Long Term High Dose Xanax Effects (Page 5)
(Newest replies first)

I began taking Xanax in 1982. I have been abusing it more and more over the years. I can now take 14 mg and not even tell it. I can stop taking it with no withdrawals. It's like I am immune to it. For the past two years I have been experiencing a lack of cognition, forgetfullness, and general fatigue. It does not matter if I stop the Xanax for a couple of months, I feel like the deficit is permanent. Can Xanax lead to permanent brain damage?

REPLY

REPORT

Sage, excellent post, sorry to hear about the different factors you are going through. 6 mg a day is a large dose and always be careful trying to cut down even with natural substances. Xanax has changed our Brain chemistry and is a very misunderstood drug by Doctors as evident by some of the posts here. It might be the Devil's drug?

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Schedule III-V Substances


A prescription for controlled substances in Schedules III, IV, and V issued by a practitioner, may be communicated either orally, in writing, or by facsimile to the pharmacist, and may be refilled if so authorized on the prescription or by call-in.

Refills


Schedule III and IV controlled substances may be refilled if authorized on the prescription. However, the prescription may only be refilled up to five times within six months after the date on which the prescription was issued. After five refills or after six months, whichever occurs first, a new prescription is required.

DEA

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

My doctor did prescribe for a year at a time and if the prescription ran out I could do call in renewals without seeing him. He made it very easy to abuse. When I was going through withdrawels I found an empty bottle that said there were 7 renewals left. I went ahead and ordered another renewal, I was in bad shape, but then I talked to someone and ended up calling the pharmacy to cancel and asked them to cancel all renewals. So glad I had enough sense even in terrible withdrawels to know I didn,t want to go there again. I wouldn't recommend anyone quit cold turkey and if you are on alot even four to six weeks is too fast. A previous post mentioned that you can have hardly any withdrawels for that period and than bam! the real withdrawels start. That's what happened to me. Very Scary. Someone also recommended the Ashton Manual. Wish I had heard of this a long time ago. It is the best way ,I think,to get off Xanax. And please, I don,t want to hear from anyone who says Xanax isn't that bad. It can be for a lot of people.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

Danelle...i hope you read my replies. Im not that familiar with how this site works. I go by nina and monique just in case if you want to read them if you didnt get direct reply. Wishing you well

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Eddy, My Dr is VERY conscientious and only gives me 3 refills at a time after each 3 month visit. IF I were to abuse my medication, I could not get a refill, they are all dated as prescribed. I hated thinking of myself as someone who needed this type of medicine so I weaned myself off for 6 months and tried holistic herbal remedies to no avail. I finally caved in and went back on the xanax tearfully. I take 2 mg 3x per day...period... to control my essential tremors. In two years I have had only one incident where one of my daughter's friends stole some of my meds. I took the issue to my Dr and was prepared to file a police report. He laughed and said, "In two years you have never had an issue", "the excuses I hear from real drug seekers and addicts are beyond ridiculous", "I think we can let this one go but be sure to keep your meds out of reach". Well, my daughter has a friend who is a xanax psycho literally it makes her do insane things. She spent the night here a few times and I had to sleep with my meds under my mattress. Right now she is facing 15 years at least in jail for crimes she committed while taking "bars" as the younger set calls them. She is 17 and won't be out of jail until she is in her 30's. She was 4 credits away from graduating HS and it's sad. Dr's like mine are rare, psychiatrists readily prescribe xanax, some Dr's will prescribe it for 6 months to a year at a time for the kick backs from pharm companies. Those are the ones who put it in the hands of drug dealers and should lose their licenses to practice. They and the drug addicts spoil it for people like me who truly need and are responsible with the drug. My Dr also makes anyone prescribed pain medications go in for regular drug testing, since pain med junkies usually take other drugs as well. If he finds any other drugs or that they have abused their prescriptions in any way, he turns them into the law and refers them to rehab and will dismiss them as patients. In my experience, xanax is more physically addictive than psychologically. I can get so busy sometimes and forget to take a dose and a few hours later, I feel it...I am grateful for it but hate it at the same time.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

