Introduction to Generic Drugs

When a pharmaceutical company develops a new drug, they are allowed to have to sole patent rights on that product for a set amount of time, usually about 10-20 years. During this time, only that company can make the drug.  Since the company rules the market for the product, it can set the price of the drug at whatever it wants.  Of course, good business practices and competition amongst other similar drugs will drive the price lower but the pharmaceutical companies still stand to make a huge profit.

Luckily for patients, the law eventually works in their favor.  After a drug’s patent runs out, other pharmaceutical companies are allowed to make their own version of the drug.  These versions are called generic drugs.  Contrary to popular belief, generic drug are not just any drug which contains the same active ingredient as the brand-name drug, such as a alprazolam in the case of Xanax.  Generic drugs are regulated on the same level as the brand name drug.  All generic drugs must prove that their version is the exact equivalent to the brand name drug. Further, the generic drugs must be made in  the exact same dosage amount and have the same administration method as the brand name version to avoid any potential confusion, like a patient taking the wrong dosage.

Generic Alprazolam is the Same as Xanax, but not all Alprazolam is Generic

The patent rights on Xanax ran out years ago and, since then, dozens of generic versions of Xanax have appeared on the market.  Here is where things get confusing: all generic Xanax (also called generic Alprazolam) is the exact same equivalent as Xanax.  But not all medicines with alprazolam are generic drugs.

In order for a drug to call itself “generic”, it MUST be tested and approved by the appropriate drug agency.  In the US, this agency is the FDA.  The FDA has agreements with the agencies in many other countries, such as Health Canada in Canada and the State Food and Drug Administration in China. If the alprazolam is meets the standards set by these agencies, then it is considered generic.  And all generic drugs are the exact same equivalent as the brand name version. You will not see any difference if you are taking Xanax or generic Xanax.

Just because a drug contains alprazolam, it doesn’t not always mean it was approved as a generic.  Some countries do not have agreements with the FDA and other drug agencies.  They may use a much lower standard of regulations for certifying drugs.  Even though the medicine with alprazolam may be called “generic Xanax”, it may be a lower quality.  This is why it is so important to discover the source country of the medicine you are using.  Here are some of the countries which offer certified generic Xanax:

• EU countries
• Australian and New Zealand
• UK
• US
• India
• Mexico
• Hong Kong
• Bangladesh
• Israel
• UAE
• Venezuela

Many patients don’t realize that they can be held criminally responsible for driving while using Xanax.  That’s right: the term driving under the influence (DUI) is not just limited to alcohol.  Law enforcement officers are making increasingly more arrests for people driving while under the influence of prescription drugs like Xanax – even when they are being used responsibly.

How will the police know if you have been using Xanax?

Of course, there is the issue of whether a law enforcement officer will know if you have taken a Xanax or not.  But, let’s say that you have been pulled over because it appears like you are driving and acting drunk.  The officer puts you in the back of the squad car while searching your car and finds the Xanax pill bottle in the glove compartment and you get charged with a DUI.

The government has also come up with a new testing system called DEC, or Drug Evaluation and Classification.  If you are suspected of a DUI but alcohol does not appear on a sobriety test, then a DEC offer will be called in.  The DEC officer asks a series of questions requests certain motor-function tests to ascertain whether or not you have used a drug.  You should know your rights!  You are NOT required to answer any of the questions or perform any of the tests!  If a DEC officer gets called in on you, the best thing to do is request a lawyer and say nothing more.

Depending on the situation, you may be required to submit to a blood test.  If this happens, then there is no denying that you have taken Xanax.  However, a good lawyer will be able to defend you and claim that the Xanax did not impair your driving.

Avoid the Situation before you are Held Liable

It is very difficult for law enforcement agencies to get accurate numbers on just how many people are driving under the influence of Xanax and other prescription drugs because these drugs are not detectable in routine tests like breathalyzers. Just because you can probably escape prosecution from a Xanax DUI, that doesn’t mean you should be taking any risks.  Aside from the very real risk of killing yourself or someone else in an accident, defending yourself from a Xanax DUI can cost a lot of money.  Even if you aren’t held criminally liable, you can still be held liable in a civil suit for any damages from the Xanax DUI.

Question: I heard that Xanax can give you Brain damage, and that it’s permanent! Is this true?
Answer: No. There is no empirical or any other evidence to collaborate that theory. Xanax has been extensively tested in clinical trials before it got the green light for general public usage, and none of those tests have shown any “permanent brain damage” from Xanax usage, no matter how high the doses test subjects have taken. That story is nothing more than an urban legend.

