Xanax (Alprazolam): Basics, Side Effects & Reviews

Xanax (Alprazolam) is a prescription medication that is used to treat panic disorder and anxiety disorders. It is in a group of drugs known as benzodiazepines and works by decreasing abnormal excitement in the brain. The medicine has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the year 1981.

How Does Xanax Work?

 Xanaxis a useful anti-anxiety drug in the benzodiazepine medicine family, the same group that includes Klonopin, Valium, Dalmane and Ativan. Xanax and other benzodiazepines act by enhancing the overall effects of gamma-aminobutyric acid present in the brain. Gamma-aminobutyric acid is a neurotransmitter (a chemical which nerve cells utilize to communicate with each other) that curbs activities in the brain. It is thought that excessive activities in the brain might cause anxiety or other psychological disorders. You can easily buy Xanax online after getting proper recommendations from your physician.

Uses of Xanax?

Xanax bar is recommended for the treatment of panic attacks and anxiety disorders. Usually, anxiety disorders are characterized by:

• Unrealistic apprehension and worry
• Indications of restlessness
• Trembling
• Aches
• Shortness of breath
• Smothering sensation
• Sweating
• Palpitation
• Clammy hands
• Cold
• Flushing
• Light-headedness
• Exaggerated startle responses
• Problems in concentrating
• Insomnia

White Xanax bar is also prescribed for treating anxiety related with panic attacks. Generally, panic attacks occur either suddenly or in certain situations (for instance, driving), and could need highdosages of Xanax.

How to Take Xanax?

You should follow the directions on the prescription. Your doctor might occasionally change the dose. You should not take Xanax in large amounts, or for longer duration than recommended. Tell your physician if you feel an urge to take more of this medication. Never share the doses with another person, particularlysomebody with a history of addiction or drug abuse. Keep xanax in a safe place where others can’t get to it.

 

Measure liquid medicine properly. Use the dosing syringe or a medicine dose-measuring device. You should swallow extended-release tablet whole. Do not break, crush or chewit. Moreover, don’t swallow orally disintegrating tablet whole. You should allow the tablet to dissolve in the mouth without chewing.Usually, the drug is consumed for no longer than four months to heal anxiety disorder. It should not be taken for longer than ten weeks to treat panic disorder. Keep in mind that snorting Xanax should not be done as it can cause dangerous side effects.

 

Call the medic if symptoms do not improve, or if they get worsened.If you take the doses for a longtime, you may require frequent medical tests.You should not stop taking the dosages unexpectedly or you may experience unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. You must follow the doctor’s instructions regarding tapering of dose.Xanax should be kept at room temperature away from light, moisture and heat. Discard liquid xanax if not used within ninety days. You should not take Xanax and alcohol together.

What Happens If You Miss a Dose?

 Take the dose as soon as you could, but skip the missed dosage if it is almost time for the next dosage. You should not take two doses at one time.

What Happens in Case of Overdose?

 Get emergency medical help in case you overdose on Xanax. Remember that overdose could be fatal.Some of the overdose symptoms might include extreme sleepiness, confusion, muscle weakness, loss of coordination or balance, fainting and feeling light-headed.

What to Avoid While Consuming Xanax?

 You should avoid drinking alcohol while taking Xanax. Dangerous negative effects or even death can occur.Avoid driving or doingunsafe activity until you know how Xanax would affect you. Dizzinesscould cause accidents, fallsor severe injuries.Grapefruit might interact with this drug and can cause undesirable side effects. You should avoid using grapefruit products.

Side Effects of Xanax

Get urgent medical assistance if you feel signs of an allergic reaction: difficulty in breathing; hives; swelling of face, lips or tongue. Xanax could slow or stop breathing, particularly if you have used an opioid medicine recently, alcohol, or other medicines that can slow breathing. An individual caring for you must get emergency medical help if you have shallow or weak breathing, if you stop breathing or if you are hard to wake up.

 

Call your physician right away if you have:

• shallow or weak breathing
• a dizzy feeling, like you may pass out
• seizure
• delusions, risk-taking behaviour
• increased energy, decreased sleep
• racing thoughts, being talkative or agitated
• double vision
• jaundice
• Xanax withdrawal

The sedative effects of xanax might last longer in old adults. Furthermore, accidental falls are usually common in elderly people who take benzodiazepines. Exercise caution to evade falling or accidental injury.

Common side effects might include:

• drowsiness;
• feeling light-headed

 

What Other Medicines Will Affect Xanax?

At times, it is not safe to take certain medicines at the same time. Some medications can affect the blood levels of other drugs you consume, which might increase side effects or make the medicines less effective.

Taking yellow Xanax with other drugs that make you drowsy or slow your breathing could cause dangerous negative effects or even death. Ask the medic before taking opioid medication, a muscle relaxer, sleeping pill, prescription cough medicine, or medication for seizures or depression. Many drugs could affect Xanax. This includes prescription and also over-the-counter medications, vitamins, and herbal products. Inform your healthcare expert about all your present medicines and any drug you start or discontinue using.

