Xanax For Short Term Issue/use?

[iheartcats]

Hello,

I'm going to have a 'stressful' family event coming up for the holidays I have no control over. I used to take Ambien on occasion so I could still get some rest during 'stressful' times, but that's not working for me (makes my POTS go crazy for the next day or two - up to 160 BMP, even) so I've stopped that.

I do not have an addictive personality, either, and no history of substance abuse.

I'd like to have a small Xanax prescription for anxiety/sleep for a week (maybe 5 to 10 pills, not sure how the dosage works).

I've read about the medicine online, and it says you have to go off of Xanax 'slowly' so you don't have withdrawal symptoms. What does this mean? Can it be used for short-term problem or will I still need to 'wean' off of it?

How should I approach my doctor about this? I can't have insomnia for 3 or 4 days, as I'll be too sick to work. My situation is very specific and stressful, which I can explain (PM me if you need additional info, I'd rather not go in details at this time).

If not Xanax, what else? I don't have to have to use Advil PM as it makes me groggy, but if there is no other option for me, I have no choice.

Thanks for any advice!

OOPS I spelled FOR wrong in Title!

Edited December 6, 2008 by Rachel
fixed spelling error

[firewatcher]

Cat_Lady,

Are you on anything like Klonopin that would slow your CNS reactions? Some people take it for sleep or even something like Amytriptaline or Trazadone. I had one sleep doc give me Mirtazapine and boy did it knock me out! I briefly took Lexapro, but none of the anxiety meds or SSRIs did anything for my sleep.

Sonata has a shorter half life and worked well initially for me.

If you can't tolerate standard meds, try Chamomile tea (double strength, let it steep) or Valerian.

As to the "family" thing, bring your iPod or a stash of "comfort food" and zone out at your internal "happy spot"

good luck!

[Sophia3]

have never taken xanax 24/7

but have taken it 5 years INTERMITTENTLY with no issues. lowest dose, .25

sometimes I have taken it days in a row for stressful events *two times a day*

other times I had to take double doses for muscle spasm issues as I can not handle "muscle relaxers" and this would help along with aspirin.....then I would go a week or two without taking any.

I do not take it daily NOW but should before I exercise on certain days as it helps exercise tolerance. But often I do not know I am up to exercising until the last minute...and have forgotten to take it..helps my tachycardia not spike so much if I take it an hour before exercise.

I am sure you will see huge debate on this drug issue.. people go over the edge with 'addiction' stuff. I have never been an addictive personality and EACH CASE needs to be handled individually with you and your physician. I have worked with addicts years ago and know it's a serious debate for many but you have to separate FACT from EMOTION and quality of life FOR YOU! So do not let anybody scare you into something that might could possibly benefit you.

Good luck. Holidays can be a nightmare or depressing for many as life is NOT a HALLMARK card or warm and fuzzy tv commercial.

[dsdmom]

I take xanax occasionally now. I used to take Klonopin. I had a hard time discontinuing Klonopin but that was after a couple months of continued use. I will say, however, that I feel like my ans issues are always a bit more pronounced the morning/day after I take a xanax. I take it at night, like you would, for sleep.

I think you just need to tell your doc what you're thinking....it should not be a big deal at all.

[iheartcats]

have never taken xanax 24/7

but have taken it 5 years INTERMITTENTLY with no issues. lowest dose, .25

sometimes I have taken it days in a row for stressful events *two times a day*

other times I had to take double doses for muscle spasm issues as I can not handle "muscle relaxers" and this would help along with aspirin.....then I would go a week or two without taking any.

I do not take it daily NOW but should before I exercise on certain days as it helps exercise tolerance. But often I do not know I am up to exercising until the last minute...and have forgotten to take it..helps my tachycardia not spike so much if I take it an hour before exercise.

I am sure you will see huge debate on this drug issue.. people go over the edge with 'addiction' stuff. I have never been an addictive personality and EACH CASE needs to be handled individually with you and your physician. I have worked with addicts years ago and know it's a serious debate for many but you have to separate FACT from EMOTION and quality of life FOR YOU! So do not let anybody scare you into something that might could possibly benefit you.

