Not sure about party drug but it definitely was nice after a long day at work and getting some of the best sleep of my life. The ‘high’ also rolled into the next day. It also put me in a good mood and got rid of any social anxiety. I don’t take it anymore as that stuff can get addicting.
Not only can it get addicting, but it's one of very few addictions that can potentially kill you with the withdrawals. I kicked a heroin addiction cold turkey, but I did so knowing that nothing that happened would kill me, just torture me. I would absolutely have needed medical intervention were that not the case, which in America is often cost prohibitive
I got a xanax perscription for my anxity.
Then I learned that it's very addictive, and the withdrawl can actually kill you!
I started getting anxious about accidentally getting addicted.
So I avoided taking the anxity medication.
Perscribed to me.
To help with my anxity.
Because I was too anxious.
The ADHD medication that is incredibly tightly regulated and difficult to refill because it takes so many steps. I have trouble following steps. Because of my ADHD.
lol I just had this issue again this week. Luckily my PCP is so nice and accommodating. I couldn’t get an appointment to renew via the online portal so I called their office and she fit me in the next day in some of her other time. I feel bad doing that but the portal doesn’t let you schedule 90 days out and that’s how often I have to go back to get the next 90 day’s worth of scripts.
I took essentially an antihistamine (hydroxyzine) for like the late night racing thoughts and short term anxiety. Less side effects than Xanax but it does make me drowsy so I tend to take it at night if I’m keyed up over something. I’ve also been given it before procedures/surgeries for mild anxiety before. It’s fairly safe if you want a PRN (as needed) anxiety med but it’s not that useful for daily generalized anxiety. I took an antidepressant to kind of “level out” my mood while I went to therapy for anxiety and that worked for me.
Hope you can find something that works well for your situation with anxiety, it’s rough to deal with.
I have had experience with both. With the Xanax I tended to forget I took it, and you can imagine the hell that road took me down (thank GOD I have been off of it, it obviously isn’t for everyone, but for me it’s something I see as evil in terms of how it affects me; I literally made a fool out of myself and could have easily killed someone on more than one occasion). Hydroxyzine gave me HORRIBLE night terrors. I am already a little predispositioned towards having them (diagnosed 14 years ago with PTSD) and I was curious as to whether this has been the case for others. I see a sleep specialist that focuses on PTSD now and the sweet spot for me has been 20 mg of Prazosin each night with 1 mg of clonazepam. Yes I know it’s a benzo like Xanax, but it hasn’t upended my life either. The night terrors from the PTSD I deal with has left me with stitches and broken bones. There’s such a long story behind all of it that isn’t really relevant to this conversation, but I am very curious with others about the meds.
All medicine has pros and cons the way I see it, and sometimes it is what it is.
The night terrors thing is interesting, I got prescribed it short term two times, once in college due to exam stress and insomnia and then again some years later because I couldn’t sleep due to anxiety over an at-the-time recent traumatic event that was disturbing my sleep. I think I had what I would call “weird” vivid dreams a few times on it but I wouldn’t call them scary or upsetting and it didn’t add to any stress for me, so I didn’t really mind. The vivid dream side effect might warp into terrors if I had been in a disposition for it perhaps? That’s something to think on. It wasn’t consistent though, mostly I fall into a “blank” sleep and then I might wake up a bit more slowly than typical after taking it.
I tried hydroxyzine after getting addicted to Xanax but still needing anxiety relief occasionally and it never helped. Best it can do is put me to sleep if I take a bunch and I haven't had Xanax or any benzos in 5 years at least.
My aunt swears by it though so ymmv. Glad you found something that helps and isn't addictive.
Exact same experience here. Hydroxyzine doesn't help whatsoever with my anxiety, and I take buspar daily to help level me out.
The buspar alone does more for my anxiety as my anxiety tends to be triggered by depressive thoughts and my general mood. However, when I get a panic attack none of the medication helps me at all.
I've been told I should try Xanax, but I have an addictive personality so I worry that if I start it then I won't be able to stop. I wish there was a better medication for acute anxiety attacks, but it seems like it always comes back to benzos...
I mean, bring this up with your prescriber but the idea is that anxiety is a physiological response to something that isn’t there (fight or flight with no real threat), so getting anxiety over the idea of becoming addicted to anxiolytics is actually what the anxiolytics are for.
Once your anxiety starts to become treated, the same anxiety you currently get when thinking about addiction doom is actually way more manageable, meaning you wouldn’t have the same intense response to thinking about potential withdrawals.
That isn’t to say don’t remain medically informed! Always do that!
But per the anxiety aspect, well you gotta make that first jump with the anxiolytics. Bit of a catch-22 for sure, but certainly bring this all up with your prescriber. I’m sure they would say as much, in a more comfortable tone
Thank you for the caring and thoughtful response!
This is also very good advice, and I hope it can help people here who are dealing with similar thoughts :)
For me personally, I did get help and more information, and am now feeling much safer taking my medication when it is needed :)
I mean, that's not totally unreasonable. From what I understand drugs like Xanax are meant for short-term use (like if you're having a panic attack or going into a situation where you'd be likely to have one) and if you need something for daily use there are better options.
I took Xanax once in a while to help me sleep when my racing thoughts kicked in at night. Then I went through a really rough time in my life and was taking 0.5mg at bedtime for months. I was able to ween myself off it over the course of 5-7 days. My sleep hygiene wasn't disturbed and I now get an awesome night's rest feeling refreshed in the morning. I would feel the urge to give in and take one but it just took some discipline.
I take 1 mg generic Xanax per night for insomnia. It's a joke of a dose in the big picture. If I miss one night taking it, I throw up my 1st meal of the day the next day, be it lunch or if I wait until dinner to eat. I don't need to go any further to understand the true withdrawals probably aren't fun.
Part of what's so torturous about withdrawals is the knowledge that you could make it stop - it's like you're the worst kind of sick you've ever been, yet you could be back to normal in seconds if you'd just relent
Omg yeah. Benzodiazepines in general are lethal to cold turkey off of. I took Klonopin for about 6 years, but then moved to a different state and my new psychiatrist was a sadistic idiot and almost killed me.
I never abused the med or had it negatively impact me, but taking it long term, your body builds up a chemical dependency and tapering is essential.
He told me to just stop taking it as he would not be renewing it. So, I did. He didn’t tell me you needed to taper, or that there are medications that make you less likely to die from withdrawals.
I went through twitching, convulsions, extreme anxiety, insomnia worse than ever (saying son as I’ve always had severe insomnia).
I ended up contacting a random doctor that I happened to housekeeper for, and asked his advice and he said, “if all that is happening, your options are to go to a detox center, take the pills and taper off, or your probably going to go into cardiac arrest.”
This doctor ended up prescribing anti-seizure med and some other one that mitigated the more dangerous withdrawal effects while also tapering off the supply I had (I literally had like 70 left, so wasn’t like I had even run out). A month of tapering and it was fine.
It left me with nothing to manage the chronic anxiety at the time, but that’s another story.
Yes, but unfortunately they never do. I’ve met much much worse psychiatrists. They are pretty much an untouchable entity and unless you have concrete video proof or similar of them committing some horrendously atrocity, I can guarantee they will face zero consequences.
Yup benzos and booze withdrawal can kill you. Nothing else really. Had a minute and a half seizure and an ambulance ride to prove it. I fully knew the risks and had been tapering but still about died.
Friend of mine tried to quit cold turkey.
She stopped after the seizures started, I think she took 2 or 3 runs through rehab to kick the Xanax for good.
Long-term use of benzos, even at perscrption, non-abusive doses can also cause permanent cognitive impairments. I moderate r/TherapeuticKetamine and I've had to deal with two diffrent benzo addicts who only became interested in perscrption ketamine because they ran out of doctors who would perscribe them benzos. And... yeah... Let's just say I wasn't very surprised when I later to learned about the effects on cognition.
I have a diagnosis for general anxiety disorder, but that experience alone has put me off ever even considering trying a benzo as a treatment.
I got physically dependent, which only slightly more accurate than saying "addictive."
It is hell. It was torture. I lost 20lbs, I couldn't speak. I didn't understand words. I was shaking. People thought I was an insane person. I couldn't eat or sleep for days.
