Hi - any thoughts on whether tapering works with Xanax, I am afraid I just dont have the self control that is required for this. The therapist wants me to do this and not introduce something like valium to help with the taper. I have 3 small children 8, 6 and 4yo autistic son, so dont need to be tormented by too many withdrawl symptoms as well as my children:D . I have been taking about 4 1mg tablets for about 5 months now. Started at 1mg per day about a year ago and then increased as I felt they were not working (tolerance). Anyway - want to be rid forever of them, I even find I will take it when I dont neccessarily need to (bad sign:confused: ) My humble opinion would be to let me transfer to valium and then hopefully not be addicted to them and be able to taper them rather quickly without to much suffering. I would love to go to detox and get this done with quickly but unfortunately I have no one to look after my children and wonder how it would also affect them - especially my son who will just think I am gone, wont understand Mummy is sick. At least the girls would. Any thoughts, suggestions and feedback would really help. You all seem like such nice, supportive, human people:wave:

Hi

I am tapering down from oxycodone at the moment and when I finish, I will begin a taper from Xanax. A Xanax taper needs to go slowly because of the risk factors of seizures and heart attack. Not trying to scare you here! But Xanax is a benzo and benzos come with their own set of problems. The step down rate is supposed to be 5%-10% each time and then you stay there until you level off and then make another step down.

About ten years ago, I was in a deep, deep clinical depression. I was put on and off so many meds to try and lift the depression that I wasn't sure what the heck was going on. In hindsight, I realize that one of the meds I was put on and eventually taken off was Xanax. I had a wonderful psychiatrist at that time and she rreally helped me. It came to a point where I was breaking pills into tiny tiny pieces and she said, if they crumble, wet your finger, pick them up and take the crumbs. All of this has only come back to me in the last few months as I face coming off of them again. This time, they were prrescribed to me off label for nerve damage to my leg. Man, if I had clear recollections then of what I do now, I never would have used them again. Oh, well, that is a moot point. Have to deal with what is what now.

But, it can be done without changing meds. My psychiatrist wants me to change to a longer acting med than Xanax to come off of them. So far I have said, "No." Partly because I will cross that bridge when I get to it, and partly because I am terrified of another addiction to a new drug.

There is a lot of research that suggests valium as the way to go. I guess in the end we just each have to make our own choice. Whatever choice you make, I wish you well. Please post again and let us all know how you are doing.

Good wishes
reach

Slowly...............by brother was on about 25mg a day of ativan and xanax. He quit it all at once, even he doesn't know why he even attempted that. There's some doctor I think she's in England that has alot of experience in Xanax w/d and she advocates a very,very slow withdrawal but she thinks it's better done at home. I've also heard the same thing, Valium is the way to go I guess because of the half life..I'll try to find the doc's name, or maybe someone else knows. Very interesting reading. I like the home detox but at an extremely low taper...take care..kj lol said that wrong I don't the home detox but prefer it to inpatient

Years ago I was put on Xanax to cope with the disintigration of my marriage (that's ANOTHER long story!) After nearly a year on Xanax, the doctor decided to take me off, but would not do so at home ,because of the seizure risk. I was forced into the hospital for 2 weeks to taper under supervision. It went fine and did not experience any withdrawl symptoms...but, with the drug being prescribed for "psychological" reasons....guess where they put me? Yep, in the Psych ward which was the most humiliating experience I have ever endured. I definitely felt I did not belong there.
In any case, the point is, any taper MUST be closely monitored and preferably supervised by a physician. This is not a drug to toy around with

Lou

Hi - any thoughts on whether tapering works with Xanax, I am afraid I just dont have the self control that is required for this. The therapist wants me to do this and not introduce something like valium to help with the taper. I have 3 small children 8, 6 and 4yo autistic son, so dont need to be tormented by too many withdrawl symptoms as well as my children:D . I have been taking about 4 1mg tablets for about 5 months now. Started at 1mg per day about a year ago and then increased as I felt they were not working (tolerance). Anyway - want to be rid forever of them, I even find I will take it when I dont neccessarily need to (bad sign:confused: ) My humble opinion would be to let me transfer to valium and then hopefully not be addicted to them and be able to taper them rather quickly without to much suffering. I would love to go to detox and get this done with quickly but unfortunately I have no one to look after my children and wonder how it would also affect them - especially my son who will just think I am gone, wont understand Mummy is sick. At least the girls would. Any thoughts, suggestions and feedback would really help. You all seem like such nice, supportive, human people:wave:

hi there,
just read your post. have you given any thought to see your doctor to help you with a taper from xanax? my understanding is that xanax/valium is a cousin to one another. i am sure your doctor (family doctor) would be more than willing to help you. a taper from xanax can be done without having to transfer to the valium. of course, i would only do this under a doctors medical supervision.
good luck

please try Professor C. Heather Ashton's writings on xanax w/d

her writings are online, and it's not a "read and come and pay me for an office visit." hope you are doing OK kj:wave:

Hi there,
I just finished tapering off Xanax. I was taking .5 per day - yes, that's all. I tapered over a period of 9 weeks, at the suggestion of my doctor. (Without valium)

Definitely do a search for Professor Heather Ashton, she has a ton of info on Xanax/benzo's & tapering, with or without Valium. Many people recommend using valium to taper.

Do a search on this board for my posts from the past few months, they might help

Please do yourself a favor & get off Xanax if you can. The longer you wait, the worse it could be.

I've been Xanax free since 12/13, and am still suffering/recovering. But I'm better every day. It's hard, but so worth it!! Good luck to you! You can do it!

Thanks for all the suggestions, and confidence that it is able to be done. I went to a Therapist and they suggested the tapering without valium. Take 4 tabs for 4 days, then 3 tabs for 4 days till 1/2 for 2 days then done. Is this any better than cold turkey? Seems to be prolonging the pain:eek: Anyway, I will look up Heather Ashton - I have a few days off soon with my husband and the kids will be at school, I may very well just stop then. The dr had given me some anti seizure meds to take as well. Let me know if you have any better ideas?

I am using the Ashton tapering method. I was 0.5 mg of xanax every 5 hours and 2 mg at bedtime for over 10 years. I started out at 80 mg of valium a day when i started the taper and am now down to 4 mg a day. It has taken a few months, but has been relatively easy. Valium stays in your system longer so you can taper it so much easier than trying to taper the xanax which wears off so fast. I would feel like i was going to have a heart attack and suffocate whenever I tried to taper Xanax.