It's been a while for me to be here and I'm sorry I just read your post today. I'm so sorry for your troubles. I really feel for you and your family. I'm pretty certain my daughter has some of those same feelings as you described which is why she has such a hard time controlling it. I'm pretty sure it's like a rebound effect...you take the pills, feel good, then when you stop, start feeling anxious, panicky, nervous, can't sleep and really bad/sick so you want to keep taking them and repeat the cycle. Even though you say you have no options, I urge you to find a support group to get help...talk to your doctor or minister or someone...there may be options for you where you live. Like NA or AA, find a sponsor who you can talk to and help you get thru the hard times. Go on line and find a support group.. call rehabs and ask advice. Do not be ashamed of what has happened to you...be ashamed if you do nothing to try to stop. You husband should also get help in understanding what is going on with you. My grandkids are at the point where they do not want to be around their mother and she blames either me or her location (she moved to the city across the river from us and blames that as the reason her daughter doesn't want to stay with her) totally avoiding the reality of her problem. She has violent outbursts now which is another reason her daughter doesn't want to be around her...she doesn't trust her mother to follow thru with anything she says she's going to do or to pick her up from school or other places and then what condition she's in. She doesn't ask her to go to school meetings, she asks me. And I resent it totally but I do it because I love my granddaughter, but the resentment comes from me already having raised my kids. It's supposed to be my time...You don't want your kids to be like that. I have to admit that I don't know what you mean when you say bars...all I know is that when my daughter gets her hands on xanax, she takes upwards of 40, 70, 80 pills in one day...she is not using them thru an Rx...she will trade suboxone for them or steal them...then there are the other drugs she can get because the BF sells them. For some reason, he has been able to control himself and I've only seen him either very hyper and only one time like her...nodding off in my car! That's what I don't understand...if you take so much that you are falling asleep, what is the appeal? I believe there is an underlying issue which she is hiding from but has not gotten help dealing with but I could be wrong, could just be because she likes it. They have liquid G in the house, Adderal, neurontin, suboxone and many others..and she'll take anything by the handful. I've talked to her many times. The BF has talked to her but he never follows thru with the help she really needs. He's not very supportive. Needless to say I have no use for him. I haven't spoken to her for weeks now because I know she's used some xanax and neurontin and I don't want to deal with it. It's energy draining on those of us who have to deal with it. Not sure if you know that or not...aside from the obvious issues with it. I never know what condition she is in and I have made the decision to not say anything more to her or the BF, it only ends in an argument. When I offer help, she sees an enemy. She can't continue with using if I mention it all the time to her..so I avoid her. I don't want her around my friends who have known her all her life. I go camping a lot and I refuse to invite her with us for all those same reasons. My daughter is almost 40 yo! I have lived with this at least for 10 maybe 15 years...you are young. You can get help...you don't want this life of people avoiding you and the only friends you have are other drug addicts with no ambition or jobs or energy or money or anything in life but the drugs. She has lost everything...her apartment, her furniture, clothes, kids toys, etc thru these past years of drug use...her and her husband both had a problem and stole, shoplifted, pawned, moved in and took advantage of her brother, forged checks, legal issues, car impounded, DUIs, jail...etc. The sad thing is that she finished nursing school and had a nursing degree at one time. She actually made it thru the school under enormous pressure from the idiot husband but she did it. But lost her license...she'll never get it back because of what she needs to do...stop drugs, probably prove she has gone to rehab...At this point in my life, I've gotten to the point where she either will get professional help, ask me to help her with that which I've offered many times before or I'm going to get a phone call from a hospital...I'm resigned to the fact that she could very well die of her drug use. Sad thing tho...she has a 2 yo...her 17 yo stays in his room or is never home. 15 yo lives with me and visits her rarely which she then gets tortured by her mother as to why she's not over there...
