Question About Xanax?

[Gemma]

Does any one know about xanax and pots or dysautonomia over all. Some of the doctors mentioned to me already few times, that i need to get off xanax, because it might be making my condition worse. Its something about relaxing muscles in the limbs, because besides working as calming med it is also a muscle relaxing. I am panning on getting off it, but scared so that i wouldnt totally crash. But i want to get pregnant so have to get off the med.

[Potsluck007]

Hello, Gemma

I take Xanax before I go to bed every night. Taken one of them I sleep better than I ever have. I didn't know there was a problem With Xanax and having pots. I'm new to all this so I'm gonna have to ask my doctor if I should be on it or not. I just hope people here can let us know if there is a problem with Xanax. I know if I asked my doctor he is not going to know. I'm Looking for a new doctor in my area.

[jaddico]

Xanxa is use for anxiety and panic disorders in addition to other medications. It is also highly addictive and has high street value. It is a controlled substance and cannot be mix with alcohol. If it's needed medically and there's no other options other than Xanax then use with caution. Discuss with your doctors for other alternatives for sleep and muscle relaxers that may not be come habit forming. Most doctors are quite strict with prescribing or overuse of Xanax,while others gives it out wihout much thought, which is an absolute NO. Xanax has come to a lot of scrutiny due to celebrities and general population overuse/overdose addition to other substances. It can be life saver for those who truly needed and problematic if abused. Now remember, some people however need it chronically when all others has failed. Discuss with your doctor before you abruptly come off this drug

[Gemma]

My doctor gave it to me without proparly explaining how dangerous it was. I took it for 2 month after death of my family member and then found psychiatrist who tappered me off the med really slowly, it took a month and a half. When i was off it i almost had no chest pains and i didnt feel much lightheaded. Then after a month off the drug, i got sick again and started having really bad problems with blood pressure and pulse, so i jumped right back on it. Also it was right before my finals in school. Now I regret it so much, i wish i never went back on it. I went thru **** while tappering off. I had couple of panic attacks during which i thought i was deinetly dying. Before xanax i never ever had any panic attacks. Now i am so scared to start my tappering off because i already know whats going to happen. But i really want to be off the med as like 3 doctors said it could be making my low blood pressure problems even worse.

[Gemma]

If anyone was on any benzos before,please share your experience, and if you felt any better when you got off. And your techniques of getting off the drug. I used passionflower last time.

Also, potslock, i think you haven't developed addiction to xanax yet, because xanax is very short term lasting and if you feel like you don't need it during the day then you not addicted. But be careful because your body builds tolerance to the drug and with time you might need a bigger dose because will be feeling inter-withdrawals. Did you try other things for sleep. Maybe try passionflower extract. I sleep good from it. When i first started xanax i had to take a nap right away because it made me so sleepy, now i take it during the day and nothing. I am on pretty small dose. I take 0.25 x 3 per day, so not more then 0.75 per day. I refuse to increase, i think my body is constantly going thru the inter-withdrawals thru out a day. It gives me foggy feeling, feel like i am off balance, hard to breath and chest pains are the most scariest. I know all of these symptoms could also be pots related, but have a feeling that a lot is due to inter-withdrawals.

[Guest Alex]

Gemma,

I was on ativan for 6 months and on klonopin for a year, and I had really bad experiences with both (if you're not familiar with them, these are both benzodiazepines just like xanax) and I am quite sure that they have made my POTS worse. I am now 6 months off those meds and since then I was also able to wean myself off florinef and propranolol as well. My BP is finally stable and a bunch of other symptoms I used to get (shortness of breath, brain fog, BP issues and many others) turned out to be benzo side effects or withdrawal related. I didn't even realize this until recently, but for the first time in 2 years my mind is finally clear!

Without trying to scare you or anyone else, I can honestly tell you that my wthdrawal from klonopin made POTS look like a walk in the park, but everyone is different and your experience doesn't have to be as bad as mine. I followed my own tapering schedule as my drs suggested I can just reduce my dose to half for a week and then stop taking it altogether. I started at 0.5 mg klonopin a day (which is the equivalent of 0.5 mg xanax) and it took me a total of 3 months to come off it completely. (The difference between xanax and klonopin is the half life - xanax is short acting compared to klonopin.)

What has helped me was a book - free to download online - called The Ashton Manual - you can find it here http://www.benzo.org.uk/manual/ but most importantly a lot of support from my family. If you are lucky to find a benzo wise doctor - more power to you as they can help you do a micro taper or even cross you over to valium (valium is the preferred benzo as it has the longest half life). I couldn't find such a doctor

Feel free to PM me if you want to compare notes, or if you think I can help you in any way. I'll be more than happy to share more details with you.

