Xanax bars are a potent and commonly prescribed medication for anxiety and depressive disorders. But what do they do to your body? Are they dangerous? Here’s your guide.
Are you concerned about the side effects of taking Xanax bars?
If you are suffering from anxiety you will benefit from proper usage of Xanax. However, when Xanax is abused it can have the opposite effect.
If you want to know exactly how Xanax is affecting or will affect your body. You will find the following information helpful.
1. How Long Should You Use Xanax?
Xanax is intended for the short-term relief of severe anxiety and panic attacks. This why any prescription for Xanax will indicate that it should only be used for a few days.
It is usually given in a low dosage and if needed the dosage is increased. This slow elevation of dosage based on need is the approach that doctors take in order to avoid addiction.
2. How Do Xanax Bars Actually Work To Calm You?
Xanax bars calm anxiety by playing a role in how messages get to your brain. The brain contains GABA which is a neurotransmitter in the brain.
GABA’s main function is to calm you and induce normal brain activity.
GABA plays a major role in relaxing your muscles and helping you to sleep.
Xanax imitates GABA and this is what makes it effective at relaxing you. While Xanax’s imitation of GABA is effective. Long-term imitation of GABA by the drug means that natural GABA production is decreased.
Xanax bars are so effective at imitating GABA that its effect can be felt in as little as fifteen minutes. The drug accomplishes this by decreasing your elevated heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure.
3. What Happens When The Drug Is Abused?
When such a powerful drug is abused, your brain goes haywire.
Once addiction sets in, a vicious cycle is established and you become more likely to start taking more and more Xanax bars to compensate for the lack of natural GABA production.
Addicted to Xanax is likely to make you irritable and extremely moody. This is because your brain is trying to re-balance itself.
In addition to irritability and moodiness, a Xanax addiction is also likely to produce a number of other unpleasant symptoms such as:
- Chest pains
- Impaired memory
- Severe bouts of depression
- Hyperactivity
- Rage
- Suicidal thoughts
These sides effects are serious but there are still other side effects that are considered more severe. There have been cases where long-term usage has resulted in complete loss of memory and even insanity.
Other extreme long-term effects are speech deficiency where your words may start to become slurred. This has the effect of making you sound as if you are drunk.
The above mentioned side effects make it easy to see why doctors are not eager to use this drug for the long term. In fact, Xanax addiction can lead to such desperation for the drug, you may start to crush the bars and snort them to get a faster high.
The longer the drug is taken the more of it that will be needed to get the same effect. This phenomenon is known as dependence.
Once you become dependent you will become desperate when you cannot get the drug on demand.
This desperation can lead to extreme and dangerous behavior in order to satisfy the addiction.
It is not uncommon for a Xanax addict to display the following behaviors that deviate from their normal pattern of behavior.
- Lying to friends and family regularly
- Stealing money to buy Xanax illegally
- Physical aggression towards others
4. What Does Xanax Withdrawal Look Like?
A withdrawal from Xanax bars can be brutal on your body. The withdrawal will often begin when the drug becomes inactive in your bloodstream. This will usually occur anywhere between six to twelve hours of the last usage.
However, in extreme cases, withdraw symptoms may begin in five hours or less.
Xanax withdrawal should never be done cold turkey as this can be just as dangerous as the addiction. Instead, it should be a gradual process.
A cold turkey withdrawal can have a devastating effect on your heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and also your mental state. There may also be convulsions and seizures that resemble those that occur during epileptic fits.
These withdrawal symptoms will occur and then disappear slowly when quitting cold turkey. The disappearance of the symptoms of withdrawal is usually deceptive since they usually return with a vengeance.
In short, cold turkey withdrawal produces an ebb and flow of symptoms.
These symptoms occur because the body has gone into shock. The sudden withdrawal of the drug means that your body will start working furiously to compensate for the lack of GABA activity.
Your brain will literally try to reset its normal neurotransmitter levels sending your brain and your body into overdrive.
5. What Is The Best Way To Overcome An Addiction To Xanax?
The best way for you to get off Xanax is gradually in a reputable drug detox program. Once the amount of Xanax you take is gradually reduced your brain and your entire body will have time to slowly adjust.
This tapering of the dosage should be done under the supervision of those who are qualified to deal with Xanax addiction.
Even when withdrawal is gradual you are still likely to have adverse reactions. Although these will become milder.
Treatment for Xanax addiction is usually not just physical. There is usually some level of mental therapy that must take place.
This may take the form of individual therapy which involves behavioral as well as solution-focused therapy.
Family therapy is often necessary to assist your family members who may have been traumatized by living with you through the addiction.
Final Thoughts
If you are suffering from a Xanax addiction or know someone who is, there is help available for addiction treatment Los Angeles. It is always better for help to come from people who understand the addiction and know how to safely help someone overcome it.
If you would like some assistance in your journey or a loved one’s journey towards freedom from Xanax bars addiction, do not hesitate to contact us. We are always willing and able to offer you guidance.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Xanax bars and how do they affect the body?
Xanax bars are rectangular, high-dose (typically 2mg) alprazolam tablets — so named for their bar shape. The Muse Treatment page explains that Xanax calms anxiety by mimicking GABA, the brain's primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, which calms electrical activity and reduces the physical symptoms of anxiety including elevated heart rate, high blood pressure, and muscle tension. The effects can be felt in as little as 15 minutes and include significant sedation, muscle relaxation, and a reduction in anxiety and panic. At bar doses (2mg), these effects are considerably more intense than lower therapeutic doses, which is why Xanax bars are frequently misused recreationally and why they carry particular addiction risk.
Why are Xanax bars particularly addictive?
Xanax bars are particularly addictive for several interconnected reasons. The high dose (2mg) produces rapid, powerful GABA enhancement that creates intense, almost immediate relief — a reward profile that strongly trains the brain to seek repetition. The Muse Treatment page notes that Xanax bars are so effective that their effect can be felt within 15 minutes. Once addiction sets in, a vicious cycle is established: the natural GABA production decreases as the brain adapts to artificial supplementation, meaning the person needs Xanax just to feel normal. Tolerance develops quickly, requiring more of the drug for the same effect. Additionally, Xanax has a relatively short half-life, meaning the drug clears quickly and the user can feel withdrawal symptoms (often experienced as rebound anxiety) within hours.
What happens to your brain when you become addicted to Xanax?
When Xanax is used regularly, the brain adapts to the artificially enhanced GABA activity by reducing its own natural GABA production and downregulating GABA receptors. This neuroadaptation means that without Xanax, the person's brain is now deficient in normal inhibitory tone — producing the rebound anxiety, hyperexcitability, and physiological distress of withdrawal. The Muse Treatment page describes how 'your brain goes haywire' when such a powerful drug is abused, with increasing irritability and mood instability as the brain tries to rebalance. Long-term high-dose benzodiazepine use has also been associated with structural brain changes including reduced volume in areas associated with emotion regulation and cognitive function.
What are the serious side effects of Xanax bars?
The Muse Treatment page identifies several serious side effects associated with Xanax bar use. Common effects include irritability and extreme moodiness as the brain attempts to rebalance. More severe documented effects include memory impairment and blackouts (anterograde amnesia), paradoxical reactions in some individuals (increased anxiety, aggression, or disinhibition rather than sedation), respiratory depression (which can be fatal when combined with opioids or alcohol), and the development of physical dependence that makes stopping dangerous without medical supervision. Long-term use is associated with cognitive decline, including memory problems and reduced processing speed, that may not fully resolve with cessation. In older adults, Xanax is associated with significantly elevated fall and hip fracture risk.
What is the danger of combining Xanax bars with alcohol?
Combining Xanax with alcohol is one of the most dangerous drug combinations possible. Both are central nervous system depressants that enhance GABA activity, and their combination produces synergistic rather than simply additive CNS depression. The Muse Treatment page's content on Xanax and alcohol notes that even small amounts of alcohol can enhance Xanax's sedative effects dramatically, causing profound drowsiness, severely impaired coordination, and significantly elevated risk of accidents. In higher combinations, the synergistic CNS depression can slow breathing to a potentially fatal level. Many benzodiazepine-related overdose deaths involve co-occurring alcohol use. The pharmacokinetics make the interaction unpredictable — there is no safe amount of alcohol to combine with Xanax.
Are Xanax bars prescribed by doctors, and are they legal?
Legitimate alprazolam 2mg bars are a Schedule IV controlled substance — legally prescribable by physicians for severe anxiety and panic disorders. However, the 2mg dose (bar) is considerably higher than typical therapeutic starting doses for most patients, and most prescribing guidelines recommend starting at 0.25 to 0.5mg. The Muse Treatment page notes that any Xanax prescription indicates it should only be used for a few days due to addiction risk, with dose increases made slowly to avoid dependency. Much of the 'Xanax bar' supply on the recreational market consists of counterfeit pills pressed to look like Xanax — frequently containing fentanyl, which has caused a dramatic wave of overdose deaths among people who believed they were taking alprazolam but received a lethal opioid dose.
How does Xanax withdrawal work and why is it dangerous?
Xanax withdrawal is potentially one of the most dangerous withdrawal processes — more dangerous than opioid withdrawal — because abrupt discontinuation of benzodiazepines can cause life-threatening seizures. The brain, having adapted to Xanax by reducing its own inhibitory signaling, becomes hyperexcitable when Xanax is suddenly removed. Seizures, delirium, severe anxiety, insomnia, tremors, and in extreme cases psychosis can result. The Muse Treatment page notes that Xanax detox requires medical supervision where practitioners monitor progress during the withdrawal process. A gradual tapering protocol — reducing the dose slowly over weeks to months — is the medically recommended approach for safe discontinuation, replacing high-potency, short-acting alprazolam with longer-acting benzodiazepines during the taper.
What treatment does Muse Treatment offer for Xanax addiction?
Muse Treatment offers medically supervised Xanax detox that manages the withdrawal process safely, replacing the dangerous abrupt cessation approach with a controlled, carefully monitored taper protocol supported by medical staff. Following detox, inpatient or outpatient rehabilitation addresses the psychological dimensions of Xanax dependency — including the anxiety disorder that originally drove prescription use, often now intensified by benzodiazepine dependence. Cognitive behavioral therapy, which has strong evidence for treating both anxiety disorders and substance use disorders, is central to the therapeutic approach. Alternative, non-addictive anxiety management strategies including SSRIs, therapy, exercise, and mindfulness provide sustainable anxiety relief without benzodiazepine risk. Muse Treatment can be reached 24/7 at 800-426-1818.
Can you get addicted to Xanax even when taking it as prescribed?
Yes — physical dependence can develop with regular Xanax use even at prescribed doses, typically within a few weeks of daily use. This is why prescribing guidelines recommend limiting use to short-term, as-needed contexts rather than daily scheduled dosing whenever possible. The Muse Treatment page notes that Xanax is intended for short-term relief and that doctors prescribe in low doses with slow increases specifically to avoid addiction. Tolerance — needing more of the drug for the same effect — is often the first sign that dependence has developed. If you find yourself using more Xanax than prescribed, taking it more frequently than intended, or experiencing anxiety between doses that feels like withdrawal, these are signs worth discussing with your prescriber and potentially with an addiction specialist.
What is the difference between Xanax bars and other benzodiazepines?
Xanax (alprazolam) bars are distinguished from other benzodiazepines primarily by their rapid onset and high potency relative to dose — effects are felt within 15 minutes and the drug clears the body in hours (half-life 6-27 hours). By comparison, Valium (diazepam) has a much longer half-life (20-100 hours), producing more gradual effects and longer-lasting drug presence. Klonopin (clonazepam) is longer-acting than Xanax but shorter than Valium. Ativan (lorazepam) has an intermediate profile. These pharmacokinetic differences have clinical implications: Xanax's rapid onset and short duration produce more reinforcing drug effects (contributing to higher addiction potential) and more pronounced interdose withdrawal (rebound anxiety between doses), while longer-acting benzodiazepines are typically preferred for medically supervised tapering.
