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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFYI: Xanax is dangerously addictive
I'm putting this out there because I know a lot of people are starting to take meds for anxiety.
My wife was put on Xanax and not told how addictive it was. She started out by taking half a pill at night. That soon became a whole pill at night. Within a couple of months, she was downing four, five, even six pills at a time. All this was under "doctor's" orders. Xanax should be illegal. It causes an addiction that builds rapidly. If you don't feed the addiction, your anxiety level goes through the roof.
Please, if you are thinking about taking Xanax or were prescribed Xanax, do some research into its addictive nature. Knowing you are addicted is terrifying, and withdrawl is a horrible experience.
Response to ProudLib72 (Original post)
LisaL This message was self-deleted by its author.
marybourg
(12,634 posts)stevenleser
(32,886 posts)People should only take them if their condition is pretty severe and then only for short periods of time.
Klonopin, Ativan, Xanax, Valium, etc. are all highly addictive and can have severe withdrawal symptoms.
LisaL
(44,974 posts)Lint Head
(15,064 posts)some really bad situations. I only took it as needed. Say when a panic attack was too intense and thought I would die. Or the time my sister died and I just wanted to be calm and respectful while she was in a hospice dying and to make it through her funeral. I don't need them now but would take them in a minute if I had to. They were always very low dose. I never took two or more.
I guess people who don't get anxiety just don't get it.
Lint Head
(15,064 posts)it was touch and go. Pot has helped also. It helped me with nausea after surgery.
madaboutharry
(40,220 posts)It is so easy to fall into addiction to anxiety medication. Doctors need to be more conservative in the way they prescribe.
LisaL
(44,974 posts)Try to get it prescribed and see.
madaboutharry
(40,220 posts)they give the prescription for too many pills at a time.
LisaL
(44,974 posts)I'd say, now might be about the worst time to demand for xanax to be made illegal.
phleshdef
(11,936 posts)I have crippling panic attacks. I need it. But I never go over my daily dose as prescribed which is one milligram a day tops. And some days I don't take any at all. It just depends on how my anxiety is doing that day. That's not to say that others would have the same experience as me. I know people that have been badly badly hooked on it.
Lint Head
(15,064 posts)to breath into until I calmed down. It decreases the amount of oxygen so you breath quitely and less panicky.
I also use meditation and now realize what to think and how to react when one comes on. When the anxious thoughts come I just convnice myself that I'm not dying. That I refuse to let negative thoughts enter my mind. Then I joke to myself. Saying, what's the worst that could happen. Guess I could die and panicking doesn't help me.
bathroommonkey76
(3,827 posts)nadine_mn
(3,702 posts)She told me that they were addictive and only gave me 15. I think in the last 7-8 months since I have had the Rx I have taken 8-10. Mostly around driving, being in new places with large crowds, and being around my mom.
The difference for me was amazing. I am on other meds for depression and anxiety, but they do nothing for the extreme panic attacks I can get. I have been fortunate not to suffer from any need to take them more than on a situational basis.
I am also lucky to have a Dr who informs me of risks, checks in with me every few months instead of a Dr that just refills. I am sorry to hear about your wife's experience, scary to read that this was all under Drs care.
PufPuf23
(8,836 posts)Be wary of any doctor that recommends a continuous dose of a benzo. They often are recommended to counter side effects of SSRIs.
Benzos can be a poor choice for elderly patients.
Withdrawal from some benzos after long term usage at even only moderate doses can be more dangerous than heroin, even life threatening, and is never recommended cold turkey outside a medical facility.
Benzo deaths have tripled in the USA since 2000.
Often when benzos are stopped there is a rebound of increased anxiety and post the actual withdrawal there can be intermittent experience of the withdrawal effects for months or even years.
Xanax, Ativan, clonozapin, etc.
see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzodiazepine_withdrawal_syndrome
LeftInTX
(25,555 posts)I take 3,600 mg/day for fibromyalgia/neuropathy/chronic migraine prevention etc. It does have a calming effect.
I think neurontin can be used as a mood stabilizer.
There are also better meds for sleep than Benzos. I take 150 mg Doxepin and 1 mg Klonopin at night. I don't have to increase my Klonopin dose. I've been on this stuff for years. I was on the Doxepin for quite awhile before they even added the Klonopin.
Also, if I experience anxiety during the day, I don't reach for the Klonopin. I grab some OTC L-Tryptophan. It can be purchased at health food stores. It seems to help. Every time that I have taken Klonopin during the day, I have regretted it. Even 1/4 tablet makes me disoriented, then a few hours later, I'm back to normal. (Yet, I see people take it for panic attacks)
Benzos by themselves are not very good for insomnia.
There are other meds that are used as mood stabilizers, I can't remember what they are off-hand.
Sometimes voicing a concern about Benzos to a psychiatrist can get them to look at different classes of medications.
There are also some meditation tapes which can help.
I like this one:
Most of the ones on the Stop, Breath, Think channel are pretty decent. Stop, Breath, Think also has a phone app.
I hope this helps someone!
Hekate
(90,793 posts)Mariana
(14,860 posts)who wrote the prescription instructing your wife to take four, five, or six pills at a time. A doctor who does that probably should lose his or her license.
Tavarious Jackson
(1,595 posts)I have never had my dose increased or decreased. It has severe withdrawal symptoms but only if you abuse it and RUN OUT before you get more. I won't go without mine.
Hekate
(90,793 posts)....when there was a family situation that sent my BP sky high. Was also given BP med. Didn't care much for the idea of taking the Xanax, and ended up going to a dozen sessions of biofeedback. I have the X in the back of the cupboard just in case, hopefully to just be thrown out years from now.
Anyway thanks for the heads up. I've also had some serious adverse reactions to prescriptions over the years, some of which I've shared here when it seems like it might help someone else.
Best of renewed health to you and your wife.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)It is irresponsible to fear-monger about it.
kcr
(15,320 posts)I'm sorry the OP is going through this, but this doesn't help.
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)This was a few years ago that she was on Xanax. She would never go on it again. She had another doctor make the suggestion just last year, and she told him No flat out. I think she was lucky because she was on Xanax for about six months total. It was after four months that we noticed how dependent she had become. I did some research and found out how addictive Xanax is. Then she had to visit her doctor and figure out a safe way to titrate down.
lapislzi
(5,762 posts)I've used several benzos over the course of my anxiety-ridden life. They are useful if used as directed. In the case of alcohol withdrawal, Valium or Librium could save your life (no first-person experience with this, just my dad).
Also, during end-of-life, benzos are a godsend. Trust me, you do NOT want to see your loved one spend his or her final days paralyzed by fear. Hospice uses IV Ativan to ease the passing of the patient, and it's good for everyone that that happens.
The problem I've noted with Xanax, is that it gives you that little bounce almost immediately. Highly pleasurable, and may contribute to its propensity for abuse. Ativan doesn't do that. It works fast, but no bounce. Just a smoother ride.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,857 posts)That's been in reports about the "heroin epidemic" in Ohio and elsewhere, anyway.
My mother was prescribed Xanax for a few years. I'm not sure if she was ever "addicted" to it. She never showed any obvious withdrawal symptoms when she stopped taking it. There's possibly different reactions for different people.