When taking Xanax, especially higher doses, one can become physiologically dependent on the medication, which can cause withdrawal if the medication ceases to be taken. The symptoms of a withdrawal can happen rapidly, as little as 6 hours after the medication was stopped. Symptoms may include panic attacks and emotional distress and can mirror the symptoms that the patient began taking Xanax for in the first place. This makes it hard to tell whether a patient is suffering normal anxiety or if they’re going through a Xanax withdrawal. However, there are a few ways to tell common anxiety and simple withdrawal symptoms apart.
In early withdrawal, there is often anxiety accompanied with a headache, which progresses panicky behavior. Patients may feel an altered sense of reality, and later begin to feel dizzy or off balance. As the withdrawal becomes worse, patients are even known to burst into tears and may soon become overwhelmed with panic and anxiety that has no clear connection to an outside source. They may also feel like their body is not functioning properly, that they’re “going insane”, or that they’re going to get hurt in some manner.
If a patient has ceased Xanax use recently and is experiencing these symptoms, they are likely going through a Xanax withdrawal period that can last for several months. Xanax withdrawal symptoms are not entirely different from normal anxiety, but instead tends to magnify normal anxious behaviour.