Alprazolam withdrawl?

[soulless_ginger]

I am wondering about withdrawal from alprazolam/xanax and if it is even possible to have withdrawal symptoms when taking such a low dose. So, I'm prescribed 0.5mg to take 1-2 times daily as needed for anxiety but I only take it for anxiety about once a week maximum.... usually not even that. But when I do, I take 0.75mg because 0.5mg is just not quite enough. However, for about the past 2 months, I have been taking 0.75mg each night before I go to bed to assist with falling asleep and staying asleep (see currently undiagnosed sleep disorder...). I'm getting a sleep study done soon, so I stopped taking the xanax on June 17th. Well, I don't know if it's a coincidence but since then I have been experiencing nausea and headaches off and on daily. For the first few days I thought it was because I was getting little sleep and not eating right (because I was so busy with some other stuff in my life), but then my schedule returned to normal after a few days and the headaches and nausea persisted and are still happening.

Summary: So, I'm wondering, does anyone know if it's possible to have withdrawal effects from xanax when I was only taking 0.75mg??

[notfred]

Summary: So, I'm wondering, does anyone know if it's possible to have withdrawal effects from xanax when I was only taking 0.75mg??

Taking this for 2 months, that is the important part. 2 months is enough time to develop some degree of dependance.

nf

[soulless_ginger]

I am prone to migraines. I had allergy issues about 9 years ago and apparently they're starting to be a problem again... I've had post-nasal drip for about 2 months now and finally saw a doctor about it a week ago. She gave me Nasonex nasal spray to use each day to clear that up. So, yeah, there are definitely a number of other factors in play here that could be causing my tummy/head aches. I thought about xanax as a possibility because the timing was pretty exact: stopped xanax, started pain.... and it's been worst at night, which is when I had always taken the xanax. I am totally willing to attribute all of this to coincidence. I just wanted to see if withdrawal was even possible from the low dose that I was taking. Thanks for the responses!!

[Friz]

It's probably all coincidental, I've seen some pretty nasty benzo withdrawals and you'd at least have had rebound symptoms when stopping since those are some of the most common symptoms.

[chimpmaster]

I had pretty bad withdrawal after taking 1mg/day of xanax for around 12-18 months. Id recommend talking to your dr about formulating a plan to go off the xanax, if that is what you wish to do. This would probably involve slowly stepping down the xanax daily dose, and perhaps even some augmentation with valium or klonopin to help with the withdrawal.

[crtclms]

Just to provide some contrast, I stepped down from a mg of Xanax with no withdrawal symptoms. A mg isn't that much, but my doctor did it over a two month period. I crept down .25mg every 2 weeks, and the last week I actually took .25mg every other day. So when they say titrate off of it very slowly, they aren't kidding.

I was fine without it until I started having mixed episodes (like a year later, it wasn't related to the titration). Now I am on 2mg a day, with an additional PRN of 1mg. So I already fluctuate before 2 and 3 mg without difficulty. But my p-doc says if I ever come off of it (I have been on 5 years with no change in dosage), he is going to take months and months.