Xanax (alprazolam) withdrawal?

[kassarole09]

I've been taking .25 xanax pills for anxiety. I noticed as soon as the half life was up I would get dizzy or lightheaded. Then I would start to panic about the dizziness so I would take another pill. The dizziness and lightheadedness would go away. Well I didn't like that xanax was doing this to me so I decided to stop taking it. I have been in a constant daze since last week. I am constantly lightheaded now. I researched xanax and saw withdrawal symptoms can happen. Is this normal? Has anyone else had these problems? How long do they last???

[jwall378]

It depends how many times a day you take them and how long you've been on them. I've been taking 0.25mg of Xanax three times a day for two years now. I'm recently tapering down to get off of them completely. I have actually been breaking them in half and reducing by a half a pill every 3 weeks without withdrawal symptoms. I would talk to your doctor about your issue and see what he advises you to do.

[kassarole09]

Thanks for the reply. I have a dr. Appointment scheduled today but I don't know if she'll believe me that it's from the xanax. I've been taking them for about 3-4 weeks and usually only 1 a day. I started with as needed and ended up about every day. I thought it'd be crazy to have symptoms from that short amount of time but I don't know what else it could be.

[jwall378]

I'm not a doctor, and everyone responds differently to meds....but I'm not sure you could be going through withdrawal in this short amount of time on such a low dose. Talk to the doc though. That was just my opinion.

[kassarole09]

So she thinks these symptoms are from withdrawal. Does anyone know how long the withdrawal symptoms usually last? She said I'd start feeling better "soon" but I've heard it can take weeks to months.

[sohelpless]

There is no way of knowing but on the low dose and short length of time you've been taking them, it really shouldn't be but a matter of a couple of weeks or so if that.

[sinister]

Hey kassarole09...any updates? I'm curious what you did and what happened.

[insights]

Then I would start to panic about the dizziness so I would take another pill. The dizziness and lightheadedness would go away. Well I didn't like that xanax was doing this to me so I decided to stop taking it. I have been in a constant daze since last week. I am constantly lightheaded now.

I very much doubt it is withdrawal. You just weren't taking enough for long enough. Both dizziness and lightheadedness are very common symptoms of anxiety, as can be confusion.

Ian

[livelaughlove]

hi! what was the outcome? I am interested because for me as well i was prescribed 0.25 mg as needed basis, i was taking one once per day pretty much every day for a month in the morning, but this past week have only been taking half of one of those pills once per day. I don't want to take it, but i wake up every morning around 3:30-4:30 really shaky so i take the pill and then it stops about 20 minutes later I have been on zoloft 50 mg for 21 days now, and have no anxiety throughout the day, it's just only in the morning for the first couple hours when i wake up. Then I'm fine, so the zoloft is definitely helping, but i wonder if this will stop soon and it;s just that my body is still adjusting to the zoloft, or if it is from the zanax in the morning?

[insights]

i wake up every morning around 3:30-4:30 really shaky so i take the pill and then it stops about 20 minutes later...

...but i wonder if this will stop soon and it;s just that my body is still adjusting to the zoloft, or if it is from the zanax in the morning?

It might be neither. It takes 20-30 minutes for Xanax to begin hitting your bloodstream, and 1-2 hours to reach peak concentrations, which at 0.125mg isn't that much, so if the shakes stop within 20 minutes it probably isn't the Xanax that is stopping them.

Ian