Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
Tell us about your personal experience with Xanax as a treatment: Has it worked? Have you had any issues? Any recommendations or tips?
A couple of years ago I had a really great friend on here who was on xanax - 5mg as needed (way too much IMO) and she kept increasing the frequency as she became more and more anxious and more and more addicted to it - she even bought some over the internet that were double the dose and started using them and I saw this really sweet person turn into a paranoid and somewhat mean and nasty person almost over night.
She wanted help but when I tried to give it to her she got very mean and in the end refused to speak to me and started spreading nasty stories about me amongst our group of friends.
It had changed her whole personality though she did manage to hide it from the rest of the friends and ended up removing me from her life - that hurt, a lot. But I realised it was the drugs (she was on other meds for pain as well) that made her change so much.
Some months later she died of a heart attack which I am convinced was brought on by her abuse of the xanax and maybe the narcotics as well.
Anyone who is thinking of taking this drug needs to be very aware of the potential risks and check out ALL the information on it from the doctor, the pharmacist and the internet.
I would list it among the drugs of absolute last resort.
The side effects can be devastating!
Still miss my friend despite what she did to me in the last months of her life. As I said I am convinced it was the drugs.
From reading all the replies though it sure seems like everyone has different reactions - probably because we are all so different. I know my doctor is very cautious because of the risk of addiction but for me it seems to work well.
I take 1 mg of Xanax several times a month on an as needed basis.
I've tried numerous anti-depressants over the years and the adjustment period just isn't worth it for me.
But to be honest I can't even tolerate caffine, but Xanax is no problem for me, in fact its been my life saver.
And if we follow this:
"Trying to engage someone who doesn't feel "I am here" is a fruitless endeavour or an effort of diminishing returns."
Then we're going to leave people alone and lonely because we thought, probably in error, that they weren't ready for our company.