How Long Will It Take to Detox and Recover From 4mg Xanax?
Question by Cody: How long will it take to detox and recover from 4mg Xanax?
Long story short, about a year and a half ago I was having tremors in my hands and some mild-mid level anxiety so a Dr. put me on 4mg Xanax a day- (1mg every 4 hours) adding up to 4mg by the end of the day. Didn’t realize the effect until I missed a does and felt withdrawls. I started to taper but want to get this stuff out of my body asap- so scary… so I’ve made a choice to go to a treatment center to detox (I go next week). I will be in treatment for 14 days… I’m really kind of freaking- ’cause now I’m reading about all these nightmare experiences people have had from this drug.
I’ve taken three weeks off of work for this and go to treatment center next week. So, I’m wandering just how long it will take for me to feel normal enough to go back to work. Also, if I will have lasting symptoms after detox… I’ve read about P.A.W.S (that freaked me out) Also, about how benzo change brain chemistry that take time to replenish. Will that happen? And for how long? Weeks? Months? YEARS?! Yikes!! I’ve been steady in taking this dose (4mg a day) for OVER A YEAR now- What am I really in for? Any insight from people who are knowledgeable would be great.
Best answer:
Answer by Mathieu
Firstly you need to ask yourself a question and you need to know what the “treatment” facility and your doctor think. The question is are you addicted to Xanax? You may know all of this but in case you don’t you need to understand that physical dependency, which is the issue you have is NOT addiction. Addiction is behaviour, it is psychological dependency, craving, and desire for the drug. Addiction is defined as the repeated and maladaptive use of a substance, despite clinically significant impairment or distress due to continued use of the substance.
If your only problem is physical dependency you are NOT an addict and you need to make sure your “treatment” is not for substance abuse, just benzodiazepine detox. However if you are an addict then you do need substance abuse treatment.
You also need to stop reading about Xanax online. The internet is, for the most part, a source of junk medical information, written by people with no clinical or medical training. Xanax is in the top ten most prescribed drugs in The United States (number 7 I think) and a total of 5 benzodiazepines (Ativan, Klonopin, Valium, and Restoril) are in the top 100. 10% of the population of Canada and The US are prescribed a benzodiazepine a year, 1% are prescribed it for more than 1 year. Millions upon millions of people have taken benzodiazepines including millions who have taken Xanax, of these millions and millions only a tiny percent experience the “nightmare” experiences you read about. People go online most of the time to say how horrible a drug is. Do you really think an average person will go online to say “Xanax helped, I had no problems?” That is not common, the people online are typically angry (sometimes rightfully so, sometimes not), it is not rational or scientific. What ever happened to them is a minority and everyone is different, your reaction to stopping may be much different.
Post–acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS) happens to the minority and it typically happens to addicts, people who are not detoxed properly, and people who have taken huge doses (more than you) for long periods of time. It could happen to you but it likely won’t and the symptoms are 90% of the time fairly mild.
Benzodiazepines sort of change your brain chemistry but it is not as serious as it sounds. Simply put Xanax works on the GABA receptor and this reduces the ability of nerves to fire, causing a more “quiet” mind. When a person takes certain types of drugs, some addictive and some not, the brain compensates. Basically Xanax, causes there to be more GABA than is normally naturally produced. As a result the brain thinks there is too much and receptor downregulation occurs. Basically it means that the GABA receptors become less sensitive and natural production of GABA is reduced. If you stop Xanax abruptly the brain can’t compensate quickly and has a major deficit in GABA and what is left does not work as well become the nerves and not as sensitive thus withdrawal occurs. However withdrawal occurs in only 1/3- 1/2 of long term users.
It will likely take a few months for everything to be back to normal in your brain, it can take longer but it rarely does. And if you are detoxed well it should not be painful or even uncomfortable and you will be perfectly fine to go back to work.
One thing you do need to know is that just because you “want this stuff out of your body ASAP” does not mean it is a good idea. Rapid withdrawal (and two weeks is rapid) has a far greater risk of causing PAWS, it will more likely worsen your anxiety, and you will have a much larger chance of using benzodiazepines again because your anxiety can be terrible.
Normally people have a psychiatrist detox them as slowly as needed. It is well established that slow detox with the patient setting the pace is most effective. Some people need 1 month, others need 1 year. Also Xanax is typically replaced with Valium or Librium, both are benzodiazepines like Xanax but they last longer and provide a more stable detox. The only half-decent “rapid detox” is to use phenobarbital, a very long acting barbiturate, often in concert with Librium. That is really the only good option. Using Valium or Librium alone is good and detox can typically be done faster but typically not rapidly unless you can handle it. You know what happens when you get it out quickly, withdrawal happens. Xanax only lasts a few hours so the withdrawal occurs because it is not there. Fast is a bad choice however it is yours to make.
Please just know what what you have read online is not representative of how things actually happen. And don’t push your self too quickly. No matter what they will replace Xanax with another drug, please know what that drug is and if they happen to give Klonopin (clonazepam), which is sometimes used in The US, tell them you want something else. A lot of stupid doctors think clonazepam is a good option because it lasts a long time but its blood concentration goes up
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
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