Going off of Xanax

John’s Hopkins has a in patient program to get people off of drugs including Xanax. I visited a 54 year old woman there who had been on the drug since she was 30. She did it! But it’s not easy and it takes weeks to safely come off of it. Good luck 👍

@ellerchim
I’m not sure if your post is old or not but I am responding to it. I lost a lot of my hair and wound up being anorexic from being on Effexor, Celexa, Lexipro, (I was on each one of these at different times — stopping one due to side effects and feeling worse, and then immediately going on the next one). I was also prescribed Ativan and Xanax. I wound up going to a detox facility to get off the Ativan. My primary care physician prescribed all of these meds and she wrote prescriptions for large quantities of the benzos. The prescription bottle said take .5 Ativan every 4 to 6 hours and I did. The Ativan stopped working after a short while so I switched to the Xanax. My doctor never told me anything about tapering off as I don’t think she even had a clue what the word tapering means. I think the Effexor did the most damage to me as I truly was unable to eat or drink. I lost more than 45 pounds in a short period of time. I was described on a medical report as being malnourished. I had no idea that any of these meds could cause anorexia but they all can. My body is forever ruined and I can’t bear looking in the mirror. Plastic surgery can’t undo the harm that these meds caused. I congratulate you on your success.

I'm very sorry to hear that, and as far as my story goes it's new I'm almost 56 now and still on 2mg 3×@ day and a 14 hour drive one way to get them leaving 3-7 after my appointment, this medication has given me many health issues as well and has kept me from getting weight loss surgery which I need , I have liver issues, kidney issues,heart issues and now pancreas issues but that's due from zepbound, I can't find a Dr within a few hundred miles who will give me this medication, people say I'm an addict, maybe addicted, but I was 15 ,I didn't know any better, when your that age you listen and I was told it was not habit forming, that was a lie ,I was also told I have a law suit , just wouldn't know how to go about it , I'd love to come off but with everything health wise and life in general I don't think it's a good idea , and Ativan,yeah I was a zombie on that ,I did landscaping and drove a commercial mower into the judges house/ garage and swore I didn't do it , because I don't remember doing that ,the evidence proved I did ,I was put on it after my fiance was killed in fathers day of 2011 and still on xanex ,I don't feel like me anymore and I see no help in sight . I wish you the best of luck and know I do understand what you have gone through and continue to do so . Oops I just discovered you weren't talking to me,but I wrote all this so I'm posting it . Lol
Good luck

I don't think we have one of those around us ,but I'll check, thank you.

@flowergirl9317
You can write to me anytime. I read your reply. Life is very hard for all of us who are suffering. I am diabetic and I need to watch my carbs but I also need to try and gain some weight so that I look more human and not like a skeleton. Last night around 4am, with my racing heart, and no sleep, I got out of the bed and went to the kitchen. I had hardly had any dinner and I was hungry so I had a big bowl of cereal which is a no no for a diabetic. I don’t even want to check my blood sugar today. I wish you lived near me because my Primary Care doctor would prescribe you whatever you need in whatever quantity you require. Please continue to let me know how you are doing as I don’t leave the house much due to my racing heart 24/7 and paralyzing fear from my anxiety. I would appreciate having you as a friend.

That was a new post and I had just recently got off of it. It also ruined my body. I was also anorexic very anorexic because of being unable to eatand I couldn’t really afford to lose any more weight. They want to put me in the hospital and put a feeding tube in.Not only that the 50 years I had been working out all my muscle mass just disappeared in my skin was just left saggy and wrinkled. So many doctors and psychiatrist tried to get me on Effexor thinking that that was gonna help get me off of .this. Nothing but glorified drug pushers. I refuse to take it any antidepressant.It was bad enough the benzo I was on I had only taken for a month, but it took me almost 5 months to find help from somebody that doesn’t even live in this country on a benzo website on FacebookWhat a sad society of doctors we have here, that have no problem prescribing this, but do nothing to help us get get off of it and think we’re crazy if we want off. So parrot fed in medical school they don’t learn the truth about any of this poisonAntidepressants are just as bad if not worse. Any of these feel good drugs are only supposed to be taken for a certain amount of time and even then if you read the warnings, they can still cause a dependency
So many people are suffering from this right now they have no idea why they’re having all these other problems and it all boils down to one thing. It’s been two or three months since I completely got off, still having problems with sleeping. I have gotten all my weight back but what it did to my skin at 73 is not reversible,so I deeply sympathize with you. I know how horrible it is that these drug companies and doctors are not responsible for any of this. The life’s they have ruined is atrocious and appalling. I also still have mental symptoms that come and go my head feels like it’s in a vice, some days I can hardly even function. My memory is spotty. Another thing what it does is it destroys the gaba receptors in your
Brain which can take years to heal after you get off of this poison. Never thought at this time my life would be dealing with this. The only reason I even got on this because my husband died a very horrible death with sepsis in the hospital, and my doctor told me to take 1 mg three times a day like an idiot I did. Oh, I could go on and on. I am so glad you got off of this stuff. Thank you for the reply. I would love to hear more about the problems you had on this poison that they prescribed to us..