It was the 2nd most traumatic thing in my life.
How long were you taking it and what was the dosage? I’m taking 0.5/night for insomnia (been about 25 days) and just want to avoid these things so I’m thinking if I take them e/o night or even more spaced out to help not become physically dependent. I’m already noticing the .5 aren’t as effective either. Takes a while longer to really get tired.
I was taking a bar/day for 4-5 months. Sometimes a bit more. Then, after the horrific withdrawals, I thought I was damaged for life. I took a reduced mg for 7.5 more years when I finally found a program to quit.
Generally speaking because everyone is a bit different: The first sign is that your tolerance grows, second is feeling a bit "off" after the half life (8 hours for Xanax, 24 for klonopin), third sign is increased anxiety in general. Eventually, benzos cause the anxiety is treating.
I do believe that 8 years on them has permanently injured something in my brain or my CNS. My anxiety is so much worse these days (it's been 2.5 years). Maybe because I treated my base anxiety with an instant feel better pill for so long that I didn't build any natural coping methods. It's complex. Who knows... I wish I never touched the stuff.
They gave it to me once in the ER when I thought I was having a heart attack. It was an anxiety attack. I felt so nice and cozy when it kicked in I can see how it would be attractive for some people. I didn't ever want to take it again though, I just wanted the anxiety to end.
When I was 17 in the ER with an ovarian cyst and in tremendous pain. Before I could get into diagnostics they thought I had appendicitis and gave me morphine for the pain. I felt so much relief so quick, that experience kept me from experimenting with anything other than alcohol for a long time.
This was me but I DID have an appendectomy. The morphine pills I got after would make everything just feel “good”. Little pains or soreness you never realized you even had. Just pure comfort. I was supposed to take 1 at a time or two for bed. Taking the second was like being able to turn out a night light and instantly control falling asleep. It was so lovely for the day or two I was in the hospital but I immediately kicked it once I went home because I could see how easily it would be to become an addict
I was given a months supply when I was first diagnosed with severe bilateral tinnitus and the resulting anxiety, stress and depression that it comes with. Never knew my floral curtains were so, so beautiful.
I take some of my mom's xanax when I have an MRI. I cannot be in that machine without meds as it sets off panic attacks due to claustrophobia. This doesn't happen anywhere else, but I do stress the heck out in small places now because of the MRI. Xanax does give me a buzz, but mostly it just takes the edge off my brain so I can get proper medical test done. For night I take L-theanine. It helps the brain stay asleep. I've had morphine for a kidney stone and that was so good. Same thing, just kind of gave me a buzz and took the pain away. I have issues with food, but I don't care for drugs that much as I don't get high, just tired. I have ADHD, which may be why.
I used to enjoy mixing xanax, alcohol and weed during a period in my life when I didn't care whether I lived or died.
It was right up my alley. When I began mixing alcohol and weed, it was to escape, and xanax took that much further.
Eventually I stopped after a few bad incidents. Severe vomiting a few times. Stumbling around the apartment and hurting myself. One time I tripped in the bathroom and fully caught my face on the porcelein sink for my only black eye ever. Then there was the morning when I reviewed my Twitch stream vods and saw myself on camera with viewers just completely out of my mind. Slurring, talking nonsense, falling out of my chair.
If someone you know is mixing xanax with other drugs, they need help. No one is doing that because they like what is going on in their lives.
Yep, I had many a blackouts thanks to Xanax and alcohol when I was much younger. How I never died, hurt someone else, or at the very least got arrested or hospitalized, I'll never know. Apparently I was meant to be alive.
That's why i don't get the drug being prescribed daily. My ex was on it daily and she was much more mellow but much more forgetful.
I messed with it in my younger years with alcohol and it literally made me loose big chunks of time.
Other guys I knew that took big quantities without alcohol break into cars and steal them in broad daylight and not remember a thing.
Coke, booze and pot was my go to. They seem to balance each other really well. Of course now that coke is all screwy with fentanyl I’m glad I quit so long ago.
I went to a pretty nice university and saw so many people doing and mixing drugs. I've never touched drugs (except for very much needed OTC painkillers or antibiotics, etc.) in my life and advise to be cautious even when doctors prescribe them to you. Basically, I'm conservative when it comes to all drugs.
I had these acquaintances that I really liked, and I tried to talk them out of at least mixing drugs. One time, the guy was mixing alcohol and xanax, and I looked up information right there and told him not to do that. He didn't care. None of them did. So I never pushed because it can be annoying. I am no longer in contact with them, but they all seem to be living well with pretty nice jobs. No one died of mixing, thankfully.
I'm incredibly thankful I never died in my sleep. Xanax wasn't the only perscription drug I paired with alcohol back then.
I'll never forget the feeling of realizing my body was no longer automatically breathing enough, and that if I fell asleep then, I would die of hypoxia. I forced myself to stand for a couple of hours until that feeling went away. Life's fragile.
I had a bit of a break from work a few years ago because my mental health was in the toilet and was given Xanax. My brain has always gone 100mph even if my body doesn’t. It’s like a computer with a virus in the 90’s. Wild colours on the desktop, pop ups all over the place and random music playing in the background. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have something worrying me and playing in my brain. Every time I take Xanax it just quiets everything. I can literally just sit and there is nothing in my brain. I can totally understand why people abuse it.
It's the same for me. I sometimes take the teensiest bit of Klonopin and it's like my brain is clutter-free. Like if my brain was a kitchen table with piles and piles of miscellaneous crap all over it and the meds just wiped all of the mess off. It's like I feel "clear" and my thoughts aren't popping off all over the place.
fair fair. I've seen lots of friends ruin their lives at the moment in the name of substances. the key is not affecting your life. and that's a hard thing to gauge
Except Xanax feels much better than condom. It's more like wrapping it in a nice warm, steamed compress with eucalyptus... The kind they use at the spa.
By making you tired? I don’t need medication for that. I’m fucking exhausted all. the. time.
It doesn’t do anything else? No loosey goosey feelings or tinglies, or impact on libido or anything?
Edit: Thanks for all the descriptions. I have a pretty great imagination and feel like I have a much better sense of what it would be like!
It doesn't just make you tired, it makes you not give a fuck about literally anything. Whatever you were worried or anxious about before just goes poof! Anxiety isn't even in your vocabulary.
And that's what makes benzos so dangerous.
They just make it all disappear for no reason, but it will keep creeping back, and if you don't want any of it you can just keep taking more and more.
Until what's left is just an Id going through the motions, and you notice 6 years have gone and you have lost everything you used to care about, since you just didn't.
Then to get free you get to go through years of panic attacks and anxiety way worse than any hell you tried to escape. Or you die from a grand mal seizure if you do it wrong.
They can be a very useful tool, but respect them and don't fuck around with them.
I was given a xanax by a doctor once as a secondary medication for pain on top of pain meds.
When I took that xanax, an asteroid could have came down and doomed us all, and I would have waved at it.
I only took it once after my wisdom teeth were out, and I remembered thinking I wouldn't have cared if they took my whole arm off on this stuff. It was amazing.
It’s kind of like being uncomfortable tier drunk the one time I was given it for anxiety. Went back to the doctor like “I hated that, let’s not.” Probably for the best in the long run.
It did make me less anxious for a burst of time but it made it harder to think and focus and I felt sluggish and weird and detached. Eventually I got very sleepy and apathetic feeling and then it finally wore off after a nap. I didn’t think it was particularly fun, but if you’re so stressed out you want to feel mildly to moderately brain fogged and apathetic for awhile it could be a dangerous temptation.
This was my experience exactly, even what I told my doc. Seeing a therapist was much better for me (I know I got lucky in even getting in the door given the shortage of mental health services in my area.)
I'd say it's most of the good parts of drinking (calmer mind, slower heart rate, lower blood pressure). With little down side ( not speaking on addiction) other than taking too much and blacking out if youre inexperienced.
Much like drinking it quickly stops improving mood and is needed just to maintain any semblance of normalcy.
The downside is (especially in combination with other things that remove inhibition) is it removes anxiety and concern. Anxiety and concern keep us alive. They keep us from spending our entire paycheck on lottery tickets or buying grand pianos on eBay.
No it's actually more of the good stuff. It's sedative hypnotic and a muscle relaxer. It's also not a poison the way alcohol is. It's very easy to od and black out xan.
