Just started Xanax...anyone have experiences to share?

Yes, most of the time there are solutions or Necessity is the Mother of Invention. You might check into chain link panels with a gate and some type of cover for shade, doesn't have to be huge. If the night sweats continue, mention it to the doctor. Always good to mention any kind of side effect. Do keep a daily journal.

Hello @alanism, the advice I got from the vet was that if a puppy is 3 months old, it is safe to leave the puppy in a crate for 3 hours. 4 hours for a 4 month old, and so on. Enjoy that puppy!!!

Sorry for the delay in responding. Truthfully, as a young adult, I became psychologically dependent on Valium, I lived with my wife and son miles away from my parents home, but one night had tension so bad I had my father bring out a few of my mother's Valium pills to hold me for a couple of days. I took them by prescription, as did my mother, it's not a case of taking drugs not prescribed, rather a case of not having them on hand. Nevertheless it was an indicator I had changes to make.

I was plagued by anxiety, afraid of Bridges, afraid of crowds, didn't like tall buildings down town. So, what do I do, I go to a tech school, down town, riding a bus to get there, it's Pittsburgh, crossing bridges is unavoidable, and the tech school is by the river, so my classmates, every day after lunch, cross the bridge and back for exercise. Well, I gradually started to accompany them on their lunch walks, sticking to the road side of the sidewalk, then week after week walking in the middle of the sidewalk, then weeks later being able to stand at the railing and look down. It helped that my classmates were sympathetic, and those anxieties disappeared over the 21 months of school.

But too much Valium was bad, from the first paragraph, and my anxieties were manageable, from the second paragraph, and my usage of Benzodiazepines dropped way down. Taking anti-Seizure medicine reduced my desire to take them since I was overly sedated. So with my doctor's knowledge, I was only taking 1/4 of the pill. It occurred to me it was now easy enough to live with the anxiety.

In November 2018, I developed afib. I'm still in it. My anxiety was horrible, and I asked for and received Klonopin while in the hospital, but though it was prescribed twice a day, I only took it once. From my release 4 days later, until the end of January 2019, I took 0.25 or 0.125 mg every night before bed (0.5 in half is 0.25, and quartered is 0.125). I stopped for several days with no noticeable negative effect, in fact taking them I awoke every night at 2:00 AM +/- 15 minutes, not taking them I sleep the entire night.

Prior to November, I indeed took them only as needed, insofar as they were written for 0.5 mg twice a day as needed. I've never taken them twice a day, and I only take 1/2 or 1/4. Remember my anti-Seizure medicine augments the sedation, without that I'd taken more I'm sure.

Valium has an extraordinary long half life, near 100 hours, Klonopin 35 hours, Xanax about 10 hours. Certainly a drug exerting effects over a longer period of time may be appropriate for those with Anxiety, but I think more so if you can disconnect a strong feeling of sedation from the drug being effective. Valium and Klonopin have half lives as stated, but I doubt that strong feeling of sedation persists that long. Had I used them when in Tech school, I didn't need to feel strongly sedated to cross bridges, I just needed relief from the anxiety that crossing the bridges caused.

Though reading above might sound like I used them daily, before my afib started, I doubt I took 1/4 of one pill more than once or twice every three weeks. I hope this helps.

@soliloquized Thanks for sharing. I think it gave me much hope to getting back to whom I was in the past. I have to let Disability go and get a job before I lose everything. I hope I can hold out until I am let go of the job. But not getting out or driving -I am gonna force myself to do it. I am with a man that will not work a job due to anxiety but will not get help for himself either He has great potential but afraid.

I still have 30mgs of Cymbalta to get off. I have got to do this somehow and a little fast. I have been trying to get better by myself thru education. My doctor is 72 years old. She shared her terrible past with me. She gets up and works every day and so will I. I will find a way. Thanks for sharing.

@margot69 Hello I took Xanax about 12 years ago. I did not know it was addictive but my doctor said a lot of people liked it. I never worried about going off meds until the last 5 years. Everything has gone crazy. It worked wonders during my divorce. I was taken off after the divorce. Never had any problems that I know. It worked well. I was put on Seroquel meds for 2 weeks to sleep and taken off. They said I did not need it. No problems that I know.

@catcatanzaro60 how long did you take Xanax and how much of it did you take? I have just been trying to take one every few days when the anxiety has really built up. Did you take the Xanax in conjunction with the cymbals and Why do you need to get off the cymbalta fast?

--------------I took it for 1 year maybe. some of my relatives started stealing it. I got off of it. I believe Cymbalta has changed me when I went from 60 to 30mgs in October 2018. I have suffered so much mental anguish in my life. If I could get off of the 30mgs maybe it would help me get out of the house and even drive. Update I have been doing Cymbalta only 4x last week. My pain is overwhelming but I hope my sanity and motivation to live comes back. I was out of the house for ten hours yesterday!!!!!!! It was wonderful. My Dad ate valium for 50 years. He died of Dementia last year. Some readings say valium causes this illness. My Dad was a very mean narcissistic man. I know I will have to take something for pain in the future. This was why I started taking Cymbalta. I was depressed over not being able to stop the pain in my body. I would like to pack up and move on from the Life that I have now. To me this is Growth. I will be leaving behind a lot of people that I loved. I will never stop loving them but moving on with a new me for the first time.

@catcatanzaro60 - sounds like being out of the house for 10 hours this weekend was a big milestone, and glad it was wonderful.

You mentioned something about packing up, moving on from the life you have now, leaving behind people that you loved. Are you meaning figuratively, or literally moving on?

I can be anxious too in some situations. Try just taking 1/2 a pill. If that doesn't help cut the edge off in an hour, take the other half. I found that will often work for me. Even though I have taken it fir so long, a whole pill makes me feel kind of sleepy.