Look, this runs kind of long but if you can get through it, maybe it'll help. My husband has/had been on Xanax since before 1994 for panic attacks. Recently he's had problems getting the prescription, the doctor has just been not putting refills on it, hasn't been returning his calls, whatever. Anyway, he ran out of his script in January, and his doctor was on vacation and nobody in the office would refill it for him so he had no choice, but to go cold turkey.
Now, his script wasn't large, only .5 mg tablets up to 3x daily, but here's the thing, every website I've read, and I mean EVERY one, said that with xanax even a very small dose taken habitually can be physically addictive. I was taking the Xanax too, for sleep problems, usually about .75 mg an hour before sleep, and had been habitually taking them for years. I stopped taking them before he did so he could stretch out his script. And I made some interesting observations.
Me first - I went through physical withdrawal for about three days. It was like my nerves were strung too tight, if that makes sense. I startled easily. Forget sleeping, that shit went right out the window. The first night was a horror show, I'd doze off and then have that feeling of falling and startle awake with my heart pounding out of my chest. After the fourth or so time this happened (I literally awoke gasping the last time) I finally gave up and sat up the rest of the night. This shit went on for about three days and by that point I thought I was going to completely lose it. I was taking herbals (I have a very good herbal pharmacopoeia), but nothing really helped (not even kava, which I caution people about using because it can be really liver toxic). I tried a few different herbs and skullcap and passionflower helped somewhat but not completely.
Eventually the BEST thing for me turned out to be Valerian, which is actually an herbal analog to benzos. I tried valerian years ago and blew it off because I had insomnia the night I took it ... but I took it in conjunction with Xanax. I've figured you can't mix it with Xanax because (I've since learned) Valerian occupies the same receptors as Xanax and basically creates a feedback loop. However, in the absence of benzos valerian has been a godsend. I've pretty much weaned off the valerian (without any sort of side effect) primarily because I hate having to take anything to sleep but I still have problems with falling asleep so I'm taking melatonin and tweaking my herbals.
Now when my husband finally ran out of Xanax he started having basically nonstop panic attacks, including heart and stomach symptoms, depression, the whole nine yards. Luckily he was on vacation at the time and I started throwing herbs at him. He too took about three days to get over the worst of it, He preferred taking an herbal proprietary blend called Happy Camper (it's primarily got kava and passion flower in it). He also discovered that he had to give up coffee, it exacerbated his anxiety. So he now drinks herb teas. He keeps homeopathics on him, too (frankly, I don't believe in them, but whatever makes him happy). He now feels, literally, 100% better emotionally than he did when he was on the xanax, he feels happier and more balanced.
TL;DR: By now the Xanax has probably become the root cause of your panic attacks. Your brain chemistry is messed up because benzos cross the blood/brain barrier and cause you to stop producing the chemicals (primarily GABA and dopamine) that make you feel emotionally stable, so your brain cannot, naturally, cope with stress. You will HAVE to go through some withdrawal or expect to be on this shit for life. And thanks to changes in the prescription laws, it's will keep getting harder and harder to get the shit legally. Trust me on this.
Your doctor isn't doing you any favors by putting you on a different benzo. It's just a massive crutch and you'll never develop natural coping skills (or normal brain chemistry) as long as you take them.
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