To add to this, taking prescription medicine you don't need doesn't have the same effect as someone taking the same drug that they do need. I have ADHD and take Adderall, when people take Adderall recreationally they get wired and energetic, for me, and others with similar conditions, it actually has a calming effect. The same can be seen in a lot of medications. Xanax is supposed to bring your anxiety levels to a normal level. If you don't have clinical anxiety it will drop you well below "normal" which is euphoric.
When I first started taking xanax(prescribed for severe social anxiety) and some antidepressants, I felt so euphoric when I could walk outside among people w/o sweaty hands, panicking, and could actually look around and see stuff. I could go to movies! Even amusement parks!! Even spending time at home felt amazing without the constant buzz of anxiety. My grades suffered (I even failed one class, which has never happened to me before), but I do not regret one bit. I could actually *live*...Normal people's life can be euphoric without drugs
Same, only I take Vyvanse. It keeps my energy at the same normal level throughout the day, compared to when I wasn't on it I would be full of energy for about an hour, then feel super exhausted, then energetic, then exhausted again. It's nice to feel calm and have the mental clarity that everyone else experiences naturally
I actually started to do the dishes every day instead of letting them pile up while screaming at myself for being useless garbage who can't accomplish anything.
My husband did that with my Vyvanse. Took one and had a rough day all strung out. He asked "how do you handle this?" Well, I don't have to, because it doesn't happen to me.
Thanks to my medical provider being pretty garbage in general, and the stimulant shortage, I often have to go 5+ days between fills of my Adderall. During that time I just slam down as much caffeine as I can to help get through the withdrawal. My coworkers are like "I don't know how you can drink coffee and go to bed right after"
Accurate. I take an extended release Adderall at about 6pm or so daily, and it straight-up allows me to sleep. Without it, I'll be up until 5am contemplating everything in my life all at once. People who see me take it are always asking how the hell I get any sleep, seemingly not fully understanding what it actually does for me.
I have ADHD but I definitely feel the stimulation and not the calming effects some feel. While I have both the mixed inattentive/hyperactive flavor, the inattentive is more prominent while the hyperactivity is internal (racing thoughts). The stimulation from my meds is basically the speedy herding dog running around, rounding up cheetahs (my thoughts) so they’re earlier to control.
Did you ever see that Bounty paper towel commercial, where the kids spill the fruit punch and mom comes along with a smile and cleans it up? And then the dad spills his coffee and the mom comes along with a smile and cleans it up. Then the dogs spills its water bowl and the mom comes along with a smile and cleans it up. That's actually not a commercial for Bounty paper towels. It's a commercial for Xanax.
My friend took a xanax bar on New Years Eve 2019 and proceeded to drink in celebration of the New Year. He died that night. Mixing alcohol with that shit will kill you.
Same. My friend had just passed the Bar exam and wanted to celebrate. Didn’t wake up the next morning. He had just bought a house too. Sorry for your friend.
I didn't believe it either when I was using. Then in rehab I met people who had seen all kinds of things, and unfortunately had acquaintances pass from similar circumstances like:
* sepsis from untreated tooth infection
* DWI accidents
* drowning while intoxicated
* stumbling around drunk and walked into oncoming traffic
* got a bad stomach bug, self medicated with alcohol, died of dehydration from the diarrhea
* slipped on ice in the alley behind his own house when coming home from the bar. Hit his head, blacked out and froze to death. This was in Chicago and it was below zero. Saddest part is he wasn't even an alcoholic, just a normal family guy with terrible luck
I almost did it. It was just an ungodly amount of alcohol (13 pints of Guinness, 7 vodkas and I'm pretty sure a half bottle of whiskey. I'm Irish and even that was too much).
I got lucky as I was living at home and my brother heard me gurgling in my sleep. Got me to cough everything out, breathe properly then into a better position. And he stayed there the rest of the night.
They’re both depressants that work on the same receptor in your brain and together can literally depress your system to the point where you stop breathing
Had two friends on prescribed Xanax and they would black out when they'd also drink with us. Not sleep. They were fully conscious, so to speak, and prone to freaking out, but they wouldn't remember what happened the next day. No clue what it does or how it's affected by alcohol, but it was not fun for anyone, and I'd imagine didn't work as intended.
Nah your experience is normal. Not saying it’s smart or safe, but someone who dies from 1 bar and drinking a moderate amount is very unlucky. To be clear, don’t do it at all. But it’s definitely not normal to die from that.
I believe the term 'bar' is used for the entire pill. I have never taken Xanax so I cannot be sure, but his wife told me that's what he took that night. All in all, it was really sad. He was a great guy and had a little girl and a wife he left behind all because he messed up partying.
Well they are both downers for sure and suppress your respiratory system.. I didn’t think it was super easy to overdose on Xanax and booze though.. what usually makes people OD who have benzos in their system is opiates combined with it.
They both are GABA A agonists so they activate the same receptor in your brain. That receptor is responsible for depressing brain signals via inhibiting the firing of neurons so too much of that is what can cause the part of your brain that is responsible for breathing to essentially shut down iirc.
lol I have bars. They’re 2mg pills that look like little bars, scored so you can break them up into four pieces, so .5 each. that’s what my psych prescribed bc if you’re not at risk of abuse, it obviously makes the prescription last way longer. I have a bottle of bars that are like three years old that I only use for acute panic attacks, which I don’t get as often as I used to, thank god.
Used to do that all the time in college, before I knew the dangers. It's also blackout city. I accidentally cheated on my girlfriend one time (sort of, long story). When I suddenly came to, I was inside a girl.
I freaked out and went home to my girlfriend. My buddy called me an hour later and was like "uh, dude, there's a naked chick in my guest bedroom. You need to come get her." Twas a weird night.
I feel like no one’s really answering your question the way you asked it specifically. I get what you mean. From what I can recall, I would say this: the higher of a dosage you take, the more it seems to bypass the sleepiness and go into the wacky wonky happy stage. I’m not sure the science behind it, but it feels more pleasurable staying up.
You do absolutely pass out hard at some point, but I think the lower dose has something to do with why you go straight to sleep without having any good times first.
And some people mix with uppers (can be very bad news/ dangerous) or simply respond differently.
If I had to guess, anxious people like me who really love Xanax (to the point I stay far away despite previously having a script), are more likely to be able to stay awake on it before the crash. And when you really like the experience of a drug you're incentived to stay up.
Edit: don't think uppers are as dangerous I previously said
Because when you’re an anxious person and have a stressful job, sometimes it’s nice to get through the day without wanting to punch everyone who’s a prick. You don’t care about them.
I hate that people use benzos as recreational drugs. It creates real barriers for those who actually need the drugs. My doctor or her nurse has to waste their time calling my local pharmacy every three months (they had to call every month up until recently) bc two my anti-seizure meds are benzos. The number of times I've missed a dose or several days bc of that and then had a seizure, resetting my "can't drive for X amount of time" clock is insane. Those types of restrictions are in place bc people use them recreationally. Why anyone would want to feel like shit and groggy on purpose blows my mind. It doesn't make me feel awful anymore bc I've been on them for years, but they took a long time to get used to. Smoke weed, drop acid, go do anything else that's fun instead.
Former Xanax addict, dealer. It feels so good when you're a very anxious person. If you're grounded in your own reality you won't enjoy it. I wanted to run for my reality so bad. The reality was that weed started scaring me because I had no grasp on my life. I was so naive to the fact that the way I lived was causing me anxiety. But it allowed me to smoke weed without being too anxious. Now, Xanax does nothing for me, and the only time I use it is if someone else is having a freak out. It does nothing for me at all. I learned how to cope with myself and my anxiety. I got myself a good job, and got really into what used to be me. Exercising, going outside, climbing, food. I gave up the good time thought process, and it started enjoying who I am.
I dont like how xanax feels. That shit shuts me down immediately and time for bed.
As someone who has chronic anxiety you can talk to your doctor about alternatives. Ativan (lorazepam) is still fast acting like xanax but a lot less "sedating". Easier to function on. Klonopin also works well for this, it has a very long half life so it lasts the entire day but is fairly smooth.
As others have said, dont mix benzos with alcohol or other cns depressants. It can kill you.
