73 replies to this topic

[fishinghat]

Enjoy not bouncing off the wall with anxiety today. Try to take it easy and relax as much as possible during these times. It can help and extend the relaxed period. Spoil yourself.

[tmccrady]

Gail And fishinghat 

 

I need some help please went to psychiatrist he put me on 10mg of prozac for two weeks and then to 20 mg after and told me no more xanax  would only give me 60 more pills but did not tell me how to get off of it can you please give me so help.

 

I was on 1 mg up to 4x a day. I have started by only taking about 1 to 11/2 mg a day. I dont know what is withdrawl from the xanix or if side effects from the prozac.

 

PRAYERS PLEASE and help if you can.

 

I am so scared and dont think i can do it!!!!!

[fishinghat]

He is an idiot. Normal method of coming off a benzo like Xanax is called water titration. For example if you are taking 2 mg a day of Xanax you would dissolve 2 mg in 200 ml of water. Take 50 mls every 5 hours. That would give you your current dosage. To drop you do the same make up but only take 49 ml every 6 hours. Typically you can do another drop every 3 or 4 days. Once you get use to this drop rate you can tell if you can drop faster or slower and adjust accordingly. This is considered a nice safe drop rate. You should have enough meds to do this. You can also save your extra solution. For example if you get to a point where you are making up your 200 mls a day but only taking 25 mls every 6 hours you will have some solution left over for the next day. Do not save any solution longer than 7 days as it looses strength. Also keep it refrigerated. I have used this several times to come off benzos. If done slowly enough you will not have any withdrawal symptoms. I am currently finishing up my withdrawal from lorazepam (I went on it during Cymbalta withdrawal). I drop at 1 ml a day with no symptoms. You will have to find your own comfort level but this will get you started.

[gail]

Double idiot.

Fishinghat, Mc takes 4 my daily. Are these pills one mg? If so, really not enough of 60 pills.

I preferred switching to Valium for the taper, fishinghat has great success with the water titration method.

How long have you been on this dosage TMC?

[fishinghat]

I believe he said 1 mg 4 times a day. Valium is a little easier taper, your right, but Xanax isn't too bad. I started him out on a slow taper but I am sure he will be able to slowly increase that rate. It is easier to increase if things are going well than to start too fast and have to wait to stabilize and then slow down the taper.

[tmccrady]

yes i was to take 1mg 4 times a day  i have been on them for about 3 months. i am so screwed up scared and dont know what to do.

 

Am i over reacting  to this?

 

I just want to know what is going to happen with the with drawl. How long and how bad is the withdrawl? 

 

I did not always take the full 4 everyday but I dont know if that matters. 

[fishinghat]

It helps. This is NOT like Cymbalta withdrawal. If you go slow you can do it with NO symptoms. It is just a matter of whether or not you will have enough pills. You won't know that until you see how fast you can taper. Don't panic over this but remember if you do get feeling bad DO NOT go back up in dose. For most people it does not give relief and you will have to repeat the withdrawal when you come back down.

 

Were you taking hydroxyzine?.

[tmccrady]

Yes I do have hydroxyzine. Do these help with the withdrawal?

 

I hope it is not like the cymbalta withdrawal i quit cold turkey and it was not fun.

 

I keep  thinking that the xanax withdrawal is going to be like the cymbalta and  That scares the crap out of me!

[fishinghat]

Even going slow the Cymbalta withdrawal can be terrible but not so with the benzos. The slower you go the better and easier it gets. Like I said before, it can be done with no symptoms if done slowly enough. Yes, the hydroxyzine usually works well on benzo withdrawal. You monitor your bp and use it to guide your dose of hydroxyzine and drop on the Xanax. I have the procedure written somewhere and will try to find it and add it to this thread.

[fishinghat]

Hydroxyzine (Atarax) (antihistamine)

https://www.ncbi.nlm...les/PMC3598901/
Benzo use was reduced by 25% every 2 to 4 weeks.
25 mg Hydroxyzine/day.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.../pubmed/9417395
The patients had to be long term consumers (at least 3 months) of 2 mg daily of lorazepam and were withdrawn using transiently an antihistaminic anxiolytic (hydroxyzine or placebo TAD) according to 6 different procedures defining 6 parallel groups: hydroxyzine 50 mg, abrupt or progressive withdrawal; hydroxyzine 25 mg, abrupt or progressive withdrawal; placebo, abrupt or progressive withdrawal. Following this 4 week-period of withdrawal, the patients were without any treatment for a post-study follow up 2 month-period.
After a one-month period of withdrawal (under placebo or hydroxyzine) followed by a 2 month-period without any treatment, 75% patients were totally free of any drug and their level of anxiety was significantly decreased
Levels of anxiety were significantly improved in hydroxyzine 50 mg group and in hydroxyzine 25 mg group but not in placebo group. Withdrawal symptoms between D0 and D28 were improved only in hydroxyzine 50 mg group and the number of side effects was significantly improved in both the hydroxyzine (25 et 50 mg) groups but not in placebo group.
When a patient is engaged to be withdrawn from of a lorazepam long term treatment, it can therefore be proposed as a support a transient prescription of hydroxyzine 25 mg TAD to markedly anxious patients and of hydroxyzine 50 mg TAD to patients presenting a withdrawal symptomatology.

