Xanax Addiction

[deephiance]

Just remember there is always going to be a rebound no matter how slowly you ween yourself off the drug.

Consult your regular General Practitioner (GP) if you feel the rebound is too much to handle.

I recently came off anti-depressants and the rebound was awful, my GP put me on another drug for a week to reduce the rebound, but not long enough to build a dependency on the new drug.

[Anonymous]

Xanax is -extremely- addictive. If you're showing indications of addiction, it's time to get off them now, because it will progress if left to do so. You may not be taking "bigger doses" yet, but addiction is difficult to control once triggered. Finding another solution is a much better option.

As [MENTION=21405]meridannight[/MENTION] said, as an occasional help, the med can be a good thing. I take it much in the same way he does, as a last resort averaging maybe once or twice a month when my anxiety is at its highest and I can't seem to get it under control. But, it's not something that should be taken regularly (for most people) due to the addiction risk, and it always shocks me when I see doctors prescribing it in that manner. And then everyone wonders why there's such an epidemic of addiction when it comes to prescription drug use/abuse.

Agreed. When it works it works well and that itself I think is enough to make someone addicted because it washes away the anxiety and I have had a lot of issues with anxiety and have left it largely untreated, at least in terms of a medication. This is because my GP wants to put me on medications that are not appropriate, keeps trying the same ones. Things like citalopram, sertraline, buspar have been tried in the past and either one will make me sick, one will make me numb or one doesn't do anything at all. I have done therapy but I was only able to see someone maybe once a month or something like that and now I probably "make too much money" for it to be feasible financially. Sometimes I can talk to friends and you know not everyone wants to hear about your personal demons and not everyone has advice or is willing to carry on an in-depth conversation about all that crap either.

Just remember there is always going to be a rebound no matter how slowly you ween yourself off the drug.

Consult your regular General Practitioner (GP) if you feel the rebound is too much to handle.

I recently came off anti-depressants and the rebound was awful, my GP put me on another drug for a week to reduce the rebound, but not long enough to build a dependency on the new drug.

That seems to be true. So far only took 1/2 this morning and just going to try go as long as I can. With the weekend coming up I can at least stay in or do something relaxing and not have to worry about work and hopefully get through the worst of it.

You think for the fact that this type of drug they would know much more about it, seems they never did many large scale studies or for any long duration but doctors, at least here, have people on this stuff for years what has arguably been suggested to be used intermittently. Sounds like it defeats the purpose if the drug is going to lose its effectiveness on regular use and lead someone to addiction or physically dependent on the drug that doesn't do anything except under larger and larger doses to keep a baseline.

Anyway, my current GP would probably be a waste of time and have been considering finding another doctor anyway.

Seems most of the anti-depressants, SSRI, SNRI or whatever all seem to really bite back when coming off. During the short time I was on Zoloft I did some looking up on the drug, it was one my mom was on at one time and found out people would have "brain zaps" time to time. I'm like what the fuck is a "brain zap." Zoloft worked in the sense that yeah, I didn't have depression or anxiety but it robbed me of all emotion and all the GP would say is keep taking it, keep taking it. Mind you my GP is not a "real" doctor, they're PA so yeah no luck on having any at length discussions when they're looking to get you in and out as quickly as possible and collect your co-pay.

[meridannight]

I guess what freaks me out the most are all the accounts of people having bad withdrawals and I think having read up on all those cases that I am more likely to be more anxious in the anticipation of possible withdrawals.

Initially this morning I felt fine, relaxed, then realized I forgot to take it, that's when anxiety started building and by mid morning I was not feeling well, but I also normally drink a lot of coffee which might be why I ended up with a headache maybe? Either way, anxiety and a headache is all I can really say and I find that in self-evaluating myself that I am more prone to being more anxious when I am expecting or thinking about something that would make someone. The only thing that has bothered me about anxiety, the worst I should say, is the kind that is more physical kind of like you're jittery and on edge for no apparent reason.

I think it's like with so many other things in the media -- the most dramatic cases get a lot of exposure and attention. It doesn't mean they are necessarily the norm. Xanax is one of the most prescribed medications in the western world and the most prescribed psychoactive drug in the United States. 50 million prescriptions were written in 2013 alone (in the US), and prescription rates are climbing. You don't see thousands of bad cases in the media. Which is not to make light of things. You do have to use it responsibly, if you decide to do it, and keep in mind that there is a possibility you will have a hard time coming off it.


In my experience, upon withdrawal alprazolam tends to produce whatever it is that it treats. In people taking it for anxiety, it tends to aggravate the anxiety when they stop using it. When you take it for sleep, it will cause sleep problems (difficulty falling asleep, insomnia, etc).