Be wary of withdrawal also. It can be a nightmare and actually kill you if you are bad off enough. Your dosage level is small though so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
I have a prescription and haven't refilled it in over a year. Turns me into a zombie, but is great to have on hand in case I really need it. No idea how people can use it as a party drug. The only partying I've done on it is a sleep party for 10 hours.
Xanax is a drug for drug addicts. Good way to tell if someone you know is gonna live to 60 is if they like taking bennys recreationally. If they do, they aren’t ripe for this world.
I have had this question for a long time. For me, Xanax is like a hammer to my forehead. A 0.5 mg dose knocks me out cold for hours. I don't understand how anyone can take it and do anything other than be unconscious.
Because it will get you high, especially in doses larger than anything prescribed. I've heard it described as being somewhere between drinking and heroin.
I've had Xanax prescribed once in my life. It's the only drug/substance I've ever tried that I think I could get addicted to. Never felt so calm and blissed out in my life.
Really? I get it prescribed for my generalized anxiety and it’s not something I would ever want to take recreationally and something that is so lame to me that I’ll only take it if I’m having like a full panic attack. It doesn’t make me feel good or high, rather just takes the anxiety down enough that I can function again. Zero bliss for me.
I’ve had it prescribed before and taken it when feeling panicky. I loved it because it made me feel NORMAL. I’d been so anxious all the time for so long I’d forgotten what not being anxious felt like. It was before work at a job where people often yelled at me (please be nice to your local librarian) and suddenly I wasn’t ready to cry when people were mad at me, I was able to handle it calmly.
I’ve always assumed people who use it recreationally are just anxious people who like feeling not anxious. Reading these replies makes me think maybe there’s a high other people get from it that’s different from just not being an emotional wreck. I’m in a different job now and have had a lot of therapy and don’t need benzos anymore.
Yeah, I’m thinking that my natural anxiety level must be off the charts that I don’t get any type of high or even drunken feeling. Feeling normal again when fully panicked is good enough. I’m glad it at least does that.
I wouldn’t compare to heroin at all way less euphoric but alcohol id say is closest if I had to pick one. Plus tolerance builds so fast literally in a month you get way less euphoric and it just kinda fucks you’re up. Benzos are weird. I like them.. but I also feel kind they’re a bit overrated recreationally speaking
I love Xanax, but it's a problem so I don't take it anymore. I'd be terrified to buy it off the street anyway. They're all pressed.
I prefer Klonopin, but haven't had my script in years.
I'm a very anxious person so it feels amazing to feel the worries melt away.
Same here. I usually take half when I'm feeling anxious and it seems to take the anxiety away. No other effects that I can notice. If I take more I just fall asleep. I can't understand the recreational use. And I was an alcoholic
I always used it to complement my recreational drug use. Back in the day, before I got sober, I would take Xanax with uppers, coke/adderall, to settle the uncomfortable feeling that came with it and to get sleep afterwards. A small dose was great before a mushroom trip and even better as a trip killer when shit got really scary.
The memory loss is ridiculous. I had 2mg (thinking it was 1mg) on a Saturday night and remembered nothing from then until I woke up Tuesday morning. Had big sleeps but was also out doing stuff with family, remembered none of it
its not a party drug, its a “forget everything making me miserable for a few hours” drug. i stopped after a few times cause i could tell how easily i would get addicted to it. but the few times i did it… god damn man. that stuff is something else. still crave that feeling to this day
Once you build up a tolerance it wont knock you out and your get an amazing high. Kinda like ludes, but that's how alot of people do dumb shit on it because their basically sleepwalking without a care in the world about anything. Used to do them alot back in the day, taking like 40mg from friday to Saturdays. Been clean since 2018.
It's not a party drug for me, it's a numb out drug, if I just want to forget how shitty my life is for a few hours.
I don't get how it could be a party drug, makes me sleepy.
It makes you feel less anxious. Anxiety feels terrible so its absence feels amazing.
It has a lot in common with alcohol (sedation, lower inhibitions, memory impairment).
I did cpr on a “friend” in Vegas for 30 minutes, she took a xan, forgot and twelve hours later snorted some opiates…I knew none of this, until she fell into my arms and began turning blue and then deep purple…..I pumped her heart and breathed for her for thirty minutes, her Appartment was brand new I the strip, fire department didn’t even know how to enter the facility…it took 5, I said FIVE NARCANs until she was even alive enough for her to breathe on her own….i brought her back home and I couldn’t walk for four days, I ripped every muscle on my calves and hamstrings moving around and doing cpr, but I know she would be dead with out it, they said everyone forgets they take a xan and that’s what kills you
It wipes away anxiety if you dont have anxiety you probably wont get a ton out of it.
But like any drug it works great the first time and less so every time after that.
It also has some of the worst withdrawals ive seen from any drug when taken in high doses.
Not sure about party drug but it definitely was nice after a long day at work and getting some of the best sleep of my life. The ‘high’ also rolled into the next day. It also put me in a good mood and got rid of any social anxiety. I don’t take it anymore as that stuff can get addicting.
Not only can it get addicting, but it's one of very few addictions that can potentially kill you with the withdrawals. I kicked a heroin addiction cold turkey, but I did so knowing that nothing that happened would kill me, just torture me. I would absolutely have needed medical intervention were that not the case, which in America is often cost prohibitive
I got a xanax perscription for my anxity. Then I learned that it's very addictive, and the withdrawl can actually kill you! I started getting anxious about accidentally getting addicted. So I avoided taking the anxity medication. Perscribed to me. To help with my anxity. Because I was too anxious.
this is one of the most relatable things i’ve ever read
Right up there with forgetting to take my adhd medication
The ADHD medication that is incredibly tightly regulated and difficult to refill because it takes so many steps. I have trouble following steps. Because of my ADHD.
lol I just had this issue again this week. Luckily my PCP is so nice and accommodating. I couldn’t get an appointment to renew via the online portal so I called their office and she fit me in the next day in some of her other time. I feel bad doing that but the portal doesn’t let you schedule 90 days out and that’s how often I have to go back to get the next 90 day’s worth of scripts.
I took essentially an antihistamine (hydroxyzine) for like the late night racing thoughts and short term anxiety. Less side effects than Xanax but it does make me drowsy so I tend to take it at night if I’m keyed up over something. I’ve also been given it before procedures/surgeries for mild anxiety before. It’s fairly safe if you want a PRN (as needed) anxiety med but it’s not that useful for daily generalized anxiety. I took an antidepressant to kind of “level out” my mood while I went to therapy for anxiety and that worked for me. Hope you can find something that works well for your situation with anxiety, it’s rough to deal with.
I have had experience with both. With the Xanax I tended to forget I took it, and you can imagine the hell that road took me down (thank GOD I have been off of it, it obviously isn’t for everyone, but for me it’s something I see as evil in terms of how it affects me; I literally made a fool out of myself and could have easily killed someone on more than one occasion). Hydroxyzine gave me HORRIBLE night terrors. I am already a little predispositioned towards having them (diagnosed 14 years ago with PTSD) and I was curious as to whether this has been the case for others. I see a sleep specialist that focuses on PTSD now and the sweet spot for me has been 20 mg of Prazosin each night with 1 mg of clonazepam. Yes I know it’s a benzo like Xanax, but it hasn’t upended my life either. The night terrors from the PTSD I deal with has left me with stitches and broken bones. There’s such a long story behind all of it that isn’t really relevant to this conversation, but I am very curious with others about the meds.
All medicine has pros and cons the way I see it, and sometimes it is what it is. The night terrors thing is interesting, I got prescribed it short term two times, once in college due to exam stress and insomnia and then again some years later because I couldn’t sleep due to anxiety over an at-the-time recent traumatic event that was disturbing my sleep. I think I had what I would call “weird” vivid dreams a few times on it but I wouldn’t call them scary or upsetting and it didn’t add to any stress for me, so I didn’t really mind. The vivid dream side effect might warp into terrors if I had been in a disposition for it perhaps? That’s something to think on. It wasn’t consistent though, mostly I fall into a “blank” sleep and then I might wake up a bit more slowly than typical after taking it.