Question: Is it true that Xanax is so addictive that it only takes one pill to get you hooked? And when you do become Dependant on it, is it true that it’s impossible to stop and that you have to take Xanax for the rest of your life?
Answer: Again, not really. Xanax can be addictive when used for a prolonged period of time in higher dosages, but this is true for most anti anxiety drugs, including all benzodiazepines, hypnotics and sedatives. However, when compared to the other drugs, Xanax has a short half life and a fast rate of elimination from the users body, so withdrawal symptoms might be more noticeable after abrupt discontinuation. In order to ensure that you will not get dependent on Xanax, you should never:

Take more than five milligrams of Xanax per day;

Take Xanax daily for longer than six weeks;

Mix Xanax with other prescription or recreational drugs, including alcohol;

Increase your dosage without first checking with your doctor.

If you stop taking Xanax too fast, you might feel like you are experiencing withdrawal. However, this might be a false positive, and the feeling will probably pass in a short period of time. However, if you have been taking Xanax for a long period of time, or in high dosages, it’s not encouraged that you quit abruptly – rather try to taper the dose over a period of time. By reducing the dosage in small increments, you will help your body adjust and avoid most withdrawal symptoms. A good tempo of Xanax intake decrease is to take about a milligram less every week. If you follow this, you can go all the way to zero in about a month, depending on the dosage you have been taking.

Question: Will Xanax make me fat / skinny?
Answer: Xanax will not affect your body weight on it’s own. However, some research has shown that Xanax can improve or impede your appetite, depending on the person. Women seem to be the most affected when it comes to the influence of Xanax on appetite.

The National Institute of Mental Health has recently published an survey that showed that almost twenty million male Americans, from ages of eighteen to fifty-four are suffering or have been recently suffering from anxiety-related psychological disorders. These anxiety disorders can take many forms and symptoms, from social anxiety, inability to sleep, sweating during stressful times, depression for no apparent reason and so on. It’s easy to find these symptoms if you know what to look for, and a surprisingly large number of people – almost one in five in fact – has them in some form.

There certainly is no shortage of possible reasons and causes for all tis stress, fear and anxiety. The reasons can be both psychological and physical. For instance, experiencing a serious problem or a disturbance at one segment of your life, for instance your office can spill over to the rest of your life and make your existence that much more difficult. There’s truly nothing worse than having that one, disturbing worm or doubt at the back of your mind, while it’s eating away and corrupting all other aspects of your life, making it hard for you to enjoy some of your favorite things. Even pre teen children develop anxiety disorders these days. The times are though, and you shouldn’t be ashamed to use a bit of external help that can make it a bit easier to you to relax, wind down and just forget about your problems, even just for for a while.


There are many reasons behind all these fear, stress, panic and depressions. They may be either physical or psychological. A serious accident at one phase of your life would make you panic every time you come across such situations. Even a slight indication of sibling rivalry can make you all stressed out before you take part in any future competitions. Well, competition is fierce these days, and you depend on Xanax to overcome all these mental anxieties.

Although you might need Xanax to balance you out, you should never consider taking any anxiety medication, including benzodiazepines without first checking with a certified medical professional, preferably your own doctor. He is the most qualified one to asses your mental and physical state, and inform you of potential side effects of Xanax. Although Xanax can be a very efficient way of dealing with every day stress and hardships, it’s not a miracle drug, and there are some side effects, so always consult with a doctor before taking it.

First thing you should know if you are debating if you should use Xanax as a tinnitus drug or not is that Xanax has really never been designed with Tinnitus in mind. At best, Xanax can be used to treat Tinnitus as an “off label” cure – meaning that it’s effects of Tinnitus are really incidental. Xanax is in fact a prescription drug that’s issued by doctors who treat patients who suffer from depression or mild to severe anxiety and panic attacks disorders. At one point, maybe even during the clinical trials, someone who was taking Xanax to help relieve their anxiety or depression and who also happened to be suffering from Tinnitus as well must have noticed that Tinnitus seems to go away while he was taking Xanax. Since that first discovery, the knowledge spread and it almost became common for some doctors to routinely prescribe Xanax and similar benzodiazepines and other anti anxiety drugs for Tinnitus. However, you should be careful if you are thinking about trying Xanax as a treatment for your ringing in the ears and other bothersome symptoms of Tinnitus – it’s a highly potent drug, and it should be approached with respect it deserves.

