I take .5 mg of Xanax a day. I do have genuine anxieties, but I loathe being dependent on a pill to get me through a panic attack. I’m scared and the feeling of withdrawal frightens me even more. What am I supposed to do? I need emotional help and some encouragement. I will admit my anxiety leaves me completely debilitated at times. What is wrong with me?
Thank you all in advance.
Hi there, it’s good you’re reaching out. I suffer anxiety too, but do not take anything for it, aside from trazodone for sleep.
Do you have access to therapy? I don’t feel qualified to give much advice, but a couple ideas could be meditation/ hypnosis for anxiety. A short term thing you could do could be watching a comedy on Netflix, to get you out of your head.
Something I learned in yoga was grounding yourself by looking around the room at different points, feeling your body against the floor. Think of one thing you can see, one thing you hear, one thing you can feel, one thing you can smell. It helps to bring you back into your body. Hopefully someone with more experience managing it can offer you some good advice.
Hang in there.
Don’t feel like you’re alone, I and others have relied upon them but it is not really worth taking any Benzos or most pharmaceuticals. It literally is toxic for the mind and our bodies. Someone wrote in another thread that the withdrawal is just weakness leaving the body, have faith in yourself with the fact that myself and so many people have gone through the pain you have. Exercise and meditate as mentioned as it will help big time in the healing process. I wish you the best of luck.
The only thing that helps me would be silence and focusing on one thing at a time. For some reason I have my fiance paint me a nice picture through speaking to me. Reassuring me everything is okay, I’m in a safe place etc. In the meantime I wait for my medicine to kick in and sometimes that takes half an hour. I have had panic up to 50 minutes and then I am completely drained afterwards. I do need to start meditation and maybe light yoga. Thank you for responding.
Yes, weakness leaving the body. Good way to look at it! Thank you for responding.
Hi there Tampa- I have gone through benzos withdrawal. I’ve done exhaustive research on it and it totally depends on how much you take and how long you take it for. Did you know that benzos work on your Gaba receptors just like alcohol does? Your brain goes through the same mechanics in benzos withdrawal as in alcohol withdrawal. That being said, you need to be honest with your doctor and tell them you want off. I had to go to a cognitive behavior therapist to hold my hand for the first few months. You can learn to stave off anxiety and ride it out until you feel better, and a professional therapist cam show you how…
I can’t stress enough to you @tampa that when you first stop the benzos that the panic attacks are actually withdrawal symptoms. You haven’t said if you’ve tapered down from a higher dose first. Withdrawal from benzos can be dangerous , just like alcohol. Oh and a heating pad or electric blanket can help a lot, too. Valerian root, hot tea. And don’t be afraid to get your Dr involved…
Im not a doctor and this is just my opinion…
Benzo withdrawal can be dangerous, so stopping cold turkey could be bad. Have you thought about speaking with your doctor about tapering you off them completely? They have non narcotic medication to help with anxiety. So if you do come off them and feel you need further assistance, check into non narcotics. Not saying you will even need a medication, but it is an option…
Have you thought about seeing a therapist? This Mau help eith your anxiety and give you some techniques to deal with the panic attacks… just an idea is all.
Hey- I went thru opiate withdrawl and it was pretty bad. When I decided to quit xanax it was actually worse for me…talked to my VA doctor about it and they did a taper plan for me and it worked really well. Of course I combined everything with alcohol but couldn’t tell if I had wd from that, just glad to be sober today. Best of luck, you can do it-
Hey all, thanks for responding. I was blocked from replying to you because I’m a new user.
1mg Xanax a day for a year then .5mg past few months. Today obviously greeted me a little different than yesterday. I was able to talk myself through it today and then had another attack wound up taking a bath.
TBH I have no doctor due to no insurance, though I have had doctor and was prescribed same as I have had to find in my own. Insurance is very expensive for me and I don’t qualify for any public assistance.
I thought about drinking a glass of wine or two while going through WD’s, but I don’t drink. Not sure this will work??? I don’t mind if it will ease the symptoms.
I hope that I’ve clarified some Q’s.
Thanks again
Peace