Struggling with Xanax Withdrawal

Don’t stop on your own or cold turkey! It’s extremely dangerous with Xanax. If you get that bad of withdrawals, you might need assistance getting off with another medication. I went from Xanax to klonopin and now I’m on diazepam as needed. I have epilepsy so it’s also something for that. I fully understand. I was in a hospital for a week coming off it with medication until they felt I was stable enough to do it at home.

Buspirone seemed good to me, except for how everything in research literally only claims its safety up to 1 year of consecutive use. Seems iffy but comparatively WAY safer than benzos, still. By far the lesser of two evils, I would much prefer anxiolytics. https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/meds/a688005.html Rakel RE. Long-term buspirone therapy for chronic anxiety: a multicenter international study to determine safety. South Med J. 1990 Feb;83(2):194-8. doi: 10.1097/00007611-199002000-00014. PMID: 2406933. ~ This report presents results from an international multicenter trial of the safety of buspirone in the treatment of anxiety disorders for periods up to one year, if needed; 424 patients were treated for six months, and 264 patients completed a full year of treatment. Chronic use of buspirone for up to 52 weeks was associated with emergence of no new or unexpected side effects that were not previously reported during shorter periods of treatment. Most patients were successfully managed on daily doses ranging from 15 to 30 mg/day. When buspirone therapy was abruptly discontinued after more than six months of therapy, assessments of patients yielded no evidence of a withdrawal syndrome or unusual events. Although long-term anxiolytic drug therapy is not generally recommended, this open study provides evidence of the potential usefulness of buspirone when used for up to one year. As a general guideline, when an anxiolytic agent is used for several months or longer to treat chronic anxiety, the need for drug therapy should be reevaluated periodically.

If you're taking it for anxiety best find an alternative. I like it, but as a PRN only. Only for the most severe panic attacks. Ask about weaning off of it and trying something like buspirone. Look up best non-drowsey anxiety meds.

I recently weaned off of it. Slowwwwww! It took me a month.. every night I took a smaller and smaller dose. It was hard but now I am done.

Naltrexone at .25 to 4.5 (or sometimes propanolol for benzos) is used to wean folks off opiods, alcohol, benzos, cannabis... For SUD. Good reports so far, I've heard.

Not a fan of benzos. A friend died when they stopped cold turkey one day. It's no freakin joke, be careful. Those and alcohol are the only 2 things whose withdrawl can kill, I guess.

I’m having the same issue.

I was able to replace mine with hydroxyzine. I still use benzos but only as needed, not every day. Not everyone finds hydroxyzine helpful but there are many alternatives. You shouldn’t feel trapped with one choice. And if you come off the benzos make sure to taper off slowly.