When people talk about legalizing drugs this is what I deal with and think...are you insane? Then again, yep you have a right to abuse your body and do whatever you want to it...drugs, drinking, risky behavior, etc...that's your right. And that's fine as long as you don't expect your families to stand by and just watch. There are many people who function well while taking the drugs, good for them but in the long run what are they doing to their bodies? Liver function will be hell by the time they reach a certain age...hope they survive it. Then you have the people who obviously do not function well...one look and you can tell they are high. That's my daughter. She cannot function...she can't keep her family together, can't keep a job, can't keep her friends, nothing. and it's a very sad life...when she could have so much. Don't be like her, don't miss out on your kids lives and missing the milestones in their lives..school, dances, BF/GF, sports, graduation...my daughter has missed a lot in her kids lives...and it's a sad thing.
I am rambling and probably sounding like a nut to you...I'm just trying to encourage you to find help. Don't let it destroy your life like it has my daughters...and her kids lives. So I'll stop and wish you well and hope you have found some help in the past few months. Maybe you can keep me posted as to how things are going for you. I hope you find an answer...prayers to you.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Well, that makes sense. My daughter has been abusing Xanax for a long time, taking upwards of 70-80 pills at a time. Don't know the mg dosage but even I know that's excessive...she becomes incoherent and sleepy. Even her boyfriend has had to check her for breathing...but get the same old excuses. She has anxiety...she says. Well no wonder she does. Thanks for that comment...I know if she gets off these things she'd feel so much better...not to mention the fact that she'll take just about anything she can get her hands on...latest was Neurontin...I don't get the thrill of taking downers if all you are going to do is sleep...doesn't sound like much fun to me.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Xanax is not a medicine to fool around with. I look forward to the day I can stop. One thing to make clear, a Doctor can only write up to a 6 month supply of a Benzodiazepine. Of course they can double your dose giving you extras!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I was one of those people who was abusing xanax but I should never have been prescribed in the first place. As I became more immune to it my doctor just kept increasing the amount and I became so depressed and kept thinking that I couldn;t live without it. It's been a year and a half off now and I feel so much better, The anxiety and depression were actually from constant withdrawel effects between doses that were increasing all the time. It's great now not having to worry about how much medication I take or if I'm going to run out or the looks and comments from pharmacists, I agree that some people who can get help on this med without building immunity time after time and who have regular dr appt every 3 mos are probably going to be ok. My dr would renew my prescriptions for a year at a time, My life revolved around this med and now I feel so much freedom being able to make plans etc without worrying about meds all the time.Glad it is helping you, just be careful that you always take as prescribed.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I have something called severe essential tremors. My Dr's have tried me on every medication. Anti seizure meds, beta blockers on someone with already low blood pressure. Long acting benzos and all with adverse reactions. Xanax has been the ONLY medication that works for me and enables me to function at all. Without it, I can do nothing but tremor, burning myself, breaking things and falling. I have two glasses of red wine with my dinner quite often and never had any creepy mindless things happen. I take my medication exactly as prescribed and know my limit on wine. For me, xanax is far less a danger than the other alternatives that nearly killed me. By law I must see my Dr every 3 months and I am grateful for this drug. After reading all this crap here from people who probably abuse the drug and alcohol, I am concerned and am going to look into a liver cleanse. But for me, my tremors may spread to my internal organs or turn into parkinson's disease so for now, whatever gives me the best quality of life for however long I have as my disease progresses, I will take whatever works. For those of you abusing the drug and alcohol, the liver is a very wonderful organ and can completely regenerate itself with cessation of drugs and alcohol.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I've been on 1mg of xanax for about three years now. It doesn't work like it used to. I asked my doctor to increase in, but I have also tried all the other benzo's. Any idea's here?

