawal. I think it's the fact that Xanax is often prescribed 'as needed', which kind of suggests to the mind on some level that it's like taking a couple Advil when you have a headache, and before long, you start popping 'em like tic-tacs. Just be mindful of the fact that this is heavy-duty stuff--it's a controlled substance. The nonchalant way a lot of psychiatrists prescribe these things, I think, contributes to these complications. Most psychiatrists don't even offer therapy anymore--just medication management; to me, that pretty much says it all. You have to be your own advocate, because the doctors most of the time just don't give a fuck; people should know exactly what they're putting into their bodies and not just take the bottle of pills a shrink throws at you, no questions asked. Just beware.

[Dr Steve]

I've often wondered that too.. Dr Steve, what do you think?

On an unrelated note, my Doc prescribed Xanax for me about a year ago. I was taking .5mg as needed, and I started to notice that "as needed" was just about every day, so I talked to the guy and he suggested Lexipro.
At first it was pretty rough. The first week or so I actually had worse anxiety at times, and kept using the Xanax.
A few weeks in I sort of just stopped needing the Xanax, only taking a half a pill when I think it will come in handy (like an interview I had the other day). The doc said that that small a dose of Xanax likely gives me a sense of security more than any real physical effect, although it's possible. Still, I like having it around.


The SSRI and SNRI antidepressants turn out to be great for anxiety, without the habit-forming potential of the Xanaxes and Ativans of the world. Their main adverse effect is delayed ejaculation and/or decreased libido, though there are some serious effects as well, including suicidal thinking, etc. You have to stay in touch with your prescriber when you take medications like this just to make sure you're not one of the very few people who have a serious effect.

Glad the Lexapro is working for you!


your pal,



steve

[Bigtchrist]

Thanks.. reading this thread... and well.. .this message board reminded me to take my xanax.... :D Thanks Dr Steve!