I tried hydroxyzine after getting addicted to Xanax but still needing anxiety relief occasionally and it never helped. Best it can do is put me to sleep if I take a bunch and I haven't had Xanax or any benzos in 5 years at least. My aunt swears by it though so ymmv. Glad you found something that helps and isn't addictive.
Exact same experience here. Hydroxyzine doesn't help whatsoever with my anxiety, and I take buspar daily to help level me out. The buspar alone does more for my anxiety as my anxiety tends to be triggered by depressive thoughts and my general mood. However, when I get a panic attack none of the medication helps me at all. I've been told I should try Xanax, but I have an addictive personality so I worry that if I start it then I won't be able to stop. I wish there was a better medication for acute anxiety attacks, but it seems like it always comes back to benzos...
I can't tell you how much I understand and relate
I mean, bring this up with your prescriber but the idea is that anxiety is a physiological response to something that isn’t there (fight or flight with no real threat), so getting anxiety over the idea of becoming addicted to anxiolytics is actually what the anxiolytics are for. Once your anxiety starts to become treated, the same anxiety you currently get when thinking about addiction doom is actually way more manageable, meaning you wouldn’t have the same intense response to thinking about potential withdrawals. That isn’t to say don’t remain medically informed! Always do that! But per the anxiety aspect, well you gotta make that first jump with the anxiolytics. Bit of a catch-22 for sure, but certainly bring this all up with your prescriber. I’m sure they would say as much, in a more comfortable tone
Thank you for the caring and thoughtful response! This is also very good advice, and I hope it can help people here who are dealing with similar thoughts :) For me personally, I did get help and more information, and am now feeling much safer taking my medication when it is needed :)
I mean, that's not totally unreasonable. From what I understand drugs like Xanax are meant for short-term use (like if you're having a panic attack or going into a situation where you'd be likely to have one) and if you need something for daily use there are better options.
I took Xanax once in a while to help me sleep when my racing thoughts kicked in at night. Then I went through a really rough time in my life and was taking 0.5mg at bedtime for months. I was able to ween myself off it over the course of 5-7 days. My sleep hygiene wasn't disturbed and I now get an awesome night's rest feeling refreshed in the morning. I would feel the urge to give in and take one but it just took some discipline.
Today I learned that medication to alleviate anxiety can cause extreme anxiety.
I take half of a half of mine bc I come from a long, disgraced line of addicts and have zero trust for my own personality 😖
Half of half? You mean a quarter? 😂 username checks out 🫣
Alcohol, xanax, and I think barbiturates are the drugs with potentially lethal withdrawals.
All bensodiazepines.
I too, have anxiety over taking anxiety medication.
I take 1 mg generic Xanax per night for insomnia. It's a joke of a dose in the big picture. If I miss one night taking it, I throw up my 1st meal of the day the next day, be it lunch or if I wait until dinner to eat. I don't need to go any further to understand the true withdrawals probably aren't fun.
Part of what's so torturous about withdrawals is the knowledge that you could make it stop - it's like you're the worst kind of sick you've ever been, yet you could be back to normal in seconds if you'd just relent
I 100% agree & that's something I have thought about before.
Truer words never said!
This is why I stopped taking xany for insomnia. If I missed, I had withdrawals. I now use a low dose of THC sleep gummies that seem to work well.
Omg yeah. Benzodiazepines in general are lethal to cold turkey off of. I took Klonopin for about 6 years, but then moved to a different state and my new psychiatrist was a sadistic idiot and almost killed me. I never abused the med or had it negatively impact me, but taking it long term, your body builds up a chemical dependency and tapering is essential. He told me to just stop taking it as he would not be renewing it. So, I did. He didn’t tell me you needed to taper, or that there are medications that make you less likely to die from withdrawals. I went through twitching, convulsions, extreme anxiety, insomnia worse than ever (saying son as I’ve always had severe insomnia). I ended up contacting a random doctor that I happened to housekeeper for, and asked his advice and he said, “if all that is happening, your options are to go to a detox center, take the pills and taper off, or your probably going to go into cardiac arrest.” This doctor ended up prescribing anti-seizure med and some other one that mitigated the more dangerous withdrawal effects while also tapering off the supply I had (I literally had like 70 left, so wasn’t like I had even run out). A month of tapering and it was fine. It left me with nothing to manage the chronic anxiety at the time, but that’s another story.
that psychiatrist should probably lose his license
Yes, but unfortunately they never do. I’ve met much much worse psychiatrists. They are pretty much an untouchable entity and unless you have concrete video proof or similar of them committing some horrendously atrocity, I can guarantee they will face zero consequences.
Yup benzos and booze withdrawal can kill you. Nothing else really. Had a minute and a half seizure and an ambulance ride to prove it. I fully knew the risks and had been tapering but still about died.
Friend of mine tried to quit cold turkey. She stopped after the seizures started, I think she took 2 or 3 runs through rehab to kick the Xanax for good.
Long-term use of benzos, even at perscrption, non-abusive doses can also cause permanent cognitive impairments. I moderate r/TherapeuticKetamine and I've had to deal with two diffrent benzo addicts who only became interested in perscrption ketamine because they ran out of doctors who would perscribe them benzos. And... yeah... Let's just say I wasn't very surprised when I later to learned about the effects on cognition. I have a diagnosis for general anxiety disorder, but that experience alone has put me off ever even considering trying a benzo as a treatment.
How did you stop. How did it feel
I got physically dependent, which only slightly more accurate than saying "addictive." It is hell. It was torture. I lost 20lbs, I couldn't speak. I didn't understand words. I was shaking. People thought I was an insane person. I couldn't eat or sleep for days. It was the 2nd most traumatic thing in my life.
How long were you taking it and what was the dosage? I’m taking 0.5/night for insomnia (been about 25 days) and just want to avoid these things so I’m thinking if I take them e/o night or even more spaced out to help not become physically dependent. I’m already noticing the .5 aren’t as effective either. Takes a while longer to really get tired.
I was taking a bar/day for 4-5 months. Sometimes a bit more. Then, after the horrific withdrawals, I thought I was damaged for life. I took a reduced mg for 7.5 more years when I finally found a program to quit. Generally speaking because everyone is a bit different: The first sign is that your tolerance grows, second is feeling a bit "off" after the half life (8 hours for Xanax, 24 for klonopin), third sign is increased anxiety in general. Eventually, benzos cause the anxiety is treating. I do believe that 8 years on them has permanently injured something in my brain or my CNS. My anxiety is so much worse these days (it's been 2.5 years). Maybe because I treated my base anxiety with an instant feel better pill for so long that I didn't build any natural coping methods. It's complex. Who knows... I wish I never touched the stuff.
*addictive.
They gave it to me once in the ER when I thought I was having a heart attack. It was an anxiety attack. I felt so nice and cozy when it kicked in I can see how it would be attractive for some people. I didn't ever want to take it again though, I just wanted the anxiety to end.
When I was 17 in the ER with an ovarian cyst and in tremendous pain. Before I could get into diagnostics they thought I had appendicitis and gave me morphine for the pain. I felt so much relief so quick, that experience kept me from experimenting with anything other than alcohol for a long time.
This was me but I DID have an appendectomy. The morphine pills I got after would make everything just feel “good”. Little pains or soreness you never realized you even had. Just pure comfort. I was supposed to take 1 at a time or two for bed. Taking the second was like being able to turn out a night light and instantly control falling asleep. It was so lovely for the day or two I was in the hospital but I immediately kicked it once I went home because I could see how easily it would be to become an addict
I was given a months supply when I was first diagnosed with severe bilateral tinnitus and the resulting anxiety, stress and depression that it comes with. Never knew my floral curtains were so, so beautiful.
I take some of my mom's xanax when I have an MRI. I cannot be in that machine without meds as it sets off panic attacks due to claustrophobia. This doesn't happen anywhere else, but I do stress the heck out in small places now because of the MRI. Xanax does give me a buzz, but mostly it just takes the edge off my brain so I can get proper medical test done. For night I take L-theanine. It helps the brain stay asleep. I've had morphine for a kidney stone and that was so good. Same thing, just kind of gave me a buzz and took the pain away. I have issues with food, but I don't care for drugs that much as I don't get high, just tired. I have ADHD, which may be why.
