Trying to Wean Off Xanax... Advice Needed

Hi Guys!

I have been able to get to take Xanax only to get to sleep at night. Between .25-.75 mg a night to get to sleep. I want to try to wean off to take melatonin.

I have heard of people getting WORSE tinnitus after getting off Xanax. I don't take a large amount. Do you think I will be ok?

 

I can't speak for Xanax, but after taking Lorazepam at night to help sleep, I come to realize that it was no longer having the effect it once had and that I was taking it more out of habit. Sleep is so important in helping control tinnitus. I would suggest talking to your doctor about weening off the drug if you haven't already done so.

 

I heard the same but this (according to my psychiatrist) has mainly to do with possible rebound anxiety and heightens the perception of the tinnitus not the actual tinnitus itself. To make sure you won't have too many negative side effects (if at all) make sure to taper off very slowly and steadily, your GP can help you with this.

I'm currently taking 0,5mg Xanax during the day for anxiety and 10mg Temazepam for sleep and will be tapering off this once I feel I am ready. There are a lot of horror stories here about benzodiazepines and most of them are due to people not tapering properly or people just making incorrect connections that are fuelled by their anxiety.
Also the dosages and time used usually are much higher but even this is not a say all factor, my grandmother used benzodiazepines daily since the 70's and came off them without a problem. Obviously these stories you don't read online, it's just the people with horrible experiences that post, just like the fact that most habituated people don't bother with this forum.

 

@Marie79 - How long have you been taking the Xanax ?

 

hi marie you should cross over to 5mg valium then wean off to 2mg then stop

 

That is utter nonsense, valium has a half life up to 100 hours as Xanax's half life is up to 20 hours.
When weaning off these drugs you don't want to be using benzodiazepines with longer half life than the original drug and on top of that you have no clue to her dosage, time of usage, body weight, medical history etc.

The tapering should be advised by a GP or medical professional only.

 

1mg xanax = 20mg valium
valium is easy to come off compared xanax shorter half life more side effects but your right i am no dr nor are you

 

Where do you get this information?
Shorter half life can mean earlier onset of side effects, not more severe.
This is why you taper, to avoid or to minimise side effects (if any even occur).
Also the correct dosage comparison is 0,5mg Xanax = 10mg of Valium, so again, where do you get your info?

Obviously longer half life means more time needed to flush from the system so valium being easier to taper from is nonsense, it's if anything even harder since it remains in your system longer. This is even one of the reasons Clonazepam, Oxazepam, Alprozelam (Xanax) etc. initially were invented, because of shorter half life ...
I might not be a doctor but I know a lot of people on this forum are doing more damage than good with their assumption based pseudo scientific advices on medicine and treatments yet fail to even research the correct info.

 

https://www.benzo.org.uk/bzequiv.htm been on off benzo for 20 years

 

You need to go by your doctors advice and support going through withdrawals.
Love glynis x

 

just trying to make her withdrawl not so bad but she will have to consult her gp

 

It clearly says in this table as well that 0.5mg Xanax = 10mg Valium.
I'm not questioning your good intentions but you are handing out potentially harmful information.
Valium can be used to taper off benzodiazepines but it is one of several options and this is patient specific. Also it is by no means an exact science if switching drugs is even helpful.

Your experience with a drug does not have to equate to that of someone else and your medical history can be of a completely different nature, handing out tapering advice while you clearly have no idea to the other persons medical history or current drug use is dangerous.

This seems to be common on this forum unfortunately.

 

I was on benzos myself and had to taper off a large amounts of it. I suggest that if anyone is tapering, get help from someone that knows how it is done. A good, solid taper is very important in my opinion.

 

did your T get worse when you got off?

 

I've withdrawn from benzos twice after long term use, under medical supervision, and what you're describing as "nonsense" is a very common strategy for withdrawal. Valium is used as a crossover drug because of its long half life; this allows for a steadier reduction in blood levels. Xanax's half life is closer to 10 hours than 20; because of this it's notoriously difficult to taper directly.

hhttps://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/bzcha02.htm#13

Because diazepam gets its 100 hour half life through active metabolites which are mostly much less potent than diazepam itself, the whole story here is pretty complex, and diazepam might or might not be the most ideal crossover drug.