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

When it comes to Xanax and withdrawal....Jesus has always had the day off for me...

REPLY

Was this helpful? 2

Wild thread, plenty of morons have graced the pages of Prescription Drug Info it seems? At my last forum everyone was praying for each other and making wild claims about Jesus & Xanax. This thread is funnier though!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 2

You first say you can stop taking it after 30 years and you feel no withdrawals, then you say you feel a 'deficit' as if something is missing. Pal...if you take 14 milligrams a day....and you say you can stop on a dime and have NO WITHDRAWALS [which I find hard to believe] then why do you take it at all? If you are abusing it like you said, you have a problem with it. You are in STRONG DENIAL......

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

You first say you can stop taking it after 30 years and you feel no withdrawals, then you say you feel a 'deficit' as if something is missing. Pal...if you take 14 milligrams a day....and you say you can stop on a dime and have NO WITHDRAWALS [which I find hard to believe] then why do you take it at all? If you are abusing it like you said, you have a problem with it. You are in STRONG DENIAL......

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

you wont die form xanex, no one ever dies form benzo overdose alone, only when its in combination with any other CNS depressant will it kill you. codene will on the other hand kill you by itself

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Let me all tell you something. Yes I am on xanax, BUT I just went through 2 weeks of HELLLLLLL. I got sick from my oxycodone. I had severe Pelvic Ilies, In Plain english I was full of s***. I had severe edema in my legs and feet. I was in the hospital 7 times in 10 days, all because the paramedics lost my bag of meds, Yeah right probably stole them, and I was forced into detox, because my pain management Dr. would not refill my script. SOOOOOOOO What I am asking is this. I am going to create a petition online at change.org, and the petition is going to be that is any Dr. can write a script for any addictive or chemically dependent drug ie; xanax, oxycodone, etc. They should be responsible for taking that patient off of them at an exceptable rate of time. I am so pissed, I am still trying to recover and it's not right. It's not fair for the ones, like myself who should be treated like drug addicts, when we have legitimate reasons to be taking these medications. When I get it together I will post a link and hopefully you will all sign and pass it around. WE MUST TAKE CONTROL, The Government is trying to kill us. Look at our food. All the chemicals, girls maturing at 8 and 9 yrs old. Come on people we have to wake it up. As for your daughter I will pray for her, and if she needs a friend I AM HERE FOR ANYONE, ANYTIME, day or night. You can email me at xxxxx@xxx {edited for privacy}

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Shaw33nin:
Your idea that you can come off Xanax so fast is not just wrong but positively dangerous. I have known people (and I include myself, who was given a medically atrocious, dangetously short, 21 day detox on entering prison,) to suffer benzo withdrawal syndrome delayed for more than three months; it is possible just to feel anxiety of the rebound kind for that long then suddenly BANG! you enter straight into a full-on BZD w/d.
I repeat my advice. Never, ever stop taking.nenzos suddenly or over as short a period as a month, especially the stronger ones and those with short half lives. The exception is triazolam, but that would take a page to explain pharmacologically. You MUST transfer onto a BZD with desmethyldiazepam (nordazepam) as active metabolite, giving a half life of up to 250 hours. Diazepam is the obvious drug of choice. Detox must take no less than six months.
And I repeat, for the absolutely perfect and the safest, mist comfortable detox with least chance of loss.of life or the development of dangerous epileptic episodes, STICK TO THE REGIMEN OUTLINED IN THE ASHTON MANUAL, the ONLY really safe detox you should do. The worst offendimg BZDs are alprazolam, lorazepam, oxazepam and clonazepam. Proper substitution therapy is a must. Find the Manual at benzo.org.uk
Take a note of this. It is the most important website of all for every person habituated to BZDs and who wishes to come off, or even to cut their dosage by more than 50%. Prof Ashton is the worlds leading authority on benzos and their effects and withdrawal. What she doesn't know doesn't exist, what she says is the path to follow if you wish to withdraw without problems.
The Ashton Manual.
Never forget it.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

hello, i have undectable cirrhosis i take xanax 1mg 2 times per day for the last 7yrs. so far tests still show undectable cirrhosis. will it affect me in the long run

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

It already has, just by the way your talking

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Does Xanax make you not care about (or love) things and people in your life anymore when used over an extended period of...

2 REPLIES

About 2 years ago, my boyfriend had the brilliant idea of administering klonopin intravenously several times into his lo...

4 REPLIES

Hi, last year in December I overdosed on 100 50mg capsules of tramadol, this was intensional but I was found and I was r...

4 REPLIES

effects and side effects of meganeuron ## 1.side effect of meganeuron 2.Duration of meganeuron tab can take ## Wanted to...

3 REPLIES

I took Lexapro for 4 years and have been off it for 6 years. I was reading some of the symptoms and withdrawal symptoms ...

1 REPLY

Has this drug known to cause deffects to the kidneys or liver? ## I WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT DININTEL I HAVE TAKEN T...

17 REPLIES

## I started taking 15 mg of Mirtazapine a month ago and for anxiety, feelings of fear and worry and depression. I’...

5 REPLIES

I have looked extensively for info with my situation but haven't found much. when I was 15 I started doing pills, an...

5 REPLIES

Has anyone heard of any studies that look at long term side effects of prozac on children whose mothers took prozac whil...

5 REPLIES

I as put on Co Diovan BP medication 15 months ago after being admitted to ICU with what the cardiologist seemed to think...

4 REPLIES