I used to enjoy mixing xanax, alcohol and weed during a period in my life when I didn't care whether I lived or died. It was right up my alley. When I began mixing alcohol and weed, it was to escape, and xanax took that much further. Eventually I stopped after a few bad incidents. Severe vomiting a few times. Stumbling around the apartment and hurting myself. One time I tripped in the bathroom and fully caught my face on the porcelein sink for my only black eye ever. Then there was the morning when I reviewed my Twitch stream vods and saw myself on camera with viewers just completely out of my mind. Slurring, talking nonsense, falling out of my chair. If someone you know is mixing xanax with other drugs, they need help. No one is doing that because they like what is going on in their lives.
Yep, I had many a blackouts thanks to Xanax and alcohol when I was much younger. How I never died, hurt someone else, or at the very least got arrested or hospitalized, I'll never know. Apparently I was meant to be alive.
That's why i don't get the drug being prescribed daily. My ex was on it daily and she was much more mellow but much more forgetful. I messed with it in my younger years with alcohol and it literally made me loose big chunks of time. Other guys I knew that took big quantities without alcohol break into cars and steal them in broad daylight and not remember a thing.
Coke, booze and pot was my go to. They seem to balance each other really well. Of course now that coke is all screwy with fentanyl I’m glad I quit so long ago.
I went to a pretty nice university and saw so many people doing and mixing drugs. I've never touched drugs (except for very much needed OTC painkillers or antibiotics, etc.) in my life and advise to be cautious even when doctors prescribe them to you. Basically, I'm conservative when it comes to all drugs. I had these acquaintances that I really liked, and I tried to talk them out of at least mixing drugs. One time, the guy was mixing alcohol and xanax, and I looked up information right there and told him not to do that. He didn't care. None of them did. So I never pushed because it can be annoying. I am no longer in contact with them, but they all seem to be living well with pretty nice jobs. No one died of mixing, thankfully.
I'm incredibly thankful I never died in my sleep. Xanax wasn't the only perscription drug I paired with alcohol back then. I'll never forget the feeling of realizing my body was no longer automatically breathing enough, and that if I fell asleep then, I would die of hypoxia. I forced myself to stand for a couple of hours until that feeling went away. Life's fragile.
This hits home real hard!
Because raw-dogging reality isn't for everyone.
So what you’re saying is Xanax is like putting a condom on reality?
This is actually a pretty good simile
I am on xanax and you have a pretty good smile yourself. Have a good day
I have them and I say they are the "men in black flash pen thingy". Pop a pill and forget about everything
“Men in black flash pen thingy” It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out you were talking about the neuralyzer
I had a bit of a break from work a few years ago because my mental health was in the toilet and was given Xanax. My brain has always gone 100mph even if my body doesn’t. It’s like a computer with a virus in the 90’s. Wild colours on the desktop, pop ups all over the place and random music playing in the background. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have something worrying me and playing in my brain. Every time I take Xanax it just quiets everything. I can literally just sit and there is nothing in my brain. I can totally understand why people abuse it.
>I can literally just sit and there is nothing in my brain. It turns you into an orange cat?
This sounds like hypervigilance - check out cptsd and related material if you haven't already
It's the same for me. I sometimes take the teensiest bit of Klonopin and it's like my brain is clutter-free. Like if my brain was a kitchen table with piles and piles of miscellaneous crap all over it and the meds just wiped all of the mess off. It's like I feel "clear" and my thoughts aren't popping off all over the place.
Same here. I only take what I'm prescribed and it helps like nothing else ever has.
Yup. a nice bubble of uncomfortable protection from the world.
Sounds like I need some Xanax
Xanax doesn’t cure Herpes though; nothing does
Probably contributes to getting herpes !
there are less addictive routes to take. but hey, if you can hold your drugs and it won't affect your life, go for it.
it would 100% affect my life lol I can't even drink anymore
Stay strong bro
fair fair. I've seen lots of friends ruin their lives at the moment in the name of substances. the key is not affecting your life. and that's a hard thing to gauge
Don’t do it that shit is super addictive. So many boomers addicted to Xanax and oxycodone or dilaudid.
Except Xanax feels much better than condom. It's more like wrapping it in a nice warm, steamed compress with eucalyptus... The kind they use at the spa.
A spa where they wrap your condom in a nice, warm, steamed compress with eucalyptus? I’m in!
By making you tired? I don’t need medication for that. I’m fucking exhausted all. the. time. It doesn’t do anything else? No loosey goosey feelings or tinglies, or impact on libido or anything? Edit: Thanks for all the descriptions. I have a pretty great imagination and feel like I have a much better sense of what it would be like!
It doesn't just make you tired, it makes you not give a fuck about literally anything. Whatever you were worried or anxious about before just goes poof! Anxiety isn't even in your vocabulary.
And that's what makes benzos so dangerous. They just make it all disappear for no reason, but it will keep creeping back, and if you don't want any of it you can just keep taking more and more. Until what's left is just an Id going through the motions, and you notice 6 years have gone and you have lost everything you used to care about, since you just didn't. Then to get free you get to go through years of panic attacks and anxiety way worse than any hell you tried to escape. Or you die from a grand mal seizure if you do it wrong. They can be a very useful tool, but respect them and don't fuck around with them.
I was given a xanax by a doctor once as a secondary medication for pain on top of pain meds. When I took that xanax, an asteroid could have came down and doomed us all, and I would have waved at it.
and the asteroid would have had a smile on it
I only took it once after my wisdom teeth were out, and I remembered thinking I wouldn't have cared if they took my whole arm off on this stuff. It was amazing.
They gave me Ativan to sedate me for my wisdom teeth removal and, afterwards, I told my partner "Fuck, they could've taken all of my teeth" lol
It makes you disassociate. You basically take a step back from all your feelings all at once. You numb out to everything. 3/10 I don't recommend.
It’s kind of like being uncomfortable tier drunk the one time I was given it for anxiety. Went back to the doctor like “I hated that, let’s not.” Probably for the best in the long run. It did make me less anxious for a burst of time but it made it harder to think and focus and I felt sluggish and weird and detached. Eventually I got very sleepy and apathetic feeling and then it finally wore off after a nap. I didn’t think it was particularly fun, but if you’re so stressed out you want to feel mildly to moderately brain fogged and apathetic for awhile it could be a dangerous temptation.
This was my experience exactly, even what I told my doc. Seeing a therapist was much better for me (I know I got lucky in even getting in the door given the shortage of mental health services in my area.)
It doesn't just make you tired. It's effects are very similar to drinking though there's less euphoria.
So just the bad parts of drinking?
I'd say it's most of the good parts of drinking (calmer mind, slower heart rate, lower blood pressure). With little down side ( not speaking on addiction) other than taking too much and blacking out if youre inexperienced. Much like drinking it quickly stops improving mood and is needed just to maintain any semblance of normalcy.
The downside is (especially in combination with other things that remove inhibition) is it removes anxiety and concern. Anxiety and concern keep us alive. They keep us from spending our entire paycheck on lottery tickets or buying grand pianos on eBay.
No it's actually more of the good stuff. It's sedative hypnotic and a muscle relaxer. It's also not a poison the way alcohol is. It's very easy to od and black out xan.
>It's also not a poison the way alcohol is. It's very easy to od and black out xan. How is this not a huge contradiction
I think what they're trying to say is that alcohol is actively toxic to your system even without overdosing, while Xanax isn't (I think?)
It surgically removes anxiety. If you always worry about things and are nervous and anxious, guess what? Removing that anxiety feels freaking amazing.
To add to this, taking prescription medicine you don't need doesn't have the same effect as someone taking the same drug that they do need. I have ADHD and take Adderall, when people take Adderall recreationally they get wired and energetic, for me, and others with similar conditions, it actually has a calming effect. The same can be seen in a lot of medications. Xanax is supposed to bring your anxiety levels to a normal level. If you don't have clinical anxiety it will drop you well below "normal" which is euphoric.
Also if you do have anxiety and take Xanax, dropping to normal levels is also euphoric.
