Posted by kazoo on November 30, 2000, at 1:23:10
In reply to Addicted to Xanax, posted by LesaH on November 29, 2000, at 23:43:45
> I take 5 milligrams of Xanax everyday NOT .05mg. but FIVE MGS. This has been my way of life for almost six years. I now experience very little emotion. Sadness sometimes. I don't remember when I felt really excited about something. I have no interest in anything; food, sex, sports, you name it. I am flatlined. How do I return to a vital human being? I'm fairly certain that at this point there is no return.
>
> If anyone has taken this drug for the length of time that I have and at a high dosage, I would love to hear from you.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Here we go again!
Sometime during the late-1970s, there was this movie entitled "I'm dancing as fast as I can" which was about some show-biz type who was addicted to the ever-popular benzo (at that time), VALIUM. The movie created quite a stir in all professions/walks of life because "V's" were given out like candy. Well, the chemist who had formulated the drug released a statement, via Hoffman-La Roche, that since creating the drug (quite a few years earlier), he had taken 5 mgs of diazepam EVERY SINGLE NIGHT and had developed NO addictive propensities, or any desire to take more. He did this to prove that the drug was perfectly safe even for extended periods of time.
I realize that 5 mgs. of diazepam isn't that much, but this is the way it is for many people ... they've learned to accept it, and are perfectly comfortable with the situation. I knew a woman who started her day with a "MILTOWN" (meprobamate) each and every day for 15 years. She was an executive Veep at a Fortune-500 company, and when she retired, the drug did too.
Since those wretched 1970s, a dozen or so new benzos appeared and, SUDDENLY, we have a rash of unexpected addiction, with a glut of misinformation about this phenomenon.
So, what happened here? Did the drugs get stronger, or did people get weaker?
TRUE CONFESSION: I've used drugs, both licit and (Surprise! Surprise!) illicit, profusely *all* my life, and not once have I ever been habituated (read that sentence again).
Common sense dictates that if you want to STOP taking something, you do this gradually, or you find a substitute to help you quit (just don't get strung out on the substitute. Case in point: doctors in the 1960s dispensed Methedrine to help heroin addicts overcome their addiction, only to create a new addiction).
It could very well be, my dear, that certain underlying factors (those nasty gremlins from the Freudian UNCONSCIOUS), may be wreaking havoc with your metabolism and, thus, nullifying the *beneficial* effects of the Xanax.
This may seem axiomatic and obvious but your best source for help and information is your physician. They're the person with the answers. Tell them about what you're feeling and going through, and I'm sure a happy solution will be found.
I wish you the best.
kazoo
poster:kazoo
thread:49662
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001115/msgs/49667.html