Going off of Xanax

Actually my bio is my question, I was told if I try to come off xanex I'd die , I was put on it at age 15 and now I'm 54 I didn't know any better or what the med was or what it could do to my body over time , all in all honesty I wish I could sue tge makers of this drug, not only am I addicted, the state of Indiana whwre qe bought a home wont write tge perception so wvery 3 months i drive 14 hours 1 way to get it , i cant hardly take tgis ride anymore as i have other issues like deteriorating bones and more , help please . Thank you 🙏

Hi...I know where you're coming from. I am in my 60's and have been on Xanax for almost 30 yrs. I wish they would NEVER have prescribed this....long story short, I was prescribed it because of panic attacks from taking me off another prescription. My situation should have been handled COMPLETELY different, but here I am and it is what it is. No ethical doctor will 'yank' this med from anyone....my God, you CAN die. Your system will 'speed up', your BP will go up & you could possible also have a heart attack. You would have to be very slowly weaned off, and not by yourself. Monitored carefully. That's a pretty big dosage. My prescription has been 0.5 mg., twice a day, so 1 mg. total daily, for all these yrs. Much lower than yours...I will more than likely stay on it. I have 2 sons and 6 grandchildren (2 passed away)....I want to be around for longer, also. If ANYTHING, you'd think maybe a dr. would suggest slowly reducing the dosage....VERY slowly, because you WILL go through withdrawal....which is of course, anxiety. It's hard. Many yrs. ago, a dr. prescribed Xanax to me....started out at a low dosage....I later found out that he was doing this with many women (one was a neighbor), he always attributed any problems we had to 'nerves'. Every time I left his office, I'd sit in my vehicle and look at the prescription he had written out.....every one of them would be MORE PILLS.....he always said to me, "Don't worry...if you need more, take more....if you can't sleep, take another one"....on & on. (he was nothing but a 'legal' drug dealer) I became addicted. How could I not? Yes.....some may say, well....it was up to me to take it or not....and that is true. BUT, I trusted him when he said I 'needed' it and that everything would be 'fine'. So did other women. MANY women! Well...we all eventually saw why he was doing this....to get more 'customers'....that's what we were....'customers'. I finally had it...I called him & asked him to please help me wean off of it. Do you know what he said? His exact words...."Uh...there's a nurse waving at me...I have to go." And....he hung up on me. My God, instead of weaning me off....he YANKED the prescription! Before I knew it, I had a call from my pharmacy...with another med. he had called in. I can't remember the name of it now....but they said he was prescribing it as a 'maintenance' drug....all I remember was that it was HORRIBLE. I was having tremors, horrendous anxiety, I was scared....called my neighbor, she went through withdrawal, also (he had been her dr., too)....but she said she wasn't on the huge dosage I was given. The reason he was prescribing all of this was to make more money and open his own practice, which he did. He didn't care what he did to people....he was only trying to 'get ahead'. He left a lot of people in limbo and in mental pain. I soon got a new Dr., I was still VERY anxious (shaking badly, almost crying) when I went in, told her the whole story, she was pissed & knew who he was, she was the one who put me on THIS dosage....it has remained the same, she retired 5 yrs. ago, after 15 yrs. going to her. Best Dr. I ever had! Like I said, wish I DIDN'T need it....on the other hand, she saved me. I was an emotional mess when I went in to her. She had said she would help me wean off the new prescription, if I ever wanted to....but what she prescribed me was a tiny fraction of what the other dr. had prescribed me. It's been a rough road. Wow....sorry, didn't mean to go on & on. Guess it just reminded me of what I went through because of a very unethical dr. My new dr. said it was a miracle I did not go into seizures, possibly have a heart attack, etc. But....it was HORRIBLE. Do you have any rehab centers close to you, where you could call & speak to someone about this? Maybe a center that takes regular insurance and Medicaid, also? Do you have any refills on your Xanax prescription now? I should scroll up and see, but am so tired....but also worried about you. Even a counselor at a rehab center can give you information (I called one)....maybe have you come in to see another dr., and he could do this in a very safe environment.....or even as an out-patient. You would not have to be COMPLETELY off of it, if you feel a small dosage would help you. You know how you feel....only you can know this. And, I very much agree with you.....to yank a prescription on Xanax on anyone IS murder....or it could be. I was lucky...I made it through. Please keep us updated....the dr. who did this to me should have been disbarred (sp.?), but he wasn't.....he made enough $$$$ on customers to open his own practice. I hope there is such a thing as Karma!! Take care now and let me know how you're doing....hugs!!

Same here. 25 years on Xanax. 3 mgs. per day. I told my doctor the Xanax was no longer effective and I needed to taper off. Long story short he abandoned me. That’s what they do because they have no idea how to taper someone and they don’t want to deal with a patient going through withdrawal.

I am so sorry! I wish there was an 'ANGRY' icon to click on....that's what I am.....angry. They take a damn oath to do no harm....and that's exactly what some of them do! They are taught to prescribe pills...that's one thing that medical school teaches them. They usually know NO side-effects, etc., unless a patient has told him (or her). I've found that my best bet for side-effects, if I don't find them online, is to call my pharmacy....speaking to a Pharmacist is always my best bet. How are you doing on your Xanax? Are you still on the 3 mgs. daily? Do you still have this Dr. or have you found another? I know what a hassle it is to find another....I hate doing that. I'm just concerned about you....when you have anxiety....and are wanting to cut down on the drug to treat it, it's a double whammy.....it just makes a person MORE anxious. Please let me know how you're doing. I haven't been on the forum for a while....been wrapped up in cardiologist appts. Geez....I had heart surgery 30 yrs. ago.....and now am being told I will need another....but they want to send me to a cardiologist hospital in Chicago, IL....they said it's too dangerous to try it here, but my God, we have tons of Cardiologists! Well....I go in the hospital this Thurs. for several more tests, then we'll see what's what!! LOL we're supposed to be able to grow older and just ENJOY life!! Anyway, please keep me in the loop....talk at you later. Hugs!

