The Struggle of Medication Dependence

it took me about 4 weeks to taper up to that dosage. speaking with my psychiatrist, we decided to do a daily dosing instead of an "take as needed" dosing

@oats how long did it take you to get to 15mg? I’m only on 0.5mg for a total of 1.5mg if I take it 3 times daily which I usually don’t.

Yeah I also don't get why people would want to take this for fun. I take 15mg in total every day, split into three doses. It's been very helpful to me but I also feel emotionally numb sometimes. But I feel I need to be somewhat numb to be able to carry out daily tasks. Luckily for me, this medication hasn't given me many side effects that are negatively affecting my life. I would recommend talking with your psychiatrist to see if another type of medication would be better. I started on a different benzodiazepine and i did not like it so we switched to Xanax. There are also non-benzo anti-anxiety medications. SSRIs can also help. I obviously take a higher dose and take Xanax more frequently than you do but I don't feel dependent per say. But maybe that's because I've been on an SSRI for years and I've viewed it the same way.

RJ86 would you mind me asking what dosage you started at and how long it took you to get to 5mg?

I just started taking it this year and right now I’m only prescribed 2mg a day as needed for panic attacks. It’s rare a day goes by where I don’t need it unfortunately. I was recently approved to use it for sleep every night since every other sleep med I was trying gave me terrible side effects. But now I notice my tolerance going up which is pretty disheartening. I appreciate the drug I really do but I do wish something less serious would suffice.

Do you mind me asking what dose you are on? I use 5mg occasionally & it doesn’t do anything. It does help me sleep. I just don’t like the drug.