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

Stopping it abruptly can cause withdrawal. Even on small doses. I would find out why he did that, opposed to weaning her off. I can tell you if she is on any type of painkillers, then thats why. The last year or so docs have quit writing out both due to serious potential risks. If she had been taking both Xanax and opiod for many years together, then it would be possible to get both drs. To write note on rx that its ok. Otherwise, the insurance flags it every single month causing pharmacy to call both and get permission. Its become a headache but the reasoning is crystal clear. Benzos and opiates both slow respiratory system so It makes sense why they have done all these new rules. Best of luck.

Stopping Xanx immediately will lead to withdraws and possibly heart attack. Google Xanax Withdrawal for an in-depth explanation.

withdrawal is usually correlated with dosage, but much of it can be psychlogical too. try your best not to make a big deal of it to her. placebo effect may work as it did with my mom, who thot tylenol was a sleeping pill and went straight to sleep. BUT...just in case of withdrawal worries...if you still have pills left...cut them in half and half again. give 3/4 pill first night, 1/2 pill next...stay at half pill until you can get a doc to assess if she needs it at all, go down to 1/4 pill. xanax is for short term use only. you cannot get it if you are also scripted opioids. (you CAN legally have an anti-anxiety drug called buspar with opioids. buspar doesnt work for me but works great for my mom). new fed regulatory rules: you must choose between pain or anxiety. there is no PC where i live that will give you opioids at all. no PC will give you more than 5 xanax. at all. you have to go to a Pain Center for opioids. they test your pee monthly...you will be kicked out if you test pos for benzos. a psychiatrist is the best place to get benzos. while you are in an emergency situation waiting, you can try bach flower remedies, 3-5 mg of melatonin; if it is a sleep issue, cut a benadryl in 1/2; no caffeine of any kind (chocolate, sweet tea) after noon, use sleep hygiene (no screens or lighting or tv in bedroom), do simple breathing exercises with her, people also think valerian root helps, but i wouldnt give that to anyone on other drugs without checking first. just some ideas and info, i wish you the best and thank for taking care of your mom, i wish i could take care of mine. by far, the best thing i have found for reducing anxiety in my mother was NO CAFFEINE. EVER. also, pasta and/or turkey for dinner naturally and chemically helps create relaxed feelings. good luck.

Did you call back to find out why the doctor refused to fill the prescription? That would have been the first thing on my list of things to do.

I will recommend you to read the book why do we sleep or listen to some of the you tube videos. Learn all about sleep. One should not take any medication for sleep. These are not sleeping medication. These are sedative and more harmful to the body. Please spend some time and understand how our body works. Since our human body did not come with owners manual please search for the manual and learn. Do not kill you mom with medication. I am taking care of my mother in law 82 years. Got her out of all bad meds. Now when she wakes up she is like a 20 year old girl as against a zombi. Equip your self with knowledge. Ask the question to your self why she is not sleeping and find the reason and fix it not by medicine. Our body produce all it needs. So put your body to work.

It is very dangerous to “cold turkey” this type of medication. Your mom will go through terrible withdrawals. “Benzo Withdrawal”. Personally, go higher up if you have to, but get her to be able to taper off. This is a very long hard process.

Doctors are doing this to many people.

This can cause seizures.

I don’t want to scare you but please read about it and get some help in getting her either, her medication or a very slow and easy taper with meds to help your mom through the effects of this. I’m so sorry!!! She will feel withdrawal symptoms with first missed dose. Again please read about it. I hope I haven’t scared you but it is dangerous and urgent. Also depending on how much she was on and for how long will tell you how easy or hard this might be for her.

Could be he didn’t fill prescription because you said you called it in at Five days. Here in California you can only call in 2 maybe 3 days early . I wasn’t even aware of that until I went to pickup prescription that my dr had prescribed and the Kaiser pharmacy told me to come back in 2 days.

Please keep us posted, Abby. It is great that you are so careful and conscientious. This is relevant to many of us.

Xanax usually not given for agitation from dementia...Seroquel is ..don’t know if she has dementia or not. If she has Neurologist then they auto renew..if she gets super agitated & she doesn’t have Neurologist then take her to ER..also you can try melatonin 5mg at night to help sleep

It maybe she needs to see the Dr. before a new subscription is given. They do that with some of my meds. But definitely I believe an older person should be given something to ease andy withdrawal. Just find out more from someone.

When was her last visit with the physician? He or she may not want to prescribe the medication due to that issue. Withdrawal from Xanax may be a concern. What dose is she currently receiving? If the pills can be split with a pill cutter perhaps you can split them until you speak with the physician. It may be a good idea to have your mother evaluated by a geriatric psychiatrist. The geriatric psychiatrist would be helpful in using an alternative to the bezodiazepines.(Xanax) as well reevaluating her other medications for interactions with psychtropics. Lastly, it may be helpful to investigate alternative strategies to manage her anxiety in conjunction with a geriatric psycholgist.