I am sorry sorry. I feel your pain. I was tapered off clonazepam in 2018. Way over medicated by primarily psych but a lot of other meds as well. Currently my escitalporam dose was reduced to 5mg .From 10mg. Lifestyle changes work for me. I am continuously working on them. Overmedicated for profit of big pharma.

@ellerchim
How did you manage to gain back the weight? I am trying but have not been successful. I could see how horrible my arms and legs looked but I had no idea how I looked from the back until I took a mirror and looked at myself from the back. I was horrified. I have nothing but a mass of wrinkled skin hanging off me. I feel terrible that my husband has to be subjected to seeing me like this. The loss of my hair is also a major issue and hard to accept. I have a birthday coming up but who cares — I am older than you — I will be 78 soon. Also our 57th anniversary is in March. Again, who cares.
Claudia

How long has it been since you’ve been off? Since I did do a taper, I started eating about seven months into my year long taper not a whole lot, but whatever I craved I ate I didn’t care if it was junk food I would eat a whole carton of donuts every single day. I was really into bacon for some reason so I ate a lot of that and hamburger. Food I never really ate all my life. People say to eat healthy and blah blah blah you eat whatever your body wants to eat, especially at this stage and the reason I kept eating a whole lot is I wanted my skin to plump back up, but unfortunately, it was very minor. Also made a couple of shakes every day with ice cream, frozen fruit, bananas, walnuts. Amazon has protein shakes with 500 cal a can which I was also using during my taper to help put weight on.
Unfortunately, the problem is we get older. Our skin doesn’t have the elasticity that it had when we were young so at this point, we cannot expect it to never snap back fully but if you still haven’t put weight on, try to eat, whatever you can it does help a little or it might help you a lot. If you can’t tolerate food, just make a ton of shakes or order those shakes off of Amazon that are really high calorie. They’re not the best but just like junk food anything you put in your body‘s gonna help you put weight on. One more thing I might add since I’ve been off of this for a few months. I just have very little emotions for anything. anniversary. I understand.Nothing really excites me anymore holidays, going out with a man, this stuff just really changed me for the worse. I am so sorry you have to go through this and I can sympathize with you so much. Let me know how it goes please and if you can’t get food in try the shakes. Try not to worry about what your husband thinks. It’s more important you worry and care about yourself. I know if my husband was still alive he would’ve left me over all this because it was all about him so I’m very thankful. I am by myself right now with my dogs who don’t judge who or what I look like. I had no one in my life when I was going through this, Nobody, all my friends left. The only thing I had were my dogs that helped pull me through this with constant love. Otherwise I don’t think I would’ve made it. The thoughts that go through your head when you’re on this are awful. I don’t wish this on anybody. I just wish more people would understand how dangerous these are.. take care of yourself and please keep in contact.

@ellerchim
What medication were you on that destroyed your appetite? Thanks for the info on gaining weight. I find it easy to drink protein drinks. I have to be careful of eating carbs due to my type 2 diabetes but I may have my husband get some higher calorie protein drinks.

I do worry about my husband because he is 86 years old with Parkinson’s disease. I should be taking care of him, which I used to before Sept. of last year. He is running himself ragged taking care of me and he has worsening insomnia. I feel a bit safer when he is home with me as I am afraid of being alone and freaking out. I miss having a dog to comfort me. We lost our Sheltie Logan 4 years ago. He was 13 years old and the 2nd sheltie we had. Before that, we had a Scottish Terrier and a Border Collie. Neither my husband nor I are in any condition to walk a dog so we just have each other — no children or even relatives where we live. Wishing you well.