Posted by Viridis on March 14, 2004, at 3:31:55
In reply to alprazolam » Viridis, posted by Questionmark on March 14, 2004, at 2:38:56
That's hard to say -- I took it anywhere from once every couple of weeks to 3X/week (never daily), and at very low doses (0.25 - 1.0 mg). Then, after a few months, I found that about 1 mg was the minimum that had an effect. My pdoc says that Xanax seems weird this way, in that it can produce tolerance even with occasional use.
He still prescribes it and says that I should take as much as I need (within reason), but won't increase the overall amount. So, now I take it a couple of times a month and find that 0.5 - 1.0 mg is effective (the tolerance seems to have decreased somewhat). Obviously this will be different for everyone, and some people are fine taking it every day.
I never developed any cravings for it, withdrawal, etc.; it just surprised me how tolerance could develop with such sporadic use, so now I use it sparingly and it's very effective this way. On the other hand, I've been taking 1 mg Klonopin/day for almost three years and it continues to be effective at the same dose.
I'm not knocking Xanax -- it just seems to be unique among benzos re: tolerance and abuse potential (and is the only med in this class that ranks high for withdrawal issues in the World Health Organization's survey of hard-to-discontinue meds; most of the others are antidepressants). So I'm careful with it, even though it's a wonderful med, and some use it regularly with no problems.
poster:Viridis
thread:321684
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040313/msgs/324168.html