alprazolam (xanax) dosage question

[shewei]

Hi all, first post for me on this forum. Hopefully its in the right section.

First of all, im 26 years old and have only recently been diagnosed with ADD. Ive been diagnosed with (moderate) depression a couple of years ago. Only last summer (start of may) i started using Citalopram (its called Lexapro in the US i believe) for my depression. I didnt notice any positive effects so ive been off it for 4 weeks now. In two weeks ive an appointment with my shrink to discuss meds for the ADD & a new antidepressant.

Ive been using different forms of illegal drugs throughout the years (mainly alcohol, weed & uppers) partly as self medication but also (of course) for recreation. Since weening of and quiting the citalopram ive been stone cold sober. One of the positve (side) effects of my drug use was that it seemed to numb me, and slow down my thought considerably. Especially the last week my mind is back in overdrive, this combined with not so good feelings about myself and a contstant struggle to not use anything illicit is making me feel to put it euphemistically 'not so good'.

I went to my doctor and he prescribed me alprazolam. 3x day .25mg to bridge the two week gap untill i can see my shrink. Now. for my questions. Im not noticing much (if any) from this dosage. I would like to know if this is a normal starting dose for xanax. Can i ask my doctor to up the dose (will it help, or am i 'immune'?). And can my years of alcohol abuse have had any effect on the effect of xanax?

Sorry for this huge wall of text and thanks in advance!

[Anna]

I believe, depending on the length of alcohol use and the time frame you've been off it, you can develop cross tolerance to benzos, yes. They're also used for alcohol withdrawal as well, at fairly high doses at times, depending on what exactly one is dealing with.

That is a fairly low dose of Xanex, you could ask your doc to go higher if you wanted. He may or may not be willing. With all that said, we all respond differently to benzos at different doses, you could consider a different benzo as well. Xanex is fairly potent, but some people do take up to 1 m.g. at a time.

I'd also be concerned about dependency considering your history. There are non benzo options for panic and you may want to explore those. I got on benzos after years of avoidance in a desperate attempt to keep functioning and stay out of the hospital (it worked) but I am now "dependent" (different from addicted, I don't crave more) and coming off them may be hard for me. I still want to, however.

Anna

[chimpmaster]

Its quite common to be prescribed 1mg tabs (2mg less common). I found that when I was on xanax, I needed around 1mg to get a therapeutic effect.

[shewei]

Thanks for the replies. Well, i took this info to my doc but he refused to up the dosage. Really sucks since i finally started to notice some relieve when i upped the dosage to.75 mg myself. Take care all.