Best of luck,

Alex

[Gemma]

Omg, thanks for the reply Alex. I feel the same. When I got off xanax after only taking it for 2 months, i felt much better. I started riding bike, walks in the park, my fear of being alone started to fade away. So i was pretty sure that benzo was screwing me up. But then i had a sever pain in my left chest area under the brest which lasted like over a week and was getting worse with everyday which took me to ER 3 times. On 3rd time i asked them to do a ct scan of the chest because was scared it was a pulmonary embolism or something (i was taking pathology course at that time where we learned about all these diseases and stuff so i was sure my symptoms were related to PE). Well of course ct scan showed absolutely normal results and i just got myself exposed to radiating. But what worse is that the day after ct scan, something started going on with my BP and pulse. My BP dropped to 85/50 upon standing and pulse went up to 130 upon standing. This was very wrong to me. My usual standing BP was 106/60 and pulse 85. I went back to ER but they said it cant be reaction to the dye that they used for ct scan. Told me to go see cardio doc. She put me on flurinef, which gave me so much anxiety that on second day i ended up in ER again. So basically I have been to ER like 5 times in a week and a half (feel bad for my insurance). I immediately jumped back on xanax because didnt know how to stop palpitations and anxiety that I was experiencing. This all happened in may. Now I am still on xanax and my BP problems are still the same. I wonder if that week of attacks was due to xanax withdrawal even though i was off it for a month. I heard that you can get those even after 6 month. Or was it reaction to the ct scan dye that messed me up. I mean I have been sick since last december, but not like i am sick now. I didn't have problems with BP or pulse before. I sometimes feel like xanax is really screwing me up. I am pretty sure it does help some people, but for some reason i feel like I would have recovered faster without it. I hope when i get off i will feel better.

[Guest Alex]

Gemma,

to the best of my knowledge it could have been either the xanax or the CT contrast dye, or a combo ...I did read about people in benzo withdrawal having all sorts of strange reactions to meds, meds that wouldn't normally cause any such issues. I was unable to take advil for a while as it was revving up my symptoms, and even B vitamins were an issue - I am still staying away from them. Unfortunately withdrawal is not a linear process, and even now, 6 mo after I stopped taking benzos I still have some "unresolved" issues, but things are much better than in the beginning of the year.

Wish I had a simple answer for you, but I don't. Like I said, I'm here if you need to talk to someone.

Hugs.

[Gemma]

Hi Alex i send a message. Thanks

[Rebeccawithdogs]

Hi Gemma, sometimes I take a whole Xanax in the morning and sometimes I take a 1/2. I had another post about pain and addiction. Anxiety and addiction is another matter to consider. i took Xanex this morning because my heart rate was 130 and I know it to be true for me, that this heart rate not only creates a physiological cascade of symptoms, one of which is anxiety. If xanex helps me get in my car and drive to work, and helps to abate the physiological symptoms, I will take it as prescribed. As a recovering addict, Xanax is highly addictive for some people. I do not have the same compulsion with it that I do with opiates. So everyone is different.

I have not had a doctor tell me that Xanax is bad for POTS. I saw a UCLA doctor who reviewed my meds, she did not tell me that Xanex was bad for POTS. But some people have different reactions to meds. I am going to UCI next Monday and will ask about this.

Since you are planning on getting pregnant, wishing you success in your plans. If you find that you are addicted to Xanex, not saying that you are, know that I am also an recovering addict and there are other people with POTS and addiction issues who are here for you.

[kayjay]

I've been on Ativan and klonopin. Initially I thought that they were the best drugs ever.

They both helped me sleep when I first started.

My neurologist told me that klonopin could make pots symtoms worse.I took myself off of it after 2 or 3 years. Very subtly they interfered with my memory also.

I am much better off without it. I didn't suffer with significant withdrawl symptoms.

At times I wish I had a script for adrenalin panic. These drugs don't block adrenalin like a beta blocker.

[kayjay]

Dizziness is a side effect FYI.

Klonopin would be a drug you might want to "google" the side effects of before taking. I personally wouldn't recommend it. I'd compare it to drinking wine mentally. I would "feel" better if I was drinking wine thoughout the day but I wouldn't "be" better if that makes sense.

[Gemma]

Sometimes i wish i never took xanax. My doctor never properly explained to me how dangerous the drug can be and how hard it is to withdraw. He initially gave it to me for my cough ,because he said it could be due to anxiety and it was right after my grandpa passed away, so I took it. Now 6 month later i am still on it. Went off it for a month and then had flare of abdominal pains and went right back on it, i wish i never did. When i was going thru withdrawals i promised to myself that i would never ever take any benzo again, but then went back. Now i want to withdraw again and so scared because remember what I went thru last time.