Xanax

[COSGringo]

Xanax

Tides- I am the same way. I don't get a high from benzos and I am sure that is because of the bac. I am at 230 mg. .25mg of xanax BID is nothing really.
If you feel better without it. Then just don't take it. If you feel kind of off from the bac then take it.
I don't think you will be dealing with an addiction at those doses and again the bac really changes the way those benzos work, well at least for me.

I can take 1mg one day to try and sleep and get rid of the zaps I am getting. I can then skip a couple days no problem. I just use it as a tool to sleep for the most part although it doesn't always work for me.
I was doing the .25 BID and that did help when I needed it and was going up in dosage.

If you are taking benzos and not on baclofen stopping them is a very different deal. I understand it can be worse than a lot of other meds. Hellacious actually.

I say take it as you need it. It's a tool just don't get to heavy on them and rely on them.

[Tides]

Xanax

Gringo thanks for your words. What is BID? What bac symptoms do you treat with xanax? You say you use xanax to sleep. What do you mean? Does it shut down the anxiety that would otherwise keep you awake? That's how I use it sometimes. I have heard that xanax can make you very tired. Do you find that? What do you mean by 'zaps'? How did it help you 'go up in dosage', if you don't mind my asking?
...I get what you mean, completely, about not getting too reliant on them.

...hope you don't mind my asking so many questions. Guess I'm just thirsty for answers...

[COSGringo]

Xanax

Hey Tides-
BID- twice a day. Sorry I have some med background I try not to use acronyms too often
Symptoms- anxiousness, nervousness, some generally uncomfortable at times- not so much lately though
It does help me sleep. I have always been a bad sleeper but my sleep cycle is just goofed up lately. It helps ease my mind and body. Plus I end up drinking a lot of energy drinks sometimes due to the somnolence from baclofen.
Zaps- well on rare occasion I'll get this tingling in my hands I am sure from the bac. It's not often.
Going up in dose I had a lot more SE's so the xanax helped me deal with them.

Some folks take like 2-6mg of those a day for years so you are not in that realm of addiction. .5mg a day for quite some time I don't think would be a big problem but I am not a doctor and don't want to send you down the wrong road.

Feel free to shoot questions. I don't mind but I am only speaking from my own experience and what I know about those meds.

[Tides]

Xanax

Howdy Peeps!

Thanks for the clarifications, Gringo.

My therapist rocks, and I get so much out of our sessions. He reminded me the other day that no 'core' healing can take place while I am still imbibing (which I am still doing - got drunk for the first time in ages on vodka the night before seeing him). He also referred to my occasional bronkaid use as a 'drug problem'. I told him that I was not chasing a high with it, but that I was just trying to stay awake. He pointed out that it's basically speed.

I'm in a major funk, here. I'm at 140 mg of bac and no longer indifferent to alcohol, clearly. I'm thinking I should go up, as al has me in such a grip again, but I'm so sick of the tiredness that comes with high dose bac. (...but, I wouldn't be so tired if I weren't drinking. funny how that works.) I'll try for a third day at 140 tomorrow (up from 130), and try again -maybe not to fail this time- for a day of total abstinence, and then a second day, and so on... I'll keep going up in bac dose, I think, if I need to do so, as work is slow right now and the tired won't kill me. I really want to be sober! ...and I don't want to keep chasing after the perfect state with chemical aides like bronkaid and -I'm thinking I might try again to cheer me up- gabapentin.

Just checking in, really, being open to any input and support. This shit, this recovery shit, ain't no joke! I thought it was easy, I got so confident with baclofen, but then life creeped in on me and I fell hard. There is so much more I could be doing toward sobriety. Guess it's time I got shakin' like bacon. I just wish life -and my head sucked up into it- would stop interfering!!!

Thanks for being here.

[Tides]

Xanax

I'm back on .25 mg of xanax a day, and it must be saving my ass! The thoughts that run through my head are pretty sucky too much of the time, but I'm not being engulfed by them, not being strung along by their potentially swift current that could threaten to drown me. I'm not feeling anymore like I'm going to DIE because of my recent past horrible decisions. For now, I'm thrilled to have my xanax. And also my health insurance. My therapist recommended a shrink -a psychiatrist- who can help me sort out my thoughts on ptsd (which I think I'm having) and possible bi polar two, which I doubt I have, though I do sometimes have some of those patterns. I'll be glad to work with someone who knows about the medicine end of things. I'm very curious to hear his take on baclofen, xanax, and other possibilities that might help me, though I'd really rather go au naturel (in the end).

I think most of what I'm going through right now is circumstantial, and that I can get a grip on it if I can reign in my thoughts. How can I get a grip on my mind? (Exercise, I know, but asthmatic bronchitis is killing me at the moment, while I smoke my last cigarette for the night. Eek.) Book recommendations strongly encouraged, please!!!

Thanks, all.
Tides

[Greg]

Xanax

I'd just like to jump in here for a minute, since I was taking 1 mg of Xanax for many years on a daily basis.

I eventually developed a tolerance, to the point where it was doing almost nothing, even if I took the entire 1 mg at night as a sleeping pill (long after I had stopped drinking). I was amazed at how long it kept on working, actually. I never felt any psychological craving or desire to take more, or any desire to get high from it. However, when trying to quit, I did realize how I had built up a physical dependence on it. Anxiety between doses, and an inability to sleep, were two really troubling withdrawal effects while trying to taper off.

In the end, I gave up trying to taper off Xanax, and switched to Valium and tapered gradually off that instead. It is so much longer-acting than Xanax, that you can just take the whole daily dose at night and not have to worry about inter-dose withdrawals. It has a far smoother steadier action than Xanax's up and down fluctuations, making it many times easier to withdraw from.

With sobriety, I have found that I need to take numerous actions in life to change my life, and that medications by themselves have not been enough so far, although I have only taken baclofen up to medium doses (around 75 mg). I found that my life was empty and lacking social, vocational, and recreational activities after having immersed myself in alcohol every night for years. I also still had untreated depression, although much of that depression is probably due to the lack of meaningful things in my life. I hope I don't sound like a preacher, just relating my own story, and saying that for me I have had to start finding new ways of living, in addition to medicines. That part can be very daunting if a person has spend years in an alcohol-induced haze!

Good luck with it all.

P.S. Also I'd recommend to anyone reading this that you don't take a single large dose of Xanax per day, because you definitely experience a variety of withdrawals from it every day before your next dose is due...and some people could be tempted to start taking more to fill in that very long gap.

[Tides]

Xanax

Thanks, Greg, that's really helpful and not preachy at all. I realize how much I need to improve my life, not just up the meds. I deleted the first post I made yesterday, I got self-conscious about sharing so much. I guess the xanax wore off. I did it before I saw your post (refresh failed it seems). But your words still make a lot of sense without it. I didn't spend years in a haze, but I see myself trying to haze-over my current situation. Time to get serious again about sobriety (which was the gist of the deleted post). Thanks so much for your input.