[Bosli222]

I've been either self-prescribed or legitimately prescribed to xanax for the past year. I slowly went up to a 3 mg a day dosage of normal xanax (3 1 mg pills at different points in the day) and this seemed to work well. I was also prescribed to 3 mg XR by a psychiatrist. My main question is I developed a very high tolerance and it would take a lot 15-20 mgs to have me actually feeling the great effects of xanax, you know that relaxed sedation. Anyway, I stopped for a very short 2 weeks and went back to taking some, I now find that taking 2-3 mgs can easily produce these effects. Now this may not sound like a particularly hard to story to unravel but I've stopped for 2 weeks and even longer (months) before with no change in tolerance. The 2-3mgs I can take now can even put me in a deep sleep most of the time, I'm at a loss. I thought I knew a lot about pills, my friends call me Rx. I just can't figure this one out.

[i40auto]

sounds like you need to get professional help with your drug addictions.

[Bosli222]

Your advice is well taken, I already have professional help for addiction, I'm not really missing anything but I am experiencing a lot of panic attacks on a normal basis. I want some long-term relief and drugs just don't do it. Not yet.

[Thor283]

I'm not quite sure what you are asking, but it's common to get different effects from the same doses of the same pills at different times in your life. I find that to be especially true with the Benzos, and again, especially true when you're using them for true medical purposes and not recreationally.

With you, are you taking any other drugs that may be interacting with the Xanax? Maybe you were taking it in the past and you quit now? That can even include caffeine, especially in tremendous amounts like 15 cups of coffee a day. If you were drinking that and no longer do, that could account for why the Xanax is so much more effective. I've also found certain generic brands of drugs to either be much weaker, or occasionally stronger. Then there is you. Maybe this is a very calm time in your life, and that has something to do with it. I can't be sure from your name, but if you're a woman your monthly hormone levels can also effect this I think. I know it effects alcohol.

So I can't tell you for certain why, but I can tell you I've had similar experiences with Valium. I've used Valium on and off for over 20 years. There have been times when 10 mg was all I needed to relax me and there were other times when even 30 mg a day wouldn't calm me down.

[Bosli222]

Firstly, no I do not drink caffiene ever. It just triggers attacks like nothing else, all stimulants do. I stay away from them unless it's absolutely necessary. Throughout my life I've heard drug addicts (and yes, I am using it under a prescription now) say certain drugs don't affect them like they used to but this is horrible. I mean, come on, it's like Xanax lost all of its magic. There is no longer that relaxed feeling at all, and no I'm not a woman, and it's not really a calm time in my life. Being in treatment should definately help my tolerance but is there anything that I can take that can act like benzos but not be a benzo? Like barbituates for example? Do those act on the same receptor sites as benzos? I know they're a lot more dangerous and such but is there any calming pharmaceutical out there that acts on panic disorder well? If you name an SSRI I'll go insane.

[livid]

lithium and depakote can work on panic attacks... but if you aren't bi-polar or schizophrenic really doubt any doctor would put you on it... short of you having seizures (in the case of depakote anyway). Most non-SSRI's have too many possible serious side effects to be used except as a last resort... things such as pancreatitis, severe liver damage, kidney damage... not the more minor common side effects that SSRI's have.
I take depakote, along with xanax... together they are good for most that ails me... but I also drink alcohol quite often.

[Thor283]

I think you could probably get a similar effect from Barbiturates. I don't know of any dr that will give them to you, and you would have to find the right one. I'm sorry I don't really know why this happens, but like you said, you've heard it before too.