As is the case with most prescription drugs, especially those that have an effect on the Central Nervous System and the brain, it’s going to have some negative side effects for some patients. Although it might be very effective when it comes to dealing with your Tinnitus, it might also cause some problems that can make the cure worse than the illness This is exactly the reason why Xanax is not available over the counter. If you happen to try Xanax as a Tinnitus treatment, and experience any difficulties or unexpected side effects, you should stop immediately and call your doctor for an appointment as soon as possible.

Most common symptoms that anxiety stricken people report include skipping and irregular pulse, nausea, diarrhea, stomach and digestion problems, headaches, chest pains, chills, dizziness and feeling of light headedness, among others. Bear in mind that this is just a short, basic list of the most common physical symptoms. Physical symptoms of anxiety are just the “side effects” of the real problem, which are emotional symptoms that follow anxiety. These include irritability, irrational fear, night terrors, unexplained anxiety, anger and sadness, among others. Really, if you think about unpleasant feeling, chances are it can be a symptom of an anxiety disorder. As you can see, it’s far from a small matter, and it’s no wander doctors sometimes seem quick to prescribe Xanax, Valium and similar drugs to anxiety patients.

If you have recognized some of the symptoms mentioned in the previous paragraph in you or in someone close to you, you need to think about seeking medical help. Medical science has gone a long way when it comes to treating anxiety and related psychological issues, and there are many different courses of actions and treatments available to choose from. Most commonly, doctors will approach the problem of anxiety from two sides. Firstly, it’s necessary to take care of the immediate symptoms, and that’s where benzodiazepines like Xanax are really invaluable. Xanax is by far the most commonly used and prescribed medication for treatment of anxiety, panic attacks and similar disturbances. Xanax is also commonly used in treating severe depression. While Xanax takes care of the symptoms of anxiety and calms and relaxes the patients, it really can’t do much about the underlying cause of anxiety, and that’s why doctors will recommend counseling or psycho therapy.

Xanax, and benzodiazepines in general, just like most other drugs have two sides to them. Most people will never experience the less pleasant, addictive nature of Xanax, because when taken according to doctors instruction, Xanax is really quite safe and it’s not likely that patients who follow doctor’s orders will ever develop an addiction to Xanax. On other hand, it’s no secret that some irresponsible individuals have used Xanax as a recreational drug. Some users who maybe didn’t really have the intention of abusing Xanax can make the mistake of increasing the dosage to counteract the development of tolerance to it’s effects. In this case, it’s also uncommon for people to develop a dependency to Xanax. Just like any other drug, Xanax has the potential for great good and for abuse as well. As long as you are following your doctor’s instructions you really have nothing to worry about.

In this article, we will try to list some of the most common, but also less common and rare side effects of Xanax and its usage. All data presented here is the result of various published professional as well as personal research, and you should use it for information purposes only.

Let’s start with the most common side effects of Xanax. Most Xanax users will never experience even the most common of Xanax side effects. However, if they do occur, it will most probably be at the very beginning of Xanax therapy. After your body has had some time to adjust, usually no more than a couple of days, most side effects will greatly diminish or totally disappear. 

The most common side effects in Xanax clinical trials include fatigue, feelings of light-headedness and drowsiness, trouble remembering things, slight insomnia and headaches. These are the side effects that were reported by the test subjects in the clinical test trials. In the “field”, meaning since Xanax has been introduced to general public, some of the most common side effects that the users reported include tiredness, dry mouth, lowered libido, sex drive and ability, weight loss, appetite suppression and trouble urinating. There seems to be some correlation between the dosages of the medication and reported side effects. Users who took lower doses of Xanax reported light headedness and drowsiness more often, while other side effects were almost non existent. Heavy users of Xanax on the other hand reported feelings of fatigue, constipation, loss of appetite and body weight.

Statistically speaking, chances that you will experience any of the above mentioned side effects of Xanax are pretty slim. Following the more common side effects is the list of the uncommon side effects of Xanax. Some of these side effects were noticed on a very small number of users, and there is often just a handful of reported occurrences, so chances that you will experience any of these are minuscule Uncommon side effects are more serious and you should immediately get in touch with your MD if you experience them. They include seizures, hallucinations, confusion and coordination problems.

And finally, there is the odd case of strange and unexpected reactions to benzodiazepines. If you experience any of these, you should stop taking Xanax and contact your doctor. These include stimulation, trouble sleeping, hallucinations, irritability and agitation. These are the rarest of all Xanax side effects, and having such paradoxical reactions to the medication is highly unlikely.

