DOSE:

.25 - .50 mg

oral

Pharms - Alprazolam

(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

200 lb

Two weeks ago my doctor prescribed Xanax to me to help with panic disorder/anxiety. It does wonders for calming me down when I start feeling disoriented, detached, and depersonalized from panic attacks (.25 mg affects me on an empty stomach within ten minutes). I panic multiple times a day from subtle bodily sensations such as hunger, phantom pains (random headaches, ear aches, leg cramps, you name it...) and naturally as I start to get tired I panic because my body starts to shut down a bit (which freaks me out because I start thinking about 'what if I die in my sleep or what if I don't wake up, etc).

With the Xanax, however, I find myself calm, collected, and carefree whenever I take it. I started taking two .25 mg before bed every night and find myself sleeping like a rock...waking up undisturbed for 10-12 hours at a time...with very vivid dreams (which I sometimes can't remember whether or not they are real things that happened to me or not!). Though I have only taken this drug nightly for two weeks I find myself almost incapable of doing anything at night now...my concentration is shot...I forget what I'm doing...it's almost as if my body has trained itself to 'shut off' (because I simply cannot do anything meaningful) around the time when I pop them at night. What do I mean? I used to be able to write all night long and research, but now I get hung up on one page of reading and feel like I need to pop my meds and go to bed. It helps me sleep, but doesn't necessarily make me feel 'well rested' every night. It gives me strange, vivid dreams, which are frighteningly realistic. It works for panic, but definitely has me concerned about my ability to fall asleep without it and do work at night.

Exp Year: 2009	ExpID: 79912
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Nov 18, 2020	Views: 2,111
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Pharms - Alprazolam (98), Dreams (85) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Addiction & Habituation (10), Medical Use (47), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Not Applicable (38)