I was under the assumption stopping Xanax cold turkey is not recommended, however mom's dr. refused to refill prescription. Am I overreacting?

I'd halve the ones you have left to stretch things out and help with any withdrawal side effects.

Drs are under SUCH scruntiny with so many drugs. My own PCP talks with me every single month about the Tylenol with codeine that I take for arthritis (and now bone pain from cancer) The pendulum has swung so far from the middle--My PCP is really frustrated about his inability to care for his chronic pain patients. Same with benzos. Those are highly addictive and it can take YEARS to de-compress from them. Your dr is being a jerk. Sounds like you did a safe go-around for mom.

Personally, until you have walked in my shoes and felt MY anxiety and insomnia and pain, you don't KNOW what I'm feeling. Sometimes you have to dr shop to find one who is willing to help you and do so in a compassionate manner.

My KIDS were super, super judgmental about my need for a mild benzo, until THEY started having anxiety problems. Shoe on the other foot changed it all for them.

We do not know another's person's pain and problems. Don't judge.

I'm an Internist. I'm Somewhat permissive in my current practice, but used to blow benzo patients off in my last one. "I've been on it for Thirty years." But-I don't LIKE that type of drug, and it shouldn't be my problem. Also-addiction is not the only issue. Seniors can have Bad falls on that drug (there's a whole list of drugs-DeBeer's Criteria) that the Elderly should not take. Buspar helps anxiety without the addiction.

That SAID-this class of drugs (which includes Ativan, Klonopin, Valium and Xanax) is like Booze. Going off too fast is very dangerous. You need to wean them.

I was just going to begin the 3 year (yes, 3 YEARS) tapering off of Klonipin when I was dxed with cancer. My dr didn't feel that I could hendle the chemo AND the PTSD I suffer from and come out the other end OK.

You need Psych doc to be dealing with psychotropics and a PCP to be working with them on any other needs.

Drs who pull the 'I know more than you do, sucks to be you' and simply stop you cold turkey from some of these meds are causing people to get very, very sick.

We have to be our own doctors in many cases. While my oncologist is handling my cancer, he is not involved in my depression meds or my anxiety meds. I am to simply take those as directed--in fact I am told to bring them to chemo days and use my own meds. I just tell my infusionist that I am taking a Klonipin of my own and he charts it.

I hope by age 65 to be off everything but a vitamin. I can hope, right?

A dr who doesn't listen to me is an ex-employee of mine. I have had to learn to be tough and also listen to the dr and do what's best. Right now, it's very, very hard.

My mom was on Xanax for 10 years - totally addicted. Her doctor put her on it when she found my stepfather's body when he collapsed from a fatal heart attack while chopping wood. No one ever even suggested she wean off. She changed doctors along the way and her new one decided to stop the Xanax cold turkey. That poor woman went through horrible withdrawal with no idea what hit her. Nausea, headache, tremors, hallucinations. I called the doctor's office after hours and got the on-call doc. He okayed a prescription for a week's worth and I doled them out one pill, then a half pill, then a half every other day over several days until she was safely weaned off. Definitely call the office or go to an emergency room.

A heart Dr. put my mother-in-law on the very lowest dose once a day. Five months later when she saw her primary care Dr., she took her off. She put her back on Buspar & when that got in her system she quit the Xanax. The drugs work differently & I was afraid of withdrawal issues, but it went smoothly.
Can you speak to the DR. About putting your Mom on something non-addictive & with little side effects before just quitting cold turkey?

I take xanax but not very often. You can't " call in" that rx.,you have to physically go get the prescription.,maybe that is what is going in?

Have you spoken to the doctor? Is s/he refusing to renew because she needs to be seen before another script is written? Most psych drugs cannot be renewed for long without the physician examining the patient.

I would Google "xanax withdrawal" and check Mayo Clinic and Web MD for accurate information.

Does mom's insurance company have a nurse line you can call?

Put a call into the doctors office tomorrow and talk to her or him about what needs to happen to get a new script.

My mom has been on that garbage drug for decades. She's been hospitalized twice in the last two months for mis-managing the medication. The first time, she had doubled-up and then ran out, so had withdrawl symptoms within 24-48 hours and had to be taken to the ER. Just this week she took a little too much, washed it down with wine, was hospitalized again and is now in a mental health ward. This drug is horrible and I believe has caused significant damage to both parents, who have been on it since the 1980s. Dad is in a dementia care home and basically a zombie. He swore by this drug and took it 365 days a year for sleep. Read the list of side effects, they really do result from use of this drug.

I just want to throw this in, which is not helpful in a concrete way....but many years back, in the old days as I started this social work career I was interested in so many topics and to learn so much. So I went to a number of meetings of the American Psychiatric Assn. Have you ever been to a car show where there are multiple displays, sensory overload with noise, lights etc? This is what it's like in the exhibit hall with all the drugs and their manufacturers there. They would sponsor sessions and follow them with dessert receptions...I still can recall people that would grab a plate, stack it up with goodies, and head back to their hotel room. Just to say that the drug companies are more interested in selling and profits then they are about the well-being of patients in many instances. I hear things have changed, but as I have not been back, I can't verify it all. And beware that when you start asking for something in particular they may be suspicious, think you are looking for a quick fix. Terrible situation and I would not be going back to the MD who started all this grief. Idiots and politicians have generated this BS and are clueless to the grief and pain they cause for patients and their caregivers and loved ones.