Help. I have a large tolerance (maybe addiction?) to Xanax.

[Miss Blue]

Hi. I've been on xanax since around 05-ish and I have developed a huge tolerance to it. I need more and more of it to get the same effects I used to be able to get with a lot less. I started taking it for just anxiety, but now I also take it for insomnia as well as anxiety attacks. I think this could be part of the reason, since I take it on a regular schedule now (for insomnia) and not just for anxiety attacks, which I originally using it for (my pdoc knows and is ok with me knowing it for both.)

My original dosage was .25 mg back in 05, and it's gone up to 3mg within the span of those seven or so years that I've been on and off of it. Even with 3mg, I still have a hard time not wanting to reach for more of it because the effects are so much less than they were when I started it, but I'm pretty good at staying at the prescribed level. (My brain naturally goes into ruminating mode during the night, making it hard to sleep, and it used to be able to dampen those thoughts a lot better years ago.)

I would think I was addicted, but because I often can go for a month or more without needing an RX, it makes me second guess that. I don't have withdrawal symptoms from not taking it, I just don't have the level of calming effect that helps me fall asleep anymore if I don't take any. I can still sleep without it, it just takes about 3 or so hours longer to actually fall asleep.

Do you think I do have an addiction to it? I was under the impression that I didn't , because I don't withdraw from it and the only real difference between not taking it for me is that I don't have a calmer less ruminating mindset when I'm trying to sleep. But I don't know for sure.

For someone that's been off and on xanax for 7 years, how long would it take usually for the tolerance to the drug to decrease?

Thanks for any help.

[melissaw72]

I am not on Xanax anymore, but was from about 1999-2010/2011. The highest level prescribed during that time period was 6/7 mg/day. I kept developing tolerances as well, which was why the increases to a high amount. I ended up switching pdocs in 2003, and the new pdoc weaned me down to a smaller dose. It still worked though because I had stopped taking it on a regular basis and had it for PRN only. Now, I am completely off of it, except I am allowed a little (usually .25-.5 mg) if needed, but that is rare. So for me it was really just a matter of going from regular use to PRN use to get the smaller dose to work.

[gizmo]

I took Xanax for five years. I'm pretty tolerant to most meds, but 2 mg of Xanax at a time was the most I could take, and then I was pretty snowed. I started having a problem with it in that I would stockpile my daily doses and take a double dose or sometimes a triple dose (I was prescribed it three times a day). So even though I was misusing it, I was correctly filling my prescription.

After doing something really stupid, I realized what I was doing and had a long talk with my hubby, and that led to an even longer talk with my pdoc. We weaned me off the Xanax fairly fast and onto something that didn't zone me out. I didn't have any withdrawals other than some insomnia issues, which I was given something for.

It took about six months, but I was eventually weaned to a weak benzo that I probably now use once a month, max.

[sonicwhite]

No, you don't have an addiction and going up from .25 to 3 mg's in 7 yr's is pretty good. I went to the psych ward and They yanked me off xanax and I was slipping farther and farther into a psychosis so I guess if you have had a Psychotic break then your not able to control better then somebody who isn't predesposed to a psychosis.

[crtclms]

I've been on 2mg of Xanax with 1mg prn for 7 years. I started at that amount, and have not had to raise it in that time. But I know some people do develop tolerances. I am surprised you can stop taking 3mg cold turkey, I have always been told that is extremely risky.

People that develop tolerances often need to keep pushing it up, but eventually can't push it up any more. Those people are habituated to that dose of benzo, but not addicted. They will need to titrate off of it very slowly in order not to have withdrawal symptoms (which is why I am surprised you can start it and stop it at 3mg), but they are purely physical, not psychological.

I think if you are not taking that little bit more, even though you want to, you are probably not addicted. I don't know that for sure, of course, but that is what I think.

ETA: If I am way off the mark about addiction, let me know.

[Mirazh]

Honestly, I view it thusly:

Do I seek out the effects of this drug/activity/etc. when I am bored? Am I using this not just to cope with my issue, but more to escape my lie all the time?

Worrying about addiction and not wanting to be can be good signiiers that I am not. Just, not always.

When I came here, I had to learn the difference between dependance and addiction. It's taken some adjusting. I just use my benzo PRN but I have often been too anxious about if I actually need it or if I am just out to abuse it. This has become easier with time, discussions with my pdoc, and discussions here on CBs. It's funny becase I am physically dependant on my AC but the benzo can still make me wary.

Being physically dependant wouldn't mean you were addicted, not necessarily. But it would seem you were not even that, if you could stop so abruptly. However, if the med is no longer giving you the symptom relief that you require, perhaps it is time for a chat with the pdoc.