Posted by sukarno on March 19, 2007, at 14:30:16
In reply to Re: Xanax XR is horrible! » Phillipa, posted by jealibeanz on March 19, 2007, at 4:27:36
"I stopped 20mg of valium to 2.5mg last night. No side effects"
Valium has a very long half-life and tends to build up in the fat cells. Withdrawal might not be noticeable for 5 days after abrupt discontinuation. Then again, you are taking Xanax now so that should cover for it.
I just reduced my Valium from 17mg/day to 15mg/day (5mg TID) and was fine for 5 days and then woke up yesterday feeling hot and also in a cold sweat..my head felt like a TV camera. hehhehheh... no fun at all though. It wasn't major withdrawal, but I guess since I've been on Valium or other benzo equivalents for the past 16 years, my body is so used to it that any slight reduction results in some chaos a few days later.
I'll probably have to reduce by 0.5 to 1mg per month to be able to get off this stuff.
I wish I had Xanax XR where I live. In theory it should work well, but I can see how for some it might not be very good, since the level will never reach as high a point as immediate-release. However, immediate-release Xanax has been associated with interdose anxiety (anxiety between doses) because it is so short-acting. I used to get panic attacks between doses, especially at night. Night terrors were the worst part of it.
poster:sukarno
thread:741583
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070314/msgs/742160.html