Re: Getting off of Xanax and AF recovery failure

Hi, wiredgeneration!

It's great that you are getting better after what you've been through. The worst is over for you because you are done with the pharmaceuticals. I am always impressed by people who listen to their body and work with it instead of relying on a magic pill to make the symptoms go away.

I wanted to maybe switch to valium because it's a longer acting benzo which is easier to get off of (according to some) compared to xanax.
But after reading your post I changed my mind. It's going to be hard no matter which benzo is involved. And you were taking them for just a few months!... I'm afraid that after 6 years Im going to have some permanent damage.
I noticed that as soon as I start lowering it below 1 mg(which is still a high dosage, it's just too low for me;(() - I have severe adrenal crashes. Like the one this sunday: I was doing great for 2 weeks after taking lipo c and glutathione, so I lowered the xanax and here we go again... I just couldn't get up. It seems like such a waste of time because I have to start all over again...so disappointing...
The more I think about it the more obvious it becomes: withdrawal and adrenal crashes are essentially the same thing. It's impossible to get better without removing all the pharmaceuticals out of the picture first.

When I was reading Dr.Lam's book I would have flashbacks from my memory when I first noticed the AF symptoms but instead of paying attention I ran straight to the psychiatrist!... I saw myself going through stages 1 and 2 years ago and I was convinced that it was all in my head...
It never occurred to me that my body was screaming for attention not for more xanax... or antidepressants...
Everything happens for a reason though. If I didn't collapse both physically and mentally I'd still be running around like an idiot for the rest of my life like many people still do.

I believe that I can recover and I'm trying to stay optimistic.
Yoga helped me tremendously.
I read there were studies done that proved that deep breathing and meditation increase GABA activity. It makes a lot of sense to me because I got so much better since I started practicing it.
My yoga teacher lost interest in me as a student because I can't get rid of the xanax dependence but he doesn't understand how hard I'm trying. When I suffer from withdrawal I can't do any yoga...

There are some breathing techniques that can help you with your anxiety too: Anuloma Viloma or Nadi Sodhana pranayama. It really works!