Have you ever used alprazolam(xamax)? - Living with Asthma

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Have you ever used alprazolam(xamax)?

Sharaybia profile image
26 Replies

Has anybody ever used Xanax to help relax themselves.

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Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia
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26 Replies
7273120 profile image
7273120

Yes, I've used it but now only in an emergency. Leaves me with a 'hang over' and brain fog the next day.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply to7273120

Doctor just put me on it and it helps me relax but also makes me sleepy when i wake up I do feel refresh. But since u only use it when its emergency do you feel like it works better for you.

7273120 profile image
7273120 in reply toSharaybia

Have not had to use it since the source of my anxiety has been resolved. Just use mild ex before bedtime to relax. 2 min on rebounder seems to work better than anything since it involves gentle total body ex. If I was taking more than my 4 asthma meds, I might be totally 'strung out' and have to use the Xanax.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply to7273120

Ok. I been coughing all day and doctor prescribed benzonatate(tessalon) for my cold than I have do my breathing treatments every 4-6 hours than I have my Xanax to take.its 0.25mg I started having a lil back pain first time think because I'm a little jumpy and I'm not calm thinkin.im starting have a panic attack..thats y they wrote me the xanax for. Its relax me but makes me sleepy since I started taking them I been feeling ok but I don't won't to get used taking them every day or every so often how do I get my anxiety under wraps so I can get off medicine

7273120 profile image
7273120 in reply toSharaybia

People who have never experienced a panic attack cannot fathom just how paralyzing it can be. If you are taking more treatments to recover from a cold and its residual effects, perhaps you can just focus on the Xanax as being a temporary assist to help you get to the other side of this. When I'm in a fit of trying to get my breath, it takes concentrated effort to focus on the fact that this is just a season that will pass.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply to7273120

I am doctor saying that I have anxiety(panic attacks) my asthma been actin up and I have a cold. I'm dealing with all 3 but tryin.keep myself calm but I'm so jumpy and feeling stress. I had panic attacks in past but my doctor tried talk to me bout giving me some medicine calm down but I told him I'm. Not crazy and not depress about nothin only thing that scares me is my asthma and I don't wont to relive when i was on the ventilator. It fear that plays in back of my mind I won't forget but i try not let it play big part of my life.

Beasley63 profile image
Beasley63

Yes sometimes.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply toBeasley63

When you relax you feel more freely do. It calms me down a lot and also makes me sleepy and I wake up not even remembering I took a nap. No side effects I try take it at night cuz I take my asthma medication etc in day time so I won't have run in

Edye profile image
Edye

I take 0.50 Xanax at bedtime. Have for years. Without it I cough alot through the night. My anxiety goes sky high when this happens I can't get my breath. So for me it works well.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply toEdye

Ooh ok because im taking 0.25mg. I take mine's as well and only been on it for a week now when I been in hospital they gave it to me like after lunch and bedtime but it's working for me cuz I usually get works up at night i seem to cough more than usually

When I was being treated for breast cancer, one drug I had to take had many side effects, and one of them was panic attacks. Xanax was extremely effective in stopping them. That was actually the last straw for me and I stopped taking the drug, but unfortunately that drug had actually changed my brain and caused permanent insomnia. It wasn’t a known side effect of the drug at the time but is now.

My oncologist tried five or six different sleeping pills including one homeopathic. None of them worked, and I needed a solution as I actually fell aslat the wheel of my car.

I had noticed that I slept better when I took the Xanax, so my physician tried 1mg at bedtime. I don’t have anxiety, but the Xanax shifts my brain from “stay awake “ to “go to sleep.” It still has that effect eight years later. I forgot to take it and hardly slept all night.

My dosage has stayed at one mg for 8 years. It can be addicting so take it exactly as prescribed.

It was tremendously helpful for my mother in law, who was a charming woman but had anxiety. If people question your taking it tell them to bug off—I had to tell a daughter that once about it. Take any questions to your doctor.

in reply to

PS I don’t have any problems with it the next day. When I took it for the panic attacks I was thrilled with how much it helped. You don’t have to keep taking it if you don’t like how it makes you feel.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply to

It makes me feel great no complaints about it and im glad I did get it fill because I had several nights where I didn't sleep

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply to

Thank you for that that understandable yes my doctor prescribed it for me and he says I have panic attacks but I'm on good dose it relaxes me and makes me sleepy. No side effects but I don't wont to make it permanent just keep me calm