Good luck. Holidays can be a nightmare or depressing for many as life is NOT a HALLMARK card or warm and fuzzy tv commercial.

Thank you - it's great to have someone understand where I am coming from. Not looking for a 'good time' - I need help to get through this (and sleep!).

[iheartcats]

I take xanax occasionally now. I used to take Klonopin. I had a hard time discontinuing Klonopin but that was after a couple months of continued use. I will say, however, that I feel like my ans issues are always a bit more pronounced the morning/day after I take a xanax. I take it at night, like you would, for sleep.

I think you just need to tell your doc what you're thinking....it should not be a big deal at all.

That's what Ambien did, more POTSY and the worse was tachycardia. I guess I could try one and see...if it's worse than Ambien no point. I'll run through all this with my doc. I seem to be so sensitive to meds!

[iheartcats]

Good luck. Holidays can be a nightmare or depressing for many as life is NOT a HALLMARK card or warm and fuzzy tv commercial.

tried to pm you, but you're full!

[morgan617]

There are a lot of benzos out there. Ativan has a very short half life, so might work better, with less of a hangover. I'm not sure about xanax. Who knows with our bodies. However the addiction problem shouldn't be any type of a problem, most especially with short term use. Good luck and hope maybe the stress is much less than you expect! morgan

[Sophia3]

Cat Lady

WOW! I had NO IDEA my messenger was full...don't use it that much but just emptied out some. Please feel free to PM on this topic.

thanks for letting me know my box was full.

[Dawg Tired]

I, too, take the Xanax intermittently - and sometimes double the dose if things are going to "overstress" me. Then will go weeks at a time with none.

It REALLY helps keep me from the tachy thing! Also helps me sleep. Probably helps save the lives of pushy relatives who won't shut up too... j/k...

[momofsara]

Sara took Xanax for a very long time and it really helped with her stressful times. She took it mainly on an "as needed" basis. However, due to her pain meds, her Pain Management doc took her off Xanax. She had no withdrawal whatsoever... the only thing was she missed having the relief it offered. Shes now on Tranxene, which does not do as much good, but is better than nothing. With it she needs to take it on a regular basis, as it helps with her mini siezures also. Good luck, and dont let the "horror stories' scare you, not everyone has a bad result (addiction).. Take care and I certainly hope your holidays are better than you expect. Sara has been in that situation before and it was awful. I'll be thinking of you......Susan

[Ernie]

Hi,

I take Serax for sleep.

[pat57]

Well..........I do have addicition issues and my Dr. did give me some xanax for court dates during my divorce, there was a custody battle.

Anyway no problems. If I were you I'd ask the pharmacist about your concerns.

HA HA Dawg Tired, youv'e met my brothers!

P.s. Ativan I gave back to my Dr. -took one- red lights for me.

[iheartcats]

I have my prescription for the .25 (very low dose, doctor said)...I'm supposed to try one to see how it reacts with the POTS.

If I have a super-stressful situation the low dose may be less of a problem (with symptoms) then just letting them run their course, so it's trial and error.

Do any of you know the different dosages of Xanax? Will .25 be helpful for someone who's never used it?

Also, there is an 'interaction' with oral contraceptives (can make Xanax more 'pronounced' so a lower dose should be used). Anyone noticed this?

Thanks!

[Ernie]

Hi,

0.25mg is the lowest dose. I would try it and if it's not enough I would ask for an increase in dosage.

[Sophia3]

That's the dose I have access to. Never a problem for me, but if you are scared, the pill is scored, and take half dose to see the reaction. You really want to test drive it before putting yourself in a KNOWN stressful situation.

It's a very low dose. Know how your body handles the lowest dose.

Good luck and I am glad your doctor gave you the script. Let us know how the holiday events go for you.

[Dawg Tired]

Pat57 - I think *many* of us on here might be related.... LOL!!

[EarthMother]

Just a quick note on my personal experience with benzos ... I think each of us react differently and .25 is tiny and I really don't think intermittent use at that dose will result in a problem for everyone. I had a prescription for .25 Xanax for years ... NEVER took it once. But it gave me some piece of mind knowing that I "could" in a pinch.

