I've been on Xanax since age 15 I'm 54 :( help

It's much more harder than that I'm on 2mg 3xs @ day for past 20years I believe not certain on that but has definitely gotta be close maybe longer and this is the key sentence, Everyone is completely different!!!! I'm very happy your off this horrible drug . 🥰

I agree with some of the other comments here about discontinuing a benzodiazepine. I have been on Klonopin for 40 years and have gradually decreased the dose to the smallest amount daily at this point in my life. It is totally possible to not only reduce but discontinue if you do it very very slowly and with the support of talk therapy.
The issue with most people is more psychological than it is physical. The emotional and psychological dependence can be stronger than the physical dependence for a lot of folks. The simple change in reality (“i’m not taking it anymore”)
can cause anxiety. They are no longer in the care of the medication and it feels scary at first. Regardless of some of the popular opinion out there, it has been an extremely safe and helpful medication for me and I have had the luxury of an outstanding provider all these years.
I would encourage you not to feel badly about staying on it if it helps you and makes life just a little bit more tolerable. Have had many discussions over the years about the risk/reward of it all, and I think staying on the medication to live a better life is where I always seem to end up.
I don’t view it as being any different than having to take medication for diabetes or heart disease or cancer. If it’s something you need to function properly and have a better existence, then I think it’s worth it.
Best of luck.

You replied to the wrong person. It gets confusing sometimes.

It’s not easy for the vast majority of people, it was extremely hard on me and took years due to the amount I took and the number of years I took it. My only point was death is not even a factor if one tapers correctly. People that have major problems (seizures) cold turkied or tapered too fast.

Has anyone ever recommended that you switch to another benzodiazepine such as Klonopin, which has a much longer half life and is easier to taper from.
Hang in there.

Ooops sorry about that.

I’m a 73 years old female who has been taking a benzodiazepine for over twenty years, for the most part I never had any issues or even concerns about being on this medication. I knew that I was dependent on it, I find this a better word than addicted but I do realize it’s all the same. I never really thought about it because millions of people are dependent on their medication and just accept it as a normal thing, they need it to survive either mentally or physically. In the past number of years there has been a strong shift towards the negativities of this drug resulting from problems that have come about regarding other drugs, i.e. opioids. My sympathies go out to the people who became victims of this drug, it was truly a terrible injustice and resulted in a horrific problem for the many people who were affected and victims of it. Sadly when these tragedies happen it causes a massive landslide taking more people with it. I have read many stories about people suffering from the stress of being caught in this pandemic of another kind, they never had any issues or problems with their medication, in most cases they used it carefully and never abused it, now these same people are suffering from the pressure being put on them by the government and the medical system. It was like reading horror stories about people who used benzodiazepine for years and were later abandoned by the very same doctors who provided it for them. I don’t know how this will run it’s course, at the end of the day we are a world filled with pain and suffering and medication has always been a very big part of it. It’s truly an injustice to all of us who are being affected by this and somehow we must rise above it whatever it takes, this crisis is one of so many that are in our world, all I can say is stay strong and don’t let it take you down, most of all keep your faith strong and positive and hope for better days ahead for all of us.

Hi – thank you for your very thoughtful Insight. Can you provide a little more information about the crisis you are talking about? Are doctors now refusing to write scripts for benzos? If so, why?
Apologies in advance for not being up to speed on this.
Thanks so much.

I totally agree and empathize. Everyone’s bodies and brains are different, everyone’s threshold for anxiety is different, and that always needs to be taken into account in conversations like this. I wish you all the best in your journey.

@londonex, hi there, thank you for reaching out, my purpose for posting this comment was based on all the comments I have read in the last few years from people who were struggling with fear about not being able to find someone to help them with their benzodiazepine prescription, the reasons were varied from doctors who were retiring and basically leaving their patients alone to get help, the new doctors and also younger ones were not interested in getting involved with these drugs, they were educated about them and at the very least they would provide a patient with a two week supply. The other problem was that the doctors who did provide them their meds were caught up in a the negativity surrounding benzodiazepine and some started pressuring their patients to withdraw, in some cases the withdrawal process was much too fast but they didn’t care, I was a victim of this and sadly all it did was increase my anxiety so the outcome was a disaster. I have posted many comments about this and the shaming I was put through, I never abused my medication and did my utmost best to stay on the same dose, believe me, that was so difficult to do because it’s very well known that you tend to increase over time because your body gets used to the medication. I had to get cancer before my doctor started easing up his pressure but he put me in the care of the pharmacy and I hated this arrangement for many reasons. I know that benzodiazepines were always frowned upon because they are addictive but that didn’t stop the doctors from prescribing them because they worked very well and it made things easier for the doctors who were getting busier with more patients, a quick fix for them and a possible life time of stress and struggles for the patient. I also believe that the opioid crisis which is another travesty of wrong doing got bigger all the time, another highly addictive drug and so they put everything together, thus creating another crisis, it’s a well known fact that you can’t mix benzodiazepine and opioid, it will definitely cause overdose.