Is it okay???

Was prescribed Xanax.25 once for at bed and it says I can take it for panic attacks as needed. I took one about a hour and a half ago but it's not working can I take another? I'm also on prednisone and Benadryl. I know I should ask doc but it's 11:30pm here.

So how did it work out?

25 mg is a low dose, and usually "as needed" means hourly
BUT, best to call a 24-hr pharmacy in your area and ask.
There's bound to be an 800 # for your drugstore if there's not a local store with 24-hr pharmacist. Okay? Just to be safe

I did take another at the time I felt so bad I just wanted it to stop no matter the outcome but the second pill did help some and I talked to the doc she said I can take them as often as needed. I still feel a pretty bad chest pain and heart beat is goofy. My anxiety is still very high but I don't feel as bad as I did. I was so afraid and alone when it happened.

If you're talking about toxicity levels. You are fine. .25 is at the lowest end of the spectrum for alprazolam. Despite being such a strong psychoactive class of meds.
Benzodiazepines take more than most think to actually have a legitimate overdose. TCA's are much easier to take to many of. But benzo's come at you in a different way. And there are warning signs.
I suspect this maybe one of your concerns besides the extra dose, itself.

Most pdocs have now, finally set in place their own ethical standards for benzodiazepines ( lorazepam, clonazepam, alprazolam, diazepam). Do you see a pattern? Every benzodiazepine, if called by its scientific and not commercial name. It will end with a 'pam on the end, bromazepam.

The ethical rule of thumb now, is to prescribe benzos. with the utmost caution and respect because we need to be treated very cautiously with this class.
Pdocs usually will never prescribe an even moderate daily dose for more than two weeks. and the circumstances usually will have to be severe.
Like your doc. they usually prescribe a smaller dose as a prn ,for times when you may feel panic set in or at a certain time each week. Like, if you have a speech and debate club on Monday's.
They will give them out for sleep but if you use them on a regular basis. Your body will adapt and they will become ineffective because daily use even for sleep will cause a tolerance.
The only way to get that relaxed feeling back is either by taking days of between doses or taking more.

Here are the red flags that you may be building a tolerance and possible addiction.
First, if someone has an addictive personality. Then under no circumstance should an ethical doc. Rx one. People who are recovering alcoholics often turn to benzos. in not only a psychologically addictive way but also physiologically. You see alcohol binds to GABAa and GABAb receptor sites when you drink They do not specifically attach to only GABAa subunits like benzos. but in a scattergun approach. They effect GABAa an b. That is why it is very dangerous to drink on benzos. You are bombarding the same receptors with 2 different drugs. A general rule of thumb is that if you do drink on a benzo, 1 drink will affect you like 2-3 drinks. depending on your metabolism and your liver enzymes weight and gender. But they are all cross addictive. Opiates, amphetamines. Pregabalin is now being more widely abused. Ketamine, other stimulants like ritalin.
So
1.) addictive personality
2.) you start to use the medication more than it was supposed to be used for. Your doc and yourself should have had a discussion of that one or two times a week that you will use the med or a sudden panic attack. If you start to increase the days you use it or the amount used, that is a big red flag. Because people will start making excuses in their head or start to create more situations where they need to relax. Example- If you usually take the bus once a week and even though uncomfortable: You get through it. Now you take that extra half or whole pill to cope.
That is the danger in using xanax or klons. They are the most effective anoxiolytics that we have. Except for maybe ketamine but that is still illegal in some countries. And when you have severe anxiety disorders like me. It is very tempting and easy to reach into that bottle just so you can relax and cope.
But it's a catch 22 unless you can control it. So just take what I say to heart. I am not trying to freak you out. i am doing this to make sure your cautious. I was hooked on a benzo before and what started as this magic pill that made all the stress go away. Quickly built until I was basically a slave to them. I had to take them everyday. Otherwise physiological withdrawal would start within 16-24 hrs. You do not want to be a slave to a pill bottle. It really is terrible.I used the Ashton Method to ween off with my pdocs care. Who, by the way should have never let that happen. It took me about a yr but it was relatively comfortable. Try to name one other drug that takes someone a yr to wean off of.

There is another site I have gone to for a long time. Everytime or two, there is a benzo newbie, that is asking basic questions that are crucial to the medication and her future. These are questions her doc should have answered and took at least a good half hr to tell him/her the in's and out's. It's frightening because if there isn't one of the guys who have been through this on there. Some other kid will be like,"don't worry take another one, if you want to". I mean here's a person on 1mg klon. and within a week because she doesn't know any better and she's getting high. Trusting these fools because they are what we call-"wannabe dropout psychopharmacologists". Who read pubmed all day. throw around a few terms and think they know more than people who are studying medicine for 6-9yrs and they have never set foot in a university. We had one guy who was literally diagnosing or shall I say trying to after reading a post or three from someone.