Daringtobreath profile image
Daringtobreath

I have been given it to help me sleep better esp after I started having anxiety and insomnia. At first it helped me relax and sleep very well but the next day I always felt a little drained. I weaned myself off because I realized I was starting to NEED it in order to relax enough to fall asleep every night. I didn't want to become dependent on it. I noticed coming off of it (and we're talking .25mg- .50mg for only a few months) I felt worse for a while, almost flu- like symptoms and jittery and thought wow this is how people can become addicted so easily! I have found taking Valerian Root occasionally helps relax me. I do take Melatonin every night 3mg extended release. I have also found if I take a walk during the day (or any type of exercise) I sleep much better at night. Also I occasionally do a meditation app before sleep (after always having trouble relaxing enough to do these-haha) and even doing a short 5 min one really helps relax me to fall asleep easier and sleep better. I can't recommend any in particular as I haven't found a favorite yet. Hopefully one of these ideas may help you! :)

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply toDaringtobreath

Thank you I appreciate it and I will try.i used to take melatonin 5mg or 10mg but when my asthma would flare up I stop taking them but since I started taking Xanax I been doing great waking up feeling such a great relief. I'm wondering if I been had anxiety but it was never diagnosed

Daringtobreath profile image
Daringtobreath

I think asthma and anxiety sometimes go hand in hand. Who isn't anxious when they feel like they can't breathe esp when you have a lot of flare ups at night. Hopefully the Xanax can get you over the hump and then you can find alternative ways to help manage it!

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply toDaringtobreath

Thank you but i really do think it go hand to hand when it scares you flare up after flare ups.but so far still the xanax doing its job and I never b more calm. It just relax me to point where I go sleep but when I visit my doctor next week we find ways to manage it cuz I don't wont to b on that medicine for rest of my life

"I LOVE IT!!" Been taking it for years to take the edge off since stress is my trigger.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply to

Thank you maybe I need start back taking them again great progress but change my mind swings

in reply toSharaybia

You should work with your provider and detail your symptoms and what relief you are looking for. ALSO since this drug has long since gone generic there are several companies that make it. And they all have their own "Blends". When I first started taking it the company that made what the pharmacy carried made me sick. I called a product rep from the brand and she fully understood. Matter of fact, she was the one that there are "Blends" that vary by manufacturer. She went to the first pharmacy, got my script, found a closer pharmacy that carried a different "Blend" that was the closest to the original. That "Blend" was made by Sandoz. Now I'm prescribed Xanax exact and that is made by, I can't read what's on the label. But since it's named Xanax, it has to be the "Blend" that is Xanax.

So it takes some finessing and collaboration with your provider to get the results that you need. Even if, as I do, take the dosage in 4ths across the day. Or take Extended Release version. There are many variables to help you get to where you need to get.

Good Luck.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply to

Thank you ive been doing great and havent taken them.since September

AND I forgot all about this part!! This drug is on the recent "Causes Short Term Memory Loss" list with "Benedryl" and prescribers are shying away from it. Initially it was a years ongoing script handed down from Pulmonary Dr to Dr and blindly filled. Now that I am dealing with a "Psychological" type Dr, she has all the info on it. But renewed my script because she said that the Adderall can cause Anxiety and that what it's for.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply to

Wow thanks for telling me

d2read profile image
d2read

Like everyone else, I’ve also taken it, or other medications at various times over the years, especially when going through periods after status asthmaticus (constantly repeating attacks). While some anxiety is a NORMAL psychological result of having life-threatening asthma attacks, a lot of the insomnia and anxiety are well-known/documented side effects of our medications, most notably the corticosteroids.

For someone like me, who is now in the steroid-toxicity stage (where I’ve had so much the steroids may kill me before the asthma/other conditions do), problems with insomnia are chronic - and persist long after all steroids have stopped.

A couple of things to consider/discuss with your doctor as you try to reduce your need for the Xanax:

1. Whenever you have to take oral/IV steroids, take the entire daily dose early in the morning. This can make the aches worse, but they can be helped with an NSAID. The important thing is that the systemic level will be lower, but perfectly fine, when you hit bedtime.

2. Indulge in some body “tricks” to help you relax. If possible, take a long hot bath with dim lights, and no music — use the sounds of nature (it’s more relaxing, since your body won’t be trying to communicate with an ocean wave). I use a fabulous phone app called White Noise (also on Spotify) that I have preprogrammed with various playlists that will play all night, if I choose. I always use it in the hospital, and if I am going to have to start a heavy dosing schedule of nebs etc, I make a point to start listening to it before I even start setting up my nebulizer. It really makes a difference.

3. Ask about trying some of TBD St other meds to see if you have fewer side effects with them. I use levalbuterol instead of albuterol, which only helps a little, but it does help.

4. One last tip — I found that watching really old movies from the 1930s, comedies starring Cary Grant, Carole Lombard etc — were so old, they were absorbing. They distracted me. And because they were kind of silly, it was also easy to fall asleep or sort of nap while watching it.

Good for you for being determined to find a solution that works better for you.

Sharaybia profile image
Sharaybia in reply tod2read

Thank you

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