...I feel for you...really I do...misdiagnosis runs rampant.....and not to scare you....don't know if you are still on it...but the worse drug addtiction there is is from benzodiazepines....aka Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan etc. It is so addicting, worse then Herion that when some come off it they not only have severe withdrawal....they have protracted withdrawal....in fact.....so bad that it can last for years...I know..I'm a survivor.....
I believe you that is why it must be prescribed correctly for several reasons. A dosage of 1-2 MG of Xanax once or twice a day is a disaster waiting to happen. There shouldn't even be a 1 or 2 mg Xanax pill made. For a light build person 1 mg should do them for 24 hours and for heavy build 2 mg for 24 hours. But the whole secret is to take the dosage and divide it by a forth and give it ever 6 hours. A very small dosage but a very consistent one resolves several issues. One is craving needing more and more. It's rare when prescribed in this manner. Another is the Yo-yo effect of giving them twice a day does as the effective life is 6 hour and 8 ours at the very most. Another is you can skip one and most likely not even realize it sometimes. It also allows for in cases like mine to take an extra pill to stop an ongoing attack or prevent one when knowing in advance you're going into a triggering enviroment. The attacks I have in severe attacks is what is called :
Stimulus-sensitive myoclonus is triggered by a variety of external events, including noise, movement, and light. Surprise may increase the sensitivity of the patient.
This basically involves violent short duration spams in the upper extremities such as shoulder & neck. They last two seconds max and can be as many as several in a minute. It is literally a form of seizure's from sensory processing overload. A bad attack or worse one can have you driving and losing any idea of where you are, where you are going, how long you've been there, etc. Harmless but if you don't understand what's going on it is scary as hell. Now for me these are rare but a nuisanse rather than scarring the devil out of me. I thought I was having a stroke the first time. This won't show up on CAT SCANs, MRI, or Brain Wave testing. It usually passes in 30 minutes to an hour. In a pinch one Xanax can likely do it in 15 minutes if you put it under the tongue. Also I do not drink alcohol except on very rare occasions and in very small amounts.
I've gone nearly 16 hours without a pill several times. My wife has taken the .25 mg dosage for 20 years once to three times a day. The difference is she weighs 110 and I weigh 250. Most days I can take 3 pills. But I started out on 2mg pills 2 times a day. My doctor at the time didn't understand how to prescribe it and it didn't help but rather did more harm than good. The reason she was on Zoloft and Trazodone was for PTSS. A dentist had nearly killed her with Mepragan {sp} and put her in a COMA. She later needed dentures and was scared to death of any dentist. Thus a shrink was called in. She had never hasd a pyschotic moment in her life up till seeing that shrink and taking those medications.
Another thing which goes against all written info on General Anxiety Disorder is with this you practice avoidance or rather enviromental control with it and CBT will not help. I don't mean stay home and be agoraphobic by any means. I mean alter your life style and contol the offending triggers as much as possible like shopping at midnite rather than day time or early evenings. For me no TV except 1970's ear and older shows and cartoons. The special effects trigger attacks. This happened as well in Japan a few years back with a Poke-o-mon cartoon. Avoid such places crowded rooms with many persons talking at once. You will hear all and understand no one. If you are in such an enviroment due to holidays etc limit the times and exit the room to a quieter room often. Seek one on one conversations there and enjoy yourself. It's a different form of G.A.D. and is Non Phobic and non Traumatic in origin.
Here is an example if you are shopping in a store and the longer you stay there the more annoyed you become even to the point of simply walking out it's likely due to sensory bombardment from loud store speakers. Wal-mart is the absolute worse place for that. Driving on an interstate in heavy traffic the same thing. Here's a real good one. In the fall and winter driving through a wooded area and having sun light going through the trees say at 50 mph creating a strobing effect causing an attack. Some would avoid driving {develop a false phobia} as they connect driving to attacks. A good pair of Polaroid sunglasses works wonders even at night as head lights can be just as bad.
There is a research Neurologist/Shrink who in the late 1970's made the Vestibular connection to anxiety as well as some forms of Dyslexic symptoms, reading problems, what is now called C.A.P.D. {simuliar to ADD ADHD but not the same origin} and even TMJ. He began realizing his anxiety patients had a common medical history of diseases or disorders that effect the Inner Ear.
Actually let me clarify something. A kid showing ADD ADHD symptoms take them to an Audiologist for C.A.P.D. testing. Severe cases can be treated with mild antihistamines or motion sickness pills being the strongest needed medication needed. Give them Ritalin and they will only get worse and the shrink will most likely go to trying SSRI's. The doctors name is Harold Levinson. His book "Phobia Free" for sensory triggered anxiety IMO is a must read. The book titleis explained in the book. Most phobias related to this are not phobias but rather reactions to sensory issues. I have a fear of heights. My brain knows it. I stay off ladders and off roofs etc. I am terrified of them. Is it a true phobia? No. My brain knows I have balance issues and demands I stay away and stay safe.
That book gave me enough knowledge that I could understand what had happened to me. Levinson was scoffed at and mocked by mainstream mental health professionals. However Vestibular Researchers are validating a lot of his findings.
My Vestibular system wand sensory processing system was damaged early in life by chronic sinus allergies. Chronic ear infections can do the same thing. Most persons do not end up like me at least not as severe. I have Titinitus and Menieres now to go with it. Concentration is a short in supply commidity as well. It was so severe it triggered OCB. I was a maintenance mechanic and boiler operator before the severe onset 12 years ago. I started having problems with short term memory and concentration. As a result to compensate I checked and re-checked my work especially near the boilers. I was making mistakes. The more mistakes the more I re-checked myself even to the point of calling my relief when I got home from work to have him re-check the boiler line up. All of this caused by childhood allergies for which I took shots for.
Information on this type of anxiety didorder can not be found in mental health web venues. Go to Vestibular sites or search Vestibular Disorders +anxiety. No pharmacutical influence there either skewing the information. Audiologist can not prescribe meds :>}
The reason I keep posting on this is to help others with it and to get the word out on this so maybe one day Shrinks will wake up and smell the coffee. Here is the Serotonin Syndrome article I used BTW. Serotonin Syndrome: Recognition and Management