Going off of Xanax

my personal experience with .5 mg Xanax was really good for quite a few years. Within the last year, I have started to experience some serious depression and my anxiety has increased. I would love to just stop it and not feel this, but my body said absolutely no when I tried for a week. I ended up sitting on the couch, unable to eat during this entire effort. I do not agree with your doctor that it is not addictive. My cardiologist and my general practitioner believe it to be a very low dosage, but that does not mean it’s not addictive. I will be 73 very soon and don’t know if I’m metabolizing things differently or what the change has been, but I am definitely feeling it. I have an appointment in two weeks with my doctor to discuss what we’re going to change to get me off this drug. I absolutely do not feel it is doing any good any longer. I’ve also lost over 25 pounds since this brain fog started. In my personal experience again, I say beware. Good luck working through your decision and I hope you find something workable for yourself.

Doctors tend to suggest cutting in half and then stopping. In my experience and that of friends, it can take months to get off benzos and withdrawal, unlike alcohol, can actually be dangerous, even causing psychosis. See if you can get a liquid form, or after cutting dose in half, then 1/4, try using longer time intervals, going from say 12 hours to 16 and so on. Treat your brain gently!

Thank you for your help. Have you or friends stopped taking .5 mg of Xanax completely? It really sounds like so little but it’s so daunting. I usually take mine between six and seven in the morning daily. Knowing that it’s a short acting medication and done working within 6 to 8 hours made me think it would be easier to stop taking. It’s not like by 4 o’clock I’m losing my mind and chomping at the bit for another. Sometimes I’m a little more anxious than others, but I wait it out until the next morning. Really trying to get an idea of exactly what to expect. Thanks again!

Xanax's effects lats up to 8 hours but it can stay in your body for 2-5 days.
https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/long-xanax-3510962/
(I have learned to check the half life of meds (and not only half life of med level in my body but in some cases, like with steroids, half life of biological effect.)

Withdrawal is the hardest toward the end in my experience. Again you can use time between doses as part of a taper once you get down to the lowest level you can- again my experience but based on a lot of research at the time.

Again, Thank You! I am trying to get over the anger of blaming the Doctor who prescribed Lorazepam for almost 15 years and the horrible things that have happened to my body. I was negligent in not reading the info attached to my prescription, I never gave it a second thought. We really do trust our Doctors and would never think they would in any way harm us. Everyone is saying the Doctors are in cahoots with the Prescription companies. Ultimately it is our responsibility to be informed of what we ingest in our bodies.

Helo! I'm new in this online gathering and I have questions about Xanax. I am 74 years old and I take 0.5 Xanax occasionally to control anxiety and depression. I developed ME/CSF in 2022 and the struggle with this monster cannot be described adequately. A number of doctors threw their hands up once they took my history and recognized ME/CFS. I live in Greece and my current local doctor prescribe 0.5 Xanax for occasional use because I have suffered a terrible family incident in 2019 when I was separated from my family in the US (long sad terrible story). ME/CFS is almost unknown in this country and the go-to solution is to feed you depression medications by the bushel which I HATE ( and threw away completely after a 10-week withdrawal odyssey that thankfully succeeded). Xanax, however, has had decent success in controlling my disintegrated mood and, recently, my increasing difficulty walking. Sleeping is a struggle but Night Ade serotonin does a decent job, although I wake up a bit "drunk." Occasionally, I bypass the serotonin and take one 0.5 Xanax which delivers a bit more shuteye.

Does anybody in this helpful gathering have similar circumstances and impressions? Should I be concerned abt getting addicted to Xanax? My doctor says Not to worry. But my experiences with psychiatric drugs is AWFUL. Xanax, however, does the job without any discernible trouble, at least for now.

Any ideas/personal stories re Xanax will be highly appreciated. And I wish good health and happiness to all in a world that seems to go awry by the DAY!!!!

Cheers, Anestis

Hi, I am a 60 year old woman who started Xanax due to high anxiety and panic attack. I’ve been on it for almost a year unknown that it was very addictive. I would not suggest that you rely on Zanax cause rather you use one milligram once a week as I did, you still fire yourself with bad withdrawals my whole body ache and I’m in five days as we speak into withdrawals and the older we are with medical issues. It will be harder to wean off this drug. I would not recommend it to anyone for any reason.