Same here. 25 years on Xanax. 3 mgs. per day. I told my doctor the Xanax was no longer effective and I needed to taper off. Long story short he abandoned me. That’s what they do because they have no idea how to taper someone and they don’t want to deal with a patient going through withdrawal.

Sorry to hear you’re having health issues. Heart issues can be confounding for sure. It’s taken forever but I switched over to Valium 4 years ago and am now taking 1 mg. Valium. My doctor says it’s safe to jump off but I’m scared to death to do so. He’s so patient. This is the doctor I found after being abandoned. It took months to find another physchiatrist that would take a benzo patient over 65. I live in a very large city and couldn’t believe it was so difficult. The doctors that take seniors were booked 6-8 months out. It was a nightmare!! I swear I have PTSD from all this. I never dreamed I’d be going through this at my age for this long. If only I could turn back the clock. I would have never in a million years put that first Xanax in my mouth. Remember there was no internet in 1989 and information was not at our fingertips. The older folks have really gotten the short end of the stick on this benzo thing! I just keep plugging along and hoping for the best. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Wishing you well and hoping you find the best care that need and deserve. God bless!

Actually my bio is my question, I was told if I try to come off xanex I'd die , I was put on it at age 15 and now I'm 54 I didn't know any better or what the med was or what it could do to my body over time , all in all honesty I wish I could sue tge makers of this drug, not only am I addicted, the state of Indiana whwre qe bought a home wont write tge perception so wvery 3 months i drive 14 hours 1 way to get it , i cant hardly take tgis ride anymore as i have other issues like deteriorating bones and more , help please . Thank you 🙏

Sorry to hear you’re having health issues. Heart issues can be confounding for sure. It’s taken forever but I switched over to Valium 4 years ago and am now taking 1 mg. Valium. My doctor says it’s safe to jump off but I’m scared to death to do so. He’s so patient. This is the doctor I found after being abandoned. It took months to find another physchiatrist that would take a benzo patient over 65. I live in a very large city and couldn’t believe it was so difficult. The doctors that take seniors were booked 6-8 months out. It was a nightmare!! I swear I have PTSD from all this. I never dreamed I’d be going through this at my age for this long. If only I could turn back the clock. I would have never in a million years put that first Xanax in my mouth. Remember there was no internet in 1989 and information was not at our fingertips. The older folks have really gotten the short end of the stick on this benzo thing! I just keep plugging along and hoping for the best. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Wishing you well and hoping you find the best care that need and deserve. God bless!

Actually my bio is my question, I was told if I try to come off xanex I'd die , I was put on it at age 15 and now I'm 54 I didn't know any better or what the med was or what it could do to my body over time , all in all honesty I wish I could sue tge makers of this drug, not only am I addicted, the state of Indiana whwre qe bought a home wont write tge perception so wvery 3 months i drive 14 hours 1 way to get it , i cant hardly take tgis ride anymore as i have other issues like deteriorating bones and more , help please . Thank you 🙏

I too have been on Xanax that a psych doc put me on some 20 years ago, and he didn't say a word about not stopping the drug at once. After two weeks of being on 0.25 three times daily, I actually started having more gut rumbling( which I think was from the paxil he put me on as well), so he upped the Xanax to 0.5 mg. three times a day.

After two more weeks I just wasn't feeling well, so I dropped the paxil thinking there should be no problem with it, and after a few days I felt worse, so out of despair I chose to quit the Xanax. As you know, after about two days, the pounding headache and severe nausea started. Not knowing what else to do I called the doctor, let him know what symptoms I had and that I had also quit the meds.

Without delay, he said he would prescribe a 25mg suppositories Compazine to use for nausea, and a barbiturate with aspirin and caffeine. Parent got them from the pharmacy in about an hour, and after one Compazine and one tablet of the other, after an hour nausea was gone, and minor headache existed. After a few days my muscles felt limp, but I didn't need the Compazine or the pill anymore either, After a week or so, I went back on my Elavil that I was on when I first went to that psych doc.

I tried another psych doc my primary doctor suggested a couple months later because I just couldn't shake some nervousness I had. Now my pain management doc handles my klonopin which was tried for nerve pain since my psych doc already had me on 4mg, but now after 13 years of 6 mg. klonopin, I would like to try to get the klonopin to 5mg, and I just don't know how to really go about it without some help from other medications that are non-benzo and very little possibility of these other meds causing dependency.

Elavil would be a good choice, but my eyes are so dry, I couldn't take enough Elavil to make a difference. 16 to 17 years ago I was on a combo of using something like 3 mg. klonopin and 2-3 mg. Xanax (all at Night) and I felt like I had much more energy through the day than I do on this 6mg. klonopin. . I just don't feel like I can hold down a full time job and be on 6mg klonopin. Tried stimulants years ago, but my chest just can't tolerate them.

It would seem like an oral dose of Compazine would help with the tapering for a few weeks, but no idea how dry it would make me. I have ideas, but not sure if they're good ideas, and not sure if a doctor would go along with any of them.