Suggest Treatment For Muscle Cramps After Reducing The Dose Of Xanax

Posted on Thu, 25 May 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Thu, 25 May 2017 Answered on

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : hi, i am 76 years old and was taking 2 mg of zanax 4 times a day, my new dr cut me to 1 mg 4 times a day, i would run out. then cut me to 1 mg 3 times a day to 1 mg 2times a day. the 1 mg 4x a day was hard to adjust but worse is the 28 day refill cutting each month 1 mg. concentretion off, muscle cramps ,eating and not sleeping has me worried as well as running out very fast. is this normal to cut a person so fast

Answered by Dr. Ashok Kumar Choudhary (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Yes it can be done but I think it should be slower in your case

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for using Healthcaremagic.

I read your query and understand your concerns.

The standard principle for reducing the dose of xanax is to decrease by 40-50% in one go and than reduce it by 10-15% every week and your doctor has done almost same.

However if the person uses high dosage of xanax for long periods (say years) it is important to cut it more slowly than rapidly.In that scenario the medicine should be decreased by 20-25 % every week.

In my opinion he has done the things as recommended but without considering the practical feasibility and patient point of view.

I hope this helps you.
Feel free to contact me if you have more questions.
Thanks and regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar