lymeHerx001
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6215
posted
If xanax helps me, should I be worried about taking it every day?
I mean my nervous system is screwed up and that terrible nervous dread feeling has gone away. Plus stress is way lower yet I feel more productive and motivated, does that make sense?
Sleep is better too. But Im becoming a different kind of drug addict!
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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Starfall1969
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17353
posted
When my doc gave me xanax, she said it shouldn't be used every day.
It is a very potent drug, and I guess it is addictive.
She told me to only use it for flare ups of anxiety/panic.
If you need something every day, your doc should give you something like Lexapro or Zoloft.
Unfortunately for me, I had bad reactions to everything they put me on, so I can't use any of that for anxiety.
Posts: 1682 | From Dillsburg, PA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
I took very small doses of xanax for two days.
Then I read up on it.
Yikes!
It is addictive.
So are many anti-anxiety meds.
What about benadryl?
It always makes me sleep like a baby.
Plus it is not addictive.
I don't know the right answer.
It seems to be helping you.
Maybe call your doctor and see if there is
Something else that works like xanax,
But without the potential of addiction.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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mojo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9309
posted
If you need it I think you can use it everyday. But you may need to wean off very slowly when you don't need it anymore. I weaned off of it very quickly after a few months of using large doses. I've used it for many many years and can use it many days in a row and then not use it at all.
I think everyone is different, though. It would not be recommended for anyone with an "addictive" personality of course.
It saved my life for sure in 2006 and is one of my favorite drugs.
Posts: 1761 | From USA | Registered: May 2006
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feelfit
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12770
posted
I think that it can be a lifesaver when anxiety is severe. The anxiety can cause a worse end result than the potential for addiction.
In my humble opinion.
I say do what you have to to make it through and worry about the rest in the end.
Feelfit
Posts: 3975 | From usa | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
If you don't take it daily your body won't get used to it and you won't get physically addicted and experience withdrawls if you stop.
That is what I do with klonopin which is a simillar medication.
Posts: 526 | From NJ | Registered: May 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
-
Have you tried magnesium and B-6 and gotten any relief.
Xanax - and many drugs that affect the nervous system so strongly can be very hard on the liver, making getting well all that much harder.
Xanax has also been linked to raising the sensitivity to sound (hyperacusis). Even when stopped, they hyperacusis can continue for a long time or even become permanent.
If you take NAC, that might help protect the liver a bit.
lymeHerx001
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6215
posted
Wel everything youve said here makes sense. Yes I have tried all before. Sleep is the biggest issue with me.
I need exactlly 6-7 hours. If I dont get that I am terrible and irratable, if I get too much I am very very depressed.
Also have panic problems but not attacks, more low level anxiety. Even St Johns wort keeps me up at night. Tyrosine keeps me up.
My nervous system is so screwed up from the lyme and myco.
Benzoes are the only things to clear my head so to speak.
Lyrica makes me pass out. But I feel like someone turned off my brain in the morning and that I am a shell of a person. Everything looks lifeless and dead and I have to go through the whole day like that!!!!!
Lyrica is only when I get slightlly manic and cant sleep. Seizure drugs like that are not for me.
I was hoping that the benzoes will calm down the stress response going on in the HPA, thereby stopping the feedback loop of the body attacking itself and disruting the immune system.
So, If you are more relaxed you heal better.
The herxes are terrible, and I have had some terrible ones. Magnessium just makes me go to the bathroom, and yes I have tried different kinds, they actually give me energy they dont knock me out.
The problem is I have this low level anxiety where I need to be knocked out every night or else I go to sleep at like 4.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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lymeHerx001
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6215
posted
I was trying to also figure our why NAC gives me a migrane. he thinks sulphur and maybee my sulphation is not woking in my liver. (great)
So I started taking molybdenum. I will be a while.
Enzymes always test good.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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Cass A
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11134
posted
Just a thought--have you taken B Complex and about 300 mg of B 1 before going to bed?
Any meds use up B Complex, and that can make a person irritable, anxious, wound up with thinking, etc.
I personally use this, plus B 1, and can sleep very soundly (with a good alarm to wake me in the AM!!)
Hope this helps.
Best,
Cass A
Posts: 1245 | From Thousand Oaks, CA | Registered: Feb 2007
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Vermont_Lymie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9780
posted
Be careful with xanax. I have been told by my doctor that xanax is especially addictive, of all the benzodiazepines. Think it has to do with its short half-life in the body.
Best to use only occasionally.
Posts: 2557 | From home | Registered: Aug 2006
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lymeHerx001
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6215
posted
B complex makes me nautious! More nautious then Biaxin! Im not just saying that.
Does biaxin use up b complex?
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I've taken Klonopin (same class as Xanax) for many years on and off. Just don't overdo it. It can be a very helpful drug when used properly.
Posts: 13 | From nj | Registered: Mar 2009
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kreynolds
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 15117
posted
lymeHerx001:
I was on Xanax for over a year and was fine. Everyone thinks you will become addicted...that is not necessarily true.
My doc told me to stop and I did in 1 day. Don't be worried about it. It did help me a majority of the time with my anxiety.
I also was on Klonopin and Valium. Don't get me wrong, some people get addicted to it, but I was fine. Good Luck!!!
-------------------- Diagnosed CDC + 6/2007
Quest: + IGG Bands 18,23,39,41,58,66 and 93.
