Hi Waves I don't plan on getting off Xanax. With all of the anxiety that I have,it wouldn't make sence. I'd be asking for a major breakdown,if I tried to get off the Xanax. It hasn't even intered my mind to try to get off of the Xanax in a long time. People at church where making me feal guilty for taking it. I know better now. I'm also on seroquel,and Luvox. I haven't drank any alcoholic beverages in years.

I just don't have peace because of the IRS'es letters. Other problems are happening at the same time. I'm trying to find peace,but I can't feel peace. BF:hug::hug::hug:

Mari

I hope that if you decide a sleep med is a good idea again you will
call and ask for one.

I'm personally sorry the doc didn't call in the Lunesta.

Donna

Dear Mari
 

heck. i just wrote a long message and the system logged me out... i normally do a 'copy' before attempting to post but i didn't... duh, and it's all gone. and i don't feel like typing it all again. well you might appreciate more brevity anyway. :D

overall, it's going ok. after i messed up, i think pdoc freaked and wanted me to go slower than planned, but i think the plan was and is just fine. the problem came due to gross ad hoc divergences from it. after i flipped, i stayed at the same dose for a good while. i don't think pdoc is aware of exactly how much & how fast i went down (i only really noticed it much later myself, looking back at my schedule/log :eek:). anyway, i think i will stick to my plan. i don't want to drag things out more than necessary. i want this stuff out of me. i am being careful about not skipping any doses, also.

so... i am doing ok at the moment. thanks for asking.

how is your sleeping going? are you getting some?

~ waves ~

hi waves, you sound good, glad that you have a handle on the taper now.
good for you!
((((HUGS))))
bizi

update: Lunesta
 

Hi,
I called the pdoc's office to get my med called in again.
They said that the pharmacy mostly messed up . . . . but it was partly both of them.
It's a good thing I had not asked for anything difficult.
:confused:

Sleep difficulty has increased . . . . breathing difficulties with the cold. (3 hours of sleep last night and I got to work late in the am.)


I'll pick up the Lunesta and take it some time later.


Hubby made a chicken soup Sunday night with my ingredients (potatoes, carrots, green beans, 1 slice of ginger, two cloves of garlic, and one cooked chicken breast that was in the freezer.

He heated up rice on the side and cut up some avocados.
Very nice.


M.

Dear Waves,
I know that this varies depending on variables, but is it possible to do a benzo taper that is relatively smooth -- no problems?

Is it possible to do this slowly enough that most of it goes well? Is that the case?

M.

yes
 

yes, it is absolutely possible - many people do. a big variable though, is individual response. more sensitive individuals may need to come off much more slowly to avoid problems.

also, as i see it, if the drug is already subtherapeutic for them, a non-benzo anxiety agent could probably be helpful, and provided there are no interactions, i don't see why it should not be introduced early on in the taper to target baseline anxiety/panic... otherwise i think that a person remaining untreated for such a long time (slow taper), on top of withdrawal symptoms might be likely to give up, seeing no way to get off the benzo. this is only an opinion... and not a professional medical one... just my own deductive reasoning.

psychological addiction also plays a big part, and cannot be discounted - it is just as real and can produce physical symptoms as well as possibly anticipated feelings of anxiety. face it, even just the idea of going off a drug you believe is helping you, is anxiety-provoking! i suspect i am helped by the idea that i don't think it is helping me much, and ultimately may be hurting me. :D

as far as sensitivity, too... although one can guess, one doesn't know how one will respond to a withdrawal until one is in it. for instance, in my case, barring my obvious screwup, i have been pretty ok so far, which is a good indicator. however that doesn't absolutely guarantee that i will be problem free the whole way. should things creep up on me, i will have to slow the taper down and/or take a pause... i am prepared to do so, if necessary.

basically, tapering when one is messed up in any way, even if it is not withdrawal related, is a bad idea. i scheduled and observed a pause in the taper the month of december - due to the holidays (stress). and i think it is necessary to adjust the schedule on the fly if any sort of stressors/problems creep up, physical, emotional, or situational.

i was lucky that symptoms did remit rather quickly after i messed up. for a few people, they can persist once they get them. protracted withdrawal syndrome can last months. in that case, the person might not feel better until they get the stuff out of their system, so it can be a balancing act of going slow enough to be able to handle it, yet still put up with some crud and "run the gauntlet" so to speak. at least then, things WILL settle down eventually and other treatment options can be sought without benzo's complicating the picture. these are the worst withdrawal cases though. most people do not get protracted withdrawal. and not everyone even gets withdrawal if the taper is slow enough.

wiki - protracted benzo withdrawal

one thing the Ashton manual does NOT say, but which i planned for going on intuition, i later read about as advice in wikipedia, funnily enough: the latter portion of the taper should go in smaller increments. i chose to do this because i felt that at a certain point, the proportion of decrease relative to the original dose was going to be too large relative to the current doses... so after the halfway mark, my schedule considers each reduction as a % relative to half the dose, not to exceed 10% of that. this does not match Wiki's suggestions precisely, but it is a similar principle.

clearly one can do this in more than two phases but i don't know how useful that is. i actually did progressively smaller reductions overall: plan had my first reduction by 5 droplets (literally, droplets of liquid drug), then several by 4, two by 3 (which got lost in the screwup where i zapped a total of 8 droplets in only 2 weeks :eek:), the remaining reductions at 2 droplets but for the final one, of only 1 droplet.

here's what Wiki suggests:

i removed references to chordiazepoxide (Librium) for smoother reading.

for further info see:
wiki - benzo withdrawal management - the section includes general information, benzo drug interactions, and a suggested process (partly cited above).

the entire wiki article is quite interesting. the links i have given are to subsections within it - just scroll up to start at the top.

hope i didn't "bore" holes in your eyes! :cool::rolleyes:

~ waves ~

oops! missed this...
 

hi Mari, earlier, when i posted my benzo reply, i missed your update on lunesta! :o

lol, really! ;) well at least they are fixing things.

ugh... 3 hours sleep ughhh, i'm sorry. :( i hope the stuff works well for you. you especially need the rest considering you're sick. in fact, not sleeping might have contributed to being sick. sigh. vicious cycles.

yummmmm! i love chicken soup with ginger in it! rice and avocados good too! :) good to know hubby is taking care of you.

hope you feel much better all around soon.

~ waves ~

Good luck Mari

Donna

good for hubby, brownie points!:)
soup sounds wonderful!
bizi