I was unable to withdraw directly from Clonazepam; I was able to do the valium switch and then get off.

This I completely agree with, with the caveat that care should be taken to find someone with specific experience withdrawing people from benzos.

@Marie79 I don't personally think there's any reason to be too worried about long-term changes to tinnitus if a taper is managed correctly, but you should definitely find a good doctor who knows a lot about this. I've had some bad experiences (and some good ones).

 

That shows just how insane people become with drugs. Pills for this pills for that. There is no pill yet for tinnitus but you just keep popping them in some disillusion that this or that will help not knowing the possibility of addiction or withdrawal. While the drug companies make a fortune. I do not take any pills to sleep no pill for T. I sleep and function every day

 

You do realise that 0.5 to 10 is the same as 1 to 20?

The Consultant Psychiatrist i saw for a while believes the exact opposite.

 

I'm concerned with the wide range of dose, .25 to .75. Your prescription allows you to triple the dose whenever you want. That can lead to abuse.

There's no magic to tapering especially if you are going from .25 to .75, the tapering schedule is to gradually take less and less till you take nothing.

If you can go with .25 for a week or two with no ill effects many believe that low a dose can just be stopped. If you are able you can cut the .25 in half and take that for a week or two.

This is not meant to me medical advice just common sense.

 

You are right, I misread.

That could very well be, I am not a medical professional, there probably are multiple approaches.

 

Different strokes for different folks.
There is a difference between therapeutic usage and abuse though, some people actually need it for a certain period.
I never would've imagined taking Xanax pre-tinnitus yet here I am. I did not even take aspirin before ...

At least I don't drink or smoke anymore, guess that levels it out ...

 

Other than allergy med I never took anything but when T came along I went to a bunch of doc and one of them gave me of those sleeping meds that was low dosage I took it for three weeks, well I didn't sleep and crazy things went on, so my doc said low dosage I ask her to wean off and guess what she said don't worry low dosage , well guess again .I withdrew from hell. I would say also educate yourself bring the Google search with you to doc and go over plan, be pro active in your health.

 

Hi, Marie, I agree with Jay777 and Linearb, cross over with Valium is, in my opinion, the best option.
I was on 3 mg of Lorazepam for about 7 months. I tried to wean off and it was a hell; tinnitus went to the roof every time I tried, no matter how small the dose was. My GP and ENT, didn’t help at all, on the contrary, they made things worst. I talked to a psychiatrist and he recommended the cross over with Valium. How good I did because it worked great.
This is what he recommended me: "Cut 0,25 mg in two, skip half of it and add 2,50 mg. of Valium during three weeks, the skip the other half and add more Valium, and so on till the wean off is accomplished.
No doubt that Xanax is terribly addictive, so is Lorazepam, I tell you. Valium is another story though, you can taper off of it much, much easier and by far nothing to be compared to short life benzos addiction.
Your doctor should have something to say on this matter, of course, but beg for he’s not like my ENT and GP, who wanted me to stop Lorazepam cold turkey. Go figure! So, in a case like mine, the last word is always yours. I hope it helps. Good luck!!

 

Jay777 Leave the med decisions to the MD psychiatrists.

 

you put trust in them

 

Put it this way. What are your qualifications for making medical suggestions to people you have never met before?

 

@PeterL 20 years of withdraw from that shit and you?

 

20 years of withdraw may make you an expert on your own withdrawal , s. Everyone is different

What worker for you doesn't mean it will work for anyone else. It is irresponsible to be giving medical advice on this board, even if you were an MD.

 

Hi there,

because of an increased Tinnitus since March I took 0,5 mg Tavor every second day for 4 weeks. Is it possible that there is already some kind of dependency? At the moment I am having one good day (with almost no Tinnitus) and one bad day with loud hiss. Do you think this is because of the low dose of Tavor every second day? I am also having TMJ problems and am terribly stressed out and anxious because of the increased volume and intensity. Should I already ween off? And how? Every second day 0,25? Replace it with Valium? Also every second day?