Quest: + IGM Bands 23,39
Quest: + Bartonella (B.Henselea & B. Quintana),+ Babesia, and + Mycoplasma and Lyme-Induced Addisons Disease
+ Biofilm blood test 12/2010 Posts: 1185 | From New York | Registered: Apr 2008
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posted
Please don't tell people not to worry about benzodiazepines. They need to be carefully administered. Stopping abruptly after long term use can cause seizures. It happened to my mother where she ended up in the ER and ultimately hospitalized.
I am not saying no one should take benzodiazepines. I take them myself as needed. But, taking them every day caused problems.
Take this for what it may be worth, if anything. Stevie Nicks was recently interviewed on a TV program. She said after detoxing off cocaine (and who knows what else!) she was placed on Klonopin for years to cope with anxiety. She said with the detox from Klonopin she was in the hospital twice as long and that it was a detox from hell...far worse than the detox from the cocaine. She was warning viewers about her experience.
Everyone's chemistry is unique theirs in relationship to their DNA.
For a medical professional opinion, please google the research work of Professor Heather Ashton, PhD.
Or just google benzodiazepine withdrawals, and read the horror stories that many people have gone through.
Please proceed cautiously.
Posts: 495 | From SF Bay area, CA | Registered: Dec 2007
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klutzo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5701
posted
I was taught that the tendency for addiction is primarily genetic and physiological not psychological. All of my doctors have confirmed this to me when I asked them about it.
So, look at your first degree relatives before making the decision. Are any of them addicted to anything? Kreynolds is part of a very lucky minority. I know a couple of people like that, and I sure wish I was one of them!
My muscle spasms are so severe that I cannot walk at all without a drug to ease them. Back when I got sick in 1986, Flexeril was the only alternative to Xanax, and even the lowest dose of Flexeril made me so wobbly I could not stand up, so I was put on Xanax.
Megnesium, B complex, herbs, etc. are not nearly strong enough to fix this problem. I've tried them all and take some of them for other reasons. BTW, Alpha lipoic acid is a good substitute for NAC.
In addition, I am very Type A, and have a major problem with Lyme rage, and a small dose of Xanax daily has been shown to prevent heart attack in Type A people just as well as aspirin prevents it in those prone to clotting, so there is an up side, however small.
I am now dependent upon Xanax, and have been since 1986. I take the smallest dose they make, and have only increased the dosage once in 23 years, but I must take one every six hours, even during the night, or I will go into dangerous withdrawl symptoms.
If I lower my dose by even 1/4 of one tablet daily, I will have withdrawl symptoms. However, both of my parents were alcoholics, so this could have been predicted, if only one of my doctors had asked about my relatives. They didn't.
I ran a Fibromyalgia support group for ten years, before I knew it was really Lyme, and by far the #1 drug that the most people said helped them was Klonopin. It is addictive also, but easier to get off of than Xanax, due to a longer half-life. I cannot take it because it supresses my breathing.
I have noticed that Xanax increases my appetite, which I do not need, and makes my failing memory even worse. However, I would do it again to keep myself out of a wheelchair.
Because of the Xanax, I can not only walk unassisted, I can also exercise. I hate having to take it, but feel the increase in quality of life was worth it, esp. since I am never going to recover (I am allergic to all ABX that kill Lyme).
So, I think this has to be an individual decision, and you should take a good look at your relatives before deciding.
Best wishes,
klutzo
Posts: 1269 | From Clearwater, Florida, USA | Registered: May 2004
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lymeHerx001
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6215
posted
klutzo sounds kinda like me.
I dont like it but the alternative is worse.
The pain and sleepless nights are the worst and the mental anguish is terrible.
The abx take away my pain and mental symptoms for a mintue but alas they return, lest I herx and get sick again.
Its a never ending cycle, I want a doc that understands.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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kreynolds
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 15117
posted
I wasn't saying they weren't addictive as klutzo had mentioned I am lucky that I wasn't addicted to them. Some people have more of a chance then others...I took Xanax 3 times a day for over a year. I even forgot to take them at times!
-------------------- Diagnosed CDC + 6/2007
Quest: + IGG Bands 18,23,39,41,58,66 and 93.
Quest: + IGM Bands 23,39
Quest: + Bartonella (B.Henselea & B. Quintana),+ Babesia, and + Mycoplasma and Lyme-Induced Addisons Disease
+ Biofilm blood test 12/2010 Posts: 1185 | From New York | Registered: Apr 2008
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klutzo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5701
posted
I also would like to add that though it is very difficult, getting off of Xanax is not impossible, even for easily hooked people like me.
In fact, I did it four times! Back when I thought I had Fibro, every few years I would go through about 3 months of slowing weaning myself off of Xanax to see if I still needed it to walk. I always started to fall over again by the morning of the third day with no drugs.
The last time I withdrew, I stayed off the drug for 12 days, but it was torture. The muscle pain kept me awake, and I had to hang on walls and walk around the outer rim of rooms.
After I started blacking out on the street one day during a Xanax withdrawl in 1998 and had to knock on someone's door to get help, I never tried it again.
I read on a website for people getting off benzos, that the withdrawl symptoms can last, to some degree, for up to a year or longer after you are completely off of it.
That same website said that switching to valium first makes withdrawl much easier. I can't imagine why that would be, but they swore by it.
I also read a study long ago by one of the docs who is expert in fibro (can't remember which one) showing that once you no longer need the benzos, they are much easier to get off of.
I don't want anyone to think it is hopeless. If you can live with Lyme symptoms, you can do anything!
klutzo
Posts: 1269 | From Clearwater, Florida, USA | Registered: May 2004
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lymeHerx001
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6215
posted
klutzo valium stayes in your system alot longer, so you come off slower.
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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