I've never had any anxiety, so I didn't experience that when I stopped using. But alprazolam being a strong anxiolytic drug, it's more likely that it will produce anxiety upon discontinuation in people already susceptible to it. So, if you already have problems with anxiety, a heavy and/or long-term use of Xanax is probably not a good idea. Although sometimes there might not be a better alternative.


In any case, when you quit it, it's best to do it by slowly weaning yourself off it, gradually reducing the dosages.

[Anonymous]

[MENTION=21405]meridannight[/MENTION] Anxiety is a bitch and it is one thing to worry about something but the best way I can describe what I have is like the worrying but without the something.

Seems like many doctors are not prescribing the drug properly, then people, like myself, aren't taking it as prescribed, or have a prescription.

I have looked at various places does seem to be a degree of bad withdrawals, but then again I don't know who these people are and when you read that they did some cocaine too you have to wonder if Xanax is really the main problem.

Anyway, it seems with anxiety and depression you have to really weigh in the pros and cons of treating it with medication. Seems people either at one point change medications or get a new doctor, who may not like medications like Xanax and force you to come off of it and then there is the long term effects of taking a medication, what will happen to your heart, kidneys, brain, liver, etc if you take something like Zoloft, Celexa, Wellbutrin, Xanax, etc... Well, seems that isn't studied all that much and companies that make the stuff would rather not find out that their drug might be killing off people who are seeking help, or is the anxiety alone equally as risky as not doing anything about it.

Does kind of make me think that trying to treat something like anxiety in my case with medication is a double edge sword. I can take something that works but coming off of it will make it worse, so is it worth treating at all? It has helped in the past to be more aware of myself and how I am processing things in my head that trigger anxiety but sometimes I can't think on it and fall back to it. However, often enough when anxiety does crank up, without cause, it is always a challenge to keep calm, but staying busy with something almost always works.

[meridannight]

I have looked at various places does seem to be a degree of bad withdrawals, but then again I don't know who these people are and when you read that they did some cocaine too you have to wonder if Xanax is really the main problem.

Anyway, it seems with anxiety and depression you have to really weigh in the pros and cons of treating it with medication. Seems people either at one point change medications or get a new doctor, who may not like medications like Xanax and force you to come off of it and then there is the long term effects of taking a medication, what will happen to your heart, kidneys, brain, liver, etc if you take something like Zoloft, Celexa, Wellbutrin, Xanax, etc... Well, seems that isn't studied all that much and companies that make the stuff would rather not find out that their drug might be killing off people who are seeking help, or is the anxiety alone equally as risky as not doing anything about it.

Does kind of make me think that trying to treat something like anxiety in my case with medication is a double edge sword. I can take something that works but coming off of it will make it worse, so is it worth treating at all? It has helped in the past to be more aware of myself and how I am processing things in my head that trigger anxiety but sometimes I can't think on it and fall back to it. However, often enough when anxiety does crank up, without cause, it is always a challenge to keep calm, but staying busy with something almost always works.

All the drugs go through a long laborious process called clinical phase trials to determine their safety and usability in humans. That includes studying liver/kidney/etc toxicity. If Xanax was significantly toxic to the liver/kidneys people wouldn't be able to be on years-long regimens on it. [MENTION=20359]Cuddly[/MENTION], back me up?


Alprazolam is said to have a very low toxicity partly because the amounts involved are so small.


And, individuals vary on the kind of side/withdrawal effects they get. It is not possible for me or anyone to tell you that you will experience aggravation of your anxiety upon usage and discontinuation of alprazolam. You may, you may not. Every human is distinctly different in this respect, and it's not really possible to make too broad generalizations.

[Cuddly]

All the drugs go through a long laborious process called clinical phase trials to determine their safety and usability in humans. That includes studying liver/kidney/etc toxicity. If Xanax was significantly toxic to the liver/kidneys people wouldn't be able to be on years-long regimens on it. [MENTION=20359]Cuddly[/MENTION], back me up?


Alprazolam is said to have a very low toxicity partly because the amounts involved are so small.


And, individuals vary on the kind of side/withdrawal effects they get. It is not possible for me or anyone to tell you that you will experience aggravation of your anxiety upon usage and discontinuation of alprazolam. You may, you may not. Every human is distinctly different in this respect, and it's not really possible to make too broad generalizations.

