Guest guest Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hi, I'm new to the group. I've been on Xanax for about 5 years. The first 3.5 years I took it only when I woke up in the middle of the night to get back to sleep but this was every night. It, of course, lost its effectiveness over time so I increased the dose with my internist's blessing. I then had a bout of mild to moderate depression in 10/04. I started seeing a psychiatrist and somehow (great drug for amnesia) between the two of them (damn them to hell) I got up to 7 mg a day. In 11/04 after not responding well to several antidepressants my internist put me on Prozac. I looked it up on the Web and found out it interfered with Xanax metabolism so on the day I started taking the Prozac I halved my Xanax dose. Needless to say, by the second day I was acutely and severely depressed. I couldn't get in touch with my psychiatrist that day and she yelled at me the following day for allowing the internist to start me on Prozac so I dropped her like a rock. When I started seeing my current psychiatrist I think his jaw dropped when he heard how much Xanax I was on so he at least told me I should try to get on a lower dose. Duh! So I pretty quickly (several months) got down to 3 mg per day. I'm now reasonably convinced all my problems over the last 1.5 years all stem from Xanax. I wish I had never started it and wish now fervently to be rid of it. I am currently on 2 mg/day and realize that I'm just getting to the hard part. I've felt a number of the pangs of withdrawal and I hope I'm ready to feel a lot more before I'm finished. The one thing that bothers me the most and I realize may be persistent is severe tinnitus. Between it, the Xanax, and insomnia my life has taken a 180 degree turn over the past 1.5 years. My current problem is trying figure out how to get completely off the Xanax and still be able to sleep. I went to a sleep clinic last week and the physician there told me to try sleep restriction therapy. From looking at sites on the Web it seems like this sort of therapy and being on a drug to make you sleep don't go together. However, I decided to give it a go starting last Thursday night. My current Xanax schedule is to take 1/4 mg every 4 hours during the day and 0.5 mg at bedtime and when I wake up in the middle of the night. With that schedule I'm used to getting 7 or 8 hours of sleep. The first night I tried the sleep restriction I went to bed at 1:00 AM (the recommendation by the sleep doctor who examined a 2 week sleep history that I had compiled). I slept until 4:30 and then got up and took the Xanax when I was awake. The last 3 nights I have taken the middle of the night dose and have gotten about 4.5 to 5 hours of sleep. For a lot of insomniacs that probably sounds like a pretty good amount but for me my days again feel like I'm on 7 mg of Xanax. So far I'm hanging in there. The first night I slept until 4:30, the next until 3:30, then 4:00, and last night until 4:30. If I can make it until 5:00 tonight I'll start to feel like this may be real. So I guess I'm looking for any insight regarding Xanax withdrawal and sleep restriction therapy from or anyone that has done anything similar. Is it possible to get positive results, especially long-term? I'm thinking that dropping my bedtime Xanax dose to 0.25 mg is my next step as I don't have a problem falling asleep. Too drastic? - if this is too complex and you think we need a phone consult let me now. I'm more than happy to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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