Posted by Chairman_MAO on January 30, 2004, at 12:45:11
In reply to Alcohol detoxed.....Xanax next.help!, posted by David 43 on January 30, 2004, at 9:49:32
You cannot detox "cold turkey" from the "three B's": benzos, barbiturates, and booze. It is always adviseable--unless there is a clear reason not to--to use a drug from the same class that you've been taking. They gave you a benzo for alcohol detox simply because one cannot taper from alcohol!
You do not need to go to a detox center to get off the xanax; that is excessive. However, you should be switched to clonazepam 5mg/day (longest duration of action of any benzo in the US, I think. Contrary to popular belief, Valium and Librium are NOT longer acting and have funky pharmacokinetics) and, since you've been on xanax so long, and because you already are taking medication for high blood pressure/tachycardia, the dose should be tapered as SLOWLY AS POSSIBLE, ideally over the course of a year. The end of the taper is the hardest part, and if you've always failed before, a GABAnergic agent should be added to make total withdrawl possible. Good choices (in order of what I'd imagine would work best) are Gabitril, Depakote, or Neurontin.
I have "been there and done that". I cannot emphasize enough: DO NOT QUIT COLD TURKEY unless you want to end up in the E.R. or abusing alcohol again. Do not try to rush the tapering process; it will just increase the likelihood that you'll never get off benzos. I wish you the best of luck. As effective as benzos were for my anxiety, I'd rather HAVE some anxiety than indiscriminately dampening my limbic system. Some people require long-term prescription, but unfortunately benzos were irresponsibly prescribed (think making the patient dependent upon the physician is good medicine?) and, as usually happens in American medicine, the only thing that reigned in the public's consumption was classification as a controlled substance. Perhaps we as a society should have tried to figure out what about our CULTURE made people so eager to consume benzos and left the benzos where they belong: on the shelf at the pharmacy next to the Tylenol, which benzos are safer than. I believe in this rule of thumb: if you can deal with your anxiety well enough to get out of your house, you probably can do fine with other (albeit way more expensive) pharmacological/psychological treatments.
poster:Chairman_MAO
thread:307227
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040127/msgs/307311.html