What's the likelihood that I'm psychically...?

Question

or psychologically dependent on xanax if I've only been taking .5 mg a day (most of the time I take it right before bedtime because it helps me sleep) but when I first started taking it I took it usually during the day but lately I've been able to hold off until night time could that be because my system is retaining the meds throughout the day or it could be because I take magnesium supplements to calm the anxiousness down and green tea and other natural products that I use daily I've only been taking the xanax for about a month and have cut down from a full mg to a half.

What are your thoughts on all this

thx a ton everyone that can help!

Answer 1

http://kbn.ky.gov/conprotect/compliance/...

That's a checklist for drug dependency. You really need to talk to the doctor who issued the prescription. We are all amateurs and volunteers here.

Answer 2

It's a big possibility you are psychologically dependent to them considering you take them on  a daily basis, I think anything you take on a daily basis usually turns into a pattern in your life, ppl that do the same thing each day of there lives over and over will not know how to do anything different, it becomes a habbit, with anything not just drugs, pple who drink coffee everyday of there lives for a long time will continue to do it and probley always will as long as they allow there selves to any way, but i gaurantee the person who drinks the coffee if they woke up and had none and no way of gettin any it would be on there mind all day, it's all in your head, it's what your use to doing so you think you need to do the things your use to, yes xanax do cause dependency on there own but with the fact you only take one a day you are not addicted, you just are use to taking them in my opinion.  

Answer 3

Dependency on substances comes in two forms: physical and psychological.  It's much easier to tell if you have a physical dependency; if so, when you stop taking the substance, you experience physical symptoms of withdrawal.  Increased heart rate or blood pressure, sweating, and tremors are the most common, with confusion, seizures, and hallucinations possible in the most severe cases. Psychological dependence is trickier, but it's the increased sense of need for the substance without those physical withdrawal symptoms.  

Neither one should be confused with addiction, which is specifically dependence on the substance with impaired control over its use, use in spite of adverse consequences, and preoccupation with the substance. Even if someone is physically dependent on a drug, if they are taking it to treat a legitimate condition and are not misusing it, they aren't necessarily addicted.

When you ask about your system retaining the medication, I believe you're thinking of the warnings of developing a physical tolerance for the drug.  What that really means is that your system gets used to having the substance around, so it needs _more_ of it to have the same effect. Since you've reduced your dose and that seems to be working for you, I don't think you need to worry about that.

To conclude, if you've recently reduced your Xanax dosage and can put off taking it, you're certainly not physically dependent on it, and probably are not psychologically dependent. It is important to be careful with medications that have dependence risks, but remember to keep treating the problem that has you taking the medicine in the first place.  

Answer 4

tl:dr

Answer 5

Hmmm, I really do not think Yahoo Answers is a good place for Medication Questions!  If you feel your xanax is no longer functioning except for on your psycholgy, speak to a doctor and then a psychologist.