Valid concern! YesValium withdrawl is serious, seizures, it's very ignorant and cruel of her doc to do this. It sounds like a miscommunication.
For those who judge with very little information you are not helping,
Be prepared to call 911 or go to the ER and keep calling doctor to explain why so cruel and no further direction. Seek better doctor care change to one who is kind and understanding of what your both going through. I would raise Cain with doctor. I'm sure he would remedy your valid concern. I agree totally with Terryi and Peanuts56 cut remaining pills in half may give more time to get d8ctor to realize his mistake.
Make that appointment asap.
Keep us posted
Grace and wisdom
God bless

Obviously, it’s never recommended to stop any medication cold turkey. However, my Mom had a particularly nasty withdrawal due to lack of Xanax. She was on an extremely high dosage and her anxiety was through the roof. She had apparently taken a few more pills during the month than prescribed because she ran out three days before her doctors appointment. She didn’t call for a refill because she didn’t want the doctor to know what she had done. So, I had no idea what was wrong with her! She had vomited a few times and her eyes were rolling back in her head. I ended up calling 9-1-1. The doctor’s couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her and every day I visited, she didn’t seem any better. Apparently, they had immediately given her a small IV dose of Xanax, but nowhere near what she usually takes. So, I happen to hear them talking, considering taking her off it altogether. That’s when it all clicked for me! I told them that she’s normally on a very high dosage and has been without it for a few days and I think she’s going through withdrawal. So, they give her her regular dosage and bam she’s back to normal! They slowly weaned her off the high dosage and brought her down to an acceptable level.

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.

The withdrawal from benzodiazephine (B) family of drugs is a harder and more life threatening withdrawal than narcotics.
The doctor is medically negligent to put his patient in a life threatening position by abrupt withdrawals
I would recommend you find another Doctor for your Mother you are comfortable with.
Just explain to the new dr ...you wanted a change in doctor...short & sweet
And once you are newly situated I suggest you write/call a complaint to the Medical Board in your state.
Believe it or not, the medical boards are not there to impress patients, they are there to ensure doctors are behaving in a rational & ethical manner to patients.
If you don't let them know, its highly probable another patient will suffer the same way from this Doctors lack of care
Fortunately for your Mother the B family of drugs has a long half life....so withdrawals may not begin for 3 or 4 days.
And by then I would assume you will have had a prescription filled.
Withdrawals affect the nervous system very badly. And seizures are not uncommon.
Panic attacks (the panic the drugs were covering) and insomnia are very common These drugs interact badly with a long list of other drugs.
Tapering off the drug Very slowly by a medical detox team is a safer ( safer) alternative to cold-turkey withdrawal
However assuming your Mother is elderly and not in the best health, this may be just too much for her to weather.
If she has been doing well, & sleeping well on the 1tab each pm, then it would probably be wise to keep her on that dosage. Though you might consider getting a pill cutter & cutter the tab by 1/4 tab 3 times a week to see how she progresses
Adding the herb Ashwaganda at the same time is helpful. The herb strengthens the nervous system, and lessens anxiety & depression.
A cup of strong Chamomile tea (3 tea bags per cup, or 1 tsp loose herb per cup) with the addition of raw honey is very soothing before bed time also
Lastly, do read up on the side effects of each & every drug she is taking...& withdrawal symptoms...there are videos on Youtube also..
So if she is exhibiting new health concerns you will be aware the cause is related to the medications..
And not have yet another drug added to her list by a well intended though unenlightened doctor.
Best regards

"Insanity is doing the same thing, and expecting a different result"
Albert Einstein

Abby: Are you sure that your mom's physician just doesn't want her to come in for an office visit in order for him or her to fill the script? Oftentimes my doctor will want to see me in person before he or she fills the medicine. If I were you, I would find out if this was the case because stopping a class of medicine such as this no doubt would not or should not be done. Also, AS YOU'RE DOWN TO 5 NIGHTS OF PILLS, I WOULD ASK YOUR PHARMACIST FOR AN OVERRIDE TO TIDE YOUR MOTHER OVER before she gets seen by the doctor. If you're a long-time client of the pharmacy, this should not be a problem. My pharmacist does this for me if necessary without a problem as he wants to keep me as a customer!

I have been on Xanax for at least 6yrs. I ask my Doctor about changing to Atalanta and he said I would have to ween myself completely before he would change medications .🙁That is a very dangerous thing to do. As you go into withdrawals and can easily have a seizure. If I were u and it was my moms caretaker I would call your real Doctor and tell this is a matter of life and possibly death.your pc is an idiot. I really pray to God above that I could go off everything and be free of it all. But now I have really horrible effects from it and the Xanax helps some just not that well because I have been on them so long. So may God bless you and your Mom. This is just what I know. And I’ll pray for yall as well.😥🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🏼🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏😇🙏🏼🙏🏼😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇😇🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸❤️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🏼🙏🙏🏼🙏

Abby-
i was wondering how the Friday doctor visit went? Is there a plan in place for continuing her meds, weaning her off, and start a different medication? Specialist taking over? Did you get the story on how she couldn’t get refill, whether out of refills, needed to be seen by doctor before refill, doctor discontinuing the medication? We are quite concerned, don’t want to advising further, if things are being worked out. How is Mom feeling? Did she get through the medication situation without further seizures?

Thank you for the update! Looking forward to a good report!