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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by BUCKEYE FANATIC on February 19, 2006, at 21:58:04
At a recent visit to my MD...he gave a few samples of Lunetsa. I have been wanting to get of xanax for a while...but as many of you know it is said to be as hard as Heroin to get off of.
Anyways..his closing comments were "Dont expect much from the Lunesta...you Xanax will "trump" most anything.
I am on 6 mg a day. Is this an unusally high dose?
Is there nothing stronger than xanax short of thorazine??????
BF
Posted by Phillipa on February 19, 2006, at 22:25:19
In reply to XANAX POTENCY, posted by BUCKEYE FANATIC on February 19, 2006, at 21:58:04
I was weaned over a few days from alchohol and xanax with valium and it wasn't that hard. Yes 6mg is a high dose. Maybe try a detox unit for around three days. And I personally haven't taken lunesta but once you're off the xanax it make work just fine. Fondly, Phillipa
Posted by yxibow on February 20, 2006, at 2:42:02
In reply to XANAX POTENCY, posted by BUCKEYE FANATIC on February 19, 2006, at 21:58:04
> At a recent visit to my MD...he gave a few samples of Lunetsa. I have been wanting to get of xanax for a while...but as many of you know it is said to be as hard as Heroin to get off of.
>
> Anyways..his closing comments were "Dont expect much from the Lunesta...you Xanax will "trump" most anything.
>
> I am on 6 mg a day. Is this an unusally high dose?That's about 60mg of Valium or 3mg of Klonopin, give or take.. its a medium high strength dose, high for some, not so high for others, depending on how they metabolize it. Most doctors dont like going beyond 4mg of Klonopin for panic disorders although some do more.
>
> Is there nothing stronger than xanax short of thorazine??????Yeah, Halcion is pretty stupifying although its almost equivalent, but acts on different subreceptors more, the sedative-hypnotic. Versed syrup is even stronger and would cause revocation of your doctors DEA license I would imagine here not to mention respiratory depression! Klonopin is actually stronger dose for dose but it so long acting people rarely get a "kick."
>
> BF
Xanax has a more immediacy "rewarding" characteristic of benzodiazepines and a very short half life which makes issues of reducing or eliminating harder, but not impossible. Like most benzodiazepines, it is prudent to reduce your dose about 10% a week or so, taking in account for whatever tablet size you have, so it could be as much as 15% or as little as 8% or so. Just depends how its split. If you feel "withdrawal", you're not going down slow enough. And it'll still be there tomorrow, so there's no hurry. One thought if your insurance covers it would be to first gradually switch to Xanax XR as you're tapering off the Xanax simply because it extends the half life of it to around 24h. Then if there is any Xanax XR remaining to taper off, you could equivalent taper with Valium.The chart http://www.dr-bob.org/tips/bzd.html gives some approximate equivalencies which will vary from person to person but are average guidelines.
Its true with 6mg of Xanax, and Lunesta 3mg being slightly weaker for some than 20mg Ambien, there is cross-tolerance to these pseudo-benzodiazepines and you might not get sleep relief from it. I dont know if any doctors have been comfortable to cross the 3mg barrier of Lunesta but many have crossed the 10mg of Ambien. Beyond 20mg, Ambien starts getting into the useless and toxic range.
Posted by fenix on February 20, 2006, at 5:10:59
In reply to Re: XANAX POTENCY » BUCKEYE FANATIC, posted by yxibow on February 20, 2006, at 2:42:02
Xanax kind of reminds me of cigarettes, in that you get into the habit of just opening up a box and taking one multiple times a day. Diazepam is maybe more like a tobacco pipe.
There is a trick with replacing Xanax with diazepam, in that you actually break the diazepam into smaller pieces and take them as if you were still taking Xanax, same time and everything. And then you eventually limit yourself to how many pieces you break off, so that you start taking diazepam fewer times in the day but at the same equivalent dosage level. Then of course, one just starts reducing the dosage, etc. etc. etc. and you are free at last (if you want to be of course, addiction is kind of a neutral thing by itself).
Hmm, comparing it to heroin now, actually saying that it can be "more addictive". That depends on the situation, for instance, if someone is in chronic pain then they will most likely become more addicted to heroin. And if someone has anxiety issues, well you can see where I am going with this... oh well... the pragmatic poppy strikes again :^)
Posted by ed_uk on February 20, 2006, at 14:09:38
In reply to Re: XANAX POTENCY » BUCKEYE FANATIC, posted by yxibow on February 20, 2006, at 2:42:02
>Versed syrup is even stronger and would cause revocation of your doctors DEA license I would imagine here not to mention respiratory depression!
Hmmm.
Ed
Posted by BUCKEYE FANATIC on February 20, 2006, at 20:57:50
In reply to Re: XANAX POTENCY » yxibow, posted by ed_uk on February 20, 2006, at 14:09:38
Just wanted to say thanks to all who gave advice....I appreciate it.
When I am ready to ween off I will touch base with this great site.
Thanks Dr Bob...and thanks to all of you~
BF
This is the end of the thread.
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