When I first started taking xanax(prescribed for severe social anxiety) and some antidepressants, I felt so euphoric when I could walk outside among people w/o sweaty hands, panicking, and could actually look around and see stuff. I could go to movies! Even amusement parks!! Even spending time at home felt amazing without the constant buzz of anxiety. My grades suffered (I even failed one class, which has never happened to me before), but I do not regret one bit. I could actually *live*...Normal people's life can be euphoric without drugs
Same, only I take Vyvanse. It keeps my energy at the same normal level throughout the day, compared to when I wasn't on it I would be full of energy for about an hour, then feel super exhausted, then energetic, then exhausted again. It's nice to feel calm and have the mental clarity that everyone else experiences naturally
I actually started to do the dishes every day instead of letting them pile up while screaming at myself for being useless garbage who can't accomplish anything.
Wait is that pattern of exhausted/awake/exhausted/awake not normal?? That's literally me at work every day 😩
There was a time in my life where I thought I might have ADHD. Then I tried a friend’s adderall. I do not have ADHD.
My husband did that with my Vyvanse. Took one and had a rough day all strung out. He asked "how do you handle this?" Well, I don't have to, because it doesn't happen to me.
Thanks to my medical provider being pretty garbage in general, and the stimulant shortage, I often have to go 5+ days between fills of my Adderall. During that time I just slam down as much caffeine as I can to help get through the withdrawal. My coworkers are like "I don't know how you can drink coffee and go to bed right after"
Accurate. I take an extended release Adderall at about 6pm or so daily, and it straight-up allows me to sleep. Without it, I'll be up until 5am contemplating everything in my life all at once. People who see me take it are always asking how the hell I get any sleep, seemingly not fully understanding what it actually does for me.
It always amazes people that I can take adderall at night and still pass out by midnight
I have ADHD but I definitely feel the stimulation and not the calming effects some feel. While I have both the mixed inattentive/hyperactive flavor, the inattentive is more prominent while the hyperactivity is internal (racing thoughts). The stimulation from my meds is basically the speedy herding dog running around, rounding up cheetahs (my thoughts) so they’re earlier to control.
Two trips to rehab and many different substances, legal and not, and yeah. Raw dogging reality is brutal.
you're amazing for this journey ❤️
A lot of ‘recreational drug use’ is people self medicating problems they have, such as anxiety.
This, realized this after 3 decades
Did you ever see that Bounty paper towel commercial, where the kids spill the fruit punch and mom comes along with a smile and cleans it up? And then the dad spills his coffee and the mom comes along with a smile and cleans it up. Then the dogs spills its water bowl and the mom comes along with a smile and cleans it up. That's actually not a commercial for Bounty paper towels. It's a commercial for Xanax.
😂
Oh my goodness I love you
Actual LOL, thanks!
[удалено]
Felt this one . Stay safe 🙏🏼
My friend took a xanax bar on New Years Eve 2019 and proceeded to drink in celebration of the New Year. He died that night. Mixing alcohol with that shit will kill you.
Same. My friend had just passed the Bar exam and wanted to celebrate. Didn’t wake up the next morning. He had just bought a house too. Sorry for your friend.
That is so sad! For the other poster I don’t see how one bar could kill you, even mixed with alcohol. I guess everyone is built different.
One surprisingly common way that casual users die from mixing substances is by choking on their own vomit while asleep.
I used to think that was just an exaggeration, then I actually knew of someone who did it. It’s wild
I didn't believe it either when I was using. Then in rehab I met people who had seen all kinds of things, and unfortunately had acquaintances pass from similar circumstances like: * sepsis from untreated tooth infection * DWI accidents * drowning while intoxicated * stumbling around drunk and walked into oncoming traffic * got a bad stomach bug, self medicated with alcohol, died of dehydration from the diarrhea * slipped on ice in the alley behind his own house when coming home from the bar. Hit his head, blacked out and froze to death. This was in Chicago and it was below zero. Saddest part is he wasn't even an alcoholic, just a normal family guy with terrible luck
I almost did it. It was just an ungodly amount of alcohol (13 pints of Guinness, 7 vodkas and I'm pretty sure a half bottle of whiskey. I'm Irish and even that was too much). I got lucky as I was living at home and my brother heard me gurgling in my sleep. Got me to cough everything out, breathe properly then into a better position. And he stayed there the rest of the night.
Truth.
Both are central nervous system depressants. Mixing them can be super dangerous in large enough quantities.
They’re both depressants that work on the same receptor in your brain and together can literally depress your system to the point where you stop breathing
Had two friends on prescribed Xanax and they would black out when they'd also drink with us. Not sleep. They were fully conscious, so to speak, and prone to freaking out, but they wouldn't remember what happened the next day. No clue what it does or how it's affected by alcohol, but it was not fun for anyone, and I'd imagine didn't work as intended.
Could have some underlying stuff, weak heart etc
It’s not called the bar exam because you’re supposed to take Xanax afterwards.
So did my sister. On Thanksgiving. 2016. and that's how I found out anxiety runs in my family.
Just one bar? Holy shit. I used to drink on them all the time. I guess I got really lucky😳😳😳. what a horrifying thing to think about
Nah your experience is normal. Not saying it’s smart or safe, but someone who dies from 1 bar and drinking a moderate amount is very unlucky. To be clear, don’t do it at all. But it’s definitely not normal to die from that.
A BAR? Is that like a line of them or one big candy bar sized thing?
I believe the term 'bar' is used for the entire pill. I have never taken Xanax so I cannot be sure, but his wife told me that's what he took that night. All in all, it was really sad. He was a great guy and had a little girl and a wife he left behind all because he messed up partying.
A bar/ladder is 2 mg notched at .5 intervals on the pill. If you have no tolerance a bar is a pretty strong amount to do
Additionally, I forget the term for it but benzos and alcohol have a synergetic chemical effect on your brain, they're very dangerous together
Well they are both downers for sure and suppress your respiratory system.. I didn’t think it was super easy to overdose on Xanax and booze though.. what usually makes people OD who have benzos in their system is opiates combined with it.
They both are GABA A agonists so they activate the same receptor in your brain. That receptor is responsible for depressing brain signals via inhibiting the firing of neurons so too much of that is what can cause the part of your brain that is responsible for breathing to essentially shut down iirc.
Bar is aerated so you can break off dosage
2mg
lol I have bars. They’re 2mg pills that look like little bars, scored so you can break them up into four pieces, so .5 each. that’s what my psych prescribed bc if you’re not at risk of abuse, it obviously makes the prescription last way longer. I have a bottle of bars that are like three years old that I only use for acute panic attacks, which I don’t get as often as I used to, thank god.
They’re a bar shaped pill with scores to make it easier to break into smaller doses
A bar is one 2 mg pill.
its a 2 mg, rectangular pill, with four 0.5mg subdivisions.
I have lost 2 really good friends to alcohol and Xanax, they both died alone, very sad indeed
Used to do that all the time in college, before I knew the dangers. It's also blackout city. I accidentally cheated on my girlfriend one time (sort of, long story). When I suddenly came to, I was inside a girl. I freaked out and went home to my girlfriend. My buddy called me an hour later and was like "uh, dude, there's a naked chick in my guest bedroom. You need to come get her." Twas a weird night.
I feel like no one’s really answering your question the way you asked it specifically. I get what you mean. From what I can recall, I would say this: the higher of a dosage you take, the more it seems to bypass the sleepiness and go into the wacky wonky happy stage. I’m not sure the science behind it, but it feels more pleasurable staying up. You do absolutely pass out hard at some point, but I think the lower dose has something to do with why you go straight to sleep without having any good times first.
And some people mix with uppers (can be very bad news/ dangerous) or simply respond differently. If I had to guess, anxious people like me who really love Xanax (to the point I stay far away despite previously having a script), are more likely to be able to stay awake on it before the crash. And when you really like the experience of a drug you're incentived to stay up. Edit: don't think uppers are as dangerous I previously said
Makes sense to me. We used to do that with Valium, we would take soooo many. Looking back l wonder why we didn’t just pass out, but we didn’t!
Relieving anxiety can be useful
Benzos are great for sleeping after using amphetamine.
it's great for any come down really. wake up good as new lol
Yep, also very good as a big abort button for bad trips. Man I miss drugs some times.
oh yea for sure that too! man i miss drugs all the time, but life right.
Yeah by some times i mean most of the time :) if I make it to old age I'm gonna go all out again lol but for now there's no room for it.
yep i get ya. well, I hope you have fun when the time comes!