Then last spring when I started to have severe symptoms as I slid into another crash, I took the .25 Xanax a few times. At the ER they gave me Ativan. And I tried that too. I even tried Valium a couple times. (None at the same time or even same day mind you!) But for me ... especially if I took it for two days in a row, what I began to notice was REBOUND effects. In my case even on this small dose, I started to feel REBOUND anxiety that was much worse than before I took the Xanax.

I went into the hospital that June to try and figure out what was going wrong with my body and the nursing staff pretty much INSISTED I take XANAX while I was there for three days because I was so nervous. So I did. And on "doctors orders" (from some doctor who knew nothing about me) I kept taking it for the next week or so. My family and my therapist noticed how much WORSE my symptoms were on the Xanax and that it seemed to be going downhill. So I backed off V-E-R-Y slowly. It took probably another 2 months without any of the benzodiazapine in my system before the mental fog and rebound sensations improved.

Its not unusual for me to have strange reactions to meds -- I just read a letter from my cardiologist to my PCP reminding him that I can't have beta-blockers because they don't work well with my POTS. While other POTS people do fine on low dose betas. Again, each of us react differently ... and it may be that I would react different another time on the benzos. But for now, they are on my list of drugs my system can't handle.

[ramakentesh]

I have never tried xanax myself but I was prescribed it before I was diagnosed because the ER assumed I had anxiety. The only reason I didnt use it was because i wasnt diagnosed at the time and ive found that other 'downers' have made the brain fog unbearable for me for days afterwards.

My wife has a prescription for it and she tends to have a slightly addictive personality. She has had no problems at all with only taking it when needed which now days is rarely.

A friend of the family is a medico and he says that drugs like xanax are much less harmful than the stigma in the community would suggest in terms of addiction. That being said regular or chronic use can result in a withdrawal effect - but this is the same for a Beta blocker.

[Tammy]

I take 1/2 of .25 and it works as needed very well for me. It does make me a bit 'spacy' but sometimes that is okay as long as I don't have to make a decision of sort. I don't drive much, but if I did, I wouldn't if I had xanax in my system. So as long as you just take it as needed, you shouldn't have to worry about tapering off.

[mkoven]

I think longer-acting benzos have less of a rebound effect--like valium and klonopin. I've heard that those are aften rxed when someone is trying to come off xanax, as they have a longer half-life, so the anxiety doesn't come whooshing back.

[iheartcats]

I've taken it for a couple of nights now, and it helps me relax, get to sleep, and I don't have crazy-tachy-symptoms the next day like the Ambien so that's wonderful.

Of course it could always turn on me like the Ambien, but for now it's helping.

My prescription is as-needed, up to 3 times daily. The doctor wasn't concerned about 'withdrawal' - but I read so much about slow withdrawal of this. What if you just take it a few times a month, or say 3-4 nights in a row for a 'big event' your going through and then just a few times a month following? Any precautions I should watch for?

Thanks!

[EarthMother]

I've heard from lots of people who have no problem with .25 Xanax on an infrequent basis as you described. For me, I noticed when I took it the first few times it worked fine. Then I noticed that it wouldn't last as long. Then I would take it again. And then the rebound started. But I didn't know it was that at the time. So I started taking it daily for a while .... and for me it went down hill after that. So I'd say the only thing to notice would be if the .25 "stops" working for you and you find yourself taking it multiple times a day or every day. In that case your "as needed" prescription isn't working as intended and you would want to talk with your Doctor about a possible alternative, like some of the longer lasting ones that were mentioned. Of course, these didn't work any better for me either. But we are all different. I'm just glad I knew what to look for at the beginning so that it became clear to me and everyone around me including my therapist who witnessed my rapid decline and was able to wean off slowly without any long term ill effects.

Good to hear you found something that works during this stressfilled time for you.

[lizzyp]

I take .25 as needed. It helps me sleep at night.

[iheartcats]

I take .25 as needed. It helps me sleep at night.

This seems to be working for me, too (just a few times a month) - I was told not to worry about addiction/withdrawal for an as-needed case (taking 3-6 times/month or so on average).

So very glad to see other people have a similar set-up without issues.