Xanax responsiveness

[dancesintherain]

I took my first dose of Xanax ever (0.25) today around 11.  I felt it kick in by 1130.  It felt like what I imagine normal feels like.  Brain at a reasonable speed, no physical symptoms, etc.

is this placebo effect?  Or can a small dose have an effect that quickly?

[Rabbit37]

Not placebo, especially if you’ve never taken it before. Glad it’s helping! 

[dancesintherain]

thanks Rabbit!  I'm glad that it's helping also.  Fingers crossed that it'll cover me at work (taking it when I leave my condo and then once mid-afternoon), which is the big test.  this is promising though. 

[Unstrung Harp]

I take .25 and definitely feel the effect. I like Xanax a lot because I don't feel altered but it takes care of the anxiety.

[Rabbit37]

I don’t take benzos much, but I believe you can build up a tolerance to Xanax specifically, more easily as opposed to other benzos (can someone verify this?). Maybe don’t take if it’s not as necessary, like weekends. But I might be wrong. 

[Unstrung Harp]

1 hour ago, Rabbit37 said:

I don’t take benzos much, but I believe you can build up a tolerance to Xanax specifically, more easily as opposed to other benzos (can someone verify this?). Maybe don’t take if it’s not as necessary, like weekends. But I might be wrong. 

That may be true. I will say that I've taken it on and off for twenty years and never have built up a tolerance. And .25 will still make me sleepy. I've tended to be careful with it though because of addiction in my family, and take it PRN as opposed to regularly throughout the day.

Edited May 19, 2019 by Unstrung Harp

[Iceberg]

2 hours ago, Rabbit37 said:

I don’t take benzos much, but I believe you can build up a tolerance to Xanax specifically, more easily as opposed to other benzos (can someone verify this?). Maybe don’t take if it’s not as necessary, like weekends. But I might be wrong. 

You can build tolerance...but many pdocs will dose benzos regularly anyway if they feel other options can’t cut it so the benefits outweigh the risks 

[dancesintherain]

1 hour ago, Iceberg said:

You can build tolerance...but many pdocs will dose benzos regularly anyway if they feel other options can’t cut it so the benefits outweigh the risks 

yeah, I've tried my fair share of non-benzoanti-anxiety meds and i've gone through most of hte benzos for one reason or another.

I think mine is having me take it reularly because she's evaluating whether Xanax XR will be a good option for me.  But if I don't need it I can skip it.

[random_name]

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Edited October 19, 2019 by Lapis.Lazuli

[Wonderful.Cheese]

Well, I think some people are more sensitive to different or certain medications. We are all different. And I think people can metabolize meds differently too. But I don’t know much about the science behind that. Maybe someone will chime in with more information about that. There can also be tolerance issues that can sometimes happen (like if you have been on a benzo for a long time, for example) with different meds which can impact doses needed for some individuals. 

So for instance, while some people may need 3 mg daily of Xanax, some people may only need 0.5 mg daily of Xanax to get relief. If a low dose works for someone else then that’s fine. Same with if someone needs a little higher dose to get that relief. As long as the prescribing pdoc is ok with it, of course. 

I don’t know if that is a very very low dose of Xanax or not @Lapis.Lazuli, but the important thing is whether or not @dancesintherain gets relief from her bad anxiety. And I do hope she does and will continue to. I’m glad both of you get anxiety relief from Xanax. 

[dancesintherain]

thank you both.  definitely a situation of different things work better for different people.  The 0.25mg leads to a feeling of normalcy that I haven't had in a while (I had it when I was with luvox somewhat), to the degree that I remember what "normal" feels like.  I'm going to take my second dose in about an hour (the hours are off because of me waking up later than normal.  I can't imagine coming anywhere close to 1mg, much less 3mg. 

[Iceberg]

That’s another way to address tolerance-  although I don’t think you’re there- I know of some pdocs who will set a hard limit for mg/day of the benzo. That way if your heading towards the limit you know that a new/changed sustainable treatment might be warranted and you can get ahead of maxing out a benzo and then getting screwed when it doesn’t work as well and you have to come up with a whole new plan

[Blahblah]

16 hours ago, Iceberg said:

You can build tolerance...but many pdocs will dose benzos regularly anyway if they feel other options can’t cut it so the benefits outweigh the risks 

What is an average length of time it takes to build tolerance to a benzo? I know it totally varies depending on metabolism, etc. I rarely take Xanax (only occasionally) .25 never had much noticeable effect but .50mg works for me, for sleep. I often wonder how often & how consistently I'd need to take .50mg until i needed an increase?

If It's anything like ritalin, the tolerance built up within several months of daily use. Effects became weaker as the months went along but I just suffer and resist increasing my dose because I don't want to "max out"

[Iceberg]

1 hour ago, Blahblah said:

What is an average length of time it takes to build tolerance to a benzo? I know it totally varies depending on metabolism, etc. I rarely take Xanax (only occasionally) .25 never had much noticeable effect but .50mg works for me, for sleep. I often wonder how often & how consistently I'd need to take .50mg until i needed an increase?

If It's anything like ritalin, the tolerance built up within several months of daily use. Effects became weaker as the months went along but I just suffer and resist increasing my dose because I don't want to "max out"

Really depends... sedation can lessen pretty quickly, and tolerance  I’ve heard can be significant at 3/4 weeks, obviously longer or shorter depending on the person. Also, that’s for constant therapeutic dose, which I don’t think your taking. However, if taking it for sleep it definitely can be less effective over time, again less so If your doing PRN. There are lots of differing opinions about this. My current doc is ok with long term use ( but won’t go above a ceiling dose) because he feels that while the effect is diminished it is still there, especially in treatment resistant cases. Other docs will feel the need to taper or switch benzos. It’s a good conversation to have with your pdoc if you are concerned about planning/future issues.

[random_name]

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Edited October 19, 2019 by Lapis.Lazuli