When I happen to catch them in the act of telling someone that these meds are harmless and non-addictive or any other psychological b.s. I call them out immediately. I will shut him down. This is another persons life and he knows nothing about her. These kids usually get banned pretty fast. But after being on meds and having SAD, GAD and co-morbid depression since childhood. Going through a terrible med experience with no guidance. I feel like I owe it to people who are not even 18 and are being handed meds by professionals. That they have no idea what it is. Ideally people ( adults) should make an informed choice after weighing the pros and cons.

Let me try to finish up. The flip side to staying vigilant and on course with these meds is that they can work wonderfully for people. I am not an anti-benzo guy. I have just seen the other side. I know of some people who have been on clonazepam for yrs. 2 - 3 times a week but never more. And the med still relaxes them because they have never took more than needed. So they have never built up a tolerance. And it keeps them going thru those 2 times a week they use what is prescribed. Or if they have a sudden panic attack. I don't know you. I don't know how long you have been taking xanax or any other meds etc. But many people with the most success with xanax are those who take them strictly for panic attacks. I mean since you take them every night, then there is going to be a reduction in the therapeutic value and a tolerance buildup. You might ask the doc about something besides a benzo. or z drug. They also target GABA ( lunesta, ambien,etc).Trazadone is one non-addictive alternatives that doesn't have an anti-histamine effect. Like benadryl and other over the counter sleep meds. Also, it has low anti-cholnergic properties. So it won't interfere as much with the NT., acetylcholine.

So, if you ever start to slowly titrate by fooling yourself. You need to talk to your doc. And if you feel that you are going to keep increasing. Then reduce off. There are other anxiety meds. out there (pregabalin, gabapentin, hydroxyzine, buspirone) that are safe and some are pretty effective Everyone's physiological makeup is different.

Sometime in the foreseeable future. I'm betting about 4-6 months some of the new generation of promising medications arrive. There are some that are in late phase 3 testing. And many people are excited about some of their pharmacological profiles. Neuroscience is starting to head in a new direction of more protective agents. Which also have anti-depressant and mood stabilizing effects. Some are in the class of NMDA antagonists. Studies are showing are correlation between Alzheimer's disease, low acetylcholine and the phasic firing of glutamate, which is neurotoxic in high doses of the brain. The disease is characterized by loss of neurons and synapses in the cerebral cortex and certain subcortical regions. The focus is on neuroprotective NMDA antagonism. Which controls the amount of glutamate that is active in the brain. Five medications are currently used to treat the cognitive manifestations of AD: four are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (tacrine, rivastigmine, galantamine and donepezil) and the other (memantine) is an NMDA receptor antagonist. So to control the release of glutamate to a low phasic level. It would in turn relieve the nervous system. Remember GABA controls glutamate but not in a long-term, healthy antagonistic manner. Therefore these meds can help with depression, bi-polar, anxiety etc. But it will probably be a bit of a wait because the FDA in fundamentally dysfunctional at regulating pharma. companies. dragging their feet on getting important meds. in all areas out. Then there's the big twisted business of patenting the "next big med" There's big money involved. Pharmaceutical companies have to pay millions on testing and finally getting a patent.This all before they can even start making money from it. And many medications never make it through all the FDA trials. So there is huge money to be made or lost. a couple of these companies will get lucky and patent a med that will make them billions until their 12 yr. patent runs out.
Also more comprehensive studies are being done with renewed interest in herbal and natural supplementation in medicine. Combining the western old school western allopatric method of medicine with natural herbs, supplements that have been used for thousand of yrs in Chinese and ayruvidic and Native american cultures. If a herb or one of its compounds can stand up to that litmus test. Jeez, there may be something there. Can we say ginger, milk thistle, probiotics, biovlavonoids and natural cox2 inflammation inhibitors. That with the persons choice to eat, well, exercise, and get enough rest. Well, that is certainly better than where we are at.

It's a shame though for poor mother earth. We abused this planet for to long and stripped it with our greed and general world-wide belief. That as man with a higher intelligence. We deserve to use whatever we need. The humanity as a whole ignored the animals and pollution and starvation with the glaciers falling, brown clouds with ozone holes in the atmosphere. There is a statistic out. On average one species of life form becomes extinct everyday!




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Did your Doc ever mention Beta blockers? Not addictive and helps with a" goofy heart beat" during an attack in some cases.
Hope you feel better

Prednisone can cause feelings of anxiety and insomnia.