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long term xanax use

Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Jun 27 2:56pm | Replies (23)

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@chrisweber

thanks for your experience - i tapered off once before and the side effects were awful - i think it may have been too quick a taper - did your psychiatrist replace it with somthing else? Mine is trying to get me to take an ssri for anxiety to help with the taper?

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Replies to "thanks for your experience - i tapered off once before and the side effects were awful..."

I understand and have experienced that the taper needs to be very slow to allow your brain to adapt. For me, it was about 6 weeks before I felt I could reduce again - my psychiatrist allowed me 8 weeks. He did prescribe Vistoril, which is a slightly sedating antihistamine, which helped a little to keep me calm, but not sleep. He offered a tyicyclic antidepressant (Remeron) but I declined as I do not feel depressed. I had taken antidepressants three separate times and I needed them then, not now. My main problem is with sleep, which is the primary reason I took Klonopin. He is not giving me a substitute drug for that, which is frustrating. You could try the SSRI, but it is just another drug you would have to taper off of. I will say tapering off antidepressants was not as difficult as the Klonopin for sure. So I'm basically trying to develop a new relationship with sleep and learning that if I wake at 3:30 and never go back to sleep, I can stay in bed, stay calm and meditate. It won't kill me. Good luck!