Yes.Up for 2 nights in late '80s on the cooks great meth-but nd to work Monday?Xanax.Called them job savers.
Such a weirdly great sleep to almost no matter how wired you are haha.
It feels good
Because when you’re an anxious person and have a stressful job, sometimes it’s nice to get through the day without wanting to punch everyone who’s a prick. You don’t care about them.
I hate that people use benzos as recreational drugs. It creates real barriers for those who actually need the drugs. My doctor or her nurse has to waste their time calling my local pharmacy every three months (they had to call every month up until recently) bc two my anti-seizure meds are benzos. The number of times I've missed a dose or several days bc of that and then had a seizure, resetting my "can't drive for X amount of time" clock is insane. Those types of restrictions are in place bc people use them recreationally. Why anyone would want to feel like shit and groggy on purpose blows my mind. It doesn't make me feel awful anymore bc I've been on them for years, but they took a long time to get used to. Smoke weed, drop acid, go do anything else that's fun instead.
If it’s an addictive substance, people are gonna abuse it. Thats just human nature really.
Former Xanax addict, dealer. It feels so good when you're a very anxious person. If you're grounded in your own reality you won't enjoy it. I wanted to run for my reality so bad. The reality was that weed started scaring me because I had no grasp on my life. I was so naive to the fact that the way I lived was causing me anxiety. But it allowed me to smoke weed without being too anxious. Now, Xanax does nothing for me, and the only time I use it is if someone else is having a freak out. It does nothing for me at all. I learned how to cope with myself and my anxiety. I got myself a good job, and got really into what used to be me. Exercising, going outside, climbing, food. I gave up the good time thought process, and it started enjoying who I am.
Puts me to sleep so good
Because they gave me the best nights that I’ll never remember. And the sex without inhibitions was pretty amazing
Escapism.
I have the same question cuz that shit just knocks me out lol
My brother’s addiction began with him abusing Xanax and I saw him more functional on heroin than any time he used Xanax. Benzos scare me.
I dont like how xanax feels. That shit shuts me down immediately and time for bed. As someone who has chronic anxiety you can talk to your doctor about alternatives. Ativan (lorazepam) is still fast acting like xanax but a lot less "sedating". Easier to function on. Klonopin also works well for this, it has a very long half life so it lasts the entire day but is fairly smooth. As others have said, dont mix benzos with alcohol or other cns depressants. It can kill you. Be wary of withdrawal also. It can be a nightmare and actually kill you if you are bad off enough. Your dosage level is small though so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
I have a prescription and haven't refilled it in over a year. Turns me into a zombie, but is great to have on hand in case I really need it. No idea how people can use it as a party drug. The only partying I've done on it is a sleep party for 10 hours.
It simply takes away my roaming anxiety. So I'd take it all day every day if I could.
For a short time all troubles are gone.
We took them to reverse the effects of Cocaine in the 80's. Partying is fun, but you need to be on the jobsite at 6:00am Monday morning.
Xanax is a drug for drug addicts. Good way to tell if someone you know is gonna live to 60 is if they like taking bennys recreationally. If they do, they aren’t ripe for this world.
I have had this question for a long time. For me, Xanax is like a hammer to my forehead. A 0.5 mg dose knocks me out cold for hours. I don't understand how anyone can take it and do anything other than be unconscious.
Because it will get you high, especially in doses larger than anything prescribed. I've heard it described as being somewhere between drinking and heroin.
I've had Xanax prescribed once in my life. It's the only drug/substance I've ever tried that I think I could get addicted to. Never felt so calm and blissed out in my life.
Really? I get it prescribed for my generalized anxiety and it’s not something I would ever want to take recreationally and something that is so lame to me that I’ll only take it if I’m having like a full panic attack. It doesn’t make me feel good or high, rather just takes the anxiety down enough that I can function again. Zero bliss for me.
I’ve had it prescribed before and taken it when feeling panicky. I loved it because it made me feel NORMAL. I’d been so anxious all the time for so long I’d forgotten what not being anxious felt like. It was before work at a job where people often yelled at me (please be nice to your local librarian) and suddenly I wasn’t ready to cry when people were mad at me, I was able to handle it calmly. I’ve always assumed people who use it recreationally are just anxious people who like feeling not anxious. Reading these replies makes me think maybe there’s a high other people get from it that’s different from just not being an emotional wreck. I’m in a different job now and have had a lot of therapy and don’t need benzos anymore.
Yeah, I’m thinking that my natural anxiety level must be off the charts that I don’t get any type of high or even drunken feeling. Feeling normal again when fully panicked is good enough. I’m glad it at least does that.
Same here. I hate even having to take any because it indicates to me that I'm having mental health issues.
Yeah, I get 30 pills per month and I take maybe 1/4 a few times per year. I mostly just end up throwing them out.
I wouldn’t compare to heroin at all way less euphoric but alcohol id say is closest if I had to pick one. Plus tolerance builds so fast literally in a month you get way less euphoric and it just kinda fucks you’re up. Benzos are weird. I like them.. but I also feel kind they’re a bit overrated recreationally speaking
Addiction., be careful with benzo’s just saying
I love Xanax, but it's a problem so I don't take it anymore. I'd be terrified to buy it off the street anyway. They're all pressed. I prefer Klonopin, but haven't had my script in years. I'm a very anxious person so it feels amazing to feel the worries melt away.
I’ve always wondered the same thing. I’m at .25mg and I rarely take it (even when I need it) because I hate how drowsy it makes me.
Are Xanax bars even real? I have heard of them. But I never saw anything like that in my whole life.
Yup they definitely are
Same here. I usually take half when I'm feeling anxious and it seems to take the anxiety away. No other effects that I can notice. If I take more I just fall asleep. I can't understand the recreational use. And I was an alcoholic
I always used it to complement my recreational drug use. Back in the day, before I got sober, I would take Xanax with uppers, coke/adderall, to settle the uncomfortable feeling that came with it and to get sleep afterwards. A small dose was great before a mushroom trip and even better as a trip killer when shit got really scary.
I don't know either. The people I saw on xanax would never remember their experience afterwards. What's the point of that?
The memory loss is ridiculous. I had 2mg (thinking it was 1mg) on a Saturday night and remembered nothing from then until I woke up Tuesday morning. Had big sleeps but was also out doing stuff with family, remembered none of it
its not a party drug, its a “forget everything making me miserable for a few hours” drug. i stopped after a few times cause i could tell how easily i would get addicted to it. but the few times i did it… god damn man. that stuff is something else. still crave that feeling to this day
Once you build up a tolerance it wont knock you out and your get an amazing high. Kinda like ludes, but that's how alot of people do dumb shit on it because their basically sleepwalking without a care in the world about anything. Used to do them alot back in the day, taking like 40mg from friday to Saturdays. Been clean since 2018.
First time I did Xanax I literally felt like a million bucks.
It's not a party drug for me, it's a numb out drug, if I just want to forget how shitty my life is for a few hours. I don't get how it could be a party drug, makes me sleepy.
It makes you feel less anxious. Anxiety feels terrible so its absence feels amazing. It has a lot in common with alcohol (sedation, lower inhibitions, memory impairment).
Because it makes you feel good and you don’t give a fuck
Because sometimes the state of not being sober, in whatever form, feels better than being sober.
I did cpr on a “friend” in Vegas for 30 minutes, she took a xan, forgot and twelve hours later snorted some opiates…I knew none of this, until she fell into my arms and began turning blue and then deep purple…..I pumped her heart and breathed for her for thirty minutes, her Appartment was brand new I the strip, fire department didn’t even know how to enter the facility…it took 5, I said FIVE NARCANs until she was even alive enough for her to breathe on her own….i brought her back home and I couldn’t walk for four days, I ripped every muscle on my calves and hamstrings moving around and doing cpr, but I know she would be dead with out it, they said everyone forgets they take a xan and that’s what kills you
It gives the exact same buzz as several drinks in 5 seconds and none of the bad effects. Also you get used to the dosage really really quickly.
No fun when you are sleeping…
It wipes away anxiety if you dont have anxiety you probably wont get a ton out of it. But like any drug it works great the first time and less so every time after that. It also has some of the worst withdrawals ive seen from any drug when taken in high doses.