https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/18379511
The study aimed at investigating of efficacy of hydroxyzine (atarax) as a substitutive drug used in case of benzodiazepine tranquilizers (BDT) withdrawal in patients who received BDT for more than 3 months. Fifty-nine patients with protracted chronic anxiety-phobic disorders were divided into 2 groups: in the first (main) one, BDT were withdrawn at once with the following assignment of substitutive therapy with atarax and in the second (control) group the withdrawal was continuous during 14 days with the simultaneous assignment of a substitutive placebo therapy. In the first group (resumed the BDT therapy because of worsening of their state 23,3% patients finished their participation in the study ahead of time as compared to 65,6% of those in the control group. The Hamilton Anxiety Scale scores were more reduced in the main group than in the control one. The results obtained suggest that atarax is worth to be used as a substitutive drug for BDT.

 

More info to follow.
 

[fishinghat]

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT INFO. I have used this method twice and it works very well.

12 April 2017 - 09:46 AM


Just wanted to pass along a growing trend in a new way drs can get accurate feedback on your anxiety levels and how to adjust your medicine.

As we have discussed many times on this site most antidepressants and especially antianxiety drugs will lower you blood pressure to some degree. Ever wonder why a dr will start you out on a low dose of a medicine first and then slowly increase it as needed? Well part of the reason is to be sure you do not take any more meds then necessary. The other part is to make sure your body has a chance to adjust to any changes in blood pressure. Any dr who puts you on a full dose to begin with is doing you no favors unless you are just desperate for help. By ramping up slowly you can see if you will develop any significant side effects before they overwhelm you; you can see if you have a reaction to a medicine before you get carried away with a full dose and to give your body a chance to adjust to any changes in BP.

What drs are doing now (and we can do this as well) is to monitor the systolic part of our blood pressure. The systolic is the top large number of our blood pressure. So if your bp is 120/80 then the 120 is the systolic number. The general guidelines are that if the systolic is over 120 then the anxiety levels are to high and an increase in meds may be necessary. If the systolic drops to near 90 (say 90/50) then this indicates that there is more medicine in your system than you need and the dr may cut back on a dose.



Now drs are using this method along with the information on how you feel to determine if any changes are needed. Of course you don't always carry a dr around in your back pocket so it is important to realize that you can use this method as well.

As many of you know I take clonidine and hydroxyzine to control my anxiety. Both of course can affect bp but have no withdrawal. So by monitoring my bp I can tell when I need to get more medicine in my body (systolic over 120) or to drop a little in medicine dose (systolic near 90). By the way if you get dizzy when you stand up too fast this is an indication your bp is getting low and you need to check it. This is also a way to determine if you are stable enough to start weaning again. As your bp drops it indicates your stress levels are decreasing and it may be time to start weaning again. If your bp starts to go over 120 on the systolic then it may be time to slow down or pause a little bit BEFORE it gets too bad.



PLEASE READ; Important.



Blood pressure must be taken the same way each time. You must be sitting or lying still for 2 minutes or more. This is called a resting blood pressure. If you choose to set then it must always be taken in a setting position each time. DO NOT base any of your decisions on one single bp. Bp fluctuates due to many factors. Activity around you, your health, when and what you eat, etc. So when I need to check things out I take 2 or 3 blood pressures during the day. You are looking for a pattern. I have found that at least in my case it is easy to quickly determine that my bp is rising or falling after a few bp readings. Do not take a bp within 5 minutes of another blood pressure. It takes the vessels in the arm or wrist time to adjust back to normal. It is best to wait 10 minutes if you need to try and get another bp.



I know for me this has helped as a early warning system on when my withdrawal is ramping up and gives me better control. I hope it helps you all as well.

 

So as your blood pressure rises to 120 or more from the withdrawal you add more hydroxyzine to your daily routine. If your bp drops to around 90 (systolic) then you can either increase the drop rate of the benzo or decrease the use of the hydroxyzine.

 

I have used this method twice and it has worked well both times. It has allowed me to increase my drop rate 4 fold and come off the benzo much faster.

[bronxbomber]

So today my systolic was 134. It's usually below 120. I attributed it to the pain and my concern over how long it will continue.

Could it be telling me something about my Cymbalta taper? Note that I went back to 2 mg today.

[bronxbomber]

Also, I took 5 mg Valium last night, for the first time since I began the taper.

Could that be related?

[fishinghat]

Normally a rise in blood pressure is due to an increase in pain and/or withdrawal. The going back up 2 mg was probably a good move and the valium shouldn't hurt any either. Hang in there, You are doing OK. It will be a little up and down for a while but you will get through it.It is just the imbalance in neurotransmitters that are screwing with your mind, not the real you.