While the properties of Xanax as an anti anxiety and anti depression medication have been thoroughly tested and documented, no clinical research has yet focused on it’s effects as a weight loss pill. Therefore, there’s no real, solid clinical data to support or reject these claims. In the absence of clinical evidence, the only thing left is to rely on empirical proof, and there’s plenty of that, if you believe the testimonials that the Xanax users in question have left online. Still, no matter how many people might claim that you can lose weight safely and quickly with the help of Xanax, you should never take it unless your doctor OK’s it or prescribed Xanax to you to treat depression, anxiety or panic attacks. Xanax is a highly potent and addictive medication, and should never be taken lightly. Never start taking Xanax on your own, no matter how easy it might be to order it online. Always consult with your doctor or licensed medical practitioner such as a pharmacist before taking any prescription drugs, including Xanax and other benzodiazepames.

If you choose to disregard warnings and start taking Xanax to complement your weighty loss diet, you need to be aware that there’s a good chance that you might become addicted to it if you don’t know what you are doing. Your body can quickly build tolerance to it’s effects, so it’s easy to make the mistake of taking more and more Xanax to achieve the original results. Never do this, and never take Xanax for more than a few weeks in the row without giving your body some time to rest from it.

It’s hard to say if Xanax is really efficient as a diet pill. If you want to find out on your own, good luck – but don’t forget to consult your doctor before you start taking it.

One treatment that’s been proven to be effective time and time again in a wide range of patients from different backgrounds is the so called “two pronged approach”. This approach to treating anxiety combines medication, such as Xanax with psycho therapy and counseling The most effective medication medical science has available for anxiety treatments are benzodiazepines, and Xanax is the most popular benzodiazepine in the US. Xanax is highly effective for treating panic attacks and depression, as well as acute and chronic anxiety. It’s a quick cure for anxiety and neurosis triggered health issues and symptoms, such as irritable bowel syndrome, shortness of breath and a host of other medical issues we already covered. Xanax can also help women manage some of the worst symptoms of PMS, and is commonly used to treat anxiety, tension and nervousness that comes with agoraphobia and other more or less common psychological disorders and neuroses.

As we already mentioned, there are two sides to every story, and Xanax is no exception Xanax has a high potential for abuse, and in irresponsible hands can lead to disaster. Xanax works as a tranquilizer of the Central Nervous System, and it’s effects are pleasant enough that some people would abuse it in recreational purposes On the other hand, even if that’s not your intention, prolonged usage of Xanax can lead to buildup of tolerance to it’s effects, which will make you take bigger and bigger dosages of the cure. Increase of dosage can easily lead to addiction, and though it’s not too difficult to kick it cold turkey, the withdrawal symptoms are still far from pleasant, so you need to be careful, responsible and never take more than your doctor prescribed. When used according to doctor’s instructions, Xanax is an invaluable tool for dealing with anxiety – just be careful of it’s dark side.

Doctors who prescribe Xanax as a short term cure in extreme cases of anxiety can not be perceived as “wrong”. They know very well how serious of a problem anxiety can become, and a short term Xanax therapy is often the only thing that can ease the pain and relax the nerves of the patients who suffer from moderate so severe cases of anxiety and panic attacks. A single dose of Xanax can make a patient who’s been unable to get a moment’s rest for a long time to fall asleep like a baby, so it’s obvious that there’s some merit to using Xanax as a therapeutic aid. On the other hand, usefulness of Xanax in long term therapy is not so obvious – in fact, we can say that it’s highly questionable if Xanax should be used for longer than a few weeks. Even the most pro-Xanax medical doctors and pharmacologists will not try to claim that prolonged use of Xanax is recommended

The reason prolonged usage of Xanax is discouraged is simple. Like most other mild or strong sedatives and tranquilizers, Xanax is addictive and habit forming. A prolonged usage of the drug – for instance, anything longer than a few weeks or a month will most certainly result in an increase in tolerance of the patient. This will make it necessary to administer ever increasing dosages of the medication just to achieve the very same effects that were possible with moderate dosages in the beginning of the Xanax therapy. High dosages in combination with prolonged, regular usage of Xanax will more often than not result in physical dependence on the drug, and to stop the treatment would expose the patient to withdrawal symptoms. It’s clear to see how dangerous substance withdrawal can be in cases of patients who’s nervous systems have already been compromised by anxiety.

Still, doctors who deal with anxiety patients often give reassuring proof that Xanax is both invaluable as a therapeutic treatment, and that when taken responsibly and according to the instructions, it’s generally safe. So the final verdict is clear – Xanax is safe and recommended as a short term treatment for anxiety, but long term usage is discouraged