Oh yes. Medicine, especially new medicine, has a steep cost because of these facts. >$2.5 B development cost according to https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...eeds-2-5b/ . Whoever comes up with a new drug and has it patented needs to earn a heavy profit on this particular patent, because a) it costs them millions to research and have tested and b) 99/100 are complete fails and waste large chunks of money. When the patent then expires other businesses may make generic brands of the same drug and whatever monopoly the company, who did all the research and testing, had is gone.
This illustrates the process:

Medicine is complicated. Some desired effects are barely outweighing their sideeffects. Cancer chemotherapy is an example of that, I suppose.
But it is tried and tested extensively before it hits the shelves and even when it does it continues to be tested. Any new side effects that are observed and reported by us (the patients) can revoke approvals if they are severe enough or frequent enough. This is part of the process known as pharmacovigilance. In europe we have the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee, an international sideffects committee, as a subbranch of European Medicines Agency. They review reported sideeffects every month. This is on top of the constant assessment done by the individual country's medicinal agencies. The greater purpose is that if one country discovers that a drug turns out to be giving a given patient group a severe side effect, then this knowledge is spread to other countries and back to the manufacturer of the drug, as well as the doctors prescribing the drugs.
As thorough as clinical trials are, they cannot compete with the timespan or population of the real world. As you say, people are diverse and drug effects and side effects cannot always be guaranteed or predicted.

OP you might be interested in these articles:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.11...003.x/epdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2029716 (abstract only)

[Cuddly]

Probably worth mentioning that there are also systems in place to keep the price fair, in spite of the monopoly, but also secure it for a number of years. Atleast in Denmark.

[meridannight]

Just to provide an example for you -- ibuprofen is a drug with significant renal toxicity. All such information is printed on its labels. And it has an over-the-counter availability. If a certain drug demonstrates some kind of a toxicity, the manufacturers are mandated to post all information pertaining to it on the label. In some cases risk justifies the outcome.

[LJay]

OP, you need to back away from Xanax. Then you need to back away from your present doctor and find professional help that is trained in using AND monitoring such drugs. This is serious stuff and, as you can see from the posts above, it does not work in the same way for everyone. Find a doctor you can work with that will work with you and treat you as a whole person, not just someone who needs pills.

[Anonymous]

[MENTION=20933]LJay[/MENTION] Agreed. The only thing I can say is that I haven't been messing about with Xanax for all that long, but long enough to develop some dependence on it. The ironic thing about the GP I have is that I started seeing them because I started having problems with anxiety and after trying several meds I went with a more "natural" approach and just went with therapy over meds. That worked for a while, but was also almost 3 years ago at this point; jobs changed, higher level at stress at work and other things I kind of got out of it. I really just miss being able to vent about whatever, without guilt or worrying about talking about certain things. Like, for instance I have to hide my identity in these posts, for reasons but not because I'm embarrassed about anyone who has replied to the thread. It is the internet and you never know who might be reading this.

The only thing I am worrying about really is whether or not I'm tapering too quickly. With other bad habits I have been able to stop cold turkey, although we're talking about cigarettes and pot for the most part. This, is a bit more trying. I felt good all day yesterday on only 1/2 of 0.5 mg and figured I would just take one in the morning. I slept well, actually the past few nights I have slept better since reducing Xanax use, which is kind of the opposite of what you would expect. I have also noticed that my resting heart rate has also come down (I wear a smart watch). Might be coincidental, as that is greatly effected by food, sleep, etc, but something I have noticed. So again, I have took 1/2 of a 0.5 mg and definitely needed it as I was a good bit jittery and is starting to wane now, so that is good. My thoughts are to take as little as possible until I can get away with not taking any.

You would think that after previous experiences with other drugs, whether it was Zoloft, or pot that I would know better to realize NOTHING is a cure all, the cure lies within, at least when it comes to things like anxiety. The only thing that helped with anxiety over the long haul has been when I took matters into my own hands and yet I find myself back into trying something futile.

Also not saying Xanax is a "bad" drug, but I think it is so easy to abuse and the hell it can create in a short period of time, not sure if the therapeutic effects are worth it in the long run because from what I can tell it isn't supposed to be used as a long term solution. Does scare me that there are some doctors who put people on Xanax for long periods of time. For those who are on it and then read about withdrawals just make people more scared about coming off such a drug than the side effects or long term effects it may have. I do agree that Xanax is not toxic, even a case where someone took something like 200 mg but later died because he didn't taper after taking the huge dose.

I just think that doctors should look at alternatives before giving someone drugs, of any kind. If it is high cholesterol you might ask them what kind of food do you eat, and really that alone can be the source of so many problems. However, doctors know that most people won't change or stick to it and just rather give someone pills instead of trying.

The problem I see for people who are seeking help do often have an expectation of what that help might be, that there will be a magical pill or something they can do and place blame on those trying to help them. I think most everyone realizes there is no "easy" button for anything in life other than the conveniences we humans have created. For instance, I couldn't imagine living in caveman times or during the dark ages.

Anyway, I will get past this and sooner or later things will return to normal, hopefully sooner than later.