How Long Does Xanax Stay in Your System?

Xanax isbelieved to be a short-acting benzodiazepine medicine. After taking it in pill form, peak level is usually found in blood 1 to 2 hours later. In addition, average Xanax halflife in blood is 11.3 hours in healthy adults, denoting that half of the medication has been metabolized and removedthrough the urine in that time period.

It takes about 5 half-lives for 97 percent of a medication dosage to get out of the body, so Xanax takes 2 to 4 days to be entirelyremoved from the human body.This drug is detectable in urine, blood, hair, saliva, but how long it is detectable actually depends on different individual factors. Xanax is eliminated from various areas of the human body at different rates.

These are the general timelines:

• Blood: Up to 24 hours
• Hair: Up to ninety days
• Saliva: Up to 2.5 days
• Urine: Up to four days

Blood

Blood levels might be done as a screening test or in instances of treatment for anassumed overdose, but they can only detect if you have consumed Xanax in the last 24 hours.

Hair

As with all the medicines, Xanax can be detected in the hair starting 2 to 3 weeks after and for up to ninety days after the last dose.

Saliva

Xanax could be detected in saliva for up to 2.5 days.

Urine

A urine drug test or examination, such as that is conducted for employment purpose, will test positive for benzodiazepines for 5 days and up toone week after a dosage. Also,for peoplewho metabolize Xanax slowly—such as the obese, elderly, and those suffering from alcoholic liver disease—that time perhaps even longer.

False Positive Testing

There are some drugs that might cross-react with immunoassay urine drug screens. Antidepressant medicine Zoloft and prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication Dayprocould cause false-positive urine screens for Xanax.

If you are consuming Xanax by prescription and you have a drug test or screening, inform the testing labso that they can properly understandthe results. If you are being screened at work, you might want to let your employer know that you are consuming Xanax ahead of time.

What does Xanax Feel Like?

Xanax, or also its generic form alprazolam, doesnot affect everybody in the same way.How Xanax would affect a person depends on many factors, including:

• mental state at the time a person takes the drug
• age
• weight
• metabolism
• dose

If you are taking xanax for the first time, it is essential to understand and know its side effects and probable interactions before use. Read on to know what it should and shouldnot feel like, and answers to some commonly asked questions.

How Does Xanax Make You Feel If You’re Using ItRecreationally?

Many individuals who consume Xanax bars recreationally, or without a prescription, describe the feeling as calming or sedating. Unlike some medications, such as cocaine, that produce a “high” or ecstatic feeling, users of Xanax describe the feeling as more tired, relaxed and quiet. These feelings might lead to falling asleep or passing out for a few hours. Also, some individuals have also reported blacking out or memory loss and not remembering what happened for quite a few hours. High doses will produce stronger effects.

What If You’re Using Xanax to Treat Anxiety or Panic Disorder?

If you take blue Xanax as it has been proposed — it’s usually recommended to deal with anxiety or panic disorders — you might feel “normal” after your first dosage.The calming effect could help relieve anxiety symptoms and sedate the body’s overall response to the stress or anxiety.

Drug Misuse and Dependence

Controlled Substance

Normal Xanax and even green Xanax contains alprazolam, a Schedule IV controlled substance.

Misuse

The medicine is a benzodiazepine and a CNS depressant with a potential for addiction and abuse. Abuse is the deliberate, non-therapeutic utilization of a medication, even once, for its desirable mental or physical effects. Moreover, misuse is the deliberate use, for therapeutic purposes, of a medicine by a person in a way other than recommended by a health care expert or for whom it was not advised. Drug addiction is a bunch of cognitive, behavioural,and physiological phenomena that might include a strong inclination to take the drug, problems in controlling drug use (e.g., ongoing drug use in spite of harmful consequences, giving a high priority to drug use than other obligations and activities), and possible physical dependence or tolerance. Even consuming benzodiazepines as advised might put people at danger for abuse and misuse of their medicine. Misuse and abuse of benzodiazepines mightcause Xanax overdose and addiction.

Misuse and abuse of benzodiazepines often (but not always) involve the use of dosages greater than the maximum prescribed dose and commonly involve accompanying use of other medicines, alcohol, and/or illicit substances, which is related with an increased occurrence of serious negative results, including overdose, respiratory depression and evendeath. Benzodiazepines are often desired by people who abuse drugs and other substances, and by people with addictive disorders.

The following negative reactions have taken place with benzodiazepine abuse and/or misuse: anorexia, amnesia, abdominal pain, anxiety, aggression, blurred vision, ataxia, confusion, depression, disorientation,disinhibition, euphoria, dizziness, impaired concentration and memory, irritability, indigestion, muscle pain, tremors, slurred speechand vertigo.

The following severe harmful reactions have taken place with benzodiazepine abuse and/or misuse: paranoia, delirium, suicidal ideation and behaviour, coma, seizures, problems in breathing, and death. Furthermore, death is more often related with polysubstance use (particularly benzodiazepines with other CNS depressants.