Guest guest Posted December 22, 2003 Report Share Posted December 22, 2003 , I hope it's OK if I stick my nose in here.... How much Xanax had you been taking and for how long? You don't need to tell me, that's just the question you need to answer. Xanax is one of those medications that is terrific, but needs to be given a great deal of respect. Depending on the person, you can take 1 or 2 a day for a few weeks and stop taking it - - do OK for a few days and then start into withdrawal. I've seen it happen many many times. It is like Valium, some other antidepressants - in that the body gets used to it (prednisone is certainly a different type of med but still falls into the category) You just can't quit cold turkey. If you do have problems the first symptoms would be agitation (severe nervousness), maybe problems sitting still, headache, nausea. If you start getting real anxious, nervous, depressed - take one of your Xanax and call your doctor. Now - if your doctor is totally aware of your discontinuing the Xanax and you are following doctors directions, I suggest you ignore me. - - I was the assistant director of nurses at a large Drug and Alcohol treatment center for several years. We had so many people come to us for help. They stayed for a month or so, so we could help them get off the medication their doctor's prescribed. They even took the Xanax or Valium or Percocet or whatever exactly as directed, but ended up having trouble going off of it. Then their doctors sent them to us. They came to us so we could watch them medically during their withdrawal. I take Fiorinal with Codeine every day - have done for some time now. I only take what my doctor has prescribed. I know though that if I stopped taking it I would end up in withdrawal. Hugs - a Re: Welcome Thanks Cheryl. This is my first time trying to post through the website and heaven only knows what will happen. I need the kidney specific tests that take a while. So far I've had most every blood test done know to man...or at least it seems that way. I figure I have a little more than just edema because you can push your finger on my shin and the dent will be there 2 hours later. Plus my diastolic blood pressure reading has been running in the high 90's to low 100's since I quit taking Xanax a couple of days ago. Xanax will tend to lower your blood pressure. I did try the parsley tea thing that posted a couple of days ago. I'm not sure if it's helping, but it does have a tendency to make parts of your digestive tract clean out.I'll have to wait until after the first of the year to get an appointment with my rheummy. She shut the office down for the holidays. I hope your holiday is great. "The LUPIES Store" Come check out our store...http://www.cafepress.com/thelupies"The LUPIES Web Page"http://www.itzarion.com/lupusgroup.html"The LUPIES online photo albums!" Check out what your fellow Lupies look like...http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=lupies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 22, 2003 Report Share Posted December 22, 2003 , Thanks so much for getting back in touch with me. I have a history of nasty anxiety attacks. I take BuSpar to prevent them. I have tried to taper off, but get down so far and they come blaring back. I think I'd rather take the BuSpar than have the anxiety attacks. I have taken just about every antidepressant out there and finally settled on Effexor about 2 years or so ago. Like anything else it works well for some and does not help others at all or even makes things worse. I sware Prozac made me crazy! Glad to hear you aren't having trouble with withdrawal. Hugs - a Re: - Xanax a,I've been off and on Xanax for about the last 8 months, .5 to 1 mg a day. I've been on antidepressants off and on for 12 years. My shrink (for lack of a better term) prescribed it when I started having anxiety attacks. She had just changed medications on me because she thought the drug I was on (Prozac)had stopped working for me. I was having a lupus flare and no doctor picked up on it until I finally got to a rheumatologist five months after it first started. They all thought I was severely depressed and had rosacea. Instead it was a lupus butterfly rash and I was on an antidepressant that made my lupie symptoms hard to diagnose, plus the drug (Effexor XR) made me psycho. Truthfully I have very little withdrawl from Xanax and I had been tapering down to stop it anyway. But thanks for being concerned."The LUPIES Store" Come check out our store...http://www.cafepress.com/thelupies"The LUPIES Web Page"http://www.itzarion.com/lupusgroup.html"The LUPIES online photo albums!" Check out what your fellow Lupies look like...http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=lupies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 , Yes, BuSpar is less addictive than Xanax, and I don't feel anything from the BuSpar other than the fact that the anxiety attacks are gone. Meds like Xanax, Ativan, Valium, always make me groggy and stupid (more stupid than usual) There are other meds that can be taken for Anxiety. There's always their side effects, but then all meds have them. If you just do a web search for anxiety medications, you will find a bunch of them. There's always the possibility you weren't taking enough BuSpar. I take Trazadone to help me sleep. I still sleep horribly bad, but Ambien and all the rest only help me for a week or so and then quit helping. I have bi-polar disorder (manic depression) so I have to take an antidepressant. The anxiety is just a little frosting on my depression cake. My doctor is of the firm belief that if he doesn't treat my pain, depression and insomnia my flares will increase. I agree and am lucky to have him. Hugs - a Re: - Xanax a,My p-doc put me on Buspar on top of the Xanax at one point to help me sleep. Effexor made me hyper and have killer nightmares. Actually the Buspar didn't do much for me. Is it less addictive than the Xanax? I still have my anxiety problems, but would rather not be so drugged out from the Xanax.Have a good holiday,"The LUPIES Store" Come check out our store...http://www.cafepress.com/thelupies"The LUPIES Web Page"http://www.itzarion.com/lupusgroup.html"The LUPIES online photo albums!" Check out what your fellow Lupies look like...http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?username=lupies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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