Alprazolam usage over long periods

[mavfan41]

Hey everyone. New to the forum. Been struggling with anxiety and physical anxiety symptoms. Take alprazolam and recently stopped zoloft after four days. I take an average of probably .50 mgs of alprazolam a day or less. Is this something I should be concerned about taking often? I don't wanna become dependant on the alprazolam but also don't wanna be on ADs for awhile and deal with side effects and withdrawal stuff. Some days I take as little as .125 mgs of alprazolam (a .5 mg pill in a quarter)

[gypsylee]

Hey everyone. New to the forum. Been struggling with anxiety and physical anxiety symptoms. Take alprazolam and recently stopped zoloft after four days. I take an average of probably .50 mgs of alprazolam a day or less. Is this something I should be concerned about taking often? I don't wanna become dependant on the alprazolam but also don't wanna be on ADs for awhile and deal with side effects and withdrawal stuff. Some days I take as little as .125 mgs of alprazolam (a .5 mg pill in a quarter)

Alprazolam is Xanax yeah? That has nasty withdrawal symptoms so just be careful with it (sounds like you are). My shrink swapped me from Xanax to Valium (Diazepam) eventually because Valium has a much longer half-life so withdrawal doesn't happen as quickly or intensely. But seeing as you've just stopped Zoloft don't worry about the Alprazolam atm.

:)

[willheal]

My doctor told me: don't worry about the future just yet, you need to treat your anxiety just now. I can't help it, I have anxiety!

For the record though, there are medications that take the edge off of benzo withdrawal if you ever need to stop. They can switch you to something like gypsylee said, Valium. There's Klonopin and Ativan too. If Xanax works best for you right now, that's just dandy. .50 daily is really not a big dose for most, honestly. Some people's physiology is different, but if it works for you then no sweat.

If you end up getting stuck on higher and higher dosages and need to get off they will put you on a mood stabilizer (Depakote, Neurontin, etc) because theoretically it helps with certain receptors in your brain so you do have that extra help when you need it.

For me, Ativan is gentle on me mentally and physically so that's the one I take. That's just a personal preference.

[Chiliphil1]

My doctor told me: don't worry about the future just yet, you need to treat your anxiety just now. I can't help it, I have anxiety!

For the record though, there are medications that take the edge off of benzo withdrawal if you ever need to stop. They can switch you to something like gypsylee said, Valium. There's Klonopin and Ativan too. If Xanax works best for you right now, that's just dandy. .50 daily is really not a big dose for most, honestly. Some people's physiology is different, but if it works for you then no sweat.

If you end up getting stuck on higher and higher dosages and need to get off they will put you on a mood stabilizer (Depakote, Neurontin, etc) because theoretically it helps with certain receptors in your brain so you do have that extra help when you need it.

For me, Ativan is gentle on me mentally and physically so that's the one I take. That's just a personal preference.

That is 100% correct, if you get the anxiety under control you will find that you don't need the ativan anymore, I only take it when needed and sometimes it's 2-3 a day for a week, sometimes it's one a month it just depends. The key is to only take it when you absolutely need it, if you're sorta anxious try to get by without it but if it's raging then go ahead. As far as stopping, as long as you step down gradually under the guidance of your doctor you will be fine, just don't try to stop all at once.. However for the OP, you take such a small amount I don't think you will have a problem, just try to follow the above advice and only take it when you need it and only take as much as you need, try to stay under .5 if you can, but if there are times you need to take 2 or so .5's per day it's ok to do so, just don't get to the point where you're taking 2 or 3 at a time and you will be just fine.


BTW, I find that ativan works better for me as well, it just seems to take the edge off better even though it is technically weaker than the xanax.