[MusicLover82]

I decided to try to reduce my Xanax XR on my own now that my anxiety has improved drastically with a new med change (started Abilify). I really don't like being on 1 mg of Xanax XR twice a day, and I'm sure my pdoc won't mind me trying to reduce it as long as my anxiety is under control. Pdoc only puts me on Xanax XR when my life is extremely stressful, and things have gotten much better.

I reduced 1 mg XR to .75 mg XR last night and this morning, and so far I feel fine.

If you have ever tapered of a benzo, how quickly or how slowly did you do it, and by how much at a time? I'm thinking I'll do .75 XR for a week and then go down to .5 XR next week if things are still going well. I'm aware that it can be hard getting off a benzo, so I am prepared to deal with withdrawal symptoms.

Any advice?

Diagnoses: Bipolar 2, OCD, GAD
Rx: Lithium, Trileptal, Latuda, Abilify, Risperdal (tapering off), Xanax XR and Xanax PRN

[raspberrytorte]

Don't do it in two months.

I'm not on Xanax, but I think the smallest Xanax you can get is 0.5mg, right?

Are you taking four 0.5mg Xanax's a day or two 1mg Xanax's a day? If you're taking two 1mg Xanax's a day, I'm guessing you're cutting it into fourths?

If you have tapering problems, you could always ask for 0.5mg Xanax's and cut that into fourths. Then you can reduce your dosage by 0.125 every 1-2 weeks (if you have problems reducing by 0.25 every time).

[raspberrytorte]

Withdrawal symptoms are weird with benzos. You get through a month, feel you're doing fine and all of a sudden BOOM withdrawal nightmare. But that was with clonazepam. Maybe xanax is different.

[MusicLover82]

Originally Posted by bluebicycle

I'm not on Xanax, but I think the smallest Xanax you can get is 0.5mg, right?

Are you taking four 0.5mg Xanax's a day or two 1mg Xanax's a day? If you're taking two 1mg Xanax's a day, I'm guessing you're cutting it into fourths?

If you have tapering problems, you could always ask for 0.5mg Xanax's and cut that into fourths. Then you can reduce your dosage by 0.125 every 1-2 weeks (if you have problems reducing by 0.25 every time).

I'm splitting the XR pills with a pill splitter. Last time I was trying to reduce, my pdoc said to split it in half. I wasn't able to reduce it at the time (anxiety increased), and had to go back to regular dosage. I have 0.5 Xanax XR and PRN that I can split in half or fourths and take as needed to help with withdrawal if I feel like I'm reducing too fast.

I'm hoping now that Abilify is helping my obsessive thoughts/ worries and anxiety so much that I can finally start getting off (or at least reducing) the Xanax. Fingers crossed!!

[Dontspeak]

Xanax is stronger than Ativan, but I quickly became addicted to that in October. I started at .5 at bedtime when I couldn't sleep and that turned into 5mg everynight and still couldn't sleep. So I switched to Topamax which is antianxiety and not a benzo. I tapered off the Ativan while titrated up the Topamax.

I'm sorry you are going through this, but good for you!!!

[violetgreen]

Lots of experiences tapering off benzos. Take it slowly, because there can be rebound anxiety. My family doc had prescribed Ativan 2 mg * 3 daily, so when I started seeing my pdoc March 2015, he started the taper. It took 13 months of reducing a dose by .125 or .25, staying at that level 1 or more weeks, then another reduction. During the taper, sometimes my dose went up slightly for a bit.

Now Ativan is my prn medicine. I followed my pdoc's recommendations explicitly, because as a recovering alcoholic I don't want a benzo dependency. Also, the word recall problem I had last summer was probably benzo related. Don't want to lose my words either. Good luck.

Your approach sounds sensible MusicLover, as does bluebicycle's (post 3). Everyone is different, so it's hard to say. As long as you take your time and monitor as you go, it should be alright.

I've had Xanax prescribed for something like 8 years now. Early on I recall it was a scheduled dosage, but since then it's been PRN, most often for sleep. Sometimes most nights, other times not. No real problems with reducing (though I can appreciate that coming off long-term high dosage would be quite different). I've tended to alternate my meds approach to sleep to try to avoid body habituating to it, and think that is a help with my experience with it.

Which... strikes me as maybe being similar to the buffering(?) effect of your Abilify in tapering down. If that makes sense.

In other words, sounds like a plan! Let your Pdoc know, and keep them apprised. Good luck!

[~Christina]

I also think your taper sounds logical. That said I will say that Xanax Xr is very differet than Xanax . Due to the difference in half life you might need to slow down each decrease to allow your body to adjust to the lower dose that is long acting.

Most Pdocs are actually happy when a patient wants to decrease or come off benzos by choice, and will help in making the decrease as easy and safe as possible. There is risk of seizures when decreasing or stopping Xanax too quickly.

Good luck on your plans to get off them. Don't be discouraged if you need to spend a bit more time while your decreasing.

Good luck

[Crazy Hitch]

Weaning off benzos made me really sick ... but I'm so glad in the long run that I'm benzo free - I was on them for way too long!

[MusicLover82]

I decided to do my taper more slowly, after another person on the anxiety forum recommended it. I think I'll do the .75 mg XR for a couple weeks, and then taper down to .5 and stay on .5 for at least a month before trying to taper again. I want to be safe about it.