Tomorrow I’ll have an MRI and to combat my claustrophibia and my doctor has prescribed Xanax .25 mg.
The Pharmacist says to take one pill and hour before the scan and another a half hour after that, and these should do the trick.
Do you agree?
(To have an anesthetist available for more powerful medication would require a wait of a month for the MRI and my doctor’s in a hurry.)
People react differently to those types of situations combined with medications. However, there is no reason to think it won’t work. They prescribe that dose because it has worked for many other people in the same circumstances. Faith that it will work is a big factor that you will get the most out of what you have been prescribed. The odds are great that Xanax will work for you. Benzodiazepines like Xanax are the drugs of choice for anxiety and Xanax is relatively fast acting. Benzodiazepines work in a way similar to alcohol so if you know how you react to alcohol then you should have a rough idea of what it will do for you.
Thanks, Shagnasty.
Comes 3/12 it’ll be 18 years since I reacted to alcohol, but I think I can remember. 
Xanax usually works wonders for anxiety, but if one has a history of alcoholism/drug abuse, one needs to proceed very very cautiously with this medication. It’s pretty much booze in pill form, for an alcoholic.
I advise my recovering alcoholic patients that they’d better stay plugged in with their meetings, sponsors, etc. And that’s just for the ones that need a single dose before tests like MRIs. It’s really not meant for regular use for the recovering person.
QtM, come 6/21, it’ll be 18 years, ODAAT
Thanks very much, QtM, for warning the other recovering alcoholics, but it came too late for me. I didn’t get a notification of your email at all. I just happened to come back here to warn other Claustros that Xanax .25 mg didn’t do the trick.
I took 2 pills an hour before and then 2 more a half hour before the 11 am MRI appointment. But I might as well have taken Aleve.
I lay down on the table and then shot right up. To make a long story short, I could not submit to the MRI. I didn’t feel that the drug relieved me of any anxiety. Fact is, I didn’t feel drugged at all - until I was back home and had to hit the sack.
In defense of the Onchologist who prescribed the drug, he didn’t know of my addiction, and I never thought to mention it in my one and only meeting with him.
I ended up getting a CAT Scan at 7pm last night, the results of which I won’t know until Monday.