aswander

I can appreciate all of the problems addressed here. Please listen carefully - Ambien, Xanax and other benzos are extremely physically addictive. If you can wean yourself off of them, by all means do so. But this is not easy. There is also a risk of seizure by weaning yourself off of an addiction. Please talk to your psychiatrist and an addiction psychiatrist. It can be made easier with drugs like Depakote (an anti-seizure medication).

See if you can relate:
2 years ago, I became very very physically sick. The cause was severe acid reflux, which was not diagnosed or treated (despite many attempts). My family interpreted the symptoms as indicators of mental illness and sent me to a psychiatrist, you presribed Xanax to relieve the "anxiety". At no time, did I ever take more than 3 mg of Xanax a day. I took 1 mg, 3 times per day. Within 1 month, I developed chronic heart palpitations whenever the Xanax was wearing off. I never craved the Xanax, but I felt like my body would implode if I didn't take the next dose. I thought I would die. I tried to wean myself off of it, but after 1 month, I was completely unsuccessful. I wanted nothing more than to get rid of this incredibly addictive drug. However, I had to wait until the primary illness was properly diagnosed an treated. 3 months later, I had my diagnosis and a regimen of Nexium completely fixed the original symptoms. However, I was still on the Xanax and still having horrible heart palpitations. (I could hear the sound of my heart beating like a very loud drum in my ears). It was sheer hell.

I informed the xanax presribing psychiatrist that I couldn't wean myself off the Xanax. He was "baffled" because my dose was so low. The next day I checked myself into a local detox center, where the typical benzo patient was taking 15 mg a day of Xanax. They put me on Depakote, which relieved 90% of the pain of withdrawl. However I was not the typical detox patient, as I didn't have a mental craving for the drug. I never wanted to see another pill again. I was discharged from this center 2 days later, because I did not meet the criteria for inpatient admission (I wasn't sick enough and I didn't bother to lie). Instead, I detoxed the rest of the week at my own house. It wasn't that bad. I was a little nauseous (like a mild flu, really not so bad), and I only threw up once after eating some bad fettucine. I felt like myself within 2 weeks and I was back to normal at 4 weeks.

Anyway, in my 2 days at the detox center, I met a lot of people who were in for abuse of benzos and they couldn't sleep either. You are not alone. But you must seek treatment from an addiction specialist. My psychiatrist had no idea that Depakote could get me off the Xanax that fast.

I still have acid reflux, which is still being treated successfully with Nexium. I have not even craved a Xanax or Ambien since the detox.