Post 38 Ping. Honestly this is not directed at either of you. But this is something you might need to read just in case you ever see it happen.
The use of anxiolytics is VERY complex, as is the use of pain medicine (opiates).
In my experience, Xanax is not a great medicine for a couple of reasons.
First, it gets into the system fast, which is good, when you have a patient with say anxiety over flying in an airplane.
The big problem is it hits the same brain receptors as alcohol does, so you can figure that a person can easily get "hooked".
Its half-life is 3-5 hours, so once the effect has worn off, you're back to square one. An anxious patient who now has to deal with "rebound anxiety".
It ends up becoming a self-feeding addiction.
A patient is literally dependent on it. I rarely use it for this reason.
For truly anxious patients I go for something that lasts longer, like valium.
Low dose, and slow.
But it stays in the system longer.
For a person with generalized anxiety disorder, this is the way to go.
Not so many addiction problems.
The gold standard is some kind of anti-depressant with rare use of benzodiazepines.
Emphasis on rare.
All benzos are addictive. So use with great caution.