Brief Answer: if no withdrawal symptoms then no need to restart Detailed Answer: HI, thanks for using healthcare magic Normally medications such as xanax , which falls in the family of drugs called benzodiazepines, are weaned off slowly particularly if they have been used for long periods of time. The reason for weaning slowly is to decrease the chance of withdrawal symptoms. Some of these possible symptoms are anxiety, difficulty sleeping, altered appetite, nervousness, depression, tremor, seizures. Some persons however, can stop without any symptoms at all. If you have noticed no symptoms at all since discontinuing the medication then you do not need to restart and taper off. Normally prolonged use of these medications is not recommended so it is good that you were able to successfully discontinue them. Prolonged use is associated with dependence of them, tolerance (needing more and more doses for the same effect), impaired thinking , poor memory, decreased alertness and emotional blunting. If symptoms occur and you still wish to discontinue it, then your doctor will start on a longer acting benzo such as valium and decrease the dose of xanax. When persons on short acting benzo such as xanax wish to discontinue this switch is necessary so that the levels of this type of drug can be reduced slowly in the system. It is possible to calculate the dose of valium that is equivalent to the dose of xanax you were using. Valium would then be tapered over a period of weeks. I hope this helps, feel free to ask any additional questions

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