Xanax (alprazolam) [Benzo]

[heres2ferrari]

to me xanax is a savior and demon rolled into one. I am on 6mg of xanax and 4mg of klonopin.

tolerance sucks. you liver prevents you from being able to achieve a relaxing dose after a while because it start to destroy the enzymes. hence why you hear of pple w such huge tolerances. it doesnt matter if i take 6mg or 60mg i can walk around find.

[quits]

No long term cognitive impairment has been documented with Xanax. Short term , antegrade amnesia is common however.

Does Cognitive behavioral Therapy work, or you just end up paying bills to the shrink ?

[upallnite]

I cannot sleep. My psychiatrist said I am depressed and that's why I cannot sleep so she prescribed Xanax. I've taken it before but that was a long time ago and it did help me sleep. I am so afraid of becoming dependent on it but I need it to sleep. Here's the weird thing. She prescribed .25 mg at bedtime along with my Remeron and it worked. I then thought I'll cut it in half and see if it still worked. It did. I then cut that in half winding up with a tiny piece and guess what? It works. However, if I don't take it I cannot sleep at all. Has anyone else ever taken such a small amount? Also can this tiny amount become addictive? I have enough problems without worrying about getting hooked on Xanax.

[terrasita]

Hello all

I am new here, so a quick background: I have worked through anxiety and social anxiety for quite a while. At this point in my life my anxiety is manageable but still something I have to be aware of and treat accordingly. Mostly this is done through natural methods and natural remedies, ie.. exercise, meditation, herbs, vitamins, etc.

However, my one drug of choice that I seem to keep around is Xanex. However, I have decided as of this week that this drug (at least for my situation) is an immediate gratification but ultimately makes my life challenging.

I don't have a prescription and I get my pills from a family member (yes I know, not legit). In any case I take about .5 mg very infrequently. I take it maybe once a week to help sleep or maybe twice a week on the week before my period when I am experiencing hormonal imbalance.

So, my thoughts are that while it helps me sleep and makes me feel immediately at ease, the next day to next 3 days are filled with an onslaught of depression and moderate to severe anxiety. My last xanex I took was on Thursday and for the next 3 days I had increasing levels of anxiety. Today they are diminishing.

I am convinced this rebound is just from taking the xanex (even a low dose infrequently). It's the kind of anxiety that I can't control at all and doesn't normally happen for me. Only following the days I take Xanex.

So, I just wanted to share this experience with you about this drug. I know it will work differently with different people and that I am ultra sensitive to most drugs. But I think people with anxiety are more sensitive in general, too.

Anyway, just my thoughts. Be well.

[upallnite]

Thank you terrasita for your thoughts. Tonight I'll try to sleep without the Xanax. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my psychiatrist and let her know what happened but she is firm about me taking it until I'm past my issues which she believes are preventing me from sleeping.

[Donzy]

will Xanax help me in quitting my job?
I have 0.25 xanax with me and I want to take it before sitting with my boss to tell her that I want to quit my job. I know it may sound stupid, but I am really stressed about this meeting as I know that her reaction will be very difficult to handle. She depends on me so much and she will be devastated when she hears the news, and for you to know, the working environment in our company is not very professional, it's more of an intimate climate. That's why i can't do it by email (it would have saved me a lot). This issue has been stressing me out so much the past few weeks, I need to tell her ASAP and I keep on postponing it as I want to avoid facing her, I even have high heart beat rates when i think about it. But it must happen, the sooner the better. Do you think that if I take one xanax pill before sitting with her, will it make me confident and calm and not hesitant to tell her? if yes, is half a 0.25 pill enough? it's my very first time to take it and I am a pretty cautious person when it comes to taking medicines. PLEASE HELP!
Thanks.

[justagirl9]

Social Anxiety Background
social anxiety for over 10 years/depression for about 15 years

Other Treatments
"getting over it" (yeah right, that works, yes that's the "advice" that people I know give me), St. John's Wort, Kava Kava & other vitamins, exercise, (including yoga & pilates as well as cardio, etc), sunshine, self help books, moving around (different states)

and about 6 different antidepressants (SSRIs, atypical & tricyclic from different generations)-Until recently I didn't realize it had been that many since it was spaced out over 11 years and most of the time I wasn't on any because they only cause me terrible side effects & withdrawal.

Xanax is basically the only thing that does anything for me (aside from booze and I can't walk around drunk in non drinking situations, it would make me more self conscious). I would equate it to feeling like you'd had a hit off of a joint. I am more talkative and more able to do things. I still feel like people are looking at/judging me but I think more along the lines of I don't care and can go do what I need to do.

I take .5-2 depending on the issue at hand. Usually if it's 2 it's because of something terrible happening and is spread out over a period of hours. Currently I take it at most, once weekly. Aside from the last time there was a death in my family (last fall) and I was super depressed. I was taking it 2-3 times a week then but it makes me really hungry and I have disordered eating issues so I avoid taking it if I can.

I've been told that it's very habit forming and people are reticent to prescribe it. I had also heard and read that Klonopin was similar for emergencies. I was able to get a doc to prescribe Klonopin but all it does is make me tired, no comparison if you ask me. Basically useless unless I was actually just using it to go to sleep.

It should be noted that I only leave my home (at most 2-3 times per week). I would be more likely to use Xanax more often to actually go places (I'm afraid of a lot of places) if it didn't make me feel like I was starving and I could actually get a prescription. I met someone once (prior to my ever taking it) who was working while on it. It really makes me tired so I don't see how I could do that.

[rundown]

Hi, this is my first time here and lots of great things happening on this forum. I love to see people getting off xanax. I was on it for almost 10 yrs and it about did me in. I hope people read sites like this before starting xanax. It should be a requirement for doctors to inform us what will happen. I started my site with just a few articles of how i quit to help other as well. I really need to add more because there are alot of us out there. It sure feels great being off this stuff. Good luck to everyone else trying to get off xanax.

[rundown]

oops i think i just reported my own post! dah

[Mauricio5]

Alprazolam. The devil and god wrapped inside of one. I am currently trying to ween myself off of this and it has been incredibly tough. I have panic disorder and am worried about the long term usage of this. It certainly has helped though. I imagine a longer lasting benzo would be less addictive physically but maybe thats just wishful thinking.

[mkultra]

Major depression, GAD, panic attacks
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Zoloft, Benzos, Lyrica, Remeron
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Alprazolam is really creepy..I started 0,50 x 3 /day and one day i started taking them like candies (up to 10 mg). Right now I detox with diazepam. Be very carefull friends, the addiction is quickly and awful.
Stay safe, thank you.

[aregone]

Originally Posted by mkultra

Alprazolam is really creepy..I started 0,50 x 3 /day and one day i started taking them like candies (up to 10 mg). Right now I detox with diazepam. Be very carefull friends, the addiction is quickly and awful.
Stay safe, thank you.

Well, I think we all did this at some point, as I did with lorazepam too, that is really creepy, at 5 mg I had distorted vision, euphoria, It was nice somehow. Though, if you tend to abuse benzos I recomand you all clonazepam, for me it had no abuse potential, but though its side effects are undesirable, unlike alprazolam.

[FoundAndLost]

Originally Posted by mkultra

Major depression, GAD, panic attacks
----------------------------------------
Zoloft, Benzos, Lyrica, Remeron
----------------------------------------

Alprazolam is really creepy..I started 0,50 x 3 /day and one day i started taking them like candies (up to 10 mg). Right now I detox with diazepam. Be very carefull friends, the addiction is quickly and awful.
Stay safe, thank you.

Originally Posted by aregone

Well, I think we all did this at some point, as I did with lorazepam too, that is really creepy, at 5 mg I had distorted vision, euphoria, It was nice somehow. Though, if you tend to abuse benzos I recomand you all clonazepam, for me it had no abuse potential, but though its side effects are undesirable, unlike alprazolam.

I actually started to catch myself doing this with Klonopin, you don't realize your addicted until it's too late. It took a long time for me to taper off. Besides this, if you can have self control then benzos are a life saver.

[BRAJ]

hi everyone this is my first post

i have been prescribed every benzo i can think of except valium and i have never had any sedative effects even at quite high doses, the only thing i notice is memory loss

[Soliloquitious]

They're nice if you're having an extreme surge of panic or anxiety, taking them daily however, is well beyond idiotic. Makes me question doctors more than I thought possible.

[UncertainMuffin]

I couldn't imagine popping these on a daily basis - I'm sure I would be addicted by now. I've been on .5mg as needed (usually two or three times a week) for a year and it's really helped my anxiety.

[McdonaldMiller]

This drug contributed to the ruination of my life. I would not call it a treatment.

[Tazmania]

I suffer from anxiety, but honestly, I'd rather smoke pot even though it is illegal than take a prescription medication. Everyone I know who has taken Xanax has had to up their dosage, and then when they try to withdrawal, they get terrible withdrawal symptoms, and their anxiety comes back ten fold. I think it's a crime that Doctors and pharma companies are making big bucks with these types of drugs. I also am completely baffled that college age students are taking this as a recreational drug. My best friend's son did this, and at age 21, he ended up committing suicide. It started as fun and games, and ended up with death. I want to warn the whole world, so that this doesn't happen to you. Anxiety is a heck of a lot better than death! That being said, I've found that warm baths and exercise help me greatly with my anxiety, and I urge all of you to follow suit. Everyone suffers from anxiety, everyone... they just don't wear it on their sleeve. And believe me, I've had some intense panic attacks... still, I'd rather have the panic attack (which at the max only last about 30 mins) than eat one of those Xanax or any other anxiety medication.

[jocsmith]

I have been taking 1/4 of a bar of xanax every night before going to bed since January or February. I stopped taking them for about two weeks in May and felt jittery but nothing else. I started back on them, taking the same dosage and now I haven't been feeling focused or I feel zoned out around 6pm. I usually take 1/4 of a piece around 11 pm. Do you think I could just stop taking them without having withdrawals or seizures? I really need some advice.

[theJdogg]

Originally Posted by jocsmith

I have been taking 1/4 of a bar of xanax every night before going to bed since January or February. I stopped taking them for about two weeks in May and felt jittery but nothing else. I started back on them, taking the same dosage and now I haven't been feeling focused or I feel zoned out around 6pm. I usually take 1/4 of a piece around 11 pm. Do you think I could just stop taking them without having withdrawals or seizures? I really need some advice.

This is only a guess, but it sounds as though your body may be going through benzo withdrawals from your 11pm dose by 6pm the next day. Compared to other benzos, xanax is pretty fast acting. You may want to try klonipin for a more sustained effect. It's up to you on where to go from here. Personally, I don't like being addicted. I take some benzos once a month or so, but I can usually function without them.

If you want to avoid seizures, taper off